E ran across a thread on an online bulletin board, which asked the question, is masochism a product of nature or nurture? She asked me what I thought. It might seem like a cop-out but I think that it is a blend of both, and I will try to explain why.

First the argument that masochism is derived from nature. Recent studies have shown that the pain and pleasure centers of the brain are very closely connected. A resent study in 2002 at the Harvard Medical School showed that when exposed to a painful stimulus, the brain reacted in the pain centers and released endorphins to help the subject manage the pain. But just prior to the release of the endorphins, they also saw the pleassure centers of the brain being activated.

It has also been shown in studies, that pain and pleasure can be mixed in the brain using classical behavior training techniques. Similar to the Pavlov’s Dog experiment, where a bell was rung every time a dog was fed. After a while, when the bell rang, the dog began to salivate regardless if food was available or not. This method can be used to associate pain and pleasure. By mixing a painful sensations with a pleasurable sensations, the two feelings can be intermixed, and eventually, only the painful sensation needs to be applied for the masochist to feel pleasure.

There is also a strong augment that nurture plays a major role in the masochist’s enjoyment of pain. As I look more deeply into D/s, and TPE, I see a strong similarity to a parent/child relationship, even if age play is not involved. The Dom is in many similar to a parent, with total and absolute control over their child / sub. I feel that people who grew up in a household with strong parental figures either are comforted by theses figures or they rebel, and look for the opposite.

Some people have tried to put a correlation between corporal punishment as a child and enjoying pain as an adult. While this makes sense to me, and I think it plays a role in my masochism, many other people reject this idea totally. Asserting instead that for many of them certain play, which takes them back to their childhood, is unacceptable, and disturbing.

For me, however, I think that the pain and desire to submit to the pain is part of a desire to return to my childhood, where a strong figure controlled my life, decided what was in my best interest, and worked to mold me into a better person.

That being said, there is a difference in pain used for discipline and pain used in play. Pain used as a discipline tool, is not enjoyable in the sense that pain in play is. During Disipline, the knowledge that I let down my Mistress changes my perception, and I do not want to repeat this pain. Instead, I submit trusting that Mistress has my best interest in mind and is trying to make me a better person.

These are just a few thoughts, and I will continue my research into the environmental and biological underpinnings of masochism as we go forward.