> Meanwhile, for the sadist — and especially the famous one, as Gaiman has discovered — it leaves your good reputation a hostage to fortune, hoping that those with whom you had degrading sex in the past never properly get to know their own minds.
Of course - how could anyone that "properly knows their own mind" ever like something the author so disapproves of? You may think you want it, you may have longed for it for years, you may even have sought it out yourself, without the persuasion of a sadist or dominant (something the author carefully omits, along with any mention of safe-words, the most basic of basics in BDSM, despite bringing up the possibility of changing one's mind mid-act - the exact scenario safe-words address), but actually, those are all false desires.. planted in your mind by the devil to tempt you, I guess.