Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 3: Analysis of the Sexual Impulse; Love and Pain; The Sexual Impulse in WomenEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 3: Analysis of the Sexual Impulse; Love and Pain; The Sexual Impulse in Women
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
"I only get pleasure in the idea of a woman submitting herself to
pain and harshness from the man she loves when the following
conditions are fulfilled: 1. She must be absolutely sure of the
man's love. 2. She must have perfect confidence in his judgment.
3. The pain must be deliberately inflicted, not accidental. 4. It
must be inflicted in kindness and for her own improvement, not in
anger or with any revengeful feelings, as that would spoil one's
ideal of the man. 5. The pain must not be excessive and must be
what when we were children we used to call a 'tidy' pain; i.e.,
there must be no mutilation, cutting, etc. 6. Last, one would
have to feel very sure of one's own influence over the man. So
much for the idea. As I have never suffered pain under a
combination of all these conditions, I have no right to say that
I should or should not experience pleasure from its infliction in
reality."
Another lady writes: "I quite agree that the idea of pain may be
pleasurable, but must be associated with something to be gained
by it. My experience is that it [coitus] does often hurt for a
few moments, but that passes and the rest is easy; so that the
little hurt is nothing terrible, but all the same annoying if
only for the sake of a few minutes' pleasure, which is not long
enough. I do not know how my experience compares with other
women's, but I feel sure that in my case the time needed is
longer than usual, and the longer the better, always, with me. As
to liking pain--no, I do not really like it, although I can
tolerate pain very well, of any kind; but I like to feel force
and strength; this is usual, I think, women being--or supposed to
be--passive in love. I have not found that 'pain at once kills
pleasure.'"
Again, another lady briefly states that, for her, pain has a
mental fascination, and that such pain as she has had she has
liked, but that, if it had been any stronger, pleasure would have
been destroyed.
The evidence thus seems to point, with various shades of
gradation, to the conclusion that the idea or even the reality of
pain in sexual emotion is welcomed by women, provided that this
element of pain is of small amount and subordinate to the
pleasure which is to follow it. Unless coitus is fundamentally
pleasure the element of pain must necessarily be unmitigated
pain, and a craving for pain unassociated with a greater
satisfaction to follow it cannot be regarded as normal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account