There probably is a common affect behind exhibitionism and masochism, because they both share many common characteristics. One thing is that masochism is "imprinted" by males being "forced" to show themselves naked to many females. However, many male masochists would probably do this without it being part of a "ritual". Another overlap is related to the "creation" of a submissive male. The male should be refused sexual release. However, this is the goal of the exhibitionist as well. He attempts to stay in the affective state as long as possible, so this too doesn't need to be enforced, unless it's suppressed. A third similarity between exhibitionism and masochism is that, the "cure" for male exhibitionism seems to be to lower the testosterone levels. However, high testosterone levels is indicative of an alpha male, and therefore we should anticipate that many high-status males have exhibitionist tendencies, and the safest way they can satisfy them is by visiting a dominatrix. It's not their preferred way, but exhibitionism would put them in great danger of social exclusion. This is probably relate to the finding that many successful men request dominatrix services. Pain and humiliation is about the only option for sexual release.
Exhibitionism probably is part of the sexual problems that are linked to Tourette syndrome. The racial distribution is unknown, but a check on a Web site made it clear that only around 1 in 80 were black.. This small amount could be attributed to recent genetic admixture.
The affect behind exhibitionism can best be described as something that is activated by will, but cannot be turned off by will. It's pretty clear that the affect is turned on by the male, because there is a lot of planning behind, and therefore he is in full charge of the turning on of it. The same thing applies to the masochistic male seeing a female with a whip. He decides to turn this (same) affect on. Often, the turning-on of the affect is ritualized. The male could potentially decide not to turn it on if the female treated him badly last time.
The troublesome part (from the males point of view at least), is that he can't just decide to turn
it off. Even if there is no longer any relevant stimuli, the affect would still remain on. The only thing (almost at least), that can turn it
off is ejaculation. That immediately turns it off. In other cases, the affect will only diminish
after a rather long time with no stimuli, but will be activated full force again with new
stimuli, and this time the male is in much less a position to decide not to
activate the affect again.
Since this affect is so maladaptive in today's society, it must once have been matched by
an appropriate affect in females. That affect should be characterized by having the power
to activate the male affect, coupled with the desire to inactivate it. This complex looks strikingly
similar to non-reproductive sex in bonobos.
In fact, "visual sensations" provides one possible clue to the female part of this.
Visual sensations is clothed women watching naked men. It's pretty obvious this is related to exhibitionism in males, because
the desire by females to be clothed and look at naked males is clearly matched by the exhibitionist male wanting to show himself naked to clothed
females. These are paired characteristics, and must have evolved together.
The Schadenfreude affect refers to females getting sexual pleasure from dominating males. It's also described in the context of small girls getting aroused by seeing boys getting corpal punishment by an older female. This affect has connections to masochism.
Rousseau affect refers to boys getting aroused from discipline by older females, but not by males. The Rousseau effect clearly complements the Schadenfreude affect, and it's pretty clear they should have a common origin where both affects are present.
The evolution of this complex is straight forward. If females evolve the desire to please men with non-reproductive sex, the male mechanism of not being able to turn it off, could easily evolve, and would be adaptive. However, it could not evolve without the female desire being present. Once the complex was in place, females could also start using this to their advantage, but only to a certain point, since males still had the ability not to turn it on.
To find out some key properties of masochism, I did a survey and evaluation
The results for Neanderthal traits are at similar levels as in the psychiatric covatiation survey. The only exception is that flat foot frequency is lower. As expected, level of education is high, and many have indicated they might / have engaged in homosexual or group-sex activities.
To find out some key properties of exhibitionism, I did a survey and evaluation
Here are some key findings:
Age of first exposure
This peaks around the time of puberty. That does indicate that it develops as part of the sexual maturation process rather than
being imprinted by some special event.
Prefered females watching
This peaks at 2. 1 and 3 are equally prefered. This finding might indicate that
Neanderthal groups on average had 1 - 3 females in their reproductive period. In any case, this seems to exclude
monogamous preferences.
Greatest arousal
As expected, females showing interest is causing the greatest arousal. This is quite contrary to popular
belief.
Prefered age of females
For the most part, this looks just like the profile any "normal" men would prefer. It peaks at the start of puberty of
girls, as expected. The only anomaly is the preference some show for older women. This can either be due to them being more
defenseless, or it could be something real.
Mixed age of females
This is usually stated as neutral, but more have selected positive than negative.
Restless legs and stuttering
This trait is related to Tourette syndrome, and it looks like there is a link.
Faceblindness
This trait is related to autism. The connection to faceblindness and autism seems to be less
certain. It would need a larger survey
Education
Education clearly shows an anomaly. 2 people have stated PhD+ and 9 have university degrees. Either
this is because of some sampling bias, or the trait behind exihibition is linked
to traits in successful men.
Neanderthal traits
The various Neanderthal traits show similar levels as in the psychiatric covariation
surveys. This clearly links exhibitionism to Neanderthal traits.