Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

(1836 - 1935)

The word “masochism” derives from the name of the Austrian author, editor, and journalist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. In 1869 he signed a contract with his mistress that made him her slave for six months, with the stipulation that she wear fur as often as possible. He published more than eighty novels and numerous articles—some in support of women’s suffrage—before dying in 1895 at the age of fifty-nine.