What Is Sadomasochism?

Sadomasochism is a paraphilia that combines both sadistic and masochistic sexual behavioral patterns. The main characteristic of sadomasochism is the eroticizing of pain.

What appears to the outsider to be painful, is experienced as somewhat painful but mostly pleasurable and very sexually arousing to the sadomasochist.

The sadist in the sadomasochistic pair is the person who inflicts the pain or punishment; the masochist is the person who submits to the pain, humiliation or control of his or her partner. Sadomasochists tend to alternate between the masochistic and sadistic roles.

The majority of people engaging in these behaviors do so with an understanding of the risks and stay within carefully predetermined limits.

The History, Psychology and Biology of Pleasure and Pain

BDSM is an abbreviation for many subdivisions of the culture: B&D (bondage and discipline), D/s (domination and submission), S&M (sadism and masochism).

Sadism and masochism are derived from the authors Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.

The German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing introduced the terms sadism and masochism into the medical terminology in 1890. In 1905 Sigmund Freud described sadism and masochism as diseases developing from an incorrect development of the child psyche and laid the groundwork for the scientific perspective on the subject.

Biology of Pleasure & Pain / Sex & Violence

Pain, violence, sex and love all are associated with the release of a variety of hormones and chemicals within the human body. Furthermore, humans have been shown to exhibit sympathetic responses in their bodies while watching, hearing, or imagining such experiences.

• Endorphins are released by pain experiences and can be perceived as pleasurable and possibly psychologically addictive. It is due to this same release of endorphins that people can become addicted to self harm.
• Brain chemicals such as serotonin and melatonin can be affected by emotional or stressful experiences.
• Epinephrine and norepinephrine are released during stressful or painful experiences, and can cause a pleasurable 'rush'.

The effects of S&M on body chemistry possibly reinforce the behavior and therefore might create psychological states that seek to further such behavior.

SM: Sadism, Masochism, Domination, Submission

SM is not trifling nor aberrant. Fantasy and play are universal, and SM is everywhere, in all cultures, all societies, all historical periods.

SM is not sexist. Sexism tries to impose dominant-submissive roles according to our physical sex organs. SM lets us choose our roles according to our fantasies. Thus SM includes dominant women and submissive men.

Some people think sadomasochism is wrong because they think people should be as equals in sex. But that's simplistic politics and simplistic sex, too. We human beings are equal only in law; otherwise we're all different, individual and unique. SM, like other good relationships, honors individuality by using the talents of each for the good of both.

Sadomasochism is a loosely defined subculture. Much SM is gentle, and many of the gentler practitioners prefer to call it "D&S" for "Dominance and Submission," or "B&D" for "Bondage and Discipline." They reserve S&M for the pain and rough stuff. Another comment is "Shared and Mutual". But rough or gentle and whatever you want to call it, it's all based on deliberate roles of domination and submission.

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