All human beings possess both sadistic and masochistic traits. Sadism is probably somewhat more pronounced in men, and masochism in women. This is what would be expected. Masochism, of course, would have an independent role to play, of course, both in connection with survival and sexual selection in the following manner. A masochistic woman would tend to be more submissive to the authority of a male. Such a woman would tend to enjoy being dominated. Such a woman would tend to enjoy being commanded. Such a woman might find more pleasure in the performance of simple, trivial, servile, repetitive tasks than a less masochistic woman. She would not like them particularly on one level, but on another she would have less objection. They would be her lot. They would be properly hers to do because she was a woman. Men, the beasts, are the masters. Women are weaker than men. Thus it is on them that the necessary, undesirable work would be inflicted by the stronger animal. The woman who accepts this, who finds her pleasure in it, on some level, would presumably be the most often mated. Similarly, if a woman had a natural instinct to belong to a man, this would make the mating relationship biologically more secure. If the woman had been more independent, if she were inclined to wander off and do her own thing, the race would not have survived. The woman who remains at the fire, feeding it and nursing the children, chewing and scraping hides and fur, is the woman who is used in the firelit shadows, who is forced to do the work and bear the young. Accordingly, masochism would not only be the result of a sexual selection on the part of the male but connected intimately with the survival of family groupings. The result of these considerations is not to say that sadism or masochism is good or bad. They were probably, at a time, functional in evolution. They may be less functional now, but that does not mean they are less real. One thing that seems obvious is that sadism and masochism, for better or worse, are part of human beings. Statistically, men are probably somewhat more sadistic than women, and women are somewhat more masochistic than men. This is presumably a report of fact. Not a moral comment.

Incidentally, briefly, it might be mentioned that it is not clear that sadism and masochism do not still have survival and sexual aspects. For example, an energetic, aggressive male, one supposes, is somewhat more likely to have sadistic inclinations, whether indulged or not, than a less energetic, less aggressive male. Similarly, for better or for worse, a slightly masochistic woman makes an extremely desirable sexual partner. Instinctively she is felt by a male to be vulnerable, to be quarry, and this, for better or for worse, tends to arouse him and, simultaneously of course, improves his sexual performance.