Historical cases of masochism: Financial domination
Reports of submissive sexual fantasies in men from the early literature on human sexual psychology. In this entry, a case of a man with the financial domination kink, reported by Iwan Bloch.
Some men are afflicted with the irresistible urge to give their hard-earned money to beautiful women, especially when it is the women who order them to transfer it. These men are uncontrollably aroused by the idea of losing their resources to the benefit of an attractive woman, who readily takes it without reciprocating with any sexual favors.
The fulfillment of these sexual fantasies of financial domination has been greatly facilitated by technology, which has made the transfer of money a matter that takes seconds to complete. Today’s technology also affords a certain degree of privacy and anonymity to the men who indulge in the financial domination kink.
The internet has greatly facilitated opportunities to meet women who are unscrupulous enough to accept the money that these men so desperately yearn to rid themselves of, in pursuit of the singular erotic idea of their financial domination.
In sum, it has never been easier for men who have sexual fantasies of financial domination to indulge in fulfilling them. It takes little effort to find a financial dominatrix online and a few clicks to send her money. The risk to the man’s reputation and social status is generally kept to a minimum, as the matter remains private between the two parties involved.
Financial domination is undoubtedly one of the most pernicious kinks of male masochism, simply due to the finite nature of financial resources. While it can be thrilling for these men to contemplate handing over increasing sums of money to beautiful, cruel women, the practice can quickly degenerate into financial fiasco.
The problem lies in the fact that once the money is handed over, it will not be given back. Indeed, some men drive themselves to financial ruin in the futile pursuit of fulfilling these peculiar, insatiable desires that animate their spirits. Some men even go into debt after they run out of cash.
But these uncontrollable desires of financial domination are not new. There is an interesting historical case of this kink, reported by the German physician Iwan Bloch at the turn of the 20th century. It relates the story of an engineer in Germany who had the habit of hiring a prostitute to enact a specific fantasy of his—a fantasy that strongly revolved around financial domination and verbal humiliation.
In the scene, the man approached the prostitute and proposed having sex with her for twenty German marks. The prostitute accepted and took him to her home. When it was time for him to pay, however, he confessed, in shame, that he only had five marks on him. At this, the prostitute became angry and proceeded to abuse him verbally after snatching the five marks.
She would then search his clothes for anything of value she might find. To the surprise of both parties, the woman would come upon a hundred-mark bill hidden somewhere on him. When this bill was discovered and the man realized that the prostitute was going to take it without reciprocating with the sexual favors that were promised for only a fifth of the price, he reached his climax.
He would then proceed to beg the prostitute to take pity on him and plead with her to give him back half the money at least. The woman would adamantly refuse and the supplications would be met with only more scolding and verbal humiliation. At the end of the scene, the prostitute would hand the man back one mark and instruct him to leave. He would dutifully take the one mark and obey the prostitute’s orders, leaving the scene in shame.
It is unclear in the case history whether the man’s confession that he only had five marks on him reflected his genuine belief—in the fantasy—that he did not have enough money, or simply his attempt—again, in the fantasy—to trick the prostitute into having sex with him for only five marks instead of twenty. In any case, it is clear that the engineer also enjoyed being verbally humiliated, either for thinking he did not have enough money or for attempting to fool the prostitute into thinking so.
An engineer meets a prostitute (who has been previously instructed what to do) in the street, and asks her if he may go home with her for twenty marks (shillings). Having reached the home of the girl, he suddenly declares with tears that he has only five marks with him. The prostitute overwhelms him with abuse,1 takes the five marks from him, and then carefully searches his clothing, until somewhere or other she finds a hundred-mark piece! The moment of the discovery of this piece of money is precisely the moment when the man has the sexual orgasm. In answer to his prayers and whining, to his pitiful request that she shall at least give him back half the money, he only receives scornful abuse. Finally, she presses one mark into his hand, and gives him his congé. This procedure is repeated regularly every fortnight—an expensive amusement for a man who is by no means wealthy. But he is unable to give up this peculiar passion, which for him is the only way of obtaining sexual gratification.2
It is clear that the engineer had a financial domination kink, and there are three elements in this historical case that are striking. The first is that the financial domination kink was so strong in him that he found himself unable to fight the urge of resorting to it to achieve orgasm. He could simply not quit. The second striking element is that this urge was so overwhelming that he reportedly hired the prostitute to enact the aforementioned scene every two weeks.
The third element is that the sum of money involved in every financial domination session he had with the prostitute was substantial. A hundred German marks in the beginning of the 20th century is the rough equivalent today—in 2024—of 700 euros or U.S. dollars. The man, we are told, did not have an income that allowed for such a luxury to be repeated so often. It would not be surprising, therefore, if this engineer drove himself to financial ruin in pursuit of the peculiar desires he could neither quench nor quell.
Of course, whether the details of this case are accurate or the product of embellishments and exaggerations cannot be ascertained, but Iwan Bloch stresses its authenticity. It is striking, in any case, that those same three elements I identified in this case history are the immutable features of the financial domination fantasies of many men today.
These elements are first, the overwhelming desire to resort to the kink to reach climax; second, the inability to quit and the frequent return to the practice of financial domination; and third, the substantial sums of money involved relative to the man’s income.
Sadly, we are not told anything about the engineer’s feelings regarding his expensive habit. Perhaps he, like many men today who have fantasies of financial domination, felt guilt and regret after indulging in this pernicious practice. Perhaps he sought to quit it, only to come back to it in inevitable episodes of relapse.
We do not know, either, what happened to him after this repeated indulgence. Perhaps he did ruin himself. Or perhaps he finally managed to put his finances in order after successfully quitting his habit. In any case, I have no doubt that readers who have the financial domination kink will readily identify with the predicament of this engineer from over a century ago.
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The English translation is ambiguous as to whether this abuse was physical or verbal, but the original German is clear that it was verbal.
Bloch, Iwan. (1909). The Sexual Life of Our Time in Its Relations to Modern Civilization. Translated by M. Eden Paul from the sixth German edition. Rebman Limited. (Originally published in 1907.) p. 585.
O.G. dominatrix
Definitely sounds like a findom addict..