DEFINITION:
The term “sadomasochism” refers to amental disorder characterized by taking sexual pleasure from either inflicting (sadism) or suffering (masochism) harsh pain.
ETYMOLOGY:
The term “sadomasochism” was coined by the German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840–1902) in his textbook Psychopathia Sexualis, published in 1886.
The first element in the term, “sado-,” derives from the French novelist Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (1740–1802). The Marquis de Sade was notorious for his “philosophical novels”—notably, Justine [Justine] (1791) and Philosophie du boudoir [Philosophy in the Bedroom] (1795)—which, along with long discourses on atheism and moral nihilism, contained explicitly pornographic scenes presenting the infliction of pain as a means of achieving sexual arousal.
The second element in the term, “masoch-,” derives from the Austrian author, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch(1836–1895). Sacher-Masoch wrote a wide variety of journalism, essays and fiction, including stories and novels on socialist and utopian themes. However, he is best known for his 1870 erotic novella Venus im Pelz (Venus in Furs), whose hero is depicted as being sexually excited by being “dominated” (including whipped) by the female protagonist, who was modeled on a real-life member Vienna’s Bohemian underground.
The third element of the term, the suffix “-ism,” derives, via Middel English and Middle French, from the Classical Latin nominal suffix, -ismus, which is related to the Greek suffix, -ismos.
DISCUSSION:
Following Krafft-Ebing’s introduction of the concept of “sadomasochism” as a theoretical category for the scientific investigation of what may be presumed to be a collection of age-old deviant sexual practices, the originator of modern psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) further developed the analysis of the phenomenon in his early work, notably, in his Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie [Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality] published in 1905.
Freud saw sadomasochism, like most forms of neurosis, as deriving from childhood trauma leading to abnormal psychological (in this case, psychosexual) development.
After Freud, the notion of “sadomasochism” became widely recognized by the international medical community. One might say that Krafft-Ebing’s brainchild received its official stamp of approval by being included in the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, first published in 1952.
This inclusion took of the form of two categories, “sadistic personality disorder” and “masochistic personality disorder.” However, these twin disorders were subsequently eliminated from the DSM’s fifth edition (DSM-5), published in 2013.
There has been much speculation concerning the psychological mechanisms by virtue of which the infliction and suffering of harsh pain may provide sexual gratification. For example, sadism is said to be connected to the enjoyment involved in exercising power over other people, while masochism is thought to derive its pleasurability from the surrender of one’s will to another person, thus escaping from one’s responsibilities. Naturally, these explanations can be, and have been, hotly disputed.
Today, the very idea of “paraphilia” (sexual deviancy) has come under political suspicion. All consensual sex acts are now considered to be morally and medically equal, with the “privileging” of any particular set of practices over another being tarnished with the brush of an outdated “patriarchal” assumption of what constitutes “normal” sexuality.
This type of critique overlooks the fact that the notions of “illness,” “disease,” “disorder,” dysfunction,” and so on are inherently “normative.” It is unclear how either psychiatry or medicine in general can get along without such concepts.