Sadomasochisms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A set of practices that involve the giving and receiving of pleasure through pain, often in a consensual and controlled context
2. The exploration of power dynamics and the physical sensations associated with submission and dominance
3. A form of sexual expression where participants may derive enjoyment from both inflicting and experiencing discomfort within agreed boundaries

Etymology: "Sadomasochisms" is the plural of "sadomasochism," so it refers to multiple instances or kinds of the practice of combining sexual pleasure with inflicting or receiving pain. The base word is a blend of two names. "Sado-" comes from the Marquis de Sade, the eighteenth-century French writer whose novels depicted cruelty in erotic settings. "Masochism" comes from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, an Austrian novelist whose works explored submission and suffering. Both men lent their names to the psychological and sexual behaviours that later writers, notably the psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing, linked to them, and "sadomasochism" joins the two names into one term for the combined pattern.