Pleasure or Pain?

I never understood masochism and how people could be able to derive pleasure from pain. Apparently Marina Abramovic and Ron Athey are able to do so in their following performances. They both convey pain but in totally different ways. In Abramovic's case, a case could be made that she feels more pleasure than pain.

Both Abramovic and Athey are naked and emphasize hair to express pain. However, Athey's performance seems more subtle and he does not seem to make any noises or show any signs of discomfort. He takes a blond wig, brushes vigorously at it for a few moments, before interestingly covering his entire face in it before lying down. The fact that we saw his entire body in contrast to Abrahovic where only her head, shoulders, and arms (and occasionally her breasts) are visible is also a notable difference. On Athey's body, you can clearly see the various intricate tattoos and the blood splattered on his chest and face. The pain is evident throughout his entire body. Athey is also confining himself as he is contained by a cage and by covering his face and lying down, he is isolating himself from his surroundings. He seems to be surrendering himself to the pain.

Abramovic, on the other hand, is reacting to the point that her pain becomes pleasure. Her gradual heavy breathing and panting seems very sexual especially when you just listen and not watch the video which I did after watching the video the first time. By inflicting pain on herself, she is also attaining pleasure which is great and all, but I just don't see how this is art let alone beautiful art. All I see is a woman brushing violently away at her hair and seemingly enjoying it. I probably don't see the art behind it, but that is how I saw Abramovic's performance. Frankly, I saw Athey's body art more aesthetic than Abramovic's little hair session.