Woody Allen - Christopher Hitchens - Richard Dawkins - Kill Bill TV - Marquis de Sade - Friedrich Nietzsche - Kurt Vonnegut - Tahir Shah - Erich Fromm - Pepper Winters - Sigmund Freud - Marie Curie - American Outsiders: Secret Passions TV - Cecil Adams - Frenzy 1972 - Tom Sharpe - Timothy Wilson Summary of R v Brown - CIRP online Summary of R v Brown - The New Statesman TV -
I’d call him a sadistic hippophilic necrophile, but that would be beating a dead horse. Woody Allen
The final insult that religion delivers to us, the final poison it injects into our system, it appeals both to our meanness, our self-centredness and our solipsism and to our masochism. In order words it’s sadomasochistic. Christopher Hitchens v Alister McGrath, debate Georgetown University Washington 2007
A place with absolutely no private or personal life, with the incessant worship of a mediocre career-sadist as the only culture, where all citizens are the permanent property of the state, the highest form of pointlessness has been achieved. Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22: A Memoir
New Testament theology adds a new injustice, topped off by a new sadomasochism whose viciousness even the Old Testament barely exceeds. It is, when you think about it, remarkable that a religion should adopt an instrument of torture and execution as its sacred symbol, often worn around the neck. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion p251
Do you find me sadistic? Kill Bill volume I 2003 starring Uma Therman & David Carradine & Lucy Liu & Michael Madsen & Daryl Hannah & Sonny Chiba & Vivica A Fox & Gordon Liu & Julie Dreyfus et al, director Quentin Tarantino, opening scene, Bill over Una
When she’s abandoned her moral centre and teachings ... when she’s cast aside her facade of propriety and lady-like demeanour ... when I have so corrupted this fragile thing and brought out a writhing, mewling, bucking, wanton whore for my enjoyment and pleasure ... enticing from within this feral lioness ... growling and scratching and biting ... taking everything I dish out to her ... at that moment she is never more beautiful to me. Marquis de Sade
To see others suffer does one good, to make others suffer even more: this is a hard saying but an ancient, mighty, human, all-too-human principle ... Without cruelty there is no festival. Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals & Ecce Hom
Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them – in order that the reader may see what they are made of. Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box preface
Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones. Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
Even the most sadistic and destructive man is human, as human as the saint. Erich Fromm
I’m offering you my pain. My blood. My pleasure. I’m offering you the right to whip and fuck. To debase and harm. I’m offering to fight your needs with my own. I’m willing to join you in the darkness and find pleasure in excruciating pain. I’m willing to be your monster, Q. Pepper Winters, Tears of Tess
Sadism is all right in its place, but it should be directed to proper ends. Sigmund Freud
There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth. Marie Curie
In America it is believed that up to five million adults participate in some form of bondage, domination, submission or masochism known as BDSM. American Outsiders: Secret Passions, 2013
It’s this pain and risk that draws these women to Pony Play. ibid.
Stigmatics are often tormented souls. Many of the religious ones deny themselves to the point of masochism ... The fact that many stigmatics are emotionally unbalanced means you can’t rule out the possibility that they’re simply hurting themselves when no one's looking. Cecil Adams
They hate women and are mostly impotent. Don’t mistake rape for potency, sergeant. In the latter stages of the disease it’s the strangling not the sex that brings them on. Above all, of course, they are sadists. Frenzy 1972 starring Jon Finch & Alex McCowen & Barry Foster & Billie Whitelaw & Barbara Leigh-Hunt & Helen Merchant & Anna Massey & Bernard Cribbins & Michael Bates & Jean Marsh & Clive Swift & Madge Ryan & Gerald Sim & John Boxer & George Tovey et al, director Alfred Hitchcock, rozzer to rozzer
Maud’s appearance had suggested an unduly fastidious attitude to sex and Sir Giles had been surprised, not to say pained, by her too literal interpretation of his suggestion on their honeymoon that she should tie him to the bed and beat him. Sir Giles’ screams had been audible a quarter of a mile along the Costa Brava and had led to an embarrassing interview with the hotel manager. Tom Sharpe, Blott on the Landscape
Lady Maud took the book and studied a page. ‘And what were you last night?’ she asked finally. ‘Miss Catheter, the Wicked Nurse, or Sister Florinda, the Nymphomaniac Nun?’
Mrs Forthby blushed, ‘Doris, the Schoolgirl Sexpot,’ she tittered. ibid.
R v Brown [1994] 1 AC 212: Most law students are familiar with the infamous case of R v Brown, in which several homosexual men filmed themselves consenting in sadomasochistic activities. For the faint of heart, I will exclude details of the acts but they were very extreme. When this tape accidentally found its way into the hands of the police, they were all arrested and charged with Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) under s.20 the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861. The House of Lords eventually held that it was not in the public interest for the court to allow members of the public to wound each other ‘for no good reason’.
The attitude of the majority is best summed up, I feel, by Lord Templeman: ‘Society is entitled and bound to protect itself against a cult of violence. Pleasure derived from the infliction of pain is an evil thing. Cruelty is uncivilised,’ though it must be mentioned that a huge amount of the judgment focused on the fact that the activities were homosexual. It being considered a ‘comfort’ that one of the ‘victims’ had ‘settled into a normal heterosexual relationship’. Lord Lowry also continually stressed that he would not allow an exception for ‘sadomasochistic homosexual activity’ throughout his judgment for no good reason. Timothy Wilson, Newcastle University, summary of R v Brown
R v Brown: The appellants belonged to a group of sadomasochistic homosexuals who over a 10-year period from 1978 willingly participated in the commission of acts of violence against each other, including genital torture, for the sexual pleasure which it engendered in the giving and receiving of pain. The passive partner or victim in each case consented to the acts being committed and suffered no permanent injury. The activities took place in private at a number of different locations, including rooms equipped as torture chambers at the homes of three of the appellants. Video cameras were used to record the activities and the resulting tapes were then copied and distributed amongst members of the group. The tapes were not sold or used other than for the delectation of members of the group. The appellants were tried on charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, contrary to s47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, and unlawful wounding, contrary to s20 of that Act. The Crown’s case was based very largely on the contents of the video tapes. Following a ruling by the trial judge that the consent of the victim afforded no defence to the charges, the appellants pleaded guilty and were sentenced to terms of imprisonment. The appellants appealed against their convictions, contending that a person could not guilty be of assault occasioning actual bodily harm or unlawful wounding in respect of acts carried out in private with the consent of the victim. The Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals. The appellants appealed to the House of Lords. CIRP online article
You stupid trollop! I’m not a masochist, I’m a sadist! The New Statesman s1e6: Three Line Whipping, B’stard whipped by new French mistress, ITV 1987