Sadism in Woman

The term sadism is derived from the sexual perversions described by the Marquis de Sade; from a more general point of view, however, it should be considered as a definite expression of the aggressive instincts of nutrition combined with the sexual instincts. The sadist wants to inflict pain on the object of his desire and is inspired by a perpetual craving to exert complete and unlimited domination.

Sadism is a form of emotional regression, that is to say, a sort of emotional starvation analogous to and produced by malnutrition in infancy, or improper weaning. One might say that all eroticism insufficiently freed from the nutritive instincts constitutes sadistic love. Sadism is above all the expression of the desperate desire for possession and, since the instinct of hunger carries with it the element of cruelty, the sadist derives gratification by the suffering he inflicts on the object of his desire. Sadism manifests itself in both sexes, but in different ways, due to the biological and psychic contrasts between the two sexes.

The masculine form of sadism is better known because masculine sexuality is more aggressive, domineering, possessive, and hence manifests itself more patently. As against this positive expression there is the negative, or inverted form of sadism, which results in masochism, homosexuality, and the castration complex, all of which may be regarded as deformations of the original impulse created by the necessity for social adaptation. Thus sadism is less obvious, less apparent in woman because her sexuality is in general so passive as to develop into a natural masochism (Freud), but behind this apparent passivity there lies a complex movement of contrary elements which, in a sense, are inseparable from the self-protective instincts. When her security is menaced this aggressiveness, heretofore concealed, asserts itself and ofttimes develops into sadism. The sadism of woman is in no way less cruel than man's—it merely chooses another form of express