Sex and Love: Are You in the Mood? 183ary works of the eighteenth-century author Donatien Alphonse François, the
Marquis de Sade. He described sexual relations that included general abuse of a
partner, including insults, chaining, and whippings. It should be noted that a sex-
ual relationship can be sado-masochistic,meaning that one partner manifests
primarily sadistic tendencies and the other partner manifests primarily masochis-
tic tendencies. Such a relationship is often relatively stable because each partner
meets the other one’s needs.
Sodomyrefers to sexual practices thought by a given society or culture to be
in violation of natural behavior patterns. The term comes from the biblical city
Sodom, a community that was removed from the face of the Earth because of the
wickedness of its inhabitants. In practice, the term sodomyis usually used to refer
to the practice of anal intercourse. Less frequently, sodomy is used to make a ref-
erence to bestiality.
Transsexualismis characterized by a strong desire to become a person of the
opposite sex. The individual is unhappy with his or her own biological gender,
and often fantasizes about the emotional and sexual gratification that would be
obtainable if only it were possible to experience a transformation of body and self.
The American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual (see chapter 14) classi-
fies transsexualism as a gender identity disorder. The term gender identity dis-
orderrefers to a state of dissatisfaction with one’s own biological gender, and,
consequently, has approximately the same meaning as transsexualism. The word
disordercarries the somewhat stronger implication of mental or emotional pathol-
ogy, because depression and suicidal tendencies are sometimes linked to a gender
identity conflict. Transsexualism is relatively rare. It appears with somewhat
greater frequency in males than in females. Treatment consists of psychotherapy
and, more infrequently, sex reassignment surgery.(a) refers to inflicting psychological or physical pain on another person in
association with sexual gratification.(b) refers to sexual practices thought by a given society or culture to be in vio-
lation of natural behavior patterns.
(c) is characterized by a strong desire to become a person of the opposite
sex.Answers: (a) Sadism; (b) Sodomy; (c) Transsexualism.Transvestic fetishism (transvestism)is characterized by dressing in the
clothing of the opposite sex (i.e., cross-dressing). (The root “vest” refers to
clothing.) A person who manifests transvestic fetishism finds cross-dressing to be
sexually exciting. This kind of fetishism should not be confused with transsex-
ualism. Transvestic fetishism usually has a heterosexual orientation, and the indi-