Welcome back to my playground, you feisty fiend, you.
This Hump Day, I present to you one of my favorite quotes from a man who is and was notorious for his exceptionally pornographic and erotic works, most of which he penned during his multiple incarcerations in prison and an insane asylum.
You might know the Marquis de Sade as being synonymous with the terms “sadism” and “sadist”, and indeed, his works did depict many acts of sexual violence.
Just for your reference, “sadism” is taken from the word “sadisme” in French, named after the Marquis de Sade, and is defined as “the tendency to derive pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others.”
Sadism is the “S” in BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, Masochism). “Sadomasochism” is a term that commonly groups sadism and masochism together. In a dominant/submissive relationship between two consenting individuals, for example, the submissive may be deemed masochistic in wanting to experience pain, while the dominant may be considered sadistic in taking pleasure from inflicting that pain upon their partner.
Masochism being: “the tendency to derive pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from one’s own pain or humiliation.”
Here’s a little word smut from the quill of the father of BDSM:
“If it is the dirty element that gives pleasure to the act of lust, then the dirtier it is, the more pleasurable it is bound to be.”
– The Marquis de Sade (née Donatien Alphonse François, 1740-1814), 120 Days of Sodom (1785)
There are few novelists filthier than our Marquis de Sade, who was also a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer.
You’ll notice I’ll often quote him for his libertine perspectives on lust and sexuality, so expressed with shamelessly abundance in his manuscripts.
In 120 Days of Sodom, de Sade tells the tale of four wealthy male libertines who seek to achieve the utmost sexual pleasure by way of group sex, by sequestering themselves in a faraway castle with a harem of 36 victims. In the castle, the wealthy men employ four female brothel keepers to recount their life stories, and these women depict the sexual abuse and torture of the victims, which intensifies over time and eventually ends in their deaths.
Dark, right?
Many of these sordid tales are frightening with their violent and repulsively non-consensual nature.
But within these writings, there are incredibly inspiring passages too, which highlight the beauty and expression of pure sexual desire.
Until next time, stay Lexual.
Lexi
