@Aisling "We don't know why people become sadists for sure..." Dracula answered. "But it might also be because there are many misconceptions about what a sadist is. What is commonly known to be a sadist is someone who is extraordinarily cruel, mostly for the fun of it, but without any sexual component. But actually, the term 'sadist' comes from an 18th century author, Marquis de Sade. Many of the novels he wrote have got torture or immoral behavior as a topic, and they clearly show a sexual component to it. And that still is the psychological definition of the term 'sadist': Someone who derives pleasure from torture, or from being dominant in general."