The Sexual Question Part 22

_Exhibitionism._ There is a cla.s.s of individuals, especially men, whose sole s.e.xual desire consists in masturbating in the presence of women. They lie in wait behind some wall or bush, and m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e openly when women pa.s.s that way. In these subjects an o.r.g.a.s.m is only produced when they are observed by women. As soon as e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n has occurred they fly to avoid the police. They never attempt to molest the women whose presence excites them to this performance.

These cases are not uncommon and naturally cause much scandal, so that the poor wretches seldom escape the police. These unfortunate persons who sometimes hold high social positions, have often been previously convicted, but cannot as a rule overcome their pa.s.sion, which has much worse consequences for them than for the women and children whom they frighten or annoy.

Exhibitionism is not rare among insane women and I have myself treated two typical cases. I do not know whether it occurs in women of sound mind, but at all events they cannot be addicted to it without running great risk.

=s.e.xual Inversion or h.o.m.os.e.xual Love.=--However shocking or absurd the aberrations of the s.e.xual appet.i.te and its irradiations may be, of which we have spoken hitherto, they are at any rate derived from originally normal intercourse with adults of the opposite s.e.x. Those we have now to deal with are distinguished by the fact that, not only the appet.i.te itself, but all its psychic irradiations are directed to the same s.e.x as the perverted individual, the latter being horrified at the idea of genital contact with the opposite s.e.x, quite as much as a normal man is horrified at the idea of h.o.m.os.e.xual union. This horror is, however, confined to s.e.xual matters, and in no way concerns those of social life. It is therefore a question of s.e.xual desire of man for man, and woman for woman.

What we have to deal with here has no connection with compensation as in cases of compensatory masturbation or pederasty, which are practiced, for want of anything better, by individuals whose normal s.e.xual appet.i.te cannot be satisfied otherwise. When excitation and desire become too strong, the purely animal (spinal) irritation of the s.e.xual appet.i.te may drive a man or woman to satisfy themselves by means which would otherwise disgust them.

A. _h.o.m.os.e.xual love in man._ It seems absurd that the whole s.e.xual appet.i.te and amorous ideals of a man can be directed all his life to persons of his own s.e.x. This pathological phenomenon, however, is as common as it is certain, although its psychological and normal import has long been misapprehended, as much in judicial circles as by the general public. It is the inverts themselves, aided by psychiatrists, who have finally thrown light on the subject. An invert, named Ulrich, announced himself publicly as the apostle of h.o.m.os.e.xual love, describing inverts under the name of _Urnings_, a name which is still used in Germany. Ulrich and his disciples endeavored to prove an absurdity by maintaining that h.o.m.os.e.xuals are a special kind of normal men, and by attempting to obtain legal sanction for this kind of love.

Ulrich gives the name _Dionings_ to men whose s.e.xual appet.i.te is normal, _i.e._, directed toward women. Such a pretension appears necessarily ridiculous to every man whose s.e.xual sense is normal, and it is obviously absurd to apply the term "normal" to a s.e.xual appet.i.te absolutely devoid of its natural object, procreation. But this is quite characteristic of the sentiments of inverts.

Hirschfeld, of Berlin, has recently attempted to show that h.o.m.os.e.xuals const.i.tute a variety of normal man; but he plays with words and facts, invoking the names of celebrated inverts, and wrongly a.s.serts that inversion is not hereditary.

From the first dawn of s.e.xual feeling in youth, male inverts have the same feelings as girls toward other boys. They feel the need for pa.s.sive submission, they become easily enraptured over novels and dress, they like to occupy themselves with feminine pursuits, to dress like girls and to frequent women's societies. They regard women as friends, as persons with whom they have a fellow-feeling. They generally, but not always, have a ba.n.a.l sentimentalism, they are fond of religious forms and ceremonies, they admire fine clothes and luxurious apartments; they dress their hair and "fake" themselves with a coquetry which often exceeds that of women. They are not all like this, but one or other of these traits predominates in different individuals.

Their s.e.xual appet.i.te, usually very strong and precocious, begins with an exalted love for some male friend. I have treated a great number of inverts and have always been struck with the intensity of their pa.s.sion. Among other cases, I may mention that of an invert hospital attendant, who fell madly in love with one of his comrades and covered ten meters of white tape with the name of his beloved. The most pa.s.sionate love letters, vows of fidelity till death, the most ferocious jealousy toward other friends of their beloved, and even ceremonies symbolical of marriage, are daily events among the h.o.m.os.e.xuals.

The invert does not so easily become enamored of another invert as of normal men. These have a special attraction for him, but as they generally repulse him with disgust, or threaten to expose or exploit him, he is often obliged to content himself with his fellows. These gentlemen form among themselves a secret brotherhood, a kind of freemasonry which is recognized by signs.

The first appearance of the h.o.m.os.e.xual appet.i.te with its youthful impulses, causes love and happiness to appear to the invert in a special aspect, determined by the inverted irradiation of his s.e.xual appet.i.te. It represents the aim of his life as an amorous union with his beloved, and shapes his idylls, his romance and his ideal to this end. But later on, when his s.e.xual desire increases and when he discovers that the majority of men feel differently to him, that the human race is reproduced by the union of men and women, etc., he becomes unhappy. He perceives that it would be both ridiculous and dangerous to reveal his inner feelings, and generally gives way to masturbation. But all social barriers which oppose his appet.i.te only increase his desire, and he becomes less and less able to dominate his pa.s.sion for certain young men. The disgust and indignation of the latter, when they discover that they are not the object of simple affection but of perverted s.e.xual love, are expressed only too clearly, and the poor invert sees himself condemned to perpetual torment in trying to hide his most violent desires and his most intimate and ideal aspirations, and finally to live in continual dread of being betrayed and prosecuted. It is thus easy to understand that he is happy in the discovery that his fellows form a secret society, and he a.s.sociates with them immediately, when his moral sense and will are not strong enough to be proof against it.

_If the invert succeeds in finding a male to his liking and with a similar degenerative state of mind to his own, he will pay him the attention that the normal man would to a woman. It is therefore reasonable to believe that this mode of inversion is likewise an expression of pathological manifestation of the individual; usually accompanied by neurosis and a like corresponding deficiency in the physical makeup of the individual._

The invert's ideal would be to obtain a legal license for marriage between men; but they are not very constant in their love and are much inclined to polyandry. s.e.xual love for women inspires them with contempt; they regard it as low and disgusting, at the most only good for the production of young inverts!

h.o.m.os.e.xual love has played a much greater part in the world's history than is generally believed. The Count de Platen and Sapho were inverts. The inverts themselves maintain that it was the same with Plato, Frederick the Great, Socrates, etc.; but this is not proved. In the East and in Brazil, h.o.m.os.e.xual love is very common.

My experience agrees with that of Krafft-Ebing, that h.o.m.os.e.xual love is pathological in nature, and that nearly all inverts are in a more or less marked degree psychopaths or neurotics, whose s.e.xual appet.i.te is not only abnormal but usually also exalted. Insane inverts, such as King Louis II of Bavaria, a great number of the insane, affected, for example, with _Pseudologia phantastica_ (pathological swindlers), and who are also h.o.m.os.e.xual, show the intimate relations.h.i.+p which exists between s.e.xual inversion (also called "uranism") and the psychoses.

I agree with Rudin that the psycho-pathological phenomena presented by the majority of inverts are primitive and hereditary, and that they are hardly ever the effect of their tormented life, as Hirschfeld, Ulrich and their disciples maintain. The vexations, anxieties and other torments that they suffer may no doubt play a part in developing certain nervous conditions previously latent, but they can never create hereditary taints. We may admit that s.e.xual inversion corresponds to a kind of partial hermaphrodism, in which the s.e.xual glands and copulatory organs have the characters of one of the s.e.xes, while the brain has, to a great extent, those of the other s.e.x; but the phenomenon is none the less pathological.

The inverts with whom we have most to do, especially in public asylums and at the courts of justice, are cynics and debauchees in spite of the ideal which they parade; but we should be wrong in concluding that this is always the case. The cynics make themselves heard because they do not restrain themselves. In my private practice I have known many very well-conducted inverts, possessing the most delicate sentiments, who had become pessimists owing to the shame and grief of a state of mind which they hid from the world.

Inverts of this cla.s.s often commit suicide, after having carried on in silence a desperate struggle against their morbid appet.i.te, because they prefer death to defeat, which they consider a dishonor. The victims of these tragedies deserve all our pity, and sometimes our respect. Such individuals generally hold aloof from the brotherhood of inverts which they look upon with fear or disgust.

In the picture of h.o.m.os.e.xuals there are two lamentable shadows, which are largely due to the severity with which most legislations track and condemn these unfortunate beings.

(1). As soon as an invert realizes his abnormal and dangerous situation in society, in which he feels a pariah, he often makes up his mind to follow the advice of ignorant friends, and even, alas, of ignorant doctors, and try and cure himself by marriage. Sometimes he begins by visiting a brothel to see if he is capable of normal coitus with a woman. In this he often succeeds, if he is able to picture to himself a man in the person of the prost.i.tute. He tries to persuade himself that the disgust which he felt at this experimental coitus was due to the fact that the "love" was bought; and he then decides to enter into conjugal life. This is at the same time the greatest absurdity and the worst action possible for him to commit, for his wife becomes a martyr and soon feels herself deceived, abandoned and despised. The invert treats her as a servant; he rarely has s.e.xual intercourse with her, sometimes not at all, and only performs it with repugnance with a view to the procreation of young inverts, who will rise to his ideal. He invites his male lovers to his house and they indulge in orgies, especially when the wife, despised and neglected, has separated from him. Such marriages, which are fortunately less common since this question has been better understood, generally end in divorce, preceded by bitter and mutual deceptions. It is really criminal to favor them when we know what they lead to. (_It is against such unions, and against s.e.xual indulgence of this nature, that the law ought to exert itself._)

(2). A second very grave result of h.o.m.os.e.xual love is the continual blackmail which is levied on inverts by all kinds of scamps. Public urinals are common meeting places for inverts. The blackmailers, who know this very well, follow them there and offer themselves for money; but as soon as they find out the name of their victim and his financial position, they begin to extort hush-money, threatening to prosecute him if he does not pay what they ask. If the invert is rich or of high position he has only to yield to the extortion, emigrate or commit suicide. In this way the life of most well-to-do inverts is ruined by perpetual anxieties, emotions and torments, because their morbid appet.i.te instinctively urges them to abandon themselves to men who feel differently to themselves.

_Moll, Krafft-Ebing and Hirschfeld have written at great length on s.e.xual inversion. The law takes a just point of view and is generally severe as regards this anomaly, especially in Germanic countries. Even h.o.m.os.e.xual love that does not affect minors nor insane persons, is a sign of degeneracy, but produces no offspring and consequently dies out by means of selection. We hope, therefore, that this type may be extinct some day, although it is still decidedly numerous, princ.i.p.ally in the larger cities of the world. When a normal man is tormented by an invert, it is much easier to get rid of him than for a young girl to protect herself against the importunities of a man._

It is quite another thing when the invert pays his attentions to minors, or when his appet.i.tes are complicated with dangerous s.e.xual paraesthesias, such as sadism. Not long ago the terrible case of a s.a.d.i.s.t invert, Dippold, startled civilized Europe. By the aid of cruelty and intimidation this wretch martyrized two young boys confided to him for their education to such a degree that one of them died. Legal protection of the two s.e.xes against s.e.xual abuses of all kinds should be extended at least to the age of seventeen or eighteen.

s.e.xual inversion has two curious results which have not received sufficient attention. Human society regards it as quite natural and without danger for individuals of the same s.e.x to bathe, sleep and live together. In lunatic asylums, prisons, reformatories, etc., men are attended to by men, and women by women. The vow of chast.i.ty of Catholic priests and nuns leads in the same way to separation of the s.e.xes. In all these customs s.e.xual inversion has not been taken into consideration. It is not surprising, therefore, that h.o.m.os.e.xuals take advantage of this state of affairs and seek these situations which give them the opportunity for satisfying their perverted pa.s.sions without running much danger. _They willingly choose a career suitable for their degenerate purposes, and especially that of attendant in lunatic asylums. In the latter case they take advantage of the mental condition of the patients and their incapacity to make complaints. In public baths inverts can freely enjoy the sight of naked men._

So far we have only spoken of complete inversion; but there are transitional stages. Many individuals are neutral, animated by sensations floating between the two s.e.xes. Krafft-Ebing even speaks of psycho-s.e.xual hermaphrodites, who are equally attracted by either s.e.x, and cohabit sometimes with one, sometimes with the other. I knew a married man who was very capable with his wife but in spite of this was unfaithful to her, both with men and with other women. He was convicted several times for pederasty with men and young boys, and confessed to me that he had more pleasure from h.o.m.os.e.xual intercourse than from normal connection with women, but could satisfy himself either way. An incomplete invert declared to me that his ideal would be a man.

Along with these cases there is a series of h.o.m.os.e.xuals in whom it is a.s.sumed that inversion has been acquired, because they commenced with a normal s.e.xual desire for women. After being seduced by h.o.m.os.e.xuals, who initiate them in mutual onanism or pederasty, they are suddenly or gradually disgusted with women and become inverts (vide _Suggestion_).

In reality, these are only relatively cases of acquired inversion. If we except the cases which depend on pure suggestion of which we shall speak later, there is a latent hereditary disposition to inversion, which is awakened on the first occasion and then develops strongly. It is easy to prove that men with normal s.e.xual instincts immediately abandon the habits of onanism or pederasty which they have contracted through bad example or seduction, or by compensation for the want of the normal object, as soon as they can obtain normal s.e.xual intercourse with one or more women. It is, therefore, false to regard h.o.m.os.e.xual sensations as depending on vice and depravity: they are a pathological product of abnormal hereditary s.e.xual dispositions. At any rate, this is a general rule which has few exceptions.

s.e.xual inversion is so widespread that in certain countries, for instance Brazil, and even in some European towns, there are brothels with men instead of women.

I will mention here a very curious case of purely psychical but complete inversion of the s.e.xual personality, combined with complete s.e.xual anaesthesia:

A man, aged 22, the son of an inebriate, with one imbecile sister. Of delicate const.i.tution, but very intelligent, he was possessed since infancy with the idea that he was a girl, although his genital organs were properly formed and were normally developed at p.u.b.erty. He had a horror of the society of boys, and of all masculine work, while he was quite happy in performing all the household duties of a woman. An irresistible obsession urged him to dress himself as a woman, and neither contempt, ridicule, nor punishment could cure him of it.

Attempts to give him employment as a boy in a small town failed completely. His girlish manners made him suspected by the police, who took him for a girl dressed in boy's clothes, and threatened to arrest him. When he was compelled to put on male attire he consoled himself with wearing a woman's chemise and corset underneath.

I carefully examined this individual and found him affected with complete s.e.xual anaesthesia. He had a horror of everything connected with the s.e.xual appet.i.te, but the idea of s.e.xual intercourse with men was still more repugnant than that of normal coitus with women. Although the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es and p.e.n.i.s appeared absolutely normal, he never had erections. His voice was high pitched and his whole manner suggested that of a eunuch.

This case is very instructive, for it clearly shows how the psycho-s.e.xual personality may be predetermined by heredity in the brain alone, independently of the s.e.xual organs, and even act without a trace of s.e.xual sensation or appet.i.te. This was undoubtedly a case of alcoholic blastophthoria and not ordinary heredity.

Krafft-Ebing describes the following scene, taken from a Berlin journal, dated February, 1894, which gives a good idea of the manners and customs of the h.o.m.os.e.xual fraternity:

"_The misogynist's ball._ Almost all the social elements of Berlin have their club or meeting place--the fat, the bald, the bachelors, the widowers--why not the misogynists? This variety of the human species, whose society is hardly edifying, but whose psychology is peculiar, held a fancy dress ball a few days ago. The sale, or rather the distribution of tickets was kept very private. Their meeting place is a well-known dancing hall. We enter the hall about midnight.

Dancing is going on to the music of a good orchestra. A thick cloud of smoke obscures the lamps and prevents us at first from distinguis.h.i.+ng the details of the scene. It is only during an interval that we can make a closer examination. Most of the people are masked, dress coats and ball dresses are exceptional.

"But what do I see? This lady in rose tarlatan, who has just pirouetted before us has a cigar in her mouth and smokes like a trooper. She has also a small beard, half hidden by paint. And she is now talking to an "angel" in tights, very _decollete_, with bare arms crossed behind her, also smoking. They have men's voices and the conversation is also masculine, for it turns on 'this cursed tobacco will not draw.' Two men dressed as women!

"A clown in conventional costume leaning against a pillar is speaking tender words to a ballet dancer, with his arm round her waist. She has a t.i.tian head, a fine profile and good figure. Her brilliant earrings, her necklace, her shapely shoulders and arms seem to proclaim her s.e.x, when suddenly disengaging herself from the embracing arm she turns away with a yawn, saying in a ba.s.s voice, 'Emile, why are you so tiresome to-day?' The novice hardly believes his eyes: the ballet dancer is also a man.

"Becoming suspicious, we continue our investigations, beginning to think that the world is here upside down. Here is a man who comes tripping along; but no, it cannot be a man, in spite of the small and carefully curled mustache. The dressing of the hair, the powder and paint on the face, the blackened eyebrows, the gold earrings, the bouquet of flowers on the breast and shoulder, the elegant black gown, the gold bracelets, the fan held in a white-gloved hand--none of these things suggest a man. And with what coquetry he fans himself; how he dances and skips about! Nevertheless, Nature has created this doll in the form of a man. He is a salesman in one of the large sweet shops, and the ballet dancer is his colleague!

"At the table in the corner there is a convivial meeting; several elderly gentlemen are gathered round a group of very _decollete_ 'ladies' sitting over a gla.s.s of wine and cracking jokes which are anything but delicate. 'Who are these three ladies?' 'Ladies! laughs my better-informed companion; well, the one on the right with the brown hair and short fancy dress is a hair-dresser; the second, the blonde with the pearl necklace is known here by the name of Miss Ella, and he is a ladies' tailor; the third is the celebrated Lottie.'

"But this cannot be a man? The waist, the bust, the delicate arms, the whole appearance is feminine! I am told that Lottie was formerly an accountant. To-day she, or rather he, is simply 'Lottie,' and takes pleasure in deceiving men as to his s.e.x as long as possible. At this moment Lottie is singing a song in a contralto voice acquired by prolonged practice, which a female singer might envy. Lottie has also taken female parts on the stage. Nowadays the former accountant is so imbued with his female role that he seldom appears in the street except in woman's attire, and even wears an embroidered nightdress.

"On closer examination of the persons present, I discovered to my astonishment several acquaintances. My bootmaker, whom I should never have taken for a misogynist, appears to-night as a troubador with sword and plumed cap; and his 'Leonora,' in the costume of a bride, generally serves me with Havanas in a cigar store. When Leonora removed her gloves I recognized her at once by her large chilblained hands. Here is my haberdasher promenading in an indelicate costume as Bacchus; also a Diana, dressed up atrociously, who is really a waiter at a cafe.

"It is impossible to describe the real 'ladies' who are at this ball.

They only a.s.sociate with each other and avoid the women-hating men; while the latter also keep to themselves and absolutely ignore the fair s.e.x."

=B. Feminine s.e.xual Inversion and h.o.m.os.e.xual Love.=--s.e.xual inversion is not rare in women, but manifests itself less publicly than the corresponding masculine inversion. It is called Lesbian love or _saphism_; and the women inverts are known as _tribades_. They are described in history, but may also be observed in modern towns. _They satisfy their pathological appet.i.te by degenerate practices heretofore mentioned in harmony with their inverted mentality._ The feminine invert likes to dress as a man and feels like a man toward other women. She goes in for manly games, wears her hair short, and takes to men's occupations in general. Her s.e.xual appet.i.te is often much exalted and then she becomes a veritable feminine Don Juan. I have known several women of this kind, who held veritable orgies and induced a whole series of young girls to become their lovers, in the way we have just indicated.

Here again, as in masculine inversion, there is a true irradiated love. Inverts want to marry and swear eternal fidelity; they celebrate their betrothals, even openly, the invert in male attire representing the bridegroom; or sometimes they have secret symbols, such as exchanging rings, etc. These s.e.xual orgies are often seasoned with alcohol.

_The excesses of female inverts exceed those of the male. This is their one thought, night and day, almost without interruption.

Jealousy is also as strong as among male inverts. However, these nymphomaniac inverts are not very common._

A characteristic peculiarity of feminine inversion depends on the irradiation of the s.e.xual appet.i.te in woman (_vide_ Chapters IV and V). We have seen that there is much less distinction in woman between love and local sensations of pleasure, and between friends.h.i.+p and love, than in man. When a woman invert wishes to seduce a normal girl, it is easy for her to do so. She first wins her affection by the aid of the caresses of an exalted platonic love, which is not uncommon among women; kisses, embraces, and sleeping in the same bed are much more common among girls than boys, and little by little the invert succeeds in causing voluptuous sensations in her victim. Very often the object of these caresses does not recognize that there is anything abnormal in all this, or gives way to her sensations without reflection, and then becomes amorous in her turn. I will give an example:

A female invert, dressed as a young man, succeeded in winning the love of a normal girl, and was formally betrothed to her. Soon afterwards the woman was unmasked, arrested and sent to an asylum, where she was made to put on woman's clothes. But the young girl who had been deceived continued to be amorous and visited her "lover," who embraced her before every one, in a state of voluptuous ecstasy, which I witnessed myself. When this scene was over, I took the young girl aside and expressed my astonishment at seeing her continue to have any regard for the sham "young man" who had deceived her. Her reply was characteristic of a woman: "Ah! you see, doctor, I love him, and I cannot help it!"

What can one reply to such logic? A psychic love of this kind is hardly possible in man; but if we go to the bottom of the matter and study the nature of woman, we can understand how certain feminine exaltations may be unconsciously transformed into love, platonic at first, afterwards s.e.xual. At first, "they understand each other so well," and have so much mutual sympathy; they give each other pet names, they kiss and embrace, and perform all kinds of tender actions.

Finally, a graduated scale of caresses leads almost unconsciously to s.e.xual excitation.

_This is how it happens that a normal woman, systematically seduced by an invert, may become madly in love with her and commit s.e.xual excesses with her for years, becoming herself essentially pathological. The case only becomes really pathological when it is definitely fixed by long habit; a thing which easily occurs in woman, owing to the constant and monogamous nature of her love._