Masochism

Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, smoking cigar via Wikipedia

Masochism is a Freudian term denoting a sexual perversion in which a person says they become sexually aroused and enjoy it when another person inflicts pain on them.

While this phenomenon was once entirely underground, a fairly recent Canadian TV documentary revealed that some people believe they are doing nothing wrong by spanking or being spanked for a fee in a controlled situation.

Typically a client takes a submissive, bound posture while a ‘dominatrix’, usually dressed in black leather, spanks them on the exposed buttocks.

The practice might possibly involve unresolved psychological complexes caused by early abuse mingled with a mythic fascination with the aggressive or perhaps evil side of medieval history (e.g. warfare, exploitation, torture).

Meanwhile, several court cases can be found on the web where people are being legally charged for such activities taking place in what is technically called a ‘common bawdy house.’

Search Think Free » Anima, Koan, Sadism, Turning Against the Self

References:

• Charles Rycroft, A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, Harmondsworth: Penguin 1977, p. 88.

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