Is Masochism Everywhere?

I am autistic, and I have a variety of Very Shitty Sensory Problems. When I was a child, a number of foodstuffs were almost unimaginably repulsive to me: ranch dressing, most meats, very sweet things, steamed vegetables—it was really a very long list. And I had trouble with loud noises. Until pretty recently, concerts and ball games seemed like torture to me. Thankfully, these problems have abated somewhat. I have purposefully trained myself out of them: I've done sound therapy for hyperacusis, I've gradually exposed myself to foods I used to hate. And this has been a categorically good thing. I get along better with people, my quality of life is far better. But it's also given me a sense that pleasure and pain are somewhat arbitrary. Our brains judge some stimuli desirable and others repulsive, but these judgements are malleable—probably not infinitely malleable, but mallebale still. They can be bent and broken, and sometimes they should be. I didn't consciously realize this until…