What Is Sadism?

sadist woman

We Take At Look Sadism

So just what is Sadism in the context of BDSM? It is not just about being sadistic for its own sake as it will involve a partner who will take a masochistic role.

A Sadist:
A person who derives pleasure from mistreating, dominating, or hurting other people;
a person who gets sexual pleasure from the pain caused to another person, physically and or psychologically.

The Out and Out Sadist.

For some people being a sadist is a way of life, those people who simply enjoy being cruel to others simply because they are a mean-spirited person. They are basically bullies with a very cruel streak. For some reason either because they have some mental imbalance or life has treated them badly, they want to be nasty and bad to other people.


If we look back in history many soldiers and their generals have been extremely sadistic with enemies, often making slaves of them. The Romans with the Christians and some Germans in WWII comes to mind. There are many more instances if we think about it.

Then there are the modern-day sadists such as rapists and murders, who enjoy the pain of their victims, and the power that gain from it.

So What’s The Difference Between These Two Types of Sadist?

So now we look and the BDSM type of sadist. The main difference here is that they have the permission of their target and rules have most likely been agreed upon. They will have found a willing partner with someone who is or will be for their gameplay, a masochist (a person who enjoys receiving pain).

Bondage and Sadism Often Come Together

The sadist here is looking at sadistic practices for sexual gratification and in most cases, their sadist-masochistic game will end in sexual completion.

The game-play often includes spanking and beating, withholding sex, as well as bizarre and painful things done to the genitals, breasts and nipples, etc.

Dressing Up For The Sadist Game

For this sadist-masochistic role-play many people get pleasure in dressing up and also some like to create a special room, the dungeon. These games are only limited by the imagination and the type of sadist game they want to play. It will come as no surprise that SUB and DOM and Bondage games are closely aligned.

A Few Sadist Game Examples:

  • Master and Slave.
  • Prostitute and the policeman.
  • Schoolboy and the teacher.
  • Army general and captive.
  • Prisoner and warder.
  • Hitchhiker and truck driver.
  • Dog Training (punish and reward)
The Sadist and Masochist Explore Penis Torture

Sadism and Normal Sex

It is not only with gameplay is sadism brought into the bedroom and often couples like it to spice up their love life with sadomasochistic fun. They enjoy sadist and masochist practices as foreplay or part of their sex play. This can be from really getting into sadistic roleplay sex games to just physically rough sex.

Spanking and whipping are used by many couple couples, without realizing that this a sadistic type of practice. Nipple or penis squeezing, nipple clamps, cock, and ball torture, and strong masturbation toys, and just some that couples use.

Some women (and men) enjoy taking full control of their partners, often tieing them up, and only having sex on their own whim. While others take their partner and have sex every aggressively, sometimes even ripping off their clothes in the process. These too are sadistic sex practices.
I hasten to add that we are talking about consensual practices here.

So, Are Sadists “Normal” People

A quote from the experts:
Most of the time, we try to avoid inflicting pain on others — when we do hurt someone, we typically experience guilt, remorse, or other feelings of distress. But for some, cruelty can be pleasurable, even exciting. New research suggests that this kind of everyday sadism is real and more common than we might think.

Two studies led by psychological scientist Erin Buckels of the University of British Columbia revealed that people who score high on a measure of sadism seem to derive pleasure from behaviors that hurt others, and are even willing to expend extra effort to make someone else suffer.

“Some find it hard to reconcile sadism with the concept of ‘normal’ psychological functioning, but our findings show that sadistic tendencies among otherwise well-adjusted people must be acknowledged,” says Buckels.  “These people aren’t necessarily serial killers or sexual deviants but they gain some emotional benefit in causing or simply observing others’ suffering.”
Taken from: Association of Psychological Science Article.