Slave BADDIEYY

While what we know as sadomasochism has ultimately developed and evolved throughout time, S&M isn’t a modern relationship phenomenon. Instead, the use of pain to enjoy sex has been achieved throughout humankind as far back as ancient communities in Indian, Egyptian, and Arab cultures. Scholars have suggested that certain old Egyptian love songs and drawings could be inferred to discuss pain within sex and the desire to be subjugated by a sexual partner.

The official terms we use today came from the studies of German psychiatrist Richard von Kraft-Ebing, who defined the notion of “masochism.” With the help of Sigmund Freud, a well-known psychoanalyst and a colleague of Kraft-Ebing’s, he created the definition of “sadism.” He combined the two terms into the generally understood term of “sadomasochism,” often abbreviated into S&M. Check out “Speaking BDSM” for descriptions of more commonly used BDSM terms today. Through their studies, they found that while many believed themselves entirely sadistic or entirely masochistic in sexual realms, some believed themselves “switches.” This term is utilized in dominant and submissive relationships, meaning they feel most comfortable switching between the two identities depending on their mood and who they are being sexual with. Over time, many of the observations that Freud made have been picked apart. However, the general definitions he helped to create still stand firm formally and in informal chats, and while they were perhaps founded on misconceptions, they have been misconceptions that have continued to be prevalent in more vanilla communities too. In fact, such illusions have also crossed over into the legal aspects of sadomasochism. While consent is obviously a crucial and essential element of S&M relationships, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some individuals out here who will abuse the format of their relationship and cause pain beyond the scope that is healthy for S&M relationships. In these cases, the law disregards the basis of S&M relationships and argues that you cannot consent to extreme bodily harm or death.

In more modern times, many people, primarily those in vanilla relationships, have been educated on S&M relationships through the writing and creating of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise by E.L. James, which, despite being both a popular book and film series, is disliked by those within the actual S&M community. Many have said in chat forums that it grossly misrepresents the core values and behavior of S&M relationships and could even be seen as a dangerous franchise for vanilla couples. It represents them wrongly and perpetuates harmful depictions of such a relationship that could spur others to act wrongfully within their uneducated S&M relationships.

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