Religion and the theory of masochism

The various aspects of masochistic personality structures provide a useful model for examining familiar elements of ordinary religious life. Overall theories of masochism can be divided into six general categories which trace masochism to 1) a distortion of love, 2) a need for punishment, 3) a payment for future rewards, 4) a strategy of the weak or powerless, 5) a flight from selfhood, or 6) an effort to be an object for others. In each case, religious analogies can be found exhibiting the same dynamics. Thus, certain religious phenomena may provide cultural or collective responses to the psychological needs at the root of masochism.240     

Moral masochism

The author questions the existence of unconscious guild and unconscious need for punishment. His thesis is that the self-destructive acts and sufferings of the moral masochist are not caused by an unconscious need for punishment, but rather by a flight from severe castration anxiety into masochistic acts. The analysis of the latent castration anxiety leads to the maturation of the superego. Clinical material from one case is used to support this thesis. Further material from the same case shows how the moral masochism of adolescence and adulthood grew out of the feminine masochism of latency. In addition, the author discusses another case of moral masochism which reviews the intricate relationship between psychic health and moral codes. The importance of the cultural atmosphere is emphasized, particularly what the moral masochist extracts from it.     

Psychic trauma and masochism

Three analyses are presented in which acute trauma (overwhelming internal or external stimulation so great as to preclude the patient's utilizing his usual defenses adequately) in childhood contributed to the development of masochism. The patients later attempted mastery through repetition, reversal, and erotization , and employed regression as a defense against feared oedipal wishes.     

The social organization of sadism and masochism

Sadism and masochism, traditionally studied as an individual psychopathology, may be more fully understood as a sociological phenomenon. Sadomasochists have developed a subculture characterized by a set of norms, shared ideologies, and a common argot. Contacts among sadomasochists are made through magazine advertisements, participation in clubs and organizations, through exposure to this behavior in other deviant subcultures, and fortuitously.

Sadomasochistic organizations, while differing widely among themselves, serve similar functions for their members: (1) they facilitate sexual and social contacts; (2) they provide members with information about techniques, events, other organizations, films, and so forth; (3) they develop and communicate justifications and apologias enabling people to accept their feelings and behavior as normal; and (4) they enable people to segregate their sadomasochistic needs and behavior from other areas of their lives.