On Unrequited Love: Mastery, Submission, and Transcendence

Abstract

This article examines a sexual relationship based on mastery and submission through the lens of hunger, shame, abjection, and ecstasy. The author examines the dissociative process in which shameful and unwanted aspects of the self are projected onto the other, and explores the possibility of transcending dichotomized self states through mutual surrender.

KEYWORDS:

• sadomasochism
• mastery and submission
• surrender
• attachment
• dissociation