FORTES, Isabel. Eroticism and masochism in Freudian theory. []. , 19, 2, pp.35-44. ISSN 0103-5665.

In this article we aim at bringing near the issue of masochism in psychoanalysis and that of erotic experience. Starting from Freud's text The economic problem of masochism (1924), we will try to distinguish two different theoretical approaches to this notion. On one side, we place a deadly masochism, offspring of the submission to the other and of guilt, which can be defined through feminine and moral masochism. On the other side, another experience of masochism can be glimpsed through the concept of erogenous masochism, which we can bring near to eroticism. This kind of masochism develops from the perspective of instinctual blend, being a remnant of the moment of original encounter between Eros and death drive. It is a condition of possibility for the other two kinds of masochism, but is situated at a different structural theoretical level. In this sense, the erogenous masochism points to a kind of pleasure that isn't driven by the pleasure principle, but by a pleasure that is an experience of intensity and eruptive power, for it can exist simultaneously with pain.

: masochism; eroticism; drive; pleasure; displeasure.

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