Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures [Hardcover]

Peggy J., Ph.D. Kleinplatz (Editor), Charles Moser (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 9, 2006

A book that dispels the myths about those who prefer to go beyond “vanilla” sex

Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures is a comprehensive exploration of the entire sexual subculture that lies on the cutting edge of society. The mental health professions and society have marginalized people who practice sadomasochism (SM).This interdisciplinary collection dispels myths surrounding SM, bringing together leading scholars from the fields of sexology, psychology, sociology, and medicine, alongside queer studies and sexual minority advocacy. Experts such as Thomas S. Weinberg, PhD, Susan Wright, MA, Margaret Nichols, PhD, Odd Reiersol, PhD, Svein Skeid, Rebecca F. Plante, PhD, Niklas Nordling, MPsych, and N. Kenneth Sandnabba, PhD, among other stellar authorities, reveal research findings, clinical data, and critical thinking about sexuality that lies beyond “vanilla.”

To gain a broader understanding of human sexuality, the study of SM is crucial for what it reveals about us as sexual beings. The text discusses the results of research into practitioners’ behaviors and perspectives, the prevalence of SM behaviors in today’s culture, and stresses the need for greater tolerance and understanding. The realization of SM desires and their acceptance are explored in detail. This unflinching look at the world and the people of SM will guide scholars and lay people alike into a more sensitive, sex-friendly viewpoint of the people society calls “kinky.”

Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures answers questions such as:

• What is the nature of SM relationships?
  
• What are the values and motives of SM participants?
  
• How do mental health professionals regard and treat SM practitioners?
  
• Should sadomasochism continue to be classified as a mental illness?
  
• What is the legal status of SM and what are the consequences of discrimination against SM practitioners?
  
• Does increasing visibility of SM imagery decrease stigma or create added problems?
  
• What can ordinary lovers learn from those we have marginalized about the farther reaches of human erotic potential?
  
  

Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures is valuable, insightful reading for mental health professionals, students, sex educators, sex counselors, sex therapists, sex researchers, sexual health workers, sociologists, sexual minority groups, and anyone interested in learning more about the sexual pleasures that lie beyond the traditional.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complexity of sexuality." -- Eli Coleman, PhD, Professor and Director, Program in Human Sexuality, University of Minnesota Medical School

"This is an important addition to the sparse scholarly literature on SM." -- Vern L. Bullough, PhD, DSci, RN, Visiting Professor Emeritus, State University of New York; Editor of Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context

Product Details

• Hardcover: 386 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (August 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560236396
• ISBN-13: 978-1560236399
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,234,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent, successful and noteworthy book., October 9, 2006

By 

Michael P. Schaal (Burlington, Vt.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures (Hardcover)

This is an excellent and successful book. The Editors are very knowledgeable about Sadomasochism and have each written about S/M elsewhere. Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures, is an ambitious undertaking in that it addresses a wide range of issues that confront those who practice S&M as part of their overall sexuality, or as a lifestyle. Of special interest to me was the chapter that explores Sadomasochism utilizing a comprehensive battery of psychometric tests. The result is that four myths that were or are widely believed regarding S/M are systematically devastated, utilizing empirically sound research methodology. This book has an international flavor touching on the subject as it manifests in nations outside of the North American continent. Also discussed are clinical, legal and human rights issues facing S/M participants in the United States and Europe. I found the chapter on Spanking, which is really about techniques for neutralizing stigma, to be somewhat condescending. Otherwise this book is affirming of S/M without taking an advocacy position. This book positively contributes to a view of Sadomasochism that moves away from pathology, toward a proactive and responsive view of sexuality that lies beyond the conventional wisdom of what is normal. I recommend it to all who are interested in the subject, including practitioners, physicians and sex therapists.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important, November 9, 2006

By 

W. F. Umbaugh (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures (Hardcover)

This is an important first book in out new understanding of sexuality. While not a book about SM per se, it is a compendium of papers on who does BDSM, the environment that SM has to live with and what people can learn sexually from those who are more sexually adventurous than most people.

See a full review in my column, Getting Started at [...]

Rick Umbaugh

qui bene amat bene castigat

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, January 18, 2011

By 

Andrew - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures (Hardcover)

The best book of real studies into BDSM. I used it as a source for a paper in my Queer Studies and Queer Theory classes in college. The professors were impressed and one asked to borrow it for a bit. I do have some complaints with some of the studies themselves, however. For example, the researchers use categories such as "hypermasculinity," but never actually describe what their definition of it was or why they put some things in that category but not others (when it wasn't obvious). And they explored humiliation in men and women, but didn't describe which end of humiliation the individuals preferred. This would have been very interesting from a patriarchal point of view. However, but I REALLY liked one of the chapters at the end that discussed abuse and the lack of training among psychologists to detect abuse withing the BDSM community. People either think it's all abuse or they don't know enough so they stay away from the issue.