BDSM no longer a ‘disease’ in Iceland

The practices of bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and Masochism – BDSM for short – are to be removed from Iceland’s official list of diseases, following the lead of its Nordic neighbours.

Denmark declassified BDSM as a disease twenty years ago, and Finland, Norway and Sweden followed suit in 2009-12. The Icelandic Directorate of Health has now issued an official recommendation for the same to happen in Iceland.

The recommendation has the effect of removing dual-role transvestism, fetishism, fetishistic transvestism and sadomasochism from the Icelandic register of diseases.