ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses narratives found in sadomasochist activities. 'Sadomasochism' is an umbrella concept. Under that umbrella are found various practices that deal with pain, humiliation, and so forth in a consensual manner. The umbrella activities tends to be clustered in probability. This means that certain things are more likely to be found with certain others or learned consecutively. For example, whipping and spanking tend to be practiced by the same people, and it is likely that people who are into anal fisting have also at least tried anal sex. Carol Siegel explains sadomasochism is innately narrativistic. This goes beyond the human mind's habit to construct narratives in retrospect out of even unrelated elements. Games and play, sadomasochist sessions included, do consist of narratives that are properly perceived only in retrospect but which may also be consciously constructed during play. Paraphrasing Herman, the semi-scripting of a sadomasochist session can, in somewhat simplified terms, be considered to be like a recipe.
