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Sadism and masochism in fiction

 
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Further information: Sadism and masochism, BDSM, and BDSM in culture and media

The role of sadism and masochism in fiction attracts serious, scholarly attention. John Kucich has noted the importance of masochism in late-nineteenth century British colonial fiction.[1] This article presents appearances of sadism and masochism in literature and works of fiction in the various media.[2][3][4]

Contents

Novels

Titles are sorted in chronological order.

  • Anti-Justine (1793) by Nicolas-Edme Rétif A response to the works of de Sade, written in a like style, describing the opposite, political point of view.
  • Venus in Furs (1870) by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch - A long, masochistic fantasy, wherein the protagonist encourages his mistress to mistreat him. Many of Sacher-Masoch's other works contain themes of sadomasochism and female dominance of the male.
  • The Way of a Man with a Maid (circa 1900) by anonymous. Originated in France, exact date and author unknown. Three-volume Edwardian novel of sex and sadism.
  • "Frank" and I (1902) by anonymous (attributed to Jean de Villiot, aka Hugues Rebell) – A wealthy young man takes in "Frank", a girl disguised as a boy. Victorian novel of erotic escapades with much caning and flogging. Filmed in 1983 as Lady Libertine and Frank and I.
  • Birch in the Boudoir (1905) by anonymous (attributed to Charles Carrington and Hugues Rebell). Reprinted in 1989 by Blue Moon Books as Beauty in the Birch. - An exchange of racy letters between the new master of an English school for wayward girls and a woman living in an Arabian harem.
  • Les Onze mille verges (The eleven thousand rods) by Guillaume Apollinaire - written in the 1906-1907 period; the publication is unsigned and undated.
  • The Story of O (1954) by Pauline Réage - A classic masochistic novel, by a woman. The protagoniste is kept in a château and mistreated by a group of men, one her official lover. Later, she resumes her normal life, while secretly becoming property of one, specific man, a friend of her lover's. [6] It was made into a film in 1975.
  • Je... Ils... (1969) by Arthur Adamov – With stories like Fin Août. About Masochism, regarded as an "immunisation against death", but does not aim at erotic arousal.
  • Matriarchy: Freedom in Bondage, 1997 by Malcolm McKesson (An Outsider artist) - A boy undergraduate student in Harvard college is dominated by his mistress, and forced to dress as a woman.
  • Mark Ramsden's three novels The Dark Magus and the Sacred Whore, The Dungeonmaster's Apprentice (both Serpent's Tail 1999) and The Sacred Blood (Serpent's Tail 2001) are a darkly comic series of thrillers about the occult, fetishism and the BDSM scene.
  • Freedom is Slavery by Louis Friend - A collection of BDSM short stories.

Specialist publishers of S/M fiction

Mainstream films

Consensual BDSM is not generally depicted accurately or sympathetically in mainstream films, to say the least; however, film-makers often find some way to incorporate BDSM imagery into many films. The following films feature BDSM as a major plot point, not just as an exploitative add-on.[8]

Art movies:

Comedy:

Thrillers:

Television

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  • Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal (1989), made-for-TV film. Police investigate underground S&M clubs looking for a serial killer. Vanessa Williams plays a hooker/dominatrix who videotapes her clients.
  • Mercy (film) (2000) HBO cable-televison movie starring Ellen Barkin and Peta Wilson. Murder mystery leads to a secret S&M society.
  • Jack of All Trades (TV series) is a comedy-adventure series set in the 1800s starring Bruce Campbell. In the episode "X Marquis the Spot" (2000), Jack visits the island resort of the Marquis de Sade and competes in an S&M-themed obstacle course race that parodies Survivor (TV series).
  • Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007); in the fourth episode, "Belle" (Billie Piper) takes BDSM lessons from a professional dominatrix as a favor for her accountant who is a closet submissive.
  • Dollhouse (2009); the beginning of the 9th episode shows Echo (Eliza Dushku), returning from an assignment as a leather-clad whip-weilding dominatrix.
  • On the Alias (2003) 2nd season episode "Second Double", Agent Bristow (Jennifer Garner) goes undercover as a German dominatrix in a Berlin leather bar.
  • The FOX series The Inside episode "Old Wounds" dealt exclusively with S&M, and was criticized by the Parents Television Council as a result.[10]
  • The television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has featured Melinda Clarke as professional dominatrix Lady Heather in five episodes, most notably in the 90-minute special episode "Lady Heather's Box".[11]
  • Season 4 of HBO series Six Feet Under features a character (Joe) who wants to adopt a submissive sexual role in his relationship with Brenda.[citation needed]
  • A Family Guy gag depicts main characters Lois and Peter suiting up for a sadomasochistic session while having a mundane conversation about unrelated matters from the plot of that episode. Toys have been made of this scene.[12] In the audio commentary for that episode it is noted that such a practice seemed normal to them.
  • Season 1 of the FOX medical drama House, episode Love Hurts a patient is deeply involved in a BDSM relationship.
  • Rex Van de Kamp of Desperate Housewives was unveiled as a lover of S&M, much to the disgust of his wife, Bree.[13] In one scene, Sharon Lawrence plays a dominatrix who walks across Rex's back in stiletto heels.
  • Season 2 of NBC's Friday night drama Homicide, in the episode http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0604331/synopsis[14]. Detectives Bayliss and Pembleton investigate a murder in the S&M club scene. Bayliss expresses his disgust at the 'perversion', but the episode ends with his return to a leather shop, where he purchases a studded and belted leather jacket. This episode is the beginning of the character's sexual awakening, as he becomes comfortable with his bisexual feelings.
  • ER (TV series) – a professional dominatrix with broken fingers and her male slave, who was injured in a fall during a bondage/suspension session, are admitted to the emergency room.
  • Private Practice – in the 2nd season, cast member KaDee Strickland is seen roleplaying as a German dominatrix with a latex outfit, studded collar, and a whip.
  • Season 5 of FX's Nip/Tuck has Sean crossing paths with a Hollywood agent (Craig Bierko) with horrific wounds on his chest and the dominatrix (Tia Carrere) who inflicted them on him in the episode "Carly Summers".
  • Rescue Me (TV series) (2009) – In "Initiation" (Season 5, episode 15), Callie Thorne's character seduces Tommy (Dennis Leary) dressed as a cheerleader, Playboy bunny and latex-clad dominatrix. They are briefly seen paddling each other in a fast-motion sequence.

Drama

  • Thomas Shadwell's play The Virtuoso (1676) includes an old libertine named Snarl who entreats a prostitute, Mrs Figgup, to bring out the birch rods. It is unclear if he is to flog her or be flogged.
  • In Thomas Otway's play Venice Preserved (1682), Act III, Scene i, an old senator, Antonio, visits the house of Aquilina, a Greek courtesan. Antonio pretends to be a bull, then a frog, begging her to spit on him, and then a dog, biting her legs. She whips him, then throws him out and tells her footmen to keep him out.
  • Jean Genet's play The Maids (1947) concerns two maids who play out dominant and submissive roles.
  • Genet's play The Balcony (1957) is set in a brothel where clients and staff perform various fetishized roles while a revolution brews outside.
  • The play Oh! Calcutta! includes at least two segments with sadomasochistic themes. One of them, set in a fantasy of an English girls public school, invites the audience to vote on which of four "girls" is beaten at the end.

Poetry

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ Imperial Masochism: British Fiction, Fantasy, and Social Class by John Kucich (Princeton University Press, 2006)
  2. ^ An esthetics of masochism? The author wonders if the curators of an Austrian exhibition on masochism in art erred in taking an overly literal approach to their subject From Art in America (4/1/2004) by Barry Schwabsky
  3. ^ Barbara Steele's Ephemeral Skin: Feminism, Fetishism and Film by Lecturer Patricia MacCormack of Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge
  4. ^ Sadism, Masochism, Food and Television
  5. ^ (Wood 1995, p. 1, "Derivations and Definitions".) "The term sadism derives from the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), a French nobleman imprisoned for his libertinism, and for writing fantastic novels, such as Justine [1797] and Juliette [1797] that equated sexual pleasure with the inflicting of pain, humiliation, and cruelty".
  6. ^ (Wood 1995, p. 2, "Sadomasochistic Literature in Earlier Cultures".) "Pauline Reage's The Story of O (1954) made a great impact on lesbian erotic writing..."
  7. ^ (Wood 1995, p. 4, "Pat Califia".)
  8. ^ Sadism and masochism in mainstream film
  9. ^ FILM REVIEW; Masochists Always Hurt The Ones They Love By A. O. SCOTT (November 22, 2000)
  10. ^ Parents Television Council Presents: Worst TV Show of the Week - The Inside on Fox By Caroline Schulenburg
  11. ^ "Lady Heather (Melinda Clarke), a dominatrix"
  12. ^ Family Guy 'Nighttime' Peter and Lois
  13. ^ "Cherry says other deleted "Housewives" content that could grace a DVD include an S&M sequence featuring Sharon Lawrence and Steven Culp, who plays Bree Van De Kamp's husband, Rex"
  14. ^ A Many Splendored Thing]

Bibliography

Wood, Robert (1995), Sadomasochistic Literature, glbtq.com, New England Publishing Associates, http://www.glbtq.com/literature/sadom_lit.html, retrieved on 2007-12-14 

External links

See also


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