Abuse is often thought of by people as inflicting pain on an
unwilling being or beings with the intention to cause physical or
psychological harm to said being.
Sadism used as a sexual term describes a person who takes
pleasure in inflicting some form of humiliation or pain on a
person, usually consenting, with the intention of sexual arousal or
stimulation to both persons. Masochism describes someone who takes
pleasure in receiving the humiliation or pain from another
consenting person and is often stimulated or aroused by it.
Sadomasochism is is the combined term reffering to any persons who
like to receive or inflict pain during sexual intercourse
Sadomasochism used as a psychological term describes someone who
inflicts pain on themselves. Medically, sadomasochism is a mental
disorder that describes the person as self destructive, and often
suggests psychological therapy for the person.
There are of course many people who like sadomasochism during
sex, and certainly do not to have any mental illness or
psychological disorder and are very sane indeed. There are also
many individuals who intentionaly inflict pain and distress on
themselves to the point where they become selfdestuctive and are
considered a danger to themselves and are certainly characterized
as having a mental disorder.
Unfortunately, there are some individuals who take pleasure in
abusing other unwilling persons and sometimes do it repeatedly,
sometimes intentionaly causing physical and psychological pain to
the person. These people may be considered to have anger or
dominance issuses and even mental disorders. In history there have
been many tragic incidents involving abuse, sadomasochism and
insane individuals. Though there are times when sadomasochism and
abuse go hand in hand, it is certainly not true that sadomasochism
always involves abuse, intentional or not.
