Intense exchange : sadomasochism, theology and the politics of late capitalism

J. Carrette

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.