Sadomasochism is a sexually deviant behavior that is practiced by many people within today’s society. It is the combination of two paraphilias, sadism and masochism, which are usually always linked together. An occasional mild or light form of sadomasochism (or S& M for short), is considerably common among the general population. Many people often enjoy being mildly dominant or submissive during lovemaking. They believe that it makes the experience more enjoyable. But when S&M becomes the dominating feature of a person’s sexuality, that is when he or she is considered deviant. Unlike other paraphilias, sadomasochism includes a large population of women as well as men. They are nearly equally balanced in number.A paraphilia known as masochism is characterized by the desire or need to inflict pain and or humiliation, so that sexual arousal and fulfillment may be achieved. The term “masochism” refers to an Austrian historian and author, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836-1895), who wrote various stories of male submissiveness. These stories consisted of men who received sexual pleasure by having their female partners inflict pain upon them (Ernulf&Innala, p635). A masochist may receive sexual gratification from several different types of pain and or humiliation. Some of these types may include being spanked, being whipped, being made to perform humiliating acts, being rudely insulted, being blindfolded, being disciplined, and being restrained (Rathus, Nevid, &Fichner-Rathus, p545). Being physically bound or restrained is most commonly called sexual bondage and it is a part of bondage and discipline, “where discipline refers to psychological restraining, such as control, training, and nonphysical punishment” (Ernulf&Innala, p637). Some forms of masochism can also be lethal, such as hypoxyphilia. Hypoxyphilia is a fairly common practice where a person chooses to enhance their sexual arousal b...
