Empowerment in Chains: The Liberatory Potential of Masochism

This paper will examine the liberatory potential of masochism, looking at the ways in which oppressed women use it to challenge the power structures of the dominant social order. Using the novel Empire of the Senseless by Kathy Acker as an example of masochistic rebellion, I will investigate the ways her characters use masochism as a way to gain agency in a world in which they would otherwise have none. Though the fictional society present in Empire is radically different than the societies in which women are actively fighting oppression, the world Acker creates is a useful illustration of masochism’s empowering potential because it removes many of the ‘alternatives’ to masochism which might seem to be more amenable methods of escaping or dealing with oppression. With alternatives thus removed, it becomes clear that masochism as a coping mechanism offers relief to the oppressed subject even as it reinforces the social hierarchies which have made that oppression possible in the first place. Additionally, this paper addresses the difficulty that mainstream feminist movements face in establishing prescriptive solutions to the oppression of women while considering the multiplicities of women’s experiences. Though beneficial to some women, masochism has been largely dismissed by the traditional feminist movement as an equivocation that leads women to believe they have power where none exists and which negates the harsh reality of violence against women. Because masochism often outwardly resembles the abuses that feminists have so long fought against, many women who choose to cope with oppression masochistically are pushed to the margins—either dismissed as being complicit with male violence or misinterpreted as victims in need of help.