Was Samuel Johnson a Masochist?

The title of this site, Amorous Propensities, comes from a famous statement by Samuel Johnson, 18th century man of letters and lexicographer.

From a review of Samuel Johnson: The Struggle by Jeffrey Meyers:

But there are signs that Hester - initially compliant - was an increasingly reluctant dominatrix. ‘I will detain you no longer,’ she wrote in reply, ‘so farewell and be good; and do not quarrel with your Governess for not using the rod enough.’

Even so, power play was an integral part of their relationship. In 1779 Johnson told Hester: ‘A woman has such power between the ages of 25 and 45 that she may tye a man to a post and whip him if she will.’

Hester later wrote: ‘This he knew of himself was literally and strictly true I am sure.’

And in a diary entry about her relationship with Johnson - whom she called ‘my slave’ - Hester wrote: ‘The fetters and padlocks will tell posterity the truth.’

Revealed: Why the moralising Dr Johnson DIDN’T hold forth on his own love life

That Johnson lived in perpetual fear of madness and damnation has been known since James Boswell published The Life of Johnson. And has been explored in depth in the best academic study of Johnson by W. Jackson Bate.

And the possibility that he had a sadomasochistic relationship with Hester Thrale, that she functioned as something like we might call a dominatrix nowadays is an old, old speculation. Meyers doesn’t offer any knew evidence so it’ll have to remain a speculation like much of the past.

That Doctor Johnson may have been a masochist would hardly diminish him. At least not to me. Sexual orientation isn’t something you can with which you can’t argue. Happily we live in a time when fewer and fewer of us feel we have anything to be ashamed of when our sexuality differs from the monotonous majority.