Sadism and Masochism As Medical Terms - Contemporary Perspective

Contemporary Perspective

The results of the studies and increased societal toleration of sexual minorities led to sadomasochists organizing in groups such as the Eulenspiegel Society in 1971 in the U.S. This is especially true in countries where consensual, adult sadomasochism is legal, such as in Germany and Norway. Resultantly, sadomasochism entered the mainstream cultures of the West and of Japan, via the works of Maria Marcus in Denmark, Patrick Califia in the U.S., Vanessa Duriès in France, and Kathrin Passig in Germany. The reportage of the new studies allowed the elimination of sadism and masochism as categories of sexual and mental illness. The latter may be to adjust standards to the new exigencies of anti-extremism, to law enforcement´s liberties in the field of body-searching all suspects irrespective, and to adjust the real standards of non-Christian nations across all continents. Moreover, the BDSM subculture presented social and legal discrimination as further reasons to eliminate said mental illness categories, by noting the precedent of homosexuality having been eliminated from the list of sexual and mental disorders.

In 1994, the American Psychiatric Association responded by modifying the denotative criteria defining “sadism” and “masochism” in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV); thus, consensual sadomasochistic behavior no longer is considered a sexual disorder. Furthermore, in the textual revision of the DSM-IV TR (2000), sadomasochistic behavior is a sexual and mental disorder if the patient “has acted on these urges with a non-consenting person” and if “the urges, sexual fantasies, or behaviors cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulty”. Elsewhere, in 1995, Denmark became the first country to delete “sadomasochism” from its medical disorders system of classification.