Sexueller Sadismus und Sexualkriminalität

The categorization of sadism has turned out to be a versatile phenomenon, which covers a spectrum from harmless symbolic rituals to extremely violent acts where strong impulses or prolonged fantasies and rituals are involved. As the phenomenon is versatile its causes and appearances vary as well, although so-called BDSM (bondage & discipline & dominance & submission & sadism & masochism) practitioners and persons with severe sadism in a forensic context share only few common preferences. Based on own clinical experiences with sadism in forensic patients the authors support the proposed revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) especially the diagnostic disjuncture of sadism and masochism. Sexual sadism appears more frequently in forensic contexts in combination with sadistic, antisocial and borderline personality disorders but rarely with masochism. Masochism is otherwise reported to be more prevalent in patients of general psychiatry, however, combined with depression or dependent personality traits rather than with sadism. Moreover, the authors believe that if use of the diagnostic term sadism is perpetuated the establishment of the proposed new diagnosis “paraphilic coercive disorder” is unnecessary. The diagnostic term is also important for treatment and assessment. Despite the lack of reliable long-term studies with larger samples, it is reasonable to assume that medication, sometimes even anti-androgenic treatment, can be indicated in patients with severe sadism.     

The Rod of Discipline: Masochism, Sadism, and the Judeo-Christian Religion

Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, the scenario where a person, often a child, is being beaten by a parent, an authority figure, or even God, is often found. This essay searches for an explanation for this phenomenon by combining Sigmund Freud's thoughts on the masochism of the Oedipus complex and Martin Bergmann's belief that Western religion was impacted by the sadism of the Laius and Jocasta Complexes. The paper argues that, within the section of the Judeo-Christian tradition that sanctions the physical abuse of children, sadism and masochism find the perfect marriage.     

The concept of the death drive: A clinical perspective

This paper discusses Freud 's theory of the death drive in the light of clinical experience with severely self-destructive personality disorders, and contemporary object relations theory. Repetition compulsion, sadism and masochism, negative therapeutic reaction, suicide in depressed and in non-depressed patients, and destructive group processes are explored from this perspective. The paper concludes that the concept of the death drive is clinically relevant, but that this condition needs to be traced to the general dominance of aggressive affects as the primary etiological factor; only under severely pathological circumstances does this dominance lead to a focused drive to self-destruct.     

Becoming the victim: Beyond sadism in serial sexual murderers

The behavior and characteristics of sexually sadistic serial murderers have been described primarily in relation to their paraphilic arousal to the control and torture of their victims. Sadistic sexual murderers who demonstrate both sadism and masochism have been described, but less is known about this type of offender. This article will review a number of hypotheses proposed to explain these behaviors. Next, the authors describe two cases demonstrating a separate phenomenon in which the offender assumes the identity of the victim that has been tortured to enhance his sexual gratification. It is proposed that these cases represent a grandiose form of sadism in which the offender extends his control of the victim beyond life and death. This form of sadism will be distinguished from sadomasochism, and its possible implications will be discussed.     

Sexual sadism and sadistic personality disorder in sexual homicide

Controversies exist about the diagnostic validity of sexual sadism and its relation to sadistic personality disorder in sex offenders. The aim of this study was to investigate which diagnostic, developmental, and criminal characteristics differentiate sexual sadistic from non-sadistic sexual homicide perpetrators. Psychiatric court reports on 166 men who had committed a sexual homicide were evaluated regarding psychiatric, sexual and criminal history. Sixty-one offenders (36.7%) with sexual sadism (SeSd) were compared with 105 (63.3%) offenders without this diagnosis (NSeSd). Besides the sexual sadistic symptoms, there were seven factors that discriminated best between the two groups (sexual masochism, sadistic personality disorder, isolation in childhood, multiple sexual homicide, previous rape, previous tendencies for similar behavior, and long duration of the homicidal act). Sexual sadism is connected with circumscribed other characteristics and has to be considered in risk assessment and treatment of sex offenders.     

Ordinary Sadism in the Consulting Room

The analyst’s retaliatory sadism can be construed as a perversion of the wish to penetrate, just as masochism can be viewed as a degradation of the desire to surrender. When a patient refuses to speak any other language but that of domination and submission, ordinary attempts for communication and recognition fail. In her attempt to reach the patient, to reinstate herself as an active agent and subject, and also to dislodge the patient from a rut of despair, passivity, or malignity, the analyst may escalate to a sadistic response, even if she suspects that this might cause the patient pain. This type of sadomasochistic enactment can gather strength when disowned self-states of analyst and analysand are activated. In this process, an analytic interpretation, seemingly legitimate, can be used as a knife, a weapon, an instrument of retaliation and sadistic control. The disastrous potential of the analyst’s sadism is easy to imagine. Through a couple of clinical vignettes I will demonstrate that even something as lamentable as the analyst’s sadistic retaliation can lead to growth as long as such sadism can enter the analytic dialogue and the patient is allowed to perceive and reflect upon the analytic misbehavior, and the analyst is willing to join the patient in the quest to understand their co-created predicament.     

Gender Differences in Sado-Masochistic Arousal Among College Students

This paper tests three competing explanationsfor male-female differences in sado-masochistic sexualarousal. The male arousal hypothesis posits that becauseof socialization that emphasizes sexual aggression and experimentation (and thus higher levels ofsexual arousal and activity in all areas), men will bemore aroused by both sadism and masochism than women.The female masochism hypothesis argues that because females are socialized to be passive, they willbe more aroused by masochistic (but not sadistic)activities than males. The convergence hypothesis notesthat male female socialization (and differences in most sexual attitudes and behavior) haveconverged in recent years, and hypothesizes that thesame convergence has taken place in arousal caused bysado-masochistic behavior and fantasy. Using a sample comprised of 320 undergraduate students (69%white, 27% African American, 4% other) from a largeurban university in the Southeast, we found no evidencefor the female masochism hypothesis and only weak evidence for the convergence hypothesis. Thestrongest evidence was for the male arousal hypotheses,with males scoring significantly higher than females onseven of the twelve measures of sado-masochistic arousal, and no differently from females on theremaining five.     

The Perverse Mother: Maternal Masochism in Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby

This essay suggests that despite the traditional viewpoint that it seemingly supplements patriarchy's consistent marginalization of maternal bodies, masochism, as formulated by Gilles Deleuze, offers the possibility of a maternal subjectivity beyond paternal domination. Deleuze's conception of masochism reveals an innovative way in which to view maternity as a tactical schema that operates through the perverse disavowal and resexualization of patriarchal law in order not only to destabilize its foundations, but to produce a maternal identity of the mother's own creation. This essay will use Ira Levin's horror novel Rosemary's Baby to contextualize an adaptation of Deleuze's theory in order to account for the relationship between mother and child, and the emergent subjectivity the dyad produces. Levin's novel seamlessly showcases how the maternal body is observed and optimized by reproductive technologies in order to produce not only a heteronormative ideal of maternity, but a child who will reflect paternal law. This essay argues that the titular character, Rosemary Woodhouse, establishes a masochistic contract with her son whereby she reconfigures his identity through a perverse disavowal of the Law of the Father, replacing it with maternal authority. Most important, her performance of masochism results in the marginalization of the father, and the emergence of a new maternal identity.     

When symptom is symbol: some comments on Rosemary Gordon's, ‘Masochism: the shadow side of the archetypal need to venerate and worship’

This paper is a commentary on Rosemary Gordon's paper, ‘Masochism: the shadow side of the archetypal need to venerate and worship’, with a suggestion for an alternative interpretation of masochism as a part of a sado‐masochistic couple. Gordon postulates an archetypal need to venerate and worship that can be hidden in the shadow and distorted in such practices as sexual masochism. Her paper also offers several avenues of exploration for further studies in connection with the phenomenon of masochism, including sexual perversion (‘paraphilia’), chronic psychological victimhood, PTSD and traumatology, religious extremist behaviour such as self‐flagellation, transformation in the individuation process and numinous experience. An extension of her hypothesis to include religious problems of modernity is suggested.     

Between the quills: Schopenhauer and Freud on sadism and masochism

It is a matter of common knowledge that Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) shared a common worldview. Everyone familiar with the works of these two thinkers should recognize their general philosophical affinities. Both men were pessimistic about the power of human reason and attributed human behavior to powerful unconscious forces and, as a result, both were deeply skeptical about the future of human society. Drawing from previous literature, this essay compares the philosophical theory of Schopenhauer with the psychoanalytic theory of Freud. We find that, while Schopenhauer and Freud share a common philosophical orientation and diagnosed the same fundamental problems with life in civilization, they proposed some ostensibly similar, yet ultimately very different solutions. Focusing on each thinker's respective notion of sadism and masochism, this paper tries to understand and come to terms with the dimensions of this radical pessimism.     

Women’s Introduction to Alternative Sexual Behaviors through Erotica and Its Association with Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction

Women’s interests in bondage, discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism (BDSM) behaviors are one of the most poorly understood research topics, even though erotica novels—typically read by women—are increasingly including these activities. The present study explored potential links between women’s engagement in BDSM behaviors, consumption of erotica literature, relationship communication and satisfaction, and overall well-being using a multi-study approach. Results from three exploratory studies using multiple methodologies revealed a positive association between erotica, BDSM behaviors, and physical satisfaction, but brought attention to the relatively little information available for women who are interested in practicing alternative sexual behaviors. Practical suggestions for social scientists and mental health professionals are provided.     

Sexual sadism in sexual offenders: An elusive diagnosis

The present review considers the various conceptual and operational definitions of sexual sadism as this has been diagnosed among sexual offenders. The most persistent problem this review identified concerns the criteria of the fusion of sexual arousal with one or more of the various features of the offenders' actions or of the victims' responses. Not only do the definitions of sadism vary considerably in what it is that is thought to provoke sexual arousal, the operationalization of these definitions also varies. Furthermore, none of the operational definitions appears to satisfactorily or reliably measure sadism. In face of these discouraging observations we recommend abandoning the present diagnostic criteria and shifting to a dimensional approach to defining sadism.     

"Wholly Aflame": Erotic Asceticism in the Work of Sara Maitland

Abstract

The writing of the Christian feminist novelist Sara Maitland has explored the interplay of eroticism, masochism and asceticism in women's spirituality. Maitland's 1984 novel Virgin Territory and 1987 essay "Passionate Prayer: Masochistic Images in Women's Experience" condemns how, in patriarchal Christianity, a model of romantic relationship with God, when compounded by the symbolism of women's sinfulness, results in spiritual masochism for women. In her later work, Maitland's writing takes a more ambivalent attitude, wanting to preserve the "otherness" of historical women mystics and martyrs, also admiring the "purity" of the extremity of their devotion. This reflects Maitland's advocating of an excessive and "unsafe" spirituality, given representation in her fiction and in her pursuit of a solitary lifestyle, as explained in 2008's A Book of Silence.     

Oedipus and Cain: Brothers in arms

Abstract

It is widely known that Freud gives Oedipus a central place in both his psychoanalytic theory and praxis. Freud introduces the Oedipus myth as the crucial key for understanding the tragedy of human life. One of the most problematic issues innate to the human condition is aggression. This paper argues: (1) that Freud's insights into human aggression can at the very least be viewed as one-sided and problematic; and (2) that the heuristic potential of the Oedipus myth is, correspondingly, limited. It considers how the Hungarian psychiatrist and analyst, Lipót Szondi, tries to bridge this gap using the myth of Cain and Abel. The aim of this paper is to explore how Szondi's interpretation of this myth offers a much more subtle approach to human aggression. Szondi's alternative and distinctive look at aggressive phenomena offers an exciting and fruitful addition to Freud's interpretation as exclusively referring to sadism and/or the death instinct. This contribution wants to highlight Szondi's amendment to Freud's Oedipus and aims to show that psychoanalysis can benefit from taking into account the mythical figures of Cain and Abel.     

Surrender as a Developmental Achievement in Couple Systems

This article explores the concept of surrender in couple relationships. It proposes that the ability to allow oneself to “surrender” to one's partner is a developmental achievement that enhances intimacy between partners. Rather than conceptualizing the act of surrender as an indication of submissive behavior and/or the abuse of power dynamics in the relationship, it is argued that surrender can be growth promoting for individuals in the context of their relationship. The article expands the conceptualization of Emmanuel Ghent's (1990) classic paper that differentiated the concepts of masochism, submission, and surrender. The concepts of the paper are illustrated in a summary of clinical work with a heterosexual couple.     

Envy: the canker in the bud

This paper explores the relevance of the concept of moral masochism as a response to early trauma and the implications of this for psychotherapy.

Consideration is given to early conceptualisations of moral masochism within the psychoanalytic literature, in particular, the move from drive theory to object relations. More recent developments in relation to trauma and defences, such as disassociation, are explored. It is suggested that a more complex and fuller understanding requires thinking about the subtle and shifting interaction of both these levels. This allows the possibility of building a more nuanced understanding which can look at both behaviour, as described in the trauma literature, and meaning which is the core of a more classical psychoanalytic approach.

Case histories are used to illustrate the linkages between moral masochism and trauma and the transference and countertransference dynamics and challenges involved. Progress varied in these cases, with both positive and negative outcomes. This theoretical background is used to suggest why this may be so.     

Masochism and piety

A recent tract,The Whipping, is parallel in many ways to both Victorian flagellation pornography and medieval flagellation penance movements. The spirituality ofThe Whipping is seen to be basically masochistic. The same trend is easily seen inmuch standard pietistic literature. The question is raised whether the spiritual masochism does not represent a repressed and sublimated sexual masochism. If so, then Christians should ask themselves if they can consistently condemm sexual masochism while advocating its spritual counterpart, or vice versa.     

The observing ego as voyeur

A resistance to self-observation and self-reflection is discussed in which there is a perversion of the observing ego. The observing ego has been unconsciously recruited in the service of enacting an unconscious fantasy: the fantasy of being an excited observer of a primal scene who is punished for making forbidden observations. This voyeuristic observing ego is pathologically enmeshed in a love triangle with the patient's seductive superego (i.e. identification with the desired but unfaithful parent) and with the patient's punitive superego (i.e. identification with the rivalrous parent). This unconscious scenario is played out in the clinical situation as the patient unreflectively cycles through phases of denial (i.e. self-seduction) and moral masochism (i.e. self-betrayal). A case study illustrates how humor may be employed to free the observing ego from being enthralled by a perverse superego. Humor may unconsciously enable a rebellious attitude toward the omnipotent sadism of a perversely oppressive superego and thus enable the observing ego to break free from its pathological enmeshment.     

Freud: Dictionary of Psychoanalysis Edited by N. Fodor and F. Gaynor

Acting out should be expected in the treatment of incest victims. These persons attempt to communicate through actions a plethora of confusing feelings resulting from the incest; such actions occur outside the therapy sessions and their meanings are out of the patient's awareness. Working through the underlying feelings is the necessary therapeutic task. It is unlikely that acting-out behavior will be completely eliminated, but the development of self-acceptance and a willingness to explore the meaning of the behaviors are reasonable and attainable therapeutic goals with the help of the other group members.

Three areas of acting out are elucidated: sex, power and sadism, and self-destructiveness. Clinical vignettes drawn from the authors' experience conducting group psychotherapy are used to illustrate both acting out and working through.