ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author refers of course to masochism, variously described by Sigmund Freud as an unusually dangerous libidinal infraction, and as one of the "kindliest." Since conventional subjectivity so closely adjoins moral masochism, she examines it briefly through the grid of Freud's late topography before turning once again to its pathological correlate. In his last work to deal extensively with masochism, Freud distinguishes between three forms of that perversion: "erotogenic," "feminine," and "moral." Erotogenic masochism, which Freud defines as "pleasure in pain," provides the corporeal basis both for feminine and moral masochism. The woman's masochistic phantasy very seldom reaches the pitch of savage lust, of ecstasy, as does that of the man. The exemplary Christian masochist seeks to remake him or herself according to the model of the suffering Christ, the very picture of earthly divestiture and loss. The male masochist magnifies the losses and divisions upon which cultural identity is based, refusing to be sutured or recompensed.
