The Global History of BDSM Since 3000 B.C.

This came across my desk the other day. I was immediately enthralled and impressed with the depth of research, of which 99% correlated with my own personal endeavors into the origins of BDSM (or at least early indications thereof). Understanding the History of BDSM is a wonderful path to comprehending how these carefully crafted BDSM and BDSM-Like practices have played a part in the very development of Civilization itself! No joke!

I found this brief history to be a superb, highly educational lesson and feel that it can provide a MUCH better sense of our Kinky History and just how far back BDSM really goes. In other Crow Academy lessons you have heard me describe the self-flagellation of 10th century monks who would do so in a masochistic frenzy as they achieved intense endorphin release – as do all masochists – and perceived the states caused by the internal experience of their own body’s natural opiates as “holy visions.” Elsewhere, on more than one occasion I have equally mentioned the Native American Sundance Ritual, where young men were put through incredible S&M-like experiences for the sake of attaining selfhood and a vision for their life.

This history lesson, however, goes even further into depth than any other summary I have seen in years. It is here on Arcane Advice for the edification of anyone who cares to understand just how far back we can readily trace humans using BDSM as a means to an altered state…. be it for enlightenment, visions, or pleasure.

After reading this, the next time someone wants to argue about “Old Guard” you can now safely reply “Oh you mean the Priestesses of Inanna from 3000 BC, or the Cult of Orthia from 900 BC?” and show them this! ????

Enjoy.

p.s. Just so you all know, I want to be clear that I did not write this. After I received it and traced it back to a false-source, I went digging and searching with the help of my webmaster as we sifted and sorted until we found the original source. It turns out it is a part of the greater “BDSM” entry on Wikipedia, which is actually a pretty good, BDSM-friendly summary that tries to cover a lot of areas in a short space. This History section was excellently written, and resonated intensely with my own love of BDSM History which is why I so wanted to share it with you all for the sake of Pure BDSM Education. Please see the very end of this lesson for all appropriate credits and links as per the Wikipedia rules.


The Origins Of BDSM


Practices of BDSM survive from some of the oldest textual records in the world, associated with rituals to the Goddess Inanna (Ishtar in Akkadian). Academic historian and archaeologist Anne O Nomis has undertaken research revealing cuneiform texts dedicated to Inanna which incorporate domination rituals. In particular she points to ancient writings such as Inanna and Ebih (in which the Goddess dominates Ebih), and Hymn to Inanna describing cross-dressing transformations and rituals “imbued with pain and ecstasy, bringing about initiation and journeys of altered states of consciousness; punishment, moaning, ecstasy, lament and song, participants exhausting themselves in weeping and grief.”

During the ninth century BC, ritual flagellations were performed in Artemis Orthia, one of the most important religious areas of ancient Sparta, where the Cult of Orthia, a pre olympic religion, was practiced. Here ritual flagellation called diamastigosis took place, in which young adolescent men were whipped in a ceremony overseen by the priestess. These are referred to by a number of ancient authors, including Pausanius (III, 16: 10-11).

One of the oldest graphical proofs of sadomasochistic activities is found in the Etruscan Tomb of the Whipping near Tarquinia, which dates to the fifth century BC. Inside the tomb there is fresco which portrays two men who flagellate a woman with a cane and a hand during an erotic situation. Another reference related to flagellation is to be found in the sixth book of the Satires of the ancient Roman Poet Juvenal (1st–2nd century A.D.), further reference can be found in Petronius’s Satyricon where a delinquent is whipped for sexual arousal. Anecdotal narratives related to humans who have had themselves voluntary bound, flagellated or whipped as a substitute for sex or as part of foreplay reach back to the third and fourth century.

In Pompeii, a Whipstress figure with wings is depicted on the wall of the Villa of Mysteries, as part of an initiation of a young woman into the Mysteries. Nomis notes that the Whipstress role drove the sacred initiation of ceremonial death and rebirth. The archaic Greek Aphrodite may too once have been armed with an implement, with archaeological evidence of armed Aphrodites known as hoplismene known from a number of locations in Cythera, Acrocorinth and Sparta, and which based on Nomis’s study on Eastern Goddesses she notes may well have been a whip.

The Kama Sutra of India describes four different kinds of hitting during lovemaking, the allowed regions of the human body to target and different kinds of joyful “cries of pain” practiced by bottoms. The collection of historic texts related to sensuous experiences explicitly emphasizes that impact play, biting and pinching during sexual activities should only be performed consensually since only some women consider such behavior to be joyful. From this perspective the Kama Sutra can be considered as one of the first written resources dealing with sadomasochistic activities and safety rules. Further texts with sadomasochistic connotation appear worldwide during the following centuries on a regular basis.

There are anecdotal reports of people willingly being bound or whipped, as a prelude to or substitute for sex, during the 14th century. The medieval phenomenon of courtly love in all of its slavish devotion and ambivalence has been suggested by some writers to be a precursor of BDSM. Some sources claim that BDSM as a distinct form of sexual behavior originated at the beginning of the 18th century when Western civilization began medically and legally categorizing sexual behavior.

The professional occupation of the Dominatrix has been traced by academic historian Anne O. Nomis from British Library Rare Book sources, which reveals flagellation practiced within an erotic setting recorded from at least the 1590s evidenced by a John Davies epigram, and other references to flogging schools in Shadwell’s ‘Virtuoso’ (1676) and Troth’s ‘Knavery of Astrology’ (1680). Visual evidence such as mezzotints and print media is also identified revealing scenes of flagellation, such as “The Cully Flaug’d” from the British Museum collection.

John Cleland’s novel Fanny Hill, published in 1749, incorporates a flagellation scene between the character’s protagonist Fanny Hill and Mr Barville. A large number of flagellation publications followed, including “Fashionable Lectures Delivered With Birch Discipline” (c1761), promoting the names of ladies offering the service in a lecture room with rods and cat o’ nine tails.

Other sources give a broader definition, citing BDSM-like behavior in earlier times and other cultures, such as the medieval flagellates and the physical ordeal rituals of some Native American societies.

BDSM ideas and imagery have existed on the fringes of Western culture throughout the twentieth century. Robert Bienvenu attributes the origins of modern BDSM to three sources, which he names as “European Fetish” (from 1928), “American Fetish” (from 1934), and “Gay Leather” (from 1950). Another source are the sexual games played in brothels, which go back into the 19th century if not earlier. Irving Klaw, during the 1950s and 1960s, produced some of the first commercial film and photography with a BDSM theme (most notably with Bettie Page) and published comics by the now-iconic bondage artists John Willie and Eric Stanton.

Stanton’s model Bettie Page became at the same time one of the first successful models in the area of fetish photography and one of the most famous pin-up girls of American mainstream culture. Italian author and designer Guido Crepax was deeply influenced by him, coining the style and development of European adult comics in the second half of the twentieth century. The artists Helmut Newton and Robert Mapplethorpe are the most prominent examples of the increasing use of BDSM-related motives in modern photography and the public discussions still resulting from this.

Alfred Binet first coined the term erotic fetishism in his 1887 book, Du fétichisme dans l’amour.
Richard von Krafft-Ebing saw BDSM interests as the end of a continuum.

The Modern Leather Movement

Leather has been a predominantly gay male term to refer to one fetish, but it can stand for many more. Members of the gay male leather community may wear leathers such as Motorcycle leathers, or may be attracted to men wearing leather. Leather and BDSM are seen as two parts of one whole. Much of the BDSM culture can be traced back to the gay male leather culture, which formalized itself out of the group of men who were soldiers returning home after World War II (1939–1945). WWII was the setting where countless homosexual men and women tasted the life among homosexual peers. Post-war, homosexual individuals congregated in larger cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. They formed leather clubs and bike clubs, some were fraternal services. The establishment of Mr. Leather Contest and Mr. Drummer Contest were made around this time. This was the genesis of the gay male leather community. Many of the members were attracted to extreme forms of sexuality, for which peak expression was in the pre-AIDS 1970s. This subculture is epitomized by the Leatherman’s Handbook by Larry Townsend, published in 1972, which describes in detail the practices and culture of gay male sadomasochists in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the early 1980s, lesbians also joined the leathermen as a recognizable element of the gay leather community. They also formed leather clubs, but there were some gender differences such as the absence of leatherwomen’s bar. In 1981, the publication of Coming to Power by lesbian-feminist group Samois led to a greater knowledge and acceptance of BDSM in the lesbian community. By the 1990s, the gay men’s and women’s leather communities were no longer underground and played an important role in the kink community.

Today the Leather Movement is generally seen as a part of the BDSM-culture instead of as a development deriving from gay subculture, even if a huge part of the BDSM-subculture was gay in the past. In the 1990s the so-called New Guard leather subculture evolved. This new orientation started to integrate psychological aspects into their play.


BDSM and The Internet


In the late-eighties, the Internet provided a way of finding people with specialized interests around the world as well as on a local level, and communicating with them anonymously.This brought about an explosion of interest and knowledge of BDSM, particularly on the usenet group alt.sex.bondage. When that group became too cluttered with, the focus moved to soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm.

In addition to traditional sex shops, which sell sex paraphernalia, there has also been an explosive growth of online adult toy companies that specialize in leather/latex gear and BDSM toys. Once a very niche market, there are now very few sex toy companies that do not offer some sort of BDSM or fetish gear in their catalog. Kinky elements seem to have worked their way into “vanilla” markets. The former niche expanded to an important pillar of the business with adult accessories. Today practically all suppliers of sex toys do offer items which originally found usage in the BDSM subculture. Padded handcuffs, latex and leather garments, as well as more exotic items like soft whips for fondling and TENS for erotic electro stimulation can be found in catalogs aiming on classical vanilla target groups, indicating that former boundaries increasingly seem to shift.

During the last years the Internet also provides a central platform for networking among individuals who are interested in the subject. Besides countless private and commercial choices there is an increasing number of local networks and support groups emerging. These groups often offer comprehensive background and health related information for people who have been unwillingly outed as well as contact lists with information on psychologists, physicians and lawyers who are familiar with BDSM related topics.


The Etymology of BDSM


The terms sadism and masochism are derived from the names of the Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, based on the content of the authors’ works. Although the names of the Sade and Sacher-Masoch are attached to the terms sadism and masochism respectively, the scenes described in Sade’s works do not meet modern BDSM standards of informed consent. BDSM is solely based on consensual activities, and based on its system and laws, the concepts presented by Sade are not agreed upon the BDSM culture, even though they are sadistic in nature. In 1843 the Hungarian physician Heinrich Kaan published Psychopathia sexualis (“Psychopathy of Sex”), a writing in which he converts the sin conceptions of Christianity into medical diagnoses. With his work the originally theological terms “perversion”, “aberration” and “deviation” became part of the scientific terminology for the first time.[dubious – discuss] The German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft Ebing introduced the terms “Sadism” and “Masochism” to the medical community in his work Neue Forschungen auf dem Gebiet der Psychopathia sexualis (“New research in the area of Psychopathy of Sex”) in 1890.

In 1905, Sigmund Freud described “Sadism” and “Masochism” in his Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie (“Three papers on Sexual theory”) as diseases developing from an incorrect development of the child psyche and laid the groundwork for the scientific perspective on the subject in the following decades. This led to the first time use of the compound term Sado-Masochism (German “Sado-Masochismus”) by the Viennese Psychoanalytic Isidor Isaak Sadger in its work Über den sado-masochistischen Komplex (“Regarding the sadomasochistic complex”) in 1913.

In the later 20th century, BDSM activists have protested against these conceptual models. Not only were these models were derived from the philosophies of two singular historical figures. Both Freud and Krafft-Ebing were psychiatrists. Their observations on Sadism and Masochism were dependent on psychiatric patients, and their models were built on the assumption of Psychopathology. BDSM activists argues that it is illogical to attribute human behavioral phenomena as complex as sadism and masochism to the ‘inventions’ of two historic individuals. Advocates of BDSM have sought to distinguish themselves from widely held notions of antiquated psychiatric theory by the adoption of the initialized term, “BDSM” as a distinction from the now common usage of those psychological terms, abbreviated as “S&M”.


CREDITS:

From the Wikipedia “BDSM” page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDSM
Reprinted here under permission granted by Wikipedia Rules on reprints, specifically the Creative Commons License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

All text exactly as originally written except the introduction prior to the article, this credits section, minor spelling errors found within the original, and the blue section headers, e.g. “The Etymology of BDSM” which were modified and enhanced here to add clarity.

Do YOU have some Knowledge about the History of BDSM that is not contained here? By all means head over to the BDSM Wikipedia entry and Add What You Know! 🙂