Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex Part 2

3. GENERAL STATEMENTS APPLICABLE TO ALL PERVERSIONS

*Variation and Disease.*--The physicians who at first studied the _perversions_ in p.r.o.nounced cases and under peculiar conditions were naturally inclined to attribute to them the character of a morbid or degenerative sign similar to the _inversions_. This view, however, is easier to refute in this than in the former case. Everyday experience has shown that most of these transgressions, at least the milder ones, are seldom wanting as components in the s.e.xual life of normals who look upon them as upon other intimacies. Wherever the conditions are favorable such a perversion may for a long time be subst.i.tuted by a normal person for the normal s.e.xual aim or it may be placed near it. In no normal person does the normal s.e.xual aim lack some designable perverse element, and this universality suffices in itself to prove the inexpediency of an opprobrious application of the name perversion. In the realm of the s.e.xual life one is sure to meet with exceptional difficulties which are at present really unsolvable, if one wishes to draw a sharp line between the mere variations within physiological limits and morbid symptoms.

Nevertheless, the quality of the new s.e.xual aim in some of these perversions is such as to require special notice. Some of the perversions are in content so distant from the normal that we cannot help calling them "morbid," especially those in which the s.e.xual impulse, in overcoming the resistances (shame, loathing, fear, and pain) has brought about surprising results (licking of feces and violation of cadavers). Yet even in these cases one ought not to feel certain of regularly finding among the perpetrators persons of p.r.o.nounced abnormalities or insane minds. We can not lose sight of the fact that persons who otherwise behave normally are recorded as sick in the realm of the s.e.xual life where they are dominated by the most unbridled of all impulses. On the other hand, a manifest abnormality in any other relation in life generally shows an undercurrent of abnormal s.e.xual behavior.

In the majority of cases we are able to find the morbid character of the perversion not in the content of the new s.e.xual aim but in its relation to the normal. It is morbid if the perversion does not appear beside the normal (s.e.xual aim and s.e.xual object), where favorable circ.u.mstances promote it and unfavorable impede the normal, or if it has under all circ.u.mstances repressed and supplanted the normal; _the exclusiveness_ and _fixation_ of the perversion justifies us in considering it a morbid symptom.

*The Psychic Partic.i.p.ation in the Perversions.*--Perhaps it is precisely in the most abominable perversions that we must recognize the most prolific psychic partic.i.p.ation for the transformation of the s.e.xual impulse. In these cases a piece of psychic work has been accomplished in which, in spite of its gruesome success, the value of an idealization of the impulse can not be disputed. The omnipotence of love nowhere perhaps shows itself stronger than in this one of her aberrations. The highest and the lowest everywhere in s.e.xuality hang most intimately together.

("From heaven through the world to h.e.l.l.")

*Two Results.*--In the study of perversions we have gained an insight into the fact that the s.e.xual impulse has to struggle against certain psychic forces, resistances, among which shame and loathing are most prominent. We may presume that these forces are employed to confine the impulse within the accepted normal limits, and if they have become developed in the individual before the s.e.xual impulse has attained its full strength, it is really they which have directed it in the course of development.[23]

We have furthermore remarked that some of the examined perversions can be comprehended only by a.s.suming the union of many motives. If they are amenable to a.n.a.lysis--disintegration--they must be of a composite nature. This may give us a hint that the s.e.xual impulse itself may not be something simple, that it may on the contrary be composed of many components which detach themselves to form perversions. Our clinical observation thus calls our attention to _fusions_ which have lost their expression in the uniform normal behavior.

4. THE s.e.xUAL IMPULSE IN NEUROTICS

*Psychoa.n.a.lysis.*--A proper contribution to the knowledge of the s.e.xual impulse in persons who are at least related to the normal can be gained only from one source, and is accessible only by one definite path. There is only one way to obtain a thorough and unerring solution of problems in the s.e.xual life of so-called psychoneurotics (hysteria, obsessions, the wrongly-named neurasthenia, and surely also dementia praec.o.x, and paranoia), and that is by subjecting them to the psychoa.n.a.lytic investigations propounded by J. Breuer and myself in 1893, which we called the "cathartic" treatment.

I must repeat what I have said in my published work, that these psychoneuroses, as far as my experience goes, are based on s.e.xual motive powers. I do not mean that the energy of the s.e.xual impulse merely contributes to the forces supporting the morbid manifestations (symptoms), but I wish distinctly to maintain that this supplies the only constant and the most important source of energy in the neurosis, so that the s.e.xual life of such persons manifests itself either exclusively, preponderately, or partially in these symptoms. As I have already stated in different places, the symptoms are the s.e.xual activities of the patient. The proof for this a.s.sertion I have obtained from the psychoa.n.a.lysis of hysterics and other neurotics during a period of twenty years, the results of which I hope to give later in a detailed account.

Psychoa.n.a.lysis removes the symptoms of hysteria on the supposition that they are the subst.i.tutes--the transcriptions as it were--for a series of emotionally accentuated psychic processes, wishes, and desires, to which a pa.s.sage for their discharge through the conscious psychic activities has been cut off by a special process (repression). These thought formations which are restrained in the state of the unconscious strive for expression, that is, for _discharge_, in conformity to their affective value, and find such in hysteria through a process of _conversion_ into somatic phenomena--the hysterical symptoms. If, _lege artis_, and with the aid of a special technique, retrogressive transformations of the symptoms into the affectful and conscious thoughts can be effected, it then becomes possible to get the most accurate information about the nature and origin of these previously unconscious psychic formations.

*Results of Psychoa.n.a.lysis.*--In this manner it has been discovered that the symptoms represent the equivalent for the strivings which received their strength from the source of the s.e.xual impulse. This fully concurs with what we know of the character of hysterics, which we have taken as models for all psycho-neurotics, before they have become diseased, and with what we know concerning the causes of the disease. The hysterical character evinces a part of s.e.xual repression which reaches beyond the normal limits, an exaggeration of the resistances against the s.e.xual impulse which we know as shame and loathing. It is an instinctive flight from intellectual occupation with the s.e.xual problem, the consequence of which in p.r.o.nounced cases is a complete s.e.xual ignorance, which is preserved till the age of s.e.xual maturity is attained.[24]

This feature, so characteristic of hysteria, is not seldom concealed in crude observation by the existence of the second const.i.tutional factor of hysteria, namely, the enormous development of the s.e.xual craving. But the psychological a.n.a.lysis will always reveal it and solves the very contradictory enigma of hysteria by proving the existence of the contrasting pair, an immense s.e.xual desire and a very exaggerated s.e.xual rejection.

The provocation of the disease in hysterically predisposed persons is brought about if in consequence of their progressive maturity or external conditions of life they are earnestly confronted with the real s.e.xual demand. Between the pressure of the craving and the opposition of the s.e.xual rejection an outlet for the disease results, which does not remove the conflict but seeks to elude it by transforming the libidinous strivings into symptoms. It is an exception only in appearance if a hysterical person, say a man, becomes subject to some ba.n.a.l emotional disturbance, to a conflict in the center of which there is no s.e.xual interest. Psychoa.n.a.lysis will regularly show that it is the s.e.xual components of the conflict which make the disease possible by withdrawing the psychic processes from normal adjustment.

*Neurosis and Perversion.*--A great part of the opposition to my a.s.sertion is explained by the fact that the s.e.xuality from which I deduce the psychoneurotic symptoms is thought of as coincident with the normal s.e.xual impulse. But psychoa.n.a.lysis teaches us better than this.

It shows that the symptoms do not by any means result at the expense only of the so called normal s.e.xual impulse (at least not exclusively or preponderately), but they represent the converted expression of impulses which in a broader sense might be designated as _perverse_ if they could manifest themselves directly in phantasies and acts without deviating from consciousness. The symptoms are therefore partially formed at the cost of abnormal s.e.xuality. _The neurosis is, so to say, the negative of the perversion._[25]

The s.e.xual impulse of the psychoneurotic shows all the aberrations which we have studied as variations of the normal and as manifestations of morbid s.e.xual life.

(_a_) In all the neurotics without exception we find feelings of inversion in the unconscious psychic life, fixation of libido on persons of the same s.e.x. It is impossible, without a deep and searching discussion, adequately to appreciate the significance of this factor for the formation of the picture of the disease; I can only a.s.sert that the unconscious propensity to inversion is never wanting and is particularly of immense service in explaining male hysteria.[26]

(_b_) All the inclinations to anatomical transgression can be demonstrated in psychoneurotics in the unconscious and as symptom-creators. Of special frequency and intensity are those which impart to the mouth and the mucous membrane of the a.n.u.s the role of genitals.

(_c_) The partial desires which usually appear in contrasting pairs play a very prominent role among the symptom-creators in the psychoneuroses.

We have learned to know them as carriers of new s.e.xual aims, such as peeping mania, exhibitionism, and the actively and pa.s.sively formed impulses of cruelty. The contribution of the last is indispensable for the understanding of the morbid nature of the symptoms; it almost regularly controls some portion of the social behavior of the patient.

The transformation of love into hatred, of tenderness into hostility, which is characteristic of a large number of neurotic cases and apparently of all cases of paranoia, takes place by means of the union of cruelty with the libido.

The interest in these deductions will be more heightened by certain peculiarities of the diagnosis of facts.

Alpha. There is nothing in the unconscious streams of thought of the neuroses which would correspond to an inclination towards fetichism; a circ.u.mstance which throws light on the psychological peculiarity of this well understood perversion.

Beta. Wherever any such impulse is found in the unconscious which can be paired with a contrasting one, it can regularly be demonstrated that the latter, too, is effective. Every active perversion is here accompanied by its pa.s.sive counterpart. He who in the unconscious is an exhibitionist is at the same time a voyeur, he who suffers from s.a.d.i.s.tic feelings as a result of repression will also show another reinforcement of the symptoms from the source of m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic tendencies. The perfect concurrence with the behavior of the corresponding positive perversions is certainly very noteworthy. In the picture of the disease, however, the preponderant role is played by either one or the other of the opposing tendencies.

Gamma. In a p.r.o.nounced case of psychoneurosis we seldom find the development of one single perverted impulse; usually there are many and regularly there are traces of all perversions. The individual impulse, however, on account of its intensity, is independent of the development of the others, but the study of the positive perversions gives us the accurate counterpart to it.

PARTIAL IMPULSES AND EROGENOUS ZONES

Keeping in mind what we have learned from the examination of the positive and negative perversions, it becomes quite obvious that they can be referred to a number of "partial impulses," which are not, however, primary but are subject to further a.n.a.lysis. By an "impulse" we can understand in the first place nothing but the psychic representative of a continually flowing internal somatic source of excitement, in contradistinction to the "stimulus" which is produced by isolated excitements coming from without. The impulse is thus one of the concepts marking the limits between the psychic and the physical. The simplest and most obvious a.s.sumption concerning the nature of the impulses would be that in themselves they possess no quality but are only taken into account as a measure of the demand for effort in the psychic life. What distinguishes the impulses from one another and furnishes them with specific attributes is their relation to their somatic _sources_ and to their _aims_. The source of the impulse is an exciting process in an organ, and the immediate aim of the impulse lies in the elimination of this organic stimulus.

Another preliminary a.s.sumption in the theory of the impulse which we cannot relinquish, states that the bodily organs furnish two kinds of excitements which are determined by differences of a chemical nature.

One of these forms of excitement we designate as the specifically s.e.xual and the concerned organ as the _erogenous zone_, while the s.e.xual element emanating from it is the partial impulse.[27]

In the perversions which claim s.e.xual significance for the oral cavity and the a.n.a.l opening the part played by the erogenous zone is quite obvious. It behaves in every way like a part of the s.e.xual apparatus. In hysteria these parts of the body, as well as the tracts of mucous membrane proceeding from them, become the seat of new sensations and innervating changes in a manner similar to the real genitals when under the excitement of normal s.e.xual processes.

The significance of the erogenous zones in the psychoneuroses, as additional apparatus and subst.i.tutes for the genitals, appears to be most prominent in hysteria though that does not signify that it is of lesser validity in the other morbid forms. It is not so recognizable in compulsion neurosis and paranoia because here the symptom formation takes place in regions of the psychic apparatus which lie at a great distance from the central locations for bodily control. The more remarkable thing in the compulsion neurosis is the significance of the impulses which create new s.e.xual aims and appear independently of the erogenous zones. Nevertheless, the eye corresponds to an erogenous zone in the looking and exhibition mania, while the skin takes on the same part in the pain and cruelty components of the s.e.xual impulse. The skin, which in special parts of the body becomes differentiated as sensory organs and modified by the mucous membrane, is the erogenous zone, [Greek: kat] ex ogen.[28]

EXPLANATION OF THE MANIFEST PREPONDERANCE OF s.e.xUAL PERVERSIONS IN THE PSYCHONEUROSES

The s.e.xuality of psychoneurotics has perhaps been placed in a false light by the above discussions. It appears that the s.e.xual behavior of the psychoneurotic approaches in predisposition to the pervert and deviates by just so much from the normal. Nevertheless, it is very possible that the const.i.tutional disposition of these patients besides containing an immense amount of s.e.xual repression and a predominant force of s.e.xual impulse also possesses an unusual tendency to perversions in the broadest sense. However, an examination of milder cases shows that the last a.s.sumption is not an absolute requisite, or at least that in p.r.o.nouncing judgment on the morbid effects one ought to discount the effect of one of the factors. In most psychoneurotics the disease first appears after p.u.b.erty following the demands of the normal s.e.xual life. Against these the repression above all directs itself. Or the disease comes on later, owing to the fact that the libido is unable to attain normal s.e.xual gratification. In both cases the libido behaves like a stream the princ.i.p.al bed of which is dammed; it fills the collateral roads which until now perhaps have been empty. Thus the manifestly great (though to be sure negative) tendency to perversion in psychoneurotics may be collaterally conditioned; at any rate, it is certainly collaterally increased. The fact of the matter is that the s.e.xual repression has to be added as an inner factor to such external ones as restriction of freedom, inaccessibility to the normal s.e.xual object, dangers of the normal s.e.xual act, etc., which cause the origin of perversions in individuals who might have otherwise remained normal.

In individual cases of neurosis the behavior may be different; now the congenital force of the tendency to perversion may be more decisive and at other times more influence may be exerted by the collateral increase of the same through the deviation of the libido from the normal s.e.xual aim and object. It would be unjust to construe a contrast where a cooperation exists. The greatest results will always be brought about by a neurosis if const.i.tution and experience cooperate in the same direction. A p.r.o.nounced const.i.tution may perhaps be able to dispense with the a.s.sistance of daily impressions, while a profound disturbance in life may perhaps bring on a neurosis even in an average const.i.tution.

These views similarly hold true in the etiological significance of the congenital and the accidental experiences in other spheres.

If, however, preference is given to the a.s.sumption that an especially formed tendency to perversions is characteristic of the psychoneurotic const.i.tution, there is a prospect of being able to distinguish a multiformity of such const.i.tutions in accordance with the congenital preponderance of this or that erogenous zone, or of this or that partial impulse. Whether there is a special relations.h.i.+p between the predisposition to perversions and the selection of the morbid picture has not, like many other things in this realm, been investigated.

REFERENCE TO THE INFANTILISM OF s.e.xUALITY

By demonstrating the perverted feelings as symptomatic formations in psychoneurotics, we have enormously increased the number of persons who can be added to the perverts. This is not only because neurotics represent a very large proportion of humanity, but we must consider also that the neuroses in all their gradations run in an uninterrupted series to the normal state. Moebius was quite justified in saying that we are all somewhat hysterical. Hence, the very wide dissemination of perversions urged us to a.s.sume that the predisposition to perversions is no rare peculiarity but must form a part of the normally accepted const.i.tution.

We have heard that it is a question whether perversions should be referred to congenital determinations or whether they originate from accidental experiences, just as Binet showed in fetichisms. Now we are forced to the conclusion that there is indeed something congenital at the basis of perversions, but it is something _which is congenital in all persons_, which as a predisposition may fluctuate in intensity and is brought into prominence by influences of life. We deal here with congenital roots in the const.i.tution of the s.e.xual impulse which in one series of cases develop into real carriers of s.e.xual activity (perverts); while in other cases they undergo an insufficient suppression (repression), so that as morbid symptoms they are enabled to attract to themselves in a round-about way a considerable part of the s.e.xual energy; while again in favorable cases between the two extremes they originate the normal s.e.xual life through effective restrictions and other elaborations.

But we must also remember that the a.s.sumed const.i.tution which shows the roots of all perversions will be demonstrable only in the child, though all impulses can be manifested in it only in moderate intensity. If we are led to suppose that neurotics conserve the infantile state of their s.e.xuality or return to it, our interest must then turn to the s.e.xual life of the child, and we will then follow the play of influences which control the processes of development of the infantile s.e.xuality up to its termination in a perversion, a neurosis or a normal s.e.xual life.

[1] The facts contained in the first "Contribution" have been gathered from the familiar publications of Krafft-Ebing, Moll, Moebius, Havelock Ellis, Schrenk-Notzing, Lowenfeld, Eulenberg, J. Bloch, and M.

Hirschfeld, and from the later works published in the "Jahrbuch fur s.e.xuelle Zwischenstufen." As these publications also mention the other literature bearing on this subject I may forbear giving detailed references.

The conclusions reached through the investigation of s.e.xual inverts are all based on the reports of J. Sadger and on my own experience.

[2] For general use the word "libido" is best translated by "craving."

(Prof. James J. Putnam, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. IV, 6.)

[3] For the difficulties entailed in the attempt to ascertain the proportional number of inverts compare the work of M. Hirschfeld in the Jahrbuch fur s.e.xuelle Zwischenstufen, 1904. Cf. also Brill, The Conception of h.o.m.os.e.xuality, Journal of the A.M.A., August 2, 1913.

[4] Such a striving against the compulsion to inversion favors cures by suggestion of psychoa.n.a.lysis.

[5] Many have justly emphasized the fact that the autobiographic statements of inverts, as to the time of the appearance of their tendency to inversion, are untrustworthy as they may have repressed from memory any evidences of heteros.e.xual feelings.

Psychoa.n.a.lysis has confirmed this suspicion in all cases of inversion accessible, and has decidedly changed their anamnesis by filling up the infantile amnesias.