"So... do you actually enjoy pain?"

Well... for me, it's really a matter of context.

Toothache? No.

Nipple clamps? Yes.

Stub my small toe against a table leg? No.

Paddling/flogging? Yes.

Kidney stone? No.

CBT? Yes.

Accidental paper cut? No.

Paper cut inflicted by beautiful, dominant woman? Yes.

The bottom line is that the pain must be for someone else to enjoy if I'm going to enjoy it. My pain, my discomfort, my putting up with whatever I must endure, my ability to extend myself, must be for the benefit, the enjoyment, the pleasure, or the fulfillment of someone else. Without someone willing or wanting to receive that gift at the other end, it's just pain, and there's nothing erotic about it. It all comes back to the core of what makes BDSM and D/s what they are for me... an exchange of power. A gift. A surrender of control, of will, of being.

As a side note, I guess this also means I'm not a pure masochist. And as a second side note, this is all within, of course, the context of SSC, and RACK.

The person being given the gift of pain, the gift of submission might not even be around. They could physically be somewhere else and have ordered or are expecting the ordeal. They could have left you in bondage for a while, with or without clamps or spikey things. They may not even know about the pain you are enduring for them. They may not even exist... after a while the fantasy and the pain/stimulus can take a life of its own by association to real events or fantasies. But for me, the pain must be for someone else. And then, that makes it possible to enjoy pain, to find pain erotic, to find it fulfilling.

The pain left after someone has inflicted it can also be incredibly erotic, incredibly powerful. It can stay with me long after the actual encounter. It extends the encounter, extends the gift, extends the submission, and it keeps me in subspace nearly the whole time I can still feel it.

So the answer is... yes and no. I do enjoy pain if it is part of a larger gift I make someone. Someone who will enjoy that gift. Someone who wants to receive from me. Someone who may even want to take it from me. I don't enjoy pain outside of a D/s context, outside of a femdom context. I come across that kind of ordinary pain in my everyday life, and there's nothing erotic or intoxicating about it...