Are dominance and submission inevitable in human relationships? Believing that sadomasochism is becoming an ever more obtrusive phenomenon in developed countries, the author surveyed 48 self-declared sadomasochists (43 male, 5 female) and 35 controls (26 male, 9 female) in an effort to elicit information on early family relationships, morale, and sexual behavior and fantasy; she also looks at the philosophy of masochism and its damaging effects.

Inhalt
I. An examination of masochism.- 1 Freud's writings on masochism examined in detail.- 2 Survey of psychological literature (1926 onwards).- 3 Review of empirical studies on sadomasochism.- 4 An integrated psychodynamic model of masochism.- II. An empirical investigation of sadomasochism.- 5 The Adult Attachment Interview.- 6 The 'emotional' Stroop task.- 7 The Beck Depression Inventory.- 8 Questionnaires concerning chronicity, practice and motivation of sadomasochism.- 9 General discussion and conclusions.- III. The philosophy of sadomasochism and its effects.- 10 The question of control.- Appendices.- References.