Tops & Bottoms - Sex, Power & Sadomasochism

The young Mercedes has signed a contract, stipulating that for the duration of six months she will be the slave in a sadomasochist relationship. Basing herself on Mercedes’ story, documentary filmmaker Cristine Richey examines the meaning of sadomasochism through the centuries. From the Middle Ages to Marquis de Sade; from the repressive Victorian Age, when parents provided their adolescent children with chastity belts, to novelist Leopold von Sacher Masoch, who took delight in getting a good spanking. The viewpoints concerning SM have greatly changed over the years. In 1886, Dr. Krafft-Ebing defined SM as ‘a disturbance in the evolution of the psychosexual processes sprouting from the soil of psychical degeneration‘. Conversely, some people nowadays think that the possibility to indulge in sexual fantasies in a controlled environment can prevent sexual offences. The documentary also proposes the theory that SM is a reflection of our hierarchic social structure and our obsession with power. The link between SM and the power struggle at work, in politics and at home is stronger than people think. The filmmaker thinks this is the case because we feel safe within a power structure, irrespective of the question whether we are the subjects or the leader.