A Tiktok Trend Claimed Kink Is Genetic & Exasperated Kink Experts Quickly Debunked It

A TikTok trend which claimed that kinks are genetically determined and can be traced back to particular ancestors has gone viral, reaching 5.4 million views on TikTok and over 6 million on X – but the kink community has been quick to debunk the claim.

Immediate reactions to the video range from anecdotes confirming the theory to disgust at the thought of family members having sexual histories – a top comment reading “I don’t wanna know I don’t wanna know I don’t wanna know I don’t wanna know.”

Kink comes from ‘dominant’ gene, claims Tiktok

“I need to tell you about how kinks are genetically passed and how to trace them back to each family member,” said the initial TikTok which kicked off the trend, by user mox1e_rox1e. 

In a follow up TikTok, mox1e_rox1e elaborated: “You can track your kinks by looking at your parents and even your grandparents. How it works is you will get the kinks or your kinks will be heavily dominated or influenced by the parent of the opposite biological sex.”

“I am biologically female, so I may or may not get a lot of kinks from my dad, and he may or may not get a lot from his mom, and so on and so forth.

“Also, a lot of your kinks can actually be an accumulation and mixture of a lot of different previous kinks …  say hypothetically you’re into puppy play. One of your parents may be into BDSM and another may be into animal and non-human things and they both mix into puppy play.”

“Let’s just hypothetically say I am into tentacles. So my dad would have been into animals and my mom would have been into water … My dad’s animal part is much more dominant than my mom’s water parts; when they mix together they make a tentacle kink.”

The kink community has quickly debunked the Tiktok kink claim

Kink influencers have come out of their dungeons en masse to debunk the theory.  

Dr Inna, a psychologist on TikTok with 1.1 million followers, stitched the original video with the caption “What kind of a timeline glitch is this when we are talking about THIS again? It originated in a Rutger’s satirical publication. Not in actual science. Just stop!”

Evie Lupine released a video debunking the trend and discussing the satirical article in question. In it, the author Jizelle Cuchy writes about a fictional study proving that fetishes are passed down through generations.

Her video links the discussion of kink heritability to a deeper feeling of being rejected by society and confused by desires that seem deep and unchangeable.

“The desire to find a real concrete scientific reason for why we are the way that we are still endures. Not least of all for kinky folk, who are often left in the dark about why they are so different from their peers or romantic interests.”

“Science is seen as giving unassailable legitimacy, which is tempting for a misunderstood group. 

“Wouldn’t it be nice to go ‘oh I like this thing because it runs in my family the way eye colour does’ and call it a day rather than agonising over the shame you feel about your kinks? Wondering why God cursed you to enjoy hurting people or to want to be hurt yourself?”

Is TikTok driving misinformation?

Master student of Digital Cultures Veronica Fanzio sees the kink community on TikTok (kinktok) as a continuum that can both promote harmful practices and be a source of education and liberation.

Interviews with kinktok creators reveal that many started their accounts in response to misinformation and bad practices being taught on the platform. 

However, research has shown that misinformation spreads faster because it’s more surprising, while debunking only remedies false beliefs in the immediate topic it’s discussing without helping users identify misinformation in the future.

What does science actually say about kink and genetics?

A 2022 survey of kinky people’s beliefs about the origins of their kinks found that almost a quarter believed they were biological in origin, while more than a third saw it as a result of benign life experiences, and almost three-quarters linked it to a personality trait like adventurousness or love of learning. 

A review of the literature in 2022 noted that the majority of the population have some interest in kinky activities, and a sizable minority have tried some form of kink. The review notes that while some studies have started to look into the potential biological and psychological origins of kinky desire, no conclusions have yet been found.

Some experts have argued that an interest in BDSM is linked to sensation-seeking, a trait that has some genetic component, though other studies have not found a link between being kinky and having a particular personality type.

It’s currently impossible to say whether kink has a genetic basis, but as with most things in biology: it’s likely to be quite complex.