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Posted By: Hydra Candaulism - 08/12/06 05:33 AM
Is this a real word?

Quote:

Candaulism is a paraphilia, consisting in the masochistic and/or sadistic pleasure in which the husband exposes his wife, or pictures of her, to other voyeurist people ... Sometimes this behavior is taken to the extreme point, allowing complete sexual relations, practice defined by many English speaking people in the swinging subculture as cuckoldry.
—Wikipedia



Posted By: zmjezhd Re: Candaulism - 08/12/06 02:20 PM
Is this a real word?

Not sure if it's real, but it makes sense. It has an eponymous etymology: there was a king of Lydia, Candaules who told one of his guards to try to see his (i.e., Candaules') wife naked to prove her great beauty of which the king was always bragging. Herodotus told the story in his Histories 1.7.1.

[Candaules said] "Gyges, I do not think that you believe what I say about the beauty of my wife; men trust their ears less than their eyes: so you must see her naked." Gyges protested loudly at this. "Master," he said, "what an unsound suggestion, that I should see my mistress naked! When a woman's clothes come off, she dispenses with her modesty, too. Men have long ago made wise rules from which one ought to learn; one of these is that one should mind one's own business. As for me, I believe that your queen is the most beautiful of all women, and I ask you not to ask of me what is lawless."

Kind of reminds me of the long-suffering Griselda.
Posted By: Faldage Re: Candaulism - 08/12/06 10:38 PM
On the other hand, if it's not a real word, what is it? It's certainly not, to quote the estimable Dave Wilton, a ham sandwich.
Posted By: Hydra Re: Candaulism - 08/13/06 02:03 AM
Thank you.

I've never heard of the patient Griselda.

From your link:

Quote:

Griselda is also a figure from folklore (the patient Griselda) (anglicised to Grizzel and similar forms). She occurs in tales by Boccaccio, Petrarch and Chaucer. "Griselda" is a tale by Charles Perrault. The play Patient Grissel dates from 1599. There are operas named Griselda by Alessandro Scarlatti (1721), Giovanni Bononcini (1722), and Antonio Vivaldi (1735). The Modern Griselda is a novel by Maria Edgeworth from 1804.




What's her connection to candaulism?
Posted By: Hydra Re: Candaulism - 08/13/06 04:31 AM
Quote:

According to R. Senf, candaulism is a veiled form of homosexuality, and Sadger wrote that the candaulist completely identifies with his partner's body, and deep in his mind is showing himself.




Which could make candaulism a symptom of autogynophilia, I guess.
Posted By: zmjezhd Re: Candaulism - 08/13/06 02:34 PM
What's her connection to candaulism?

It's just her husband tests her loyalty in some rather aggressive ways. Don't know why, but it just popped into my head. A better choice might have been the Lady Godiva legend.
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