S&M and Fetishism

english aths42@dsl.pipex.com

Sadism

Sadism I understand, from a scientific point of view, the conscious or unconscious cruelty and torment towards a living creature, very often in conjunction with a feeling of lust on the part of the tormentor which in extreme cases can lead to ejaculation and orgasm.

The name "sadism" was introduced to science for the first time by Krafft-Ebing; it derives from the name of Marquis de Sade (1740 - 1814). His writings are full of descriptions of scenes of cruelty, torment and torture. According to contemporaries, he liked to sit by a drain with a bouquet of beautiful white roses and delight in their perfume - only to tear them into shreds and cast them into the sewage a moment later - which gave him evident ecstasy.

The concept of sadism is today closely associated in the mind of a cultured person with a picture of blood and murder, particularly with a sexual background. This is rational up to a point as these are related phenomena, but one should take into account that sexual murder is an exception, lightning striking out of the clear sky of common sadism beneath which we constantly live and function - seeing nothing evil in it.

The sadist sleeps within each of us, but this in no way means that we are all criminals. In order to avoid misunderstandings, we will first of all establish just what is sadism in the true meaning of the word. Well - the word "sadism" means the feeling of ecstasy of a sexual nature which the sight of physical or moral suffering instills in people.

I have already tried to explain this fact, quoting the views of Krafft-Ebing, Freud, Bloch and others, but I also wish to add Havelock-Ellis's opinion which takes on a special significance where sadism is concerned. Having established that the act of copulation in the whole animal world is associated with greater or lesser cruelty (spiders, cats, etc.), Havelock-Ellis considers that fighting, brutality and rape have the same biological value as ritual dancing, billing and cooing have for birds.

All these activities stimulate and cause an influx of blood to the sex organs. Thus they are a kind of preparation for the sex act.

The same thing happens also with sadism, which frequently is indeed one of the manifestations of the sex act. We note phenomena of this kind even today among certain New Zealand peoples. There, a young man must take his chosen bride by force from her family home. And, because the women are strongly built, a fierce struggle often results - not infrequently ending with the man's defeat. He then loses the right to that woman, even though he has already paid a rich dowry to her parents.

And among working-class women here we also not infrequently encounter on their necks, arms and breasts traces of the sadistic tendencies of their husbands or lovers - which the women wear proudly as a sign of "love". Among Slavonic people there is a common belief that only the husband who beats his wife loves her. In one of the Russian authors we come across a description of a country funeral during which the breadwinner's widow loudly laments: "And who will beat me now?" as she follows the coffin.

This innocent sadism - if I can put it that way - can lead to sexual murder after passing through various stages. In the classic case, Greybeard was a sadist-murderer; the same can be said of Jack the Ripper in London; and, in our time, of Landru (Paris), Harmann (Berlin) and of the famous "Vampire of Düsseldorf".

This type of sadist can find a substitute for crime in watching the battles or the suffering of animals - but we will come back to that later. The sadist frequently finds sensual ecstasy in merely tormenting his victims, and not necessarily by deed, at that - sometimes words cause greater pain than the whip.

Of course, one cannot consider someone who in a professional capacity is sometimes obliged to "torment" his fellows to be a sadist - as, for example, an investigating judge examining the accused, or the prosecutor accusing him, or the doctor causing the patient pain by curative procedures, etc.

But it is something entirely different if a mother, father, teacher or guardian administers unduly severe corporal punishment to their child or pupil. If, let us say, the teacher awards a pupil a common "D", there is nothing abnormal in that. But if the same teacher painstakingly writes a large, thick letter in the ledger, at the same time delighting in the sight of the despairing expression on the young culprit's face, that looks somewhat suspicious. The same can be said of superiors, lawyers, doctors, officers, etc. - in a word, of anyone who abuses their position and power in order to torment their subordinates, who are forced to endure in silence.

Who can tell why someone chooses this or that occupation?

It is, after all, possible that in choosing an occupation the sadist is subconsciously guided by a sexual intuition pushing him towards an occupation where there is contact with living people (doctor, prosecutor, etc.) or with living animals (veterinarian, butcher, coach driver, etc.).

Those who torment animals and people should always arouse in us suspicions in a certain direction! While cruelty to children, no matter under what guise, clearly indicates sadistic tendencies in the one committing it.

Children at play and sport often betray much cruelty. For instance, they pretend to be a doctor, or an executioner, or a member of a firing squad shooting a deserter, etc. For the most part this is mimicking things seen and heard in their immediate environment.

Something is not as it should be in marriages where every coitus is preceded by quarrels, rows, recriminations, verbal and physical abuse. And who knows if the true basis of these "scenes" is not the sadistic tendency of one of the spouses.

Thousands of marital, official and generally human conflicts and tragedies are hidden beyond the invisible veil of sadism!

Whoever notices in themselves the least manifestations of sadism should examine themselves - because only self-criticism can keep the cruel beast of sadism on a tight leash.

If we establish any anomalies of this kind in someone close to us we should persuade them to seek professional advice - because the realization of the true nature of some inclinations and preferences can achieve a great deal. Temptations towards sadism must be resisted and they must not be allowed to develop. They should be eradicated in oneself from the start - or, at the very least, their influence should be restricted to a minimum.

Sadism not only makes itself felt in the lives of the individuals. It also plays a very serious role in public life.

Through all time and in all nations we encounter sadism not only in individuals whose names have passed into history, such as Nero, Ivan the Terrible and others, but also in general life as a characteristic symptom of mass psychology.

In his "Psychology of a Crowd" Gustave le Bon quotes a sizeable number of such cases of mass sadism, pointing to the "night of St. Bartholomew", the fall of the Bastille, activities of the Commune in 1871, etc. Common history is really an uninterrupted flow of sadistic acts in which not only individual persons, but entire nations participate.

It is sufficient to point to wars which people conduct among themselves almost from the creation of the world. Culture and civilization stand for naught; for naught are the almighty inventions of human genius; it is nothing that we have radio, television and airplanes. Man manages to adapt all these inventions and benefits of culture to mutual destruction - for such is human nature!

Let us realise exactly what were the gladiatorial contests in ancient Rome; and what, to this day, are the bull fights in Spain; what is boxing in the public arena and cock fights in South America? - they are all symptoms of the same phenomenon - mass sadism. In the same category of phenomena must be included Lynch's trials still being conducted in the land of the dollar, and the persecution of Negroes; the general tormenting of the smaller and the weaker; persecution of Jews; witch hunts during the Inquisition; slavery and a whole range of more or less-known phenomena in the public life of various nations.

The instinct of cruelty is an innate symptom in us, the best proof being the well-known cruelty of children. Schopenhauer attempted to explain this phenomenon psychologically, stating that the inflicting of pain on someone masks and eases one's own suffering; while the English psychologist, Bain, maintains that cruelty is a product of the awareness of one's own strength and power. The apostle and glorifier of this might of the "superman" is - as is well known - Nietzsche, who approves and sanctions cruelty in his works as an essential component of development of higher culture. It is not for nothing that the Germans pay tribute, especially in recent times, to this view held by their countryman.

Surely we all recall from our schooldays descriptions of gladiatorial contests and the cruelties of the Roman crowds which ordered a beaten and helpless opponent to be finished off by a single downward movement of their thumbs.

Do the persecutions of Christians in Rome, so vividly portrayed by Sienkiewicz in "Quo Vadis?", not arouse horror? Are these examples of cruelty not also classical examples of sadism in the ancient world?

Yes, the reader may say, that is how things were in barbaric times, but today in our cultured times such things are surely impossible?

Yet he would be mistaken who thought that modern culture has totally eradicated our atavistic inclinations with their sadistic overtones. Today, as in classical Rome, we still have a mass of examples in everyday public life which eloquently testify that wild instincts have not altogether died out within us; they merely slumber in the crannies of our souls, awaiting their chance to explode with elemental force, like lightning, illuminating for a fraction of time the bottomless depths of the human soul.

We need only to look at present day entertainment in cultured Europe. Boxing matches watched at very high prices by crowds of thousands, from ordinary youths to the most particular representatives of the aristocracy, not excluding their elegant ladies. A thrill of emotion runs through the spectators like an electric current at the sight of a successful knock-out which shatters the contestant's nose as, covered in blood, he falls to the canvas. This thrill of delight - that is nothing other than disguised sadism and one pays high prices to satisfy this instinct.

One should call a spade a spade, because human hypocrisy has managed to smuggle through this pleasure for itself by claiming boxing to be beneficial to the physique. As is known, it is a most favoured "sport" in England and America.

Let us take a second example: the bull fight - national entertainment in Spain and equally well-liked in Southern France. Is it necessary to prove that we are dealing here with open sadism? What else is the sight of disemboweled horses for the crazed mob if not fodder for its sadistic instincts?

Poor Rosinantes, bearing splendid picadors on their emaciated backs, appearing in the arena only to fall victim inevitably to the maddened Andalusian bull which buries its bayonet-like horns in the entrails of the innocent animal. And the final moment, when the tension of the crowd rises to its climax as the idol of that crowd, the toreador, waits, dripping gold and with rapier in hand, to plunge it into the back of the maddened bull up to the hilt - is all that not public sadism?

Cases have been described in medical literature (Stekel, Bloch), where spectators experienced sexual orgasm in the critical moments of the fight - which is the best proof of the basis of these favorite "national pastimes".

One must also include among such pastimes cock fighting and many other events associated with the risk of death or crippling.

Apart from these, all sorts of races, competitions, contests, hunts and similar sporting "performances" usually enjoy attendances commensurate with the degree of risk and the expectation of accidents.

Also let us look at what happens at the scene of a street accident: hundreds of people dash to the place of catastrophe not, by any means, to assist - and, after all, how can a layman assist someone run over by a tram, for example? - but only in order to see something. If not the actual victim, then at least traces - human blood! This is clearly sadism, disguised by a cloak of unhealthy curiosity or, what is worse, pity.

Things are no better today in the theatre: solid plays "don't go". On the other hand sensational, emotive plays are "box office" regardless of content - or the lack of it.

The same thing in cabaret, vaudeville, circus, etc. - everywhere the public demands death-defying items and programs devoid of "walls of death" or other "salto mortale" do not succeed. And the political scene in various countries in recent times?...

To summaries - we conclude that today also there is no lack of symptoms of sadism in our public life, and not only in individuals, but among the masses.

Neither culture nor civilization have succeeded in weeding out from the human soul its atavistic tendencies towards cruelty. In his hard, daily battle for existence man seeks forgetfulness of his suffering in the sight of the suffering of others - shouting today, as once did Roman crowds: "Bread and circuses!".

In turn we now move on to masochism - that antithesis of sadism.

Sado-Masochism

Masochism lies at the opposite pole to sadism and is no less frequent a phenomenon in individual/social life than the latter.

The name was also introduced into science by Krafft-Ebing. It derives from the name of Austrian writer, Sacher-Masoch (1836 - 1895), who constantly returned to a certain topic in his writings, as to a "leitmotif" - namely: he described a proud mistress ("Venus in furs") with a whip in hand, as the emblem of "lording it" over a slavishly devoted and helpless male - the masochist. Almost all the heroines of his novels were satanic women who tormented and destroyed men.

Krafft-Ebing considers masochism in women as a pathological symptom which is as if a recollection of inherited obedience and subservience of her female ancestors. Masochism is the most common perversion among women, as sadism is among men, although there is no lack of reversed or mixed examples; there are individuals who have within their sex drive sadistic as well as masochistic elements.

Whereas the sadist seeks sexual stimulation and satisfaction in this or that act of cruelty, the masochist - male or female - finds sexual ecstasy by exposing themselves to physical and moral suffering.

Flagellation (whipping) is the most common form of masochism. There are even whole sects of flagellants, condemned by the church and the law. The enduring of suffering and humiliation of all kinds is a characteristic property of masochism.

I know a case where an abandoned lover regained the regard of his beloved who had ran away from him when, meeting again afterwards for the first time, he gave her a severe "walloping".

Thus we see that sexual purpose is totally deformed in a masochist - perhaps more so than in a sadist - because the male or female masochist can do without the sex act altogether. Suffering alone can result in sexual satisfaction, completely substituting for the sex act which becomes superfluous. In many cases, however, masochistic practices are a preparation for the sex act itself.

The male sadist is more normal than the male masochist in the same way as a female masochist is closer to the norm than the female sadist.

The male masochist is always attracted by a large, energetic, evocative woman possessing many male elements (Weininger's "M"). He prefers a woman who is self-supporting because this proves her vital energy - rather than a "quiet mouse" from a good home.

His attitude to such a woman can perhaps only be compared to the attitude of a servant or slave towards the master and ruler.

The masochist wants to be beaten and humiliated, frequently demanding that the woman should treat him like a dog (literally).

As far as the female sadist is concerned, she is attracted by a delicate man of average build, gentle manner and quiet voice; she cannot tolerate hairiness and other distinctly male characteristics. In a word, she prefers a man who has in him a lot of femininity ("F" - according to Weininger's theory).

The differences described above were called "metatropism" by Hirschfeld - which literally means a change of attraction.

Hirschfeld ("Sexualpathologie"), cites George Sand (Musset's and Chopin's lover) as a classic type of such a woman-metatropist; while Katarina Medici (night of St. Bartholomew) was a classic sadist.

The female metatropist is a woman who is, above all, self-sufficient and independent of men. One who, by her own persistent work and will-power often achieves a significant social position.

Such, in general terms, are the characteristic properties of these most frequently encountered sensual disturbances.

It also happens quite often that both these perversions unite in one individual. We are then faced with a person who finds ecstasy not only in tormenting someone else, but also in tormenting themselves and in self-flagellation by word or deed. By tormenting him or her self such a person also torments those nearest to them - which provides them with a double delight.

To torment and be tormented - that is the objective of the sado-masochist.

Closest to these perversions, and no less widespread, is - and always has been - so-called fetishism.

Fetishism

With one of us knows and has observed that, as a rule, we are strongly impressed not by a whole person as such but by some "portion" of them - regardless of whether it is a part of the body, or dress, or their mind (some individual characteristic). One person is fascinated by a voice, others may be irresistibly charmed by a special look; the sight of a leg casts a spell over others still or, as often happens, even the mere sight of a shoe.

Before W.W.I there were those whose fetish was the pigtail and who would cut off women's long, plaited tresses. With modern hair fashions this type of fetishist is dying out. And it is in this fascinating, as if spell-binding effect of a certain part or portion that there lies the crux of the question raised here, known generally under the name of fetishism.

Hirschfeld quite correctly called fetishism "Teilenziehung", which means attraction by some part. Because that, in fact, is what happens in fetishism, where a portion plays a role in place of the whole ("pars pro toto).

The word "fetishism" derives from the Portuguese "fetiço", or the Italian "fetisso", meaning spell, charm, etc. - in a word, something like an amulet or talisman. Binet (1887) introduced the name "fetishism" to science and it has been universally accepted since then.

Fetishism is incredibly widespread over the whole world. Actually, it can be boldly claimed that every normal person is a fetishist. And so it is in fact. Fetishism is a normal and universal phenomenon.

Krafft-Ebing was not correct, therefore, in including this phenomenon also among deviations with a degenerate background. If one can speak of pathological fetishism, it is only in its ultimate forms - when the "portion" permanently supplants the "whole". Usually, however, it happens that as the whole sex object approaches, so fetishism takes second place. It plays an attracting and intermediary role at commencement of sexual relations - and, with closeness, a stimulating one. In normal fetishism the fetish never completely supersedes the proper sex objective, i.e. the sex act.

On the other hand, in pathological fetishism the fetish serves as the whole and the sexual objective (copulation) becomes superfluous.

In pathological fetishism the detail excludes the whole. Binet calls this "large" fetishism, as distinct from the normal, which the author calls "little fetishism".

And so, for example, a certain fetishist reports that the sight of elegant female shoes stimulates him extraordinarily and that it has happened that the mere touching of the penis with such a shoe roused him to orgasm and even ejaculation.

A certain shoemaker-fetishist told me that he felt strong sexual arousal for the first time as a small boy while fastening the shoe of a girl he knew. He has dreamt of shoes constantly since then and the incident decided his choice of occupation. It was only because of it he became a shoemaker rather than a baker - to which occupation he was strongly urged by his family - so as to be able to have frequent contact with female footwear - his fetish.

Of course, we are dealing with pathological fetishism in this instance because for this individual the fetish entirely sufficed as an object.

It is a different matter if someone in love "crystallises" some characteristic or some peculiarity or detail of the loved one. This is normal in every love affair, or even in normal empathy. In such normal instances of fetishism even imperfections can become fetishes, which then acquire a special charm, so that the unsightly can seem attractive. Thus a certain man fell in love only with women who limped, while another only with those marred by smallpox scars, etc.

In the chapter on the frigid woman I mentioned a lady who married a legless cripple. In this case the legless human trunk played the role of a fetish - and this in a person normal in every respect.

Apart from individual fetishes there are also national fetishes which act upon whole groups of people.

Let us take as an example our Polish fetish - the leg. What Pole is not influenced by a slim, beautiful female leg? Do we not look at the legs more often than at the face? Our first glance is definitely directed to the leg, and only then to the face. And so Polish women are famous the world over for their legs because, eventually, the national fetish had to be accepted!

The same cannot be said of the Germans, who pay almost no attention to legs; thus German women do not have legs, only limbs. Instead, the German's fetish is the beautiful hair of Grätchen or Lorelei.

For Russian intelligentsia "dark eyes" are the fetish, while for the common people it is the "well set-up wench". For the French it is the figure; for the Italians - the voice, etc.

In a word, there is no part of the body, dress or function (especially the walk, voice, movement, etc.) which cannot be a fetish for one person or another.

In addition, every foreign man or woman, or a person of another race, will be a fetish possessing the powerful charm of novelty.  The exotic is known as a European fetish in the same way as white people are a fetish to coloured ones.

Among individual fetishes a special role is played by the hair, especially the colour and coiffeur, which have always been most important equally in the lives of primitive and coloured nations. Light blond hair has an irresistible charm and is a powerful fetish. This is well known to prostitutes, for whom blond hair is almost a professional characteristic. Very often a beautiful, slim hand can be the fetish which can decide a woman's fate.

I have already spoken about legs as a fetish. The same can be said of large, beautiful eyes, which are a very powerful fetish. Body odours also play the role of fetishes. (Maupassant took advantage of this in one of his novels).

Furs, silk stockings, panties or blouses are also frequent fetishes; even the colour of these items of dress plays the role of a fetish.

Such, in general outline, are the manifestations of this interesting and extraordinarily widespread sexual deviation.

One should also stress that first childhood impressions, accidentally connected with emotion in the sexual sphere, are a material cause of the origins of fetishism (shoemaker - fetishist - female footwear). For that matter, the same can be said about the majority of sensual deviations.