Masochism is a fundamental concept in psychoanalysis. Yet its historical and epistemological origins are often overlooked to the point of making it an almost transcendental, anhistorical notion. It is thus hastily linked to passivity and femininity in an essentialist manner. On the contrary, the masochism that Freud called feminine arose within the framework of a precise disciplinary and epistemological crossroads: that of the psychiatry of perversions and the literature of the late 19^th century. We argue that it is essential to return to the transdisciplinary origin of this concept in order to better understand its reception by psychoanalysis, and to envisage new perspectives. To this end, we explore the historical and epistemological conditions that gave rise to this notion, which became fundamental to psychoanalysis. We thus pave the way for thinking of female masochism less as a deviation than as an erotic invention specific to industrial and contractualist subjectivities.