Question and Answer Forum - Page 10

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Not only did Leopold von Sacher-Masoch write books about his desires to be dominated by a woman, but he actually pursued these desires in his real life. His first wife actually changed her name to Wanda, after the female character in "Venus in Furs" and she whipped Leopold while wearing furs. Leopold even signed a contract surrendering his life over to his wife, much like the contract the character Wanda drew up in "Venus in Furs". The real Wanda wrote a book telling about the ups and downs of being Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's wife. The psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing coined the word "Masochist" from the sexual desires of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.

An interesting side note to this subject, some have said that Marquis de Sade is the S in S&M whereas Sacher-Masoch is the M. In other words, S&M is Sadism and Masochism based on the lives and natures of two males. But in reality, S&M was originally coined from Sacher-Masoch's life alone, S for Sacher and M for Masoch. The entire S&M scene was originally based on the life of a man submitting to a woman but somehow over the years the life of Marquis de Sade was given credit for this. Thus this justified men dominating women sexually as a recognized form of alternative sexuality. I must ask, what is alternative about that? Men had been dominating women for centuries.