Factor Analysis of Kink Preferences

In an old tweet, Aella presented a factor analysis of her kink survey, identifying eight factors:

  1. Power/Sadomasochism/Bondage
  2. Big Boobies/Bimbos/Skirts/Pigtails
  3. Romance/Kissing/Gentleness
  4. Orgies/Freeuse/Anonymous Sex/Exhibitionism
  5. Furries/Bestiality/Monsters
  6. Body Fluids/Urine/Disgust/Scat
  7. Genderplay/Futa/Gender Transforms
  8. Ageplay/Incest/Age Gaps

Given biological sex strongly influences sexual preferences, we might expect these factors to differ between men and women. For example, a BDSM factor might emphasize dominance for men and submission for women. Additionally, novel factors may emerge from analyzing men and women separately. To test these hypotheses, I performed separate factor analyses for cis men and cis women. (Trans respondents were excluded due to insufficient sample sizes for reliable analysis.)

Factor Analysis Results

Cis Men (9 Factors)

Cis men shared the same 8 factors as Aella’s original analysis, plus 1 additional factor:

  1. BDSM (sadomasochism, bondage, dominance)
  2. Hyperfemininity (big boobs/butts, bimbos, high heels, pigtails)
  3. Sensuality/Romance (sensuality, makeouts, romance, teasing)
  4. Conventional Kink (orgies, voyeurism, exhibitionism, sex toys)
  5. Monsters/Animals (monsters, furries, bestiality)
  6. Disgust (farts/belches, poop, necrophilia, feedism)
  7. Genderplay (genderplay, sissification, futa, pegging)
  8. Incest/Ageplay (incest, ageplay, nonconsent)
  9. Gay (men)

Cis Women (14 Factors)

Cis women shared the same 8 factors as Aella’s original analysis, plus 6 additional factors:

  1. BDSM (sadomasochism, bondage, submission)
  2. Hyperfemininity (lesbians, big boobs/buts, skirts)
  3. Sensuality/Romance (sensuality, makeouts, romance, teasing)
  4. Conventional Kink (orgies, voyeurism, free use, anonymous sex)
  5. Monsters/Animals (monsters, bestiality, furries)
  6. Disgust (farts/belches, poop, incest, creepy crawlies)
  7. Genderplay (genderplay, sissification, futa, pegging)
  8. Incest/Ageplay (incest, ageplay)
  9. Cum (semen, creampies, blowjobs, bukkake)
  10. Toys (painful toys, electric toys, sounding)
  11. Sensory/Roleplay (latex/leather, specific smells/textures, roleplay)
  12. Ethnicities (white people, black people, Asian people)
  13. Nonconsent (rapeplay, mindbreak, bad ends)
  14. Brutality (violence, body horror, blood, executions)

Higher-Order Factor Correlations

Since the factors are themselves correlated, I performed a second factor analysis—which has poor statistical fit yet is valuable for exploratory purposes—to determine how strongly each factor loads onto a hypothetical “general kink” factor.

Cis Men

Cis Women

The loading patterns align with intuition: factors loading strongly on the general kink factor (e.g. Gay, Sensuality/Romance) are less likely to be labeled as “kinks” than factors loading weakly (e.g. BDSM, Sensory/Roleplay).

Visualizations

The following plots are what I call “Tailcalled diagrams”. We create a standardized (mean=0, SD=1) latent variable summarizing the displayed items in the bottom of the plot. The rows below the histogram show the median response to each question for a given level of the latent variable. For these plots, while the exact loadings are inflated, the rank orderings are roughly accurate.

Cis Men

BDSM

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male BDSM factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for BDSM-related items.

Hyperfeminity

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male hyperfemininity factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for hyperfeminine female traits.

Sensuality/Romance

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male sensuality and romance factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for romantic and sensual items.

Conventional Kink

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male conventional-kink factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for orgies, voyeurism, exhibitionism, and related items.

Monsters/Animals

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male monsters and animals factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for monsters, furries, and bestiality-related items.

Disgust

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male disgust factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for disgust-related kink items.

Genderplay

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male genderplay factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for genderplay, sissification, futa, and pegging-related items.

Incest/Ageplay

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male incest and ageplay factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for incest, ageplay, and nonconsent-related items.

Gay

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-male gay factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for attraction-to-men items.

Cis Women

BDSM

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female BDSM factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for BDSM-related items.

Hyperfeminity

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female hyperfemininity factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for lesbians, curves, skirts, and related items.

Sensuality/Romance

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female sensuality and romance factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for romantic and sensual items.

Conventional Kink

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female conventional-kink factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for orgies, voyeurism, free use, and anonymous-sex items.

Monsters/Animals

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female monsters and animals factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for monsters, bestiality, and furry-related items.

Disgust

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female disgust factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for disgust-related kink items.

Genderplay

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female genderplay factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for genderplay, sissification, futa, and pegging-related items.

Incest/Ageplay

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female incest and ageplay factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for incest and ageplay items.

Cum

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female cum factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for semen, creampie, blowjob, and bukkake items.

Toys

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female toys factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for painful toys, electric toys, and sounding-related items.

Sensory/Roleplay

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female sensory and roleplay factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for latex, leather, smells, textures, and roleplay items.

Ethnicities

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female ethnicities factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for racial-preference items.

Nonconsent

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female nonconsent factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for rapeplay, mindbreak, and bad-end items.

Brutality

Tailcalled diagram for the cis-female brutality factor, showing the latent-score distribution and item-response patterns for violence, body horror, blood, and execution-related items.