The tendency or practice of deriving pleasure, particularly sexual pleasure, from the infliction of suffering or pain on others. (See also sadomasochism.)
The term applied to a form of sexual perversion, in which satisfaction is derived from the in?iction of cruelty upon another person. The condition is commoner in men than in women and is sometimes linked with MASOCHISM (a wish to be hurt or abused).
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
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.)... masochism
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