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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.

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I: Introduction. 1. Freud´s writings on masochism examined in detail. 2. Survey of psychological literature (1925 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. Discussion. III: Conclusion. 10. The philosophy of sadomasochism and its effects. Appendices. References. Index.

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