Epidemiology - difficult to estimate frequency in the general population - One study that reviewed available data on the subject estimated that between 5-10% of the population engaged in some masochistic sex play (blindfolding, binding)

- Up to a third of the general population are thought to enjoy masochistic fantasies - fewer than 1% of people probably engage in masochistic sexual behaviour on a regular basis

- More males than females engage in masochistic sexual activities - Positively correlated with socioeconomic status -membership in S & M clubs tends to involve upper-middle class, well educated individuals

- Prostitutes who cater to upper class clients get more requests for sexual domination than do those that cater to the lower class - Sexual masochism also seems to be more popular among white people than black people

- Sexual Masochism is distributed quite differentially historically and cross-culturally - it appears to be absent prior to 1500, but widespread by the 1700’s in Europe and the U.S.

- Overwhelmingly, Western phenonmenon - Reasonable to expect that the frequency with which the behaviour occurs will increase in non-Western cultures with rise in socioeconomic status

- Sexual Masochism appears to be far more common than sexual sadism - Several studies have found fantasies involving sexual masochism outnumbered those involving sexual sadism by a margin of 4:1

- The majority of individuals who enjoy the sadistic role in such activity start out as masochists themselves and then switch roles after a period of time -The two phenomenon are related, but not directly comparable

What Masochists Want & Do - Pain, loss of control, humiliation - Some masochists do not employ pain in their sexual activities, however, over half do - The means by which pain is administered does not vary greatly; spanking (hand vs. paddle/cane/ whip)

- Only a small minority employ other techniques such as dripping hot wax onto bare skin, piercing the skin with needles/knives, rubbing the skin with ice or pinching the skin with clamps

(1) masochists appear to desire their pain to be kept within well defined limits (2) the pain does appear to be unpleasant, but not unbearable Features of Masochistic Pain - Sexual arousal may make the pain more bearable and may be associated with the nudity and skin contact that characterizes these activities

(3) Pain is divorced from its biological function of warning of injury (4) Desire for pain seems to be restricted to sexual activity

- Loss of control is an even more pervasive feature of sexual masochism then pain - bondage - submitting to the rules and commands of another -rules are often arbitrary (and sometimes unattainable) and merely form a pretext for punishing the individual that breaks them

- Important to note that the loss of control that is acted out in sadomasochistic role playing is illusory and performed at the request of the masochist -Masochists work out elaborate scripts pertaining to what they want to happen and this, paradoxically, reduces the sadistic partner to a role player

- Dominant partners who do not stay within the bounds of the script are not seen as desirable partners - Sexual masochists often use prearranged “safe words” to indicate how much pain they should receive

-The degree of control exerted by the masochist is often a means to ensure that he will be able to experience the precise degree of apparent loss of control that is most arousing to him - Some masochists seem to favour sex play in which they are humiliated - Some like to be symbolically converted into an animal, an infant, a slave

- other acts of include verbal insults, kneeling to kiss the partner’s feet, being put on display while naked - performing sex acts that were previously off limits - being urinated or defecated on

Theories of Masochism - research shows that individuals do not engage in sexually masochistic behaviour out of some feelings of guilt - Research shows that guilt does motivate a variety of responses to alleviate guilt, but punishment is not one of them

- Research has shown that sexual masochist do not suffer from any great deal of inner guilt than indivduals in the population at large