=Shoe Fetishism.= We understand from that point of view the meaning of the shoe fetishism which Krafft-Ebing has noticed in male masochists. In fact Hirschfeld states that every male shoe fetish is a masochist.
To the masochist, the shoe, especially the high buttoned shoe, is symbolical of woman's power, of her ruthless cruelty. He sees himself trod on by that shoe, he imagines that shoe pressing on his neck, pinning his head to the ground.
Curiously enough, long gloves seem to arouse the same ideas in the mind of the male masochist. Both shoes and gloves are found in the dreams or visions of neurotics, symbolizing the female organs.
A masochist wrote once: "The gloved hand of a woman, altho like her foot, smaller and prettier than a man's, can wield the whip powerfully over her slave whose greatest joy consists then in kissing his mistress's shoes while submitting to that punishment."
=Craving for Humiliation.= The masochist welcomes every form of humiliation and not infrequently derives great pride from his "patience," "tolerance," "self-sacrifice," "martyrlike resignation" etc.
Like Sacher-Masoch himself, some men, husbands or lovers, (pimps, cadets, etc.) have been known to enjoy the sight of their wife or mistress in another man's arms.
Hirschfeld was consulted by a woman whose husband compelled her at frequent intervals to have relations with a man in his own house. He would invite a business associate for dinner and then leave his wife to explain that he had been suddenly called out of town.
The guest and his wife would dine together. Wine would flow freely and she would coquettishly goad the man into making advances to her. Concealed in the next room, the husband would watch thru a peep hole the proceedings which ended with a passionate scene.
It was only after beholding that humiliating sight that the masochistic husband could enjoy his wife's embraces.
A man who consulted me confessed to me that he was absolutely impotent with his own wife or with any unmarried woman. It was only with married women that he felt perfectly virile. The thought of his mistress in her husband's arms was the only thing that could arouse him physically.
Many neurotics of the masochistic type have dreams of being school children punished by a masculine female teacher. Those dreams, be they night or day dreams, are always associated with erotic thoughts. Remember Jean Jacques Rousseau enjoying viciously the spankings which mademoiselle Lambercier gave him when a child.