A chronic desire to be physically, mentally, or emotionally abused. The term masochism is used to refer to the achievement of sexual excitement by means of one’s own suffering through activities such as bondage, flagellation, and verbal abuse. (See also sadism; sadomasochism.)
A condition in which a person gets pleasure from physical or emotional pain in?icted by others or themselves. The term is often used in the context of achieving sexual excitement through in?icted pain. Masochism may be a conscious or subconscious activity.
Any type of pleasurable sexual practice which society regards as abnormal. Deviation may be related to the activity, such as EXHIBITIONISM or sadomasochistic sex (see SADISM; MASOCHISM); or to the sexual object, for example, shoes or clothes (fetishism). Di?erent cultures have di?erent values, and treatment is probably not required unless the deviation is antisocial or harmful to the participant(s). Aversion therapy, or the conditioning of a person’s behaviour, may help if treatment is considered necessary.... sexual deviation
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