rethinking the body in pain (by michael mcintyre)

8/15/2019 Rethinking the Body in Pain (by Michael McIntyre)

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RETHINKING THE BODY IN PAIN

Abstract

This article calls into question two core suppositions of “The Body in

Pain”: that pain is sheerly aversive; and, that those who inict pain do

so unawares. I arue that these pieties avoid distur!in questions

reardin the pain"#lled !ody. The controlled e$perience of pain is

central to any nu%!er of practices; %any of the% place the !ody in

e$tre%is. &onversely, there are practices of pain"iniction underta'en

with the e$pectation of rati#cation or social validation. Pain, in short,

is allurin as well as aversive. That allure found not to !e dis%issi!le

as patholoical, !ut one response to a world that is always already

un%ade.

Keywords: (carry, Bataille, pain, torture, sado%asochis%, B)(*

+laine (carrys The Body in Pain -/012 has !een a stunnin acade%ic

success story. &ontinuously in print for nearly thirty years, it still

ran's a%on 3%a4ons -5612 top ten sellers in literary theory and

counts over si$ thousand acade%ic citations -7oole (cholar, 5612.

8eviewed upon its release !y pro%inent pu!lic intellectuals in New

Republic -Inatie9, /012, Commonweal -yschorod, /02, TLS

-Byatt, /02, New York Times Book Review -(ulei%an, /02, New


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York Review of Books -(iner, /02, and London Review of Books

-(h'lar, /02, it has nonetheless not !een the su!P?ain

co%es unshara!ly into our %idst as at once that which cannot !e

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denied and that which cannot !e con#r%ed” -(carry /01, p.@2. Pain

is therefore %ultiply isolatin. Aur linuistic resources for its

e$pression are scant. Pain reduces lanuae to a cry. nli'e other

states, pain has no e$ternal o!


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on inictin it” -p.52. But torture, in an institutional conte$t, is not an

isolated encounter !etween a victi% and a sadist. Institutionali4ed

torture, widespread !oth eoraphically and te%porally, has an

identi#a!le structure. In that structure, the iniction of pain is

invaria!ly paired with i%prison%ent and interroation.

Pain and interroation inevita!ly occur toether in part

!ecause the torturer and the prisoner each e$perience

the% as opposites. The very question that, within the

political pretense, %atters so %uch to the torturer that it

occasions his rotesque !rutality will %atter so little to

the prisoner e$periencin the !rutality that he will ive

the answer. -p.5/2

In a !i4arre inversion, the prisoners answer is coded as

“!etrayal”, a codin %ade possi!le !y pains i%percepti!ility. By

intensifyin the prisoners e$perience of pain, the torturer severs her

connection to everythin outside her !ody, reducin her to nothin

%ore than a !ody with nothin left to !etray.

Eust as the interroation, li'e the pain, is a way of

woundin, so the pain, li'e the interroation, is a vehicle

of self"!etrayal. Torture syste%atically prevents the

@


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prisoner fro% !ein the aent of anythin and

si%ultaneously pretends that he is the aent of so%e

thins. )espite the fact that in reality he has !een

deprived of all control over, and therefore all

responsi!ility for, his world, his words, and his !ody, he is

to understand his confession as it will !e understood !y

others, as an act of self"!etrayal. -pp.@"F2

The lanuae"a%e in which the word “!etrayal” is ordinarily

and unpro!le%atically used has here !een replaced !y one in which

the word no loner has a leiti%ate use -at least insofar as it refers to

the aency of the prisoner2. By elidin the two lanuae"a%es,

thouh, the rei%e is a!le to shift the %oral oppro!riu% of torture, at

least partially, onto the prisoner who “!etrays” rather than the


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the wounded prisoner or, %ore often, the instru%ents of torture

-p.2. This lanuae of aency, however, is chronically unsta!le, for

instru%ents of torture, weapons, can also !e deployed as insinia of

power.

3s an actual physical fact, a weapon is an o!


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The result is a self"enclosed #ction of power in which the

incontesta!le reality of the prisoners pain is lifted out of the

prisoners !ody and conferred onto the rei%e. It is not enouh to

%a'e torture visi!le. It %ust !e %ade visi!le in a way that !rins to

attention the rei%es un!eara!ility rather than its power. Ane can

see the di9iculties entailed in a sinularly well"'nown counter"theater,

the wee'ly viils on !ehalf of the disappeared held !y the *adres de

la Pla4a del *ayo in Buenos 3ires. This theater was carefully staed

for %a$i%u% visi!ility, in the citys !usiest square durin its !usiest

ti%e. The i%%ediate result of this stain was an evacuation of the

stae as pore!os ed or avoided this square at the appointed hour.

The #rst act of this dra%a !rouht the collective consciousness of

torture and disappearance under 3rentinas %ilitary rei%e fro% a

passive state of not carin to 'now to an active state of ta'in care

not to 'now, !ecause !ein seen to 'now !rouht one far too close to

the rei%es power to inict pain. In retrospect, we 'now that this

state of active not"'nowin was not the last act in the play, !ut the

course of the dra%a shows us that visi!ility is not a simple counter to

torture.

Pain reconsidered

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In (carrys lenthily"developed and in %any ways perceptive

pheno%enoloy of pain, the essential error is to !e found in the #rst

step, and the one that see%s least su!


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en poine are told to “e%!race the pain”. on"distance runners wear

t"shirts readin “%y sport is your sports punish%ent.” 8u!y players

sport !u%per stic'ers readin, “7ive !lood, play ru!y.” 3 tattoo or a

piercin is valued, at least in part, !ecause of, not in spite of, the pain

entailed in acquirin it. 7host peppers are eaten for the pain, not for

the taste. &iarettes, %otorcycles, s'ydivin lure with the frisson of

daner. In which world do people live lives devoted to the avoidance

of physical painJ

The sa%e pro!le% ree%eres in (carrys %uch !riefer

discussion of pleasure, which she identi#es with either “the a!sence

of pain” or “a bodily state in which so%ethin other than the body is

e$perienced” -p.=11 n.2. Hor (carry, even the %ost inti%ate !odily

pleasures are #nally identi#ed with dise%!odi%ent.

>I?f a thorn cuts throuh the s'in of the wo%ans #ner,

she feels not the thorn !ut her !ody hurtin her. If

instead she e$periences across the s'in of her #ners not

the awareness of the awareness of the feel of those #ners

!ut the feel of the #ne weave of another wo%ans wor', or

if she traces the letterin of an enraved %essae and

!eco%es %indful not of events in her hands !ut of the

for% and %otivatin force of the sins, or if that niht she

e$periences the intense feelins across the s'in of her

/


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!ody not as her own !ody !ut as the intensely feela!le

presence of her !eloved, she in each of these %o%ents

e$periences the sensation of Ktouch not as !odily

sensations !ut as self"displacin, self"transfor%in

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that we use “co%fort” to refer to decreased sti%ulation of the !rains

aversion syste% and “pleasure” to refer to increased sti%ulation of

the !rains reward syste%s -(citovs'y, //5, p. 1/2.

The presentation of pleasure and pain as star' !inary

alternatives oversi%pli#es !oth states, o9erin a false dichoto%y that

is not consistent with co%%on and everyday e$periences.

Pleasure as %ere avoidance of pain is, in the #rst instance,

unattaina!le and counterproductive. 3 sedentary life, a life that

avoids the disco%fort of physical e$ertion, leads inelucta!ly to loss of

e$i!ility, loss of %uscle %ass, loss of anaero!ic capacity, and the

chronic pain that attends this loss. But %any if not %ost 'inds of

!odily pleasure require so%e 'ind of physical e$ertion, e$ertion that

at a %ini%u% entails disco%fort and frequently pain. 3ny

enae%ent in sport, for e$a%ple, requires the #rst, and any serious

trainin for sport requires the second. (port and li'e activities

require a relationship to pain that includes acceptance, %anae%ent,

control, endurance, and pleasure in the counterposition of pain and

pains cessation. Pain itself %ay !e souht as a li%it e$perience, a

ateway to for%s of consciousness not usually attained. Indeed, that

for% of consciousness %ay !e precisely an escape fro% the lanuae"

%ediated world that (carry sees as constitutive of self. Ane need not

deny a self"constitutive linuistic cathe$is !etween !ody and world in

order to reconi4e that the relationship of self to lanuae can also !e


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e$perienced as an endlessly self"referential loop, a prison"house fro%

which intense e%!odi%ent can !e souht as a for% of escape.

In these intense for%s of e%!odi%ent, the line !etween

pleasure and pain is !y no %eans entirely clear. &onsider the

pheno%enon of a “second wind,” a point when the disco%fort involved

in intense physical e$ertion turns into a %ore pleasura!le e$perience.

)oes all disco%fort disappear at that pointJ &ertainly not, nor in the

course of trainin does one e$perience a sinle threshold after which

all e$ertion !eco%es easy. 8ather, one encounters %ultiple

thresholds, !oth within a sinle trainin session and over a course of

trainin. Pain and pleasure are e$perienced as a co%ple$ ow, not as

rival states with a switch thrown that transfor%s one into the other,

!ecause the !rains aversion and reward syste%s are not so neatly

separa!le as the very rouh distinction s'etched a!ove suests.

+$cessive sti%ulus of the reward syste%s !eco%es aversive, !ut there

is no si%ple chane of state !etween the two. 8ather, sti%ulus of the

aversive syste% !eins while sti%ulus of the reward syste%s is still

increasin, so that aversion and reward are felt si%ultaneously. Anly

later does sti%ulus !eco%e so e$tre%e that the reward syste%s are

shut out -(citovs'y //5, 62.

(i%ilarly, intense se$ual arousal, a !odily state nor%ally

associated with pleasure, can !eco%e so intense that it !eco%es

aversive, or even painful. Ance aain, there is no si%ple transition

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tastes pea' at lower concentrations, are %uch less pleasura!le at

those pea's, and decline rapidly into intensely unpleasant e$perience

at hiher concentrations -8o4in, ///2. The palate, it %iht !e said, is

pri%ed to favor sweets. 3 palate that always favors sweets, however,

is said to !e childish or undeveloped. 3 developed palate interates

odor and taste and see's co%ple$ co%!inations that sti%ulate the

aversion syste% as well as the reward syste%s. Ane %iht thin' of a

se$ual palate in a si%ilar way, with sti%ulation of the reward syste%s

to easy cli%a$ characteristic of an undeveloped palate and full

e$ploration of the avors that co%!ine sti%ulation of the aversion

syste% and reward syste%s characteristic of %ature, sophisticated,

se$ual taste.

Pathology, fascism, continuity

hat has !een tendentiously ter%ed here a “%ature, sophisticated,

se$ual taste” is %ore conventionally deno%inated “%asochis%”, still

classi#ed alon with sadis% and sado%asochis% as clinical

paraphilias. )(*"1 reconi4es “se$ual sadis% disorder” and “se$ual

%asochis% disorder” as paraphilic disorders if people with these

disorders “feel personal distress a!out their interest, not %erely

stress resultin fro% societys disapproval; or have a se$ual desire

that involves another persons psycholoical distress, in


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una!le to ive leal consent” -3%erican Psychiatric 3ssociation,

56=2. These carefully worded e$ceptions to the patholoi4ation of

%asochis% and sadis% were the result of intense controversy

!etween those who arued for continued clinical dianoses and those

who arued for the depatholoi4ation of these practices -a'e#eld,

562. The co%pro%ise struc', while applyin equally to all

paraphilic disorders, in fact introduces a %ar'ed distinction !etween

se$ual %asochis% disorder and se$ual sadis% disorder, since

%asochistic se$ual desire never includes “another persons

psycholoical distress >or? in


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3uthority to co%pel o!edience can !e e$ercised !eninly,

thouh even its !enin e$ercise typically entails di9iculty or

disco%fort for those e$pected to o!ey. 3t the li%it, one #nds those

who e$ercise such authority for the sheer pleasure of %a'in

co%pliance di9icult. This non"!enin e$ercise of authority is

frequently, and not inaccurately, characteri4ed as “sadistic”. (carry

-/012 arues that the torturer %ust !e stupid, %ust not 'now what

she is doin, %ust fail to perceive the pain of the tortured in order to

do her wor'. But on this readin the sadist %ay draw satisfaction

fro% not only perception !ut often heihtened and inti%ate

perception of the others pain. This opens the possi!ility that so%e

torturers are not stupid, !ut sadists who acco%plish their wor' in full

'nowlede of what they do. e %ust, then, place sadis% under a

scrutiny that we would not necessarily attach to %asochis%. hat

does the sadist ain fro% such an interaction, and does her pleasure

in such an interaction stand of a piece with the pleasure ained fro%

other 'inds of e$ercise of authorityJ

et us consider the Giet4schean possi!ility that one root of the

sadists pleasure lies in the pleasure that co%es fro% the power of

requital. In a section of "uman, #ll Too "uman titled “)ual

prehistory of ood and evil”, Giet4sche posits two rival sources of the

distinction !etween ood and !ad: $%rs of all, na%ely, in the soul of

the rulin tri!es and castes. hoever has the power to requite ood


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with ood, evil with evil, and who really enaes in requital and is

therefore rateful and veneful, is called ood; whoever is powerless

and cannot enae in requital is considered !ad” -Giet4sche //1,

O@12. ere the distinction is not !etween ood and evil, !ecause the

ood requite evil with evil. 7ood is instead contrasted with

conte%pti!ility, powerlessness, a!


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ets !e quite clear a!out the loic of this whole %atter of

co%pensation: it is strane enouh. The equivalence is

provided !y the fact that instead of an advantae directly

%a'in up for the wron -so, instead of co%pensation in

%oney, land or possessions of any 'ind2, a sort of pleasure

is iven to the creditor as repay%ent and co%pensation, N

the pleasure of havin the riht to e$ercise power over the

powerless without a thouht, the pleasure Kde faire le mal

pour le plaisir de le faire, the en


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&ruelty thus oriinates not in the no!les power of requital, !ut in

those instances where the !ase are te%porarily allowed to


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perfor%ers, in a dra%a that is all the %ore e$citin

!ecause it is for!idden to ordinary people.

(ado%asochis% is to se$ what war is to civil life: the

%ani#cent e$perience. C The end to which all se$ual

e$perience tends, as Bataille insisted in a lifeti%e of

writin, is de#le%ent, !lasphe%y. To !e Knice, as to !e

civili4ed, %eans !ein alienated fro% this savae

e$perienceMwhich is entirely staed. -(onta, /06,

pp.6="@2

(ontas reference to Bataille would !ear investiation, since

Bataille is !oth a central #ure in this conversation and has !een

accused, if not of !ein a fascist, at least of havin fascisan

tendencies -olin, //, 566@2. &ertainly in Batailles early wor',

particularly his essay, “The Psycholoical (tructure of Hascis%”

-/F/2, one can hear a certain attraction to fascis% as a

heteroeneous response to the deadenin ho%oeneity of !oureois

society, thouh a closer readin of this essay reveals that the Bataille

sees the attraction of fascis% as a lure and a daner. But it is also

Bataille who draws an i%portant distinction !etween *roisme and

sadis%:

56


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+roticis% >*roisme? always entails a !rea'in down of

esta!lished patterns, the patterns, I repeat, of the

reulated social order !asic to our discontinuous %ode of

e$istence as de#ned and separate individuals. But in

eroticis% even less than in reproduction our discontinuous

e$istence is not conde%ned, in spite of de (ade; it is only


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have dou!t, then the intense pleasure of se$uality, so%atically

%irrorin as it does intense pain, %ust !e equally inco%%unica!le

unless disembodied.

et us throw the reasonin process into reverse and as'

ourselves: to what do we co%%it when we co%%it to the proposition

that se$ual pleasure is e%!odied, perhaps an archetype of

e%!odi%entJ e %ust deny the !inary oppositions set up !y (carry.

e e$perience !odily sensations as self"displacin, self"transfor%in

o!


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intend to e$plore a world. The %etaphors “power e$chane” or

“enery ow” echo that Bataillean continuity, all the continuity they

can sustain.

!hose dogged strength alone"

3s )oulass and ilderson -56=2 note, “(carry wor'ed at the site of

deracination: the in


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But is that dar' !ody invaria!ly invested with the strenth not to !e

torn asunderJ )uBois here %ust !e ta'en as providin an in


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forward childishly unconscious of the hurt, syste% of privilee, and

structural violence on which ones putative wholeness is founded.

e cannot, then, e$pect the real world of sado%asochis% to

sea%lessly enact a new and pristine for% of cathe$is. An the contrary,

such practices can eventuate in !rutal se$ual violence -e.., ussain,

561, (ch%ade'e, 561, (o!ol, 561, riht, (ta%!auh, and &o$,

5612. The world %ay !e a!le to sustain far %ore continuity than

one+s world. hat %iht it %ean to


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e have traveled far fro% (carrys world, circuitously, !ut the

path can !e retraced si%ply. 8e


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3%a4on. -5612 3%a4on !est sellers: !est sellers in literary theory.

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5F


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ussain, 8. -5612 +scort says e$ disuised hi%self in dar' %a'eup,

tur!an and sunlasses !efore rapin her. Chica(o Sun4Times, 1

*arch. http:RRchicao.sunti%es.co%RnewsRFRFR@F56Rescort"

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pleasure. In: ). Xahne%ann, +. )iener, and G. (chwar4 -eds.2

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50


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(ch%ade'e, (. -5612 o%an says e$"!oyfriend disuised hi%self

!efore se$ually assaultin her. Chica(o Tribune, *arch.

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a'e#eld, E. &. -562 )(*"1 proposed dianostic criteria for se$ual

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56/. doi: 6.6R

rethinking the body in pain (by michael mcintyre)

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