When practiced consensually, sadomasochistic sex is being increasingly accepted as an alternative sexuality. Here I suggest the possible evolutionary roots of the preferences, draw distinctions between violent, abusive and "healthy" practitioners' partnership, provide clear behavioural markers of the respective situations, and underline some specific problems connected to this sexual preference. Some of the problems are well-known in the community of its practitioners, although they have not yet been described in medical nor scientific sources.

Department of Biology Faculty of Science J E Purkynje University in Usti nad Labem Za valcovnou 1000 8 Usti nad Labem 400 96 Czech Republic

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