Caroline Greene

Unusually for a Blue Moon publication this is non-fiction and quite big, and is an attempt to organise some rationality into a practice which is usually misunderstood. It deals with the practice of giving and receiving pain as part of a human relationship, usually between loving couples, and because of this consensual characteristic it does not fit acceptable definitions of either sadism or masochism, although each of these practices often involves an element of sensual enjoyment. The Greenes, whom one might infer are devotees, feel that using the abbreviation 'S-M' emphasises the distinct nature of their subject. Class differences are pointed out, there being greater adoption of the practice by the upper echelons, and differences between the US and the UK are analysed, although such analyses are always complicated by difficulties of garthering reliable information. Much of the book is taken up with considerations of de Sade, and it is maintained that the man is unfairly maligned, being here seen as an enlightened figure for his time. An appendix offers a total of fourteen abstracts from fiction which illustrates various aspects of S-M, mostly rather tame as though aiming to avoid offence. The book offers considerable food for thought, even if many of its arguments are difficult to follow. It would be good to feel that those who viewed S-M as a nasty perversion could be reformed by it.… (meer)