Sadomasochism

de Bill Thompson

The sensational conviction of fifteen gay 'sadomasochists' in 1991 provoked demands to criminalize sadomasochistic art, literature and activities. Two years later, the Law Lords' ruling on the 'Spanner' case boosted moral crusades promoting sexual correctness. Sadomasochism is a public challenge to Judge Rant's insistence that the court had to draw a line between what was and what was not acceptable in a civilized society. Thompson's lively polemic unveils the erroneous psychiatric justifications for labelling sadomasochism violent and dangerous, exposes the fallacies in the moral crusaders' assertions that SM sex leads to sex crime, and explores the major research studies to reveal the true nature of this harmless sexual proclivity. Sadomasochism then raises extremely embarrassing questions about the origins of the case and the Law Lords' ruling which seeks to make innocuous acts, from spouse spanking to teenage 'lovebites', criminal offences. In doing so, Dr. Thompson demonstrates that an appeal for tolerance would not be misplaced in a truly civilized society.