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“Wilst du der getreue Eckart sein Und jedermann vor Schaden warnen Es ist auch eine Rolle, Sie tragt nichts ein: Sie laufen dennoch nach den Garnen”
In psychoanalytic literature, as well as in belles-lettres, we find a wealth of details and descriptions of masochism. Sadism, on the other hand, is very rarely described in the literature in general, or psychoanalytic literature in particular. What is the reason for this paucity? The masochist speaks; the sadist is silent.
As is well known, the word ‘sadism’ was coined from the name of the writer who has described sexual sadism; i.e. when sadism is fused with sexual components. But sadism fused with sexuality is mainly attenuated cruelty. Not all sadism is mingled with sexuality.
Pure sadism is described more widely than is realized. As a matter of fact all criminology is nothing but sadism in its purest form; all mystery stories deal with it. A pure sadist never comes under analytic scrutiny simply because he seeks the acting-out of his sadism and not its cure. The sadist feels uncomfortable only when he does not dare act out his sadism — then he may come for treatment. The danger in such a treatment is that unless we are very careful, we may help a potential criminal become an actual criminal.
In this paper I have no intention of describing or analyzing sadism as such. My intention is rather to describe a type of sadism, which to my knowledge is not yet classified. I call this type “Moral Sadism”. The moral sadist is rarely, if ever, uncovered. I use the word ‘uncovered’ purposely.