Intense Exchange: Sadomasochism, Theology and the Politics of Late Capitalism

Abstract

Recognizing the need to move beyond the sensationalism surrounding S&M and Christian theology, this article positions S&M within an understanding of the material economics of sex in late capitalistic society. It makes a distinction between discourses of pain and the religious body and the modern S&M discourses of psychopathology, subcultural politics and commercial markets The article then explores the tensions between S&M as an oppressive theological and social structure (a capitalistic model of sexuality-desire) and S&M as a liberating activity in its non-productive exchange (Foucault's pleasure-intensity). While revealing the problems of idolatry and the need for ‘critical consensuality’, the article concludes by showing how intensity and intimacy in S&M can change Christian attitudes to sex and the market.

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