Of late the subject has been given much attention.
A. Moll, in his work, “Die Conträre Sexualempfindung,” pp. 133 and 141 et seq., Berlin, 1891, gives a number of cases of complete masochism in individuals of contrary sexuality, and among them the case of a man suffering with contrary sexual instinct, who sent written instructions, containing twenty paragraphs, to a man engaged for his purpose, who was to treat and abuse him like a slave.
In June, 1891, Mr. Dimitri von Stefanowsky, Deputy Government Attorney in Jaroslaw, Russia, informed me that, about three years before, he had given his attention to the perversion of the vita sexualis, designated “masochism” by me, and called “passivism” by him; that a year and a half previously he had prepared a paper on the subject for Professor von Kowalewsky for the Russian Archives of Psychiatry; and that in November, 1888, he had read a paper on this subject, considered in its legal and psychological aspects, before the Legal Society of Moscow (printed in the Juridischen Boten, the organ of the society, in numbers 6 to 8).
In later fiction the psycho-sexual perversion which forms the subject of this study has been treated by Sacher-Masoch, whose writings, already frequently alluded to, afford typical pictures of the perverse mental life of men of this kind. Many affected with this perversion refer directly to the writings of Sacher-Masoch, as is seen from the foregoing cases, as typical descriptions of their own psychical condition.
In “Nana,” Zola has a masochistic scene, and likewise in “Eugène Rougon.” The latest “decadent” literature of France and Germany is also largely concerned with the themes of sadism and masochism. According to von Stefanowsky’s statement, the modern Russian novel frequently treats the subject; but the statements of the writer of travels, Johann Georg Forster (1754–1794), show that this subject also played a rôle in Russian folk-songs.
(b) Foot-and Shoe-Fetichists—Larvated Masochism.—Following the above-mentioned group of “symbolic” masochists, who do not exactly desire abuse by women as the means of expression of subjection, but all kinds of silly acts that can be understood only through an acquaintance with the masochistic circle of ideas, comes the very numerous class of foot- and shoe-fetichists.
By fetichists (v. infra, 3) I understand individuals whose sexual interest is confined exclusively to parts of the female body, or to certain portions of female attire. One of the most frequent forms of this fetichism is that in which the female foot or shoe is the fetich, and becomes the exclusive object of sexual feeling and desire. It is highly probable, and shown by a correct classification of the observed cases, that the majority—and perhaps all—of the cases of shoe-fetichism rest upon a basis of more or less conscious masochistic desire for self-humiliation.
In Hammond’s case (Case 53) the satisfaction of a masochist was found in being trod upon. In Cases 44 and 48, they also had themselves trod upon; in Case 51, equus eroticus, the person loved a woman’s foot, etc. In the majority of cases of masochism, the act of being trod upon with feet plays a part[[69]] as an easily accessible means of expressing the relation of subjection.
Of the numerous established cases of shoe-fetichism, the following one, reported by Dr. A. Moll, of Berlin, which corresponds in many respects with Hammond’s case, but which is described in more detail and more carefully observed, seems especially suited to show the connection between masochism and shoe-fetichism:—
Case 60. O. L., aged 31, book-keeper in a city of Wurtemburg; comes of a tainted family.