Variations in Sexual Behavior

Two Examples: 2. Sadomasochism

Historical Background: Cruelty and Sadism

Two Contemporaries: One cruel, the other sadistic These two historical figures can illustrate the difference between cruelty and sadism. Both men were monstrous and atypical in their own way.The first one used his public cruelty to spread fear at home and abroad; the second used his private sadism for his personal sexual gratification. (Left) Vlad III the Impaler (1431-1476), the original Dracula, was not a vampire, but a ruler of Wallachia (today part of Romania). He was infamous for his cruelty and for the mass excutions of his real or perceived enemies by impaling them on sharpened wooden poles. However, as far as we know, he was not a sadist. (Right) “Gilles de Rais” (1404-1440), Gilles de Montmorency-Laval, Baron de Rais, was a comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc and one the greatest mass murderers in history. He abducted dozens of children - mostly boys – to his castle where he tortured and murdered them. Eventually he was arrested, tried and hanged. His crimes were obviously of a sadistic nature and served, in fact, as models in some of the writings of de Sade. De Rais was also the model for the legend of Bluebeard, a knight who killed each of his many wives soon after the wedding.

History offers many examples of cruel and bloodthirsty rulers, from the Roman emperor Caligula to the Russian czar Ivan the Terrible and the Wallachian Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler. However, their cruelty had nothing to do with the sadomasochism under discussion here. The same is true for the official torturers of the past, who tried to extract confessions from an accused person. They were simply agents of of a legal system of which torture was an integral part. Even the guards in Nazi extermination camps “did their job” according to regulations and derived no erotic pleasure from it. In all of these of these examples, the cruelty is obvious, but the sadism is very much in doubt.
Cruelty and sadism are not the same thing. A behavior is sadistic only if it produces or reinforces sexual excitement. Sadism can be associated with cruelty and violence, but most often it is not. The so-called lust murderers have always been very rare. From time to time, some spectacular cases like that of Gilles de Rais frighten the public and shape the general perception of sadistic behavior, but they are misleading. Most sadists seek to dominate a willing, submissive sexual partner. This can include the infliction of pain, but more typically involves verbal denigration, role playing, and physical immobilization (“tying up”). Such sadomasochistic contact between consenting sexual partners is more common than was formerly believed. Indeed, in the last few decades it has more and more come into the open in many Western countries, and the internet now makes it better known all over the world.