Masochism
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Masochism, the sexual pleasure or gratification of having pain or suffering inflicted upon the self, often consisting of sexual fantasies or urges for being beaten, humiliated, bound, tortured, or otherwise made to suffer, either as an enhancement to or a substitute for sexual pleasure. The name is derived from the name of the 19th century author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, known for his novel Venus in Furs that dealt with highly masochistic themes. A lot has been written on masochism, from Freud to Reik, but one of the best descriptions is by Havelock Ellis:
- "The essence of sadomasochism is not so much "pain" as the overwhelming of one's senses - emotionally more than physically. Active sexual masochism has little to do with pain and everything to do with the search for emotional pleasure. When we understand that it is pain only, and not cruelty, that is the essential in this group of manifestations, we begin to come nearer to their explanation. The masochist desires to experience pain, but he generally desires that it should be inflicted in love; the sadist desires to inflict pain, but he desires that it should be felt as love...." --Havelock Ellis
See also
Theory
- Psychopathia Sexualis
- The Romantic Agony
- Sadism and masochism as medical terms
- In Masochism in Modern Man (1941), Reik argues that patients who engage in self-punishing or provocative behavior do so in order to demonstrate their emotional fortitude, induce guilt in others, and achieve a sense of "victory through defeat."
- Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty
Masochism in culture
- Phantom of Desire, a 2003 exhibition in Graz curated by Peter Weibel.
- Belle de jour
- Je... Ils...
- Les Masochistes
- Laure: the Collected Writings
- Unrequited love
- The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
- Feminism and the Oedipus complex
- Of Human Bondage
- Elizabeth Báthory in popular culture
- Gaylyn Studlar
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