Back Cover Blurb of Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose by Leigh Cowart
An exploration of why people all over the world love to engage in pain on purpose–from dominatrices, religious ascetics, and ultramarathoners to ballerinas, icy ocean bathers, and sideshow performers
“My breath caught hard in my chest, the sensation from my feet crashing into the realization that getting everything I dreamed of really would come at a cost.”
― Leigh Cowart, Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose
Leigh Cowart explores and enters different cults of pain to understand who is drawn to various methods of “feeling bad to feel better.” This combination with her often used phrase “pain on purpose” remind me of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfullness, “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally.” She juxtaposes this with historical examples, scientific research, and her personal journey from ballet through a dangerous eating disorder to sexual masochism.
The book is conversational and as such, it leaves more questions than answers. My take is that she is really exploring – but does not explicitly state – what is healthy use of pain and why so many things society values demand painful payment to acquire. She seems to imply that she has found consensual and controlled pain to be part of managing her predilection towards more dangerous and less healthy forms of pain, like the eating disorder that almost killed her. More to the point, it is weird to condemn pain while revering the results it brings, yet there are so many examples where this happens.
If you pick this book up, remember that watching is a form of participation and it is likely that some part(s) of it can create a reaction in the reader.