Sadism is the derivation of pleasure as a result of inflicting pain, cruelty, degradation, or humiliation, or, watching such behaviors inflicted on others. Aspects of it include:
- Sadomasochism
- Sadism and masochism (as medical terms), sadism and masochism as paraphilia
- Sadistic personality disorder, nonsexual sadism
- Masochistic personality disorder
- See also
- Marquis de Sade, an 18th-century French writer from whom the term sadism is coined
- Schadenfreude, a German word for pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others
Famous quotes containing the word sadism:
“Sadism and masochism, in Freud’s final formulation, are fusions of Eros and the destructive instincts. Sadism represents a fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts directed outwards, in which the destructiveness has the character of aggressiveness. Masochism represents the fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts turned against oneself, the aim of the latter being self-destruction.”
—Patrick Mullahy (b. 1912)