[Orgasmic Organism II] & Venus in Furs

The human body and mind is forever intertwined, inseparable, indivisible. Our nurture is believe to set our desires, as is our biology in theory. Though we known, for example, homosexuality has been observed in over 1,500 species, the grapple and debate between nurture vs. nature is one that has perhaps a lifespan longer than humanity may. 


In Leopold von Sacher Masoch's 1870 novella "Venus in Furs," the debate is ended with nurture. The novellas was inspired by events and activities of the Austrian Historians own life as the novella's central figure, Wanda von Dunajew is characterized after a love interest of Masoch's, Fanny Pistor. Von Sacher Masoch is known today as "The Father of Masochism" or "the overwhelming desire to be humiliated or degradated for sexual gratification. Women are seen as naturally submissive but according to studies today, for every one woman masochist, there are 10 men masochists. 


In the opening of the novella, von Sacher Masoch states that "all women are cruel in love," and if they known of their power to manipulate their love emotionally, they should mirror that very cruelty visually. The unnamed narrator crawls, speaking to Venus about love as she is wrapped in fur, naked underneath. Von Sacher Masoch has a very fetish for women to be dressed in this manner and flog him while he crawled at their feet. But the unnamed narrator, as many masochist today, wants to be freed of his compulsion, rather understand it, he asks a friend to read from a manuscript he believes will cure him from the desire to be flagellated "Memoirs of a Suprasensual Man." In the manuscript, Severin, who is infactuated with von Dunajew, begs her to control and punish him in gradual degrading ways. Von Dunajew finds excitement in her control, interests in her punishments though sporadically she admonishes Severin for allowing her to emasculate him in such ways.

Severin, during his punishment describes "suprasensuality" a dimension of pleasure that he feels can only be achieved through the infliction of pain. Even in their travels to Florence, Severin goes into a dangerous role play, adopting the name of Gregor and the role of von Dunajew's servent. She continues her assault on  him, even hiring three African women to join in on his desire punishment.

The fantasy comes to a crashing halt when von Dunajew meets a man named Alexis, whom she'd like to submit to. Alexis waists no time in dispatching Severin, leaving him to the conclusion:

"That woman, as nature has created her, and man at present is educating her, is man's enemy. She can only be his slave or his despot, but never his companion. This she can become only when she has the same rights as he and is his equal in education and work."

In the novella's conclusion, we are to believe that Severin  has not only broken himself from his masochism but that masochism can be broken, when in reality, it can only be momentarily suppressed. A compulsion is an involuntary act, an irresistible urge against one's conscious wishes. Severin's masochism wasn't cure but suppressed by the departure of von Dunajew into the hands of  her dominant Alexis, which ultimately leads to his model of man over women.