Sexual sadism disorder
A paraphilia marked by arousal from others' suffering.
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Sexual sadism disorder is a paraphilic condition in which an individual experiences recurrent and intense sexual arousal from the physical or psychological suffering of another person. The term derives from the Marquis de Sade, a French writer and libertine whose novels depicted sexualized torture and violence. It is distinct from consensual activities involving mild or simulated pain or humiliation.
Quick Facts
- Complications
- Sexual torture
- rape
- homicide
- mutilation
Facts from the source article.
Related terms and conditions
The DSM-5 defines sexual sadism disorder as recurrent and intense sexual arousal from the physical or psychological suffering of another person, manifested through fantasies, urges, or behaviors. It is classified as an algolagnic disorder and an anomalous activity preference. Formal diagnosis requires that the individual has acted on these urges with a non-consenting person or experiences significant distress. The ICD-11 uses the term coercive sexual sadism disorder, requiring a pattern of arousal directed at non-consenting persons and either action on the thoughts or marked distress; consensual sadism and masochism are excluded from diagnosis.
Paraphilic coercive disorder describes a preference for non-consenting partners, but the infliction of pain is not the individual's actual goal; it does not appear in current DSM or ICD. BDSM refers to consensual forms of mild or simulated pain or humiliation and is not a diagnosable condition. In research, this preference is also called the hyperdominance pattern of sexual behavior, where individuals seek to provoke pleasure in their partners with pain or humiliation.
Features
With paraphilic coercive disorder, force is used only to subdue a victim, whereas in sexual sadism disorder harm often continues regardless of compliance, sometimes escalating to death and mutilation. Sadistic acts may not appear obviously sexual; a survey of offenses found 77% involved sexual bondage, 73% anal rape, 60% blunt force trauma, 57% vaginal rape, and 40% penetration by a foreign object. In 40% of cases, the offender kept a personal item as a souvenir. Personality testing of sadistic rapists shows elevated traits of impulsivity, hypersexuality, callousness, and psychopathy.
A continuum from mild (BDSM) to moderate (paraphilic coercive disorder) to severe (sexual sadism disorder) is suggested, but whether they are genuinely related is unclear. Most diagnosed individuals come to attention through sexually motivated crimes; most are male, while BDSM interest has a male-to-female ratio near 2:1. People with the disorder are more likely to have other paraphilic interests.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Sexual sadism disorder (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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