Exploring Masochism

By Alan Fanitzi

There’s a dark bedroom, the lights are out, but you can see the faint figures of two people close to each other. The light comes on and the people burst into sight. One person is naked, bent over on the bed, and the other is dressed in all black and has a whip in one hand and a crazed look on her face, what the hell is going on?!

This dark disturbing sight is masochism at work. It can be best described as individuals inflicting pain on the body for pleasure; this could be sexual or nonsexual. For the majority of us getting whipped by a leather whip will cause us pain, but for a person with masochistic personality disorder (MPD) it gives them pleasure.

How exactly does an individual with MPD get pleasure from pain? The truth is that it all spawns from being sexual aroused.” If someone believes they are in a sexual situation and sexually stimulated, then anything that increases physical arousal of the body will stimulate the brain,” says Bruce Borkosky an experienced psychologist. This type of pain to pleasure arousal can come from any tool the MPD individual has in his/her arsenal, “as long as the mind is saying yes, then it doesn’t really matter if the stimulation is a feather or a leather strap”, added Borkosky.

People with MPD are individuals who, at a young age failed to be successful at a many different things. In time that particular person develops a pleasure feeling from the sensation of failing, which, as time goes by, they try to inflict this pain on themselves. Sam Vaknin an expert on masochists says that masochists tend to choose circumstances that inevitably lead to failure, disillusionment, disappointment, and mistreatment. This could also be looked at as a way of enjoying wallowing self-pity.

“When the masochist fails at these attempts at self-sabotage, he/she reacts with rage, depression, and guilt. She/he is likely to “compensate” for the failure by having an accident or engaging in behaviors that create abandonment, frustration, hurt, sickness, and pain.” says Vakin. This could be where all bondage makes an apperence.

All the whips, black leather, blindfolds that we may see in a Spencer’s store, and just give a weird glance to is there for a certain person. This person could be a masochist, a person who is taught to fail at a young age and learned to enjoy the feeling, thus eventually wanting to punish himself.