Sadism/Masochism

sadism/masochism (sadisme/masochisme) The terms 'sadism' and 'masochism' were coined by Krafft-Ebing in 1893, with reference to the Marquis de Sade and Baron Sacher von Masoch. Krafft-Ebing used the terms in a very specific sense, to refer to a sexual PERVERSION in which sexual satisfaction is dependent upon inflicting pain on others (sadism) or upon experiencing pain oneself (masochism). When Freud took up the terms in his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, he used them in the same sense as Krafft-Ebing (Freud, 1905d). Following Krafft-Ebing, Freud posited an intrinsic connection between sadism and masochism, arguing that they are simply the active and passive aspects of a single perversion. Lacan too argues that sadism and masochism are intimately related, both being related to the invocatory drive (which he also calls the 'sado-masochistic drive'; S11, 183). Both the masochist and the sadist locate themselves as the object of the invocatory drive, the voice. However, whereas Freud argues that sadism is primary, Lacan argues that masochism is primary, and sadism is derived from it: 'sadism is merely the disavowal of masochism' (Sll, 186). Thus, whereas the masochist prefers to experience the pain of existence in his own body, the sadist rejects this pain and forces the Other to bear it (Ec, 778).

Masochism occupies a special place among the perversions, just as the invoking drive occupies a privileged place among the partial drives; it is the 'limit-experience' in the attempt to go beyond the pleasure principle.