title: Understanding sadomasochism: an empirical examination of four perspectives.
abstract: Three studies assessed current understandings of sadomasochism (SM). In Study 1 questionnaires testing four academic views of SM were administered to individuals who self-defined as involved in SM. The psychoanalytic, psychopathology/medical model, radical feminist and escape-from-self perspectives were not supported. Study 2 examined "virtual" sadomasochism as a source of information about sadomasochists in the real life world. Cluster analyses indicated that real-life and virtual sadomasochists share unique sexual proclivities. Study 3 examined an alternative view that identifies power as the commodity of importance in SM play. Content analysis of online SM encounters indicated that both "top" and "bottom" role-players used several specific techniques to create a power differential. These studies suggest that, contrary to many academic theories, power, and not the giving and receiving of pain, is at the core of SM.
authors.affiliation: Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada. patriciacross@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Cross
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matheson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D005201:Fantasy; D005260:Female; D019513:Feminism; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008398:Masochism / Q000523:psychology*; D010146:Pain; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D012448:Sadism / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires