Sadism, as defined by the DSM (the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” produced by the American Psychiatric Association) is classified as a paraphilic disorder . A paraphilic disorder consists of atypical sexual interests, fantasies and/or behaviors, which cause distress to the individual experiencing them and/or harm to others .
If someone has an atypical sexual interest which doesn’t result in distress and/or harm, then it is considered to be a paraphilia and not a disorder.
Other paraphilias include Voyeurism (Sexual arousal from observing an unsuspecting person who is naked, undressing, or engaging in sexual activity – one of the most common illegal sexual behaviors, based on clinical studies ), Exhibitionism (gaining sexual gratification and pleasure from exposing genitalia to strangers/unsuspecting persons ; a paraphilic disorder which can start at a very early age, although offenders usually only come into contact with the criminal justice system in their mid-teens or early twenties ), and Fetishism (being sexually aroused by non-living objects and things such as shoes, handbags, latex etc., or non-genital body parts such as feet or ears etc. ).
The idea of paraphilias has not gone uncriticized, with some believing that they should be removed from the DSM, as they stigmatize and discriminate against those who engage in and lead consensual alternative sexual lifestyles especially Sexual Sadism (Sexual arousal from causing physical or psychological suffering to another person ) and Sexual Masochism (Sexual arousal from being humiliated, beaten, bound, or generally made to suffer etc. ). With some countries such as Sweden removing them from their official list of diseases and mental disorders .
Sadists engage in a form(s) of exploratory violence, looking to discover and test the things which cause others pain, both psychological and physical.
Some will find those that sexually enjoy such experiences i.e., masochists, but for some the enjoyment that others may get from their treatment of them won’t be satisfying, and they will need to perform and play out their fantasies on non-consenting persons (this is something different to BDSM where consenting partners have agreed upon the activities they will engage in and whilst “pain” is part of the process/enjoyment, participants aren’t pushed beyond their limits i.e., there are safe words which are respected and adhered to ); this is where sadism becomes pathological and a disorder.
Two notorious sexual sadists were Fred and Rose West, a married couple who lived in Gloucester, in the UK. The couple, who were active primarily in the 1970s and 1980s, tortured, sexually assaulted, and murdered multiple young women, including their own children and stepchildren. The Wests often lured their victims back to their house at 25 Cromwell Street, through offers of childcare jobs for their children and/or cheap accommodation in some of the rooms of the house that they used to rent out.
They would also go out looking for female hitchhikers on the roads of the surrounding countryside; many of whom probably thought that the presence of another woman in the car signaled safety.
Once they had someone in their house they would restrain, torture and sexually assault them, deriving pleasure from the pain and suffering that they were inflicting. These were usually prolonged affairs with the Wests attempting to discover what caused each of the individuals they victimized the most distress and suffering.
Sadists tend to be good emotional/psychological “listeners” who are adept at picking up on and recognizing subtle cues that identify what a person fears most; once discovered that is the direction in which they head. These are the sexual predators we rightly fear the most.
Fortunately, such predatory individuals are extremely rare (only around 2-6% of rapists meet the DSM’s definition of sadism though where sexual homicide/murder is concerned sadistic offenders may make up somewhere between 37 and 89% of all offenders ), and couples, like the Wests, who share mutual sadistic tendencies are rarer still.
There is some disagreement within the forensic psychiatric/psychological community about what the underlying driving force behind sadism is. Some researchers make the argument that sexual excitement through physical suffering is the primary motive , whereas others assert that it is a need for domination, power and control which are the key factors motivating offenders.
This lack of consensus, along with critiques about the DSM’s definition of the disorder means that research into sadism has suffered.
Another issue concerning our lack of understanding about this paraphilia is the unwillingness of sadists to be interviewed and talk with researchers etc. Most understand that society judges them amongst the most heinous of offenders, especially when children may be amongst those they victimize.
Around ten years before the Wests became active in seeking out women to victimize, Myra Hindley was dubbed by the press as, “the most evil woman in Britain” , after being convicted for the sexual homicides of three children (she later confessed to two other child murders ), along with her partner Ian Brady.
One of their killings they recorded on a reel-to-reel audio tape , so that they could listen to it over and over again, reliving the suffering of their victim, and the power/control they had over her, a ten-year old girl, Lesley Ann Downey. Sadists are aware of how they are perceived and because of this are usually reluctant to talk about their thoughts, drives and what motivates them etc.
Their assaults tend to be prolonged and well planned . Sadistic rapes usually take time and may often involve various “rituals” , that have been developed during the fantasy phase/stage of the assault (this is where the initial “idea” for committing a sexual assault is born and cultivated).
It is likely that they will have prepared a place in which to commit the assault and come up with a plan to lure a potential target to it or abduct and capture someone to bring them back to it . This was the modus operandi of serial sexual predator/killer John Wayne Gacy (operating in Chicago).
Whilst women are far more likely to be the targets of rape and sexual assault, male rape does occur.
Gacy would lure young men to his home with the promise of a job at his construction company, drinks and/or drugs, or money for sex etc. His victims were often employees of his construction company or individuals he’d picked up on the street .
After plying them with drink he would produce a set of handcuffs to demonstrate/teach a magic trick. He was known locally to dress as “POGO the Clown” at various charity events , so for those that knew him, or off him, this was in “character”. He would then put the cuffs on himself, free himself using a hidden key, before offering to teach the drunk/drugged person how to do the trick .
With his victim restrained and put in positions that his father had put him in when he was punished as a child, Gacy then proceeded to rape and sadistically torture them, often taunting them as he did so .
His preferred method of killing was strangulation using a rope tourniquet that he tightened with a hammer-handle; a method that could last/take several hours . One of the reasons Gacy had created POGO the clown was because as he infamously said to police, “clowns can get away with murder” i.e., people will let you do anything when you’re a clown. Gacy managed to lure and kill at least twenty-six victims using this “magic trick” method or a variation of it.
Predatory individuals can be highly imaginative and creative in the way they gain access to us, allow/cause us to drop our guard(s), and hand over control of a situation to them. This is a process known as grooming (a term first coined in the 1970’s to replace that of “Seduction” ), and one which we are all susceptible to.
We might like to think that we wouldn’t take a ride from a stranger, like many of the West’s victims or put on John Wayne Gacy’s handcuffs etc., however sexual predators, especially serial ones like sadists (although they are relatively rare, they do make up a significant percentage of those that commit multiple rapes and sexual offenses), are adept at creating social situations, sometimes awkward ones, that we find difficult to navigate and extricate ourselves from e.g., after we’ve accepted someone’s drinks and hospitality we might find it too rude not to have our host show and teach us a magic trick etc.