The Marquis de Sade was arrested a half-dozen times for beating whores and children. Each time he got off (no pun intended) based on his family connections. He'd scarcely be freed (twice he escaped from jail) before doing it all over again, until those same family connections finally decided it was better to lock him in Vincennes and the Bastille and save themselves the headache.

So why would anyone give in to sexual and pseudo-sexual compulsion to their own ruin? To me, it sounds like just another form of gambling, but I'd be interested what some of the perverts here think. I dare suggest that the answers would be worth more than the musings of sexless psychiatrists who, if Tom Cruise can be believed, are responsible for Auschwitz and the imprisonment of Lord Xenu to boot.