Is there a link between narcissism and sexual sadism?

Answer 1

Sexual sadism has almost become a cult in it's own right and has been going on for centuries. All different personalities fit into the catagory. It's a preference by an individual even though over half of us may not understand why anyone would want to go through these actions. There are actually clubs that S & Mers can belong to and it's very private. Like "adrenaline junkies" (taking high risks in sports-related activities) people who seek out sadistic sex of any type (thank heavens most are harmless and they keep it amongst themselves) are not satified with "tame sex" and find no pleasure in it. Believe it or not there are more people than you can ever imagine who enjoy having pain inflected on them before the sexual act (sometimes that's all they want) during the sexual act and feel quite satisfied at the end of it all. If a narcissistic person happens to join one of these clubs or has a private life including S & M acts then that's all it is ... a choice of life. Marcy I don't know what studies show, but I believe Narcissism can manifest itself this way. It did in my relationship. S & M is a choice of life if both parties agree to participate. When a non-narcissist is involved with a narcissist, the non is under duress and may agree to do things they don't enjoy or want to do to satiate the narcissist. But I think the real kick the narcissist gets out of it is twisting your brain so that you think you are okay with receiving pain, when really you are not. There's a huge difference between bdsm ***with consent*** and sadism without consent. The latter is deliberate cruelty and often involves assault. At bdsm clubs and in bdsm itself there may be a lot of acting, with people calling themselves 'masters' and 'slaves', 'tormentors' and 'victims' and so on, but there should NEVER a victim in any real sense. All concerned should be enjoying this particular little kink. To put it simply, most of the currently fashionable bdsm isn't really sadism; there is no victim, and it's a form of sexual play. The slogan is: 'Safe, sane, consensual'. The preferred terms are 'domination' and 'submission'. In fact, very few whose sexual play involves this kind of thing describe themselves as 'sadists'. Most object to the term. Bdsm activities require informed consent, freely given; there must always be a genuine possibility of refusing to participate (either altogether or in a particular activity) and there should never be pressure to consent or any emotional blackmail or anything along those lines. Cruelty and assault without consent involves real victims and is a completely different matter from playful, consensual bdsm. Real Sadism is abuse and should be treated accordingly. In the case of real sadism, the abuser derives sexual gratification from ill-treating treating his/her victim as a live sextoy. The real sadist doesn't care for a moment whether or not the victim is enjoying it and, worse still, usually gets an unholy kick from subjecting the victim to real suffering. He/she often gloats over the suffering victim. It's the sort of behaviour one associates with narcissism and ASPD (sociopathy). What's more, it is dangerous and there are victims, too. Joncey