CHAPTER IV.

SEXUAL INVERSION IN WOMEN.

Prevalence of Sexual Inversion Among Women--Among Women of

Ability--Among the Lower Races--Temporary Homosexuality in Schools,

etc.--Histories--Physical and Psychic Characteristics of Inverted

Women--The Modern Development of Homosexuality Among Women.

Homosexuality is not less common in women than in men. In the seriocomic

theory of sex set forth by Aristophanes in Plato's _Symposium_, males and

females are placed on a footing of complete equality, and, however

fantastic, the theory suffices to indicate that to the Greek mind, so

familiar with homosexuality, its manifestations seemed just as likely to

occur in women as in men. That is undoubtedly the case. Like other

anomalies, indeed, in its more pronounced forms it may be less frequently

met with in women; in its less pronounced forms, almost certainly, it is

more frequently found. A Catholic confessor, a friend tells me, informed

him that for one man who acknowledges homosexual practices there are three

women. For the most part feminine homosexuality runs everywhere a parallel

course to masculine homosexuality and is found under the same conditions.

It is as common in girls as in boys; it has been found, under certain

conditions, to abound among women in colleges and convents and prisons, as

well as under the ordinary conditions of society. Perhaps the earliest

case of homosexuality recorded in detail occurred in a woman,[137] and it

was with the investigation of such a case in a woman that Westphal may be

said to have inaugurated the scientific study of inversion.

Moreover, inversion is as likely to be accompanied by high intellectual

ability in a woman as in a man. The importance of a clear conception of

inversion is indeed in some respects, under present social conditions,

really even greater in the case of women than of men. For if, as has

sometimes been said of our civilization, "this is a man's world," the

large proportion of able women inverts, whose masculine qualities render

it comparatively easy for them to adopt masculine avocations, becomes a

highly significant fact.[138]

It has been noted of distinguished women in all ages and in all fields of

activity that they have frequently displayed some masculine traits.[139]

Even "the first great woman in history," as she has been called by a

historian of Egypt, Queen Hatschepsu, was clearly of markedly virile

temperament, and always had herself represented on her monuments in

masculine costume, and even with a false beard.[140] Other famous queens

have on more or less satisfactory grounds been suspected of a homosexual

temperament, such as Catherine II of Russia, who appears to have been

bisexual, and Queen Christina of Sweden, whose very marked masculine

traits and high intelligence seem to have been combined with a definitely

homosexual or bisexual temperament.[141]

Great religious and moral leaders, like Madame Blavatsky and Louise

Michel, have been either homosexual or bisexual or, at least, of

pronounced masculine temperament.[142] Great actresses from the eighteenth

century onward have frequently been more or less correctly identified with

homosexuality, as also many women distinguished in other arts.[143] Above

all, Sappho, the greatest of women poets, the peer of the greatest poets

of the other sex in the supreme power of uniting art and passion, has left

a name which is permanently associated with homosexuality.

It can scarcely be said that opinion is unanimous in regard to

Sappho, and the reliable information about her, outside the

evidence of the fragments of her poems which have reached us, is

scanty. Her fame has always been great; in classic times her name

was coupled with Homer's. But even to antiquity she was somewhat

of an enigma, and many legends grew up around her name, such as

the familiar story that she threw herself into the sea for the

love of Phaon. What remains clear is that she was regarded with

great respect and admiration by her contemporaries, that she was

of aristocratic family, that she was probably married and had a

daughter, that at one time she had to take her part in political

exile, and that she addressed her girl friends in precisely

similar terms to those addressed by Alcaeus to youths. We know

that in antiquity feminine homosexuality was regarded as

especially common in Sparta, Lesbos, and Miletus. Horace, who was

able to read Sappho's complete poems, states that the objects of

her love-plaints were the young girls of Lesbos, while Ovid, who

played so considerable a part in weaving fantastic stories round

Sappho's name, never claimed that they had any basis of truth. It

was inevitable that the early Christians should eagerly attack so

ambiguous a figure, and Tatian (_Oratio ad Graecos_, cap. 52)

reproached the Greeks that they honored statues of the tribade

Sappho, a prostitute who had celebrated her own wantonness and

infatuation. The result is that in modern times there have been

some who placed Sappho's character in a very bad light and others

who have gone to the opposite extreme in an attempt at

"rehabilitation." Thus, W. Mure, in his _History of the Language

and Literature of Ancient Greece_ (1854, vol. iii, pp. 272-326,

496-8), dealing very fully with Sappho, is disposed to accept

many of the worst stories about her, though he has no pronounced

animus, and, as regards female homosexuality, which he considers

to be "far more venial" than male homosexuality, he remarks that

"in modern times it has numbered among its votaries females

distinguished for refinement of manners and elegant

accomplishments." Bascoul, on the other hand, will accept no

statements about Sappho which conflict with modern ideals of

complete respectability, and even seeks to rewrite her most

famous ode in accordance with the colorless literary sense which

he supposes that it originally bore (J.M.F. Bascoul, _La Chaste

Sappho et le Mouvement Feministe à Athènes_, 1911).

Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (_Sappho und Simonides_, 1913) also

represents the antiquated view, formerly championed by Welcker,

according to which the attribution of homosexuality is a charge

of "vice," to be repudiated with indignation. Most competent and

reliable authorities today, however, while rejecting the

accretions of legend around Sappho's name and not disputing her

claim to respect, are not disposed to question the personal and

homosexual character of her poems. "All ancient tradition and the

character of her extant fragments," says Prof. J.A. Platt

(_Encyclopedia Britannica_, 11th. ed., art. "Sappho"), "show that

her morality was what has ever since been known as 'Lesbian.'"

What exactly that "Lesbian morality" involved, we cannot indeed

exactly ascertain. "It is altogether idle," as A. Croiset remarks

of Sappho (_Histoire de la Littérature Grecque_, vol. ii, ch. v),

"to discuss the exact quality of this friendship or this love, or

to seek to determine with precision the frontiers, which language

itself often seems to seek to confuse, of a friendship more or

less esthetic and sensual, of a love more or less Platonic." (See

also J.M. Edmonds, _Sappho in the Added Light of the New

Fragments_, 1912). Iwan Bloch similarly concludes (_Ursprung der

Syphilis_, vol. ii, 1911, p. 507) that Sappho probably combined,

as modern investigation shows to be easily possible, lofty ideal

feelings with passionate sensuality, exactly as happens in normal

love.

It must also be said that in literature homosexuality in women has

furnished a much more frequent motive to the artist than homosexuality in

men. Among the Greeks, indeed, homosexuality in women seldom receives

literary consecration, and in the revival of the classical spirit at the

Renaissance it was still chiefly in male adolescents, as we see, for

instance, in Marino's _Adone_, that the homosexual ideal found expression.

After that date male inversion was for a long period rarely touched in

literature, save briefly and satirically, while inversion in women

becomes a subject which might be treated in detail and even with

complacence. Many poets and novelists, especially in France, might be

cited in evidence.

Ariosto, it has been pointed out, has described the homosexual

attractions of women. Diderot's famous novel, _La Religieuse_,

which, when first published, was thought to have been actually

written by a nun, deals with the torture to which a nun was put

by the perverse lubricity of her abbess, for whom, it is said,

Diderot found a model in the Abbess of Chelles, a daughter of the

Regent and thus a member of a family which for several

generations showed a marked tendency to inversion. Diderot's

narrative has been described as a faithful description of the

homosexual phenomena liable to occur in convents. Feminine

homosexuality, especially in convents, was often touched on less

seriously in the eighteenth century. Thus we find a homosexual

scene in _Les Plaisirs du Cloître_, a play written in 1773 (_Le

Théâtre d'Amour an XVIIIe Siècle_, 1910.) Balzac, who treated so

many psychological aspects of love in a more or less veiled

manner, has touched on this in _La Fille aux Yeux d'Or_, in a

vague and extravagantly romantic fashion. Gautier made the

adventures of a woman who was predisposed to homosexuality, and

slowly realizes the fact, the central motive of his wonderful

romance, _Mademoiselle de Maupin_ (1835). He approached the

subject purely as an artist and poet, but his handling of it

shows remarkable insight. Gautier based his romance to some

extent on the life of Madame Maupin or, as she preferred to call

herself, Mademoiselle Maupin, who was born in 1673 (her father's

name being d'Aubigny), dressed as a man, and became famous as a

teacher of fencing, afterward as an opera singer. She was

apparently of bisexual temperament, and her devotion to women led

her into various adventures. She ultimately entered a convent,

and died, at the age of 34, with a reputation for sanctity. (E.C.

Clayton, _Queens of Song_, vol. i, pp, 52-61; F. Karsch,

"Mademoiselle Maupin," _Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen_,

vol. v, 1903, pp. 694-706.) A still greater writer, Flaubert, in

_Salammbô_ (1862) made his heroine homosexual. Zola has described

sexual inversion in _Nona_ and elsewhere. Some thirty years ago a

popular novelist, A. Belot, published a novel called

_Mademoiselle Giraud, ma Femme_, which was much read; the

novelist took the attitude of a moralist who is bound to treat

frankly, but with all decorous propriety, a subject of increasing

social gravity. The story is that of a man whose bride will not

allow his approach on account of her own _liaison_ with a female

friend continued after marriage. This book appears to have given

origin to a large number of novels, some of which touched the

question with considerable less affectation of propriety. Among

other novelists who have dealt with the matter may be mentioned

Guy de Maupassant (_La Femme de Paul_), Bourget (_Crime

d'Amour_), Catulle Mendès (_Méphistophéla_), and Willy in the

_Claudine_ series.

Among poets who have used the motive of homosexuality in women

with more or less boldness may be found Lamartine (_Regina_),

Swinburne (first series of _Poems and Ballads_), Verlaine

(_Parallèlement_), and Pierre Louys (_Chansons de Bilitis_). The

last-named book, a collection of homosexual prose-poems,

attracted considerable attention on publication, as it was an

attempt at mystification, being put forward as a translation of

the poems of a newly discovered Oriental Greek poetess; Bilitis

(more usually Beltis) is the Syrian name for Aphrodite. _Les

Chansons de Bilitis_ are not without charm, but have been

severely dealt with by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (_Sappho und

Simonides_, 1913, p. 63 et seq.) as "a travesty of Hellenism,"

betraying inadequate knowledge of Greek antiquity.

More interesting, as the work of a woman who was not only highly

gifted, but herself of homosexual temperament, are the various

volumes of poems published by "Renée Vivien." This lady, whose

real name was Pauline Tarn, was born in 1877; her father was of

Scotch descent, and her mother an American lady from Honolulu. As

a child she was taken to Paris, and was brought up as a French

girl. She travelled much and at one time took a house at

Mitylene, the chief city of ancient Lesbos. She had a love of

solitude, hated publicity, and was devoted to her women friends,

especially to one whose early death about 1900 was the great

sorrow of Pauline Tarn's life. She is described as very

beautiful, very simple and sweet-natured, and highly accomplished

in many directions. She suffered, however, from nervous

overtension and incurable melancholy. Toward the close of her

life she was converted to Catholicism and died in 1909, at the

age of 32. She is buried in the cemetery at Passy. Her best verse

is by some considered among the finest in the French language.

(Charles Brun, "Pauline Tarn," _Notes and Queries_, 22 Aug.,

1914; the same writer, who knew her well, has also written a

pamphlet, _Renée Vivien_, Sansot, Paris, 1911.) Her chief volumes

of poems are _Etudes et Preludes_ (1901), _Cendres et Poussières_

(1902), _Evocations_ (1903). A novel, _Une Femme M'Apparut_

(1904), is said to be to some extent autobiographical. "Renée

Vivien" also wrote a volume on Sappho with translations, and a

further volume of poems, _Les Kitharèdes_, suggested by the

fragments which remain of the minor women poets of Greece,

followers of Sappho.

It is, moreover, noteworthy that a remarkably large proportion of the

cases in which homosexuality has led to crimes of violence, or otherwise

come under medico-legal observation, has been among women. It is well

know that the part taken by women generally in open criminality, and

especially in crimes of violence, is small as compared with men.[144] In

the homosexual field, as we might have anticipated, the conditions are to

some extent reversed. Inverted men, in whom a more or less feminine

temperament is so often found, are rarely impelled to acts of aggressive

violence, though they frequently commit suicide. Inverted women, who may

retain their feminine emotionality combined with some degree of infantile

impulsiveness and masculine energy, present a favorable soil for the seeds

of passional crime, under those conditions of jealousy and allied emotions

which must so often enter into the invert's life.

The first conspicuous example of this tendency in recent times is

the Memphis case (1892) in the United States. (Arthur Macdonald,

"Observation de Sexualité Pathologique Feminine," _Archives

d'Anthropologie Criminelle_, May, 1895; see also Krafft-Ebing,

_Psychopathia Sexualis_, Eng. trans, of 10th ed., p. 550.) In

this case a congenital sexual invert, Alice Mitchell, planned a

marriage with Freda Ward, taking a male-name and costume. This

scheme was frustrated by Freda's sister, and Alice Mitchell then

cut Freda's throat. There is no reason to suppose that she was

insane at the time of the murder. She was a typical invert of a

very pronounced kind. Her mother had been insane and had

homicidal impulses. She herself was considered unbalanced, and

was masculine in her habits from her earliest years. Her face was

obviously unsymmetrical and she had an appearance of youthfulness

below her age. She was not vicious, and had little knowledge of

sexual matters, but when she kissed Freda she was ashamed of

being seen, while Freda could see no reason for being ashamed.

She was adjudged insane.

There have been numerous cases in America more recently. One case

(for some details concerning which I am indebted to Dr. J.G.

Kiernan, of Chicago) is that of the "Tiller Sisters," two

quintroons, who for many years had acted together under that name

in cheap theaters. One, who was an invert, with a horror of men

dating from early girlhood, was sexually attached to the other,

who was without inborn inversion, and was eventually induced by a

man to leave the invert. The latter, overcome by jealousy, broke

into the apartment of the couple and shot the man dead. She was

tried, and sent to prison for life. A defense of insanity was

made, but for this there was no evidence. In another case, also

occurring in Chicago (reported in _Medicine_, June, 1899, and

_Alienist and Neurologist_, October, 1899), a trained nurse lived

for fourteen years with a young woman who left her on four

different occasions, but was each time induced to return;

finally, however, she left and married, whereupon the nurse shot

the husband, who was not, however, fatally wounded. The culprit

in this case had been twice married, but had not lived with

either of her husbands; it was stated that her mother had died in

an asylum, and that her brother had committed suicide. She was

charged with disorderly conduct, and subjected to a fine.

In another later case in Chicago a Russian girl of 22, named Anna

Rubinowitch, shot from motives of jealousy another Russian girl

to whom she had been devoted from childhood, and then fatally

shot herself. The relations between the two girls had been very

intimate. "Our love affair is one purely of the soul," Anna

Rubinowitch was accustomed to say; "we love each other on a

higher plane than that of earth." (I am informed that there were

in fact physical relationships; the sexual organs were normal.)

This continued, with great devotion on each side, until Anna's

"sweetheart" began to show herself susceptible to the advances of

a male wooer. This aroused uncontrollable jealousy in Anna, whose

father, it may be noted, had committed suicide by shooting some

years previously.

Homosexual relationships are also a cause of suicide among women.

Such a case was reported in Massachusetts early in 1901. A girl

of 21 had been tended during a period of nervous prostration,

apparently of hysterical nature, by a friend and neighbor,

fourteen years her senior, married and having children. An

intimate friendship grew up, equally ardent on both sides. The

mother of the younger woman and the husband of the other took

measures to put a stop to the intimacy, and the girl was sent

away to a distant city; stolen interviews, however, still

occurred. Finally, when the obstacles became insurmountable, the

younger woman bought a revolver and deliberately shot herself in

the temple, in presence of her mother, dying immediately. Though

sometimes thought to act rather strangely, she was a great

favorite with all, handsome, very athletic, fond of all outdoor

sports, an energetic religious worker, possessing a fine voice,

and was an active member of many clubs and societies. The older

woman belonged to an aristocratic family and was loved and

respected by all. In another case in New York in 1905 a retired

sailor, "Captain John Weed," who had commanded transatlantic

vessels for many years, was admitted to a Home for old sailors

and shortly after became ill and despondent, and cut his throat.

It was then found that "Captain Weed" was really a woman. I am

informed that the old sailor's despondency and suicide were due

to enforced separation from a female companion.

The infatuation of young girls for actresses and other prominent

women may occasionally lead to suicide. Thus in Philadelphia, a

few years ago, a girl of 19, belonging to a very wealthy family,

beautiful and highly educated, acquired an absorbing infatuation

for Miss Mary Garden, the _prima donna_, with whom she had no

personal acquaintance. The young girl would kneel in worship

before the singer's portrait, and studied hairdressing and

manicuring in the hope of becoming Miss Garden's maid. When she

realized that her dream was hopeless she shot herself with a

revolver. (Cases more or less resembling those here brought

forward occur from time to time in all parts of the civilized

world. Reports, mostly from current newspapers, of such cases, as

well as of simple transvestism, or Eonism, in both women and men,

will be found in the publications of the Berlin

Wissenschaftlich-humanitären Komitee: the _Monatsberichte_ up to

1909, then in the _Vierteljahrsberichte_, and from 1913 onward in

the _Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen_.)

Yet, until recently, comparatively little has been known of sexual

inversion in women. Even so lately as 1901 (after the publication of the

first edition of the present Study), Krafft-Ebing wrote that scarcely

fifty cases had been recorded. The chief monographs devoted but little

space to women.

Krafft-Ebing himself, in the earlier editions of _Psychopathia

Sexualis_, gave little special attention to inversion in women,

although he published a few cases. Moll, however, included a

valuable chapter on the subject in his _Konträre

Sexualempfindung_, narrating numerous cases, and inversion in

women also received special attention in the present Study.

Hirschfeld, however, in his _Homosexualität_ (1914) is the first

authority who has been able to deal with feminine homosexuality

as completely co-ordinate with masculine homosexuality. The two

manifestations, masculine and feminine, are placed on the same

basis and treated together throughout the work.

It is, no doubt, not difficult to account for this retardation in the

investigation of sexual inversion in women. Notwithstanding the severity

with which homosexuality in women has been visited in a few cases, for the

most part men seem to have been indifferent toward it; when it has been

made a crime or a cause for divorce in men, it has usually been considered

as no offense at all in women.[145] Another reason is that it is less

easy to detect in women; we are accustomed to a much greater familiarity

and intimacy between women than between men, and we are less apt to

suspect the existence of any abnormal passion. And, allied with this

cause, we have also to bear in mind the extreme ignorance and the extreme

reticence of women regarding any abnormal or even normal manifestation of

their sexual life. A woman may feel a high degree of sexual attraction for

another woman without realizing that her affection is sexual, and when she

does realize this, she is nearly always very unwilling to reveal the

nature of her intimate experience, even with the adoption of precautions,

and although the fact may be present to her that, by helping to reveal the

nature of her abnormality, she may be helping to lighten the burden of it

on other women. Among the numerous confessions voluntarily sent to

Krafft-Ebing there is not one by a woman. There is, again, the further

reason that well-marked and fully developed cases of inversion are

probably rarer in women, though a slighter degree may be more common; in

harmony with the greater affectability of the feminine organism to slight

stimuli, and its lesser liability to serious variation.[146]

The same aberrations that are found among men are, however, everywhere

found among women. Feminine inversion has sometimes been regarded as a

vice of modern refined civilization. Yet it was familiar to the

Anglo-Saxons, and Theodore's Penitential in the seventh century assigned a

penance of three years (considerably less than that assigned to men, or

for bestiality) to "a woman fornicating with a woman." Among the women of

savages in all parts of the world homosexuality is found, though it is

less frequently recorded than among men.[147]

In New Zealand it is stated on the authority of Moerenhout (though I have

not been able to find the reference) that the women practised Lesbianism.

In South America, where inversion is common among men, we find similar

phenomena in women. Among Brazilian tribes Gandavo[148] wrote:--

"There are certain women among these Indians who determine to be

chaste and know no man. These leave every womanly occupation and

imitate the men. They wear their hair the same way as the men;

they go to war with them or hunting, bearing their bows; they

continue always in the company of men, and each has a woman who

serves her and with whom she lives."

This has some analogy with the phenomena seen among North American men.

Dr. Holder, who has carefully studied the _boté_, tells me that he has met

no corresponding phenomena in women.

There is no doubt, however, that homosexuality among women is well known

to the American Indians in various regions. Thus the Salish Indians of

British Columbia have a myth of an old woman who had intercourse with a

young woman by means of a horn used as a penis.[149] In the mythology of

the Assiniboine Indians (of Canada and Montana) and the Fox Indians (of

Iowa) there are also legends of feminine homosexuality, supposed to have

been derived from the Algonkin Cree Indians, who were closely connected

with both.[150]

According to the Assiniboine legend, a man's wife fell in love

with his sister and eloped with her, a boneless child being the

result of the union; the husband pursued the couple, and killed

his wife as well as the child; no one cared to avenge her death.

The Fox legend, entitled "Two Maidens who Played the Harlot with

Each Other," runs as follows: "It is said that once on a time

long ago there were two young women who were friends together. It

is told that there were also two youths who tried to woo the two

maidens, but they were not able even so much as to talk with

them. After awhile the youths began to suspect something wrong.

So once during the summer, when the two maidens started away to

peel off bark, the youths followed, staying just far enough

behind to keep them in sight. While the girls were peeling the

bark, the youths kept themselves hidden. After awhile they no

longer heard the sound of the maidens at work. Whereupon they

began to creep up to where they were. When they drew nigh,

behold, the maidens were in the act of taking off their clothes.

The first to disrobe flung herself down on the ground and lay

there. 'Pray, what are these girls going to do?' was the feeling

in the hearts of the youths. And to their amazement the girls

began to lie with each other. Thereupon the youths ran to where

the girls were. She who was lying on top instantly fell over

backward. Her clitoris was standing out and had a queer shape; it

was like a turtle's penis. Thereupon the maidens began to plead

with the youths: 'Oh, don't tell on us!' they said. 'Truly it is

not of our own free desire that we have done this thing We have

done it under the influence of some unknown being.' It is said

that afterward one of the maidens became big with child. In the

course of time, she gave birth, and the child was like a

soft-shell turtle."

In Bali, according to Jacobs (as quoted by Ploss and Bartels),

homosexuality is almost as common among women as among men, though it is

more secretly exercised; the methods of gratification adopted are either

digital or lingual, or else by bringing the parts together (tribadism).

Baumann, who noted inversion among the male negro population of Zanzibar,

finds that it is also not rare among women. Although Oriental manners

render it impossible for such women to wear men's clothes openly, they do

so in private, and are recognized by other women by their man-like

bearing, as also by the fact that women's garments do not suit them. They

show a preference for masculine occupations, and seek sexual satisfaction

among women who have the same inclinations, or else among normal women,

who are won over by presents or other means. In addition to tribadism or

cunnilinctus, they sometimes use an ebony or ivory phallus, with a kind of

glans at one end, or sometimes at both ends; in the latter case it can be

used by two women at once, and sometimes it has a hole bored through it by

which warm water can be injected; it is regarded as an Arab invention, and

is sometimes used by normal women shut up in harems, and practically

deprived of sexual satisfaction.[151]

Among the Arab women, according to Kocher, homosexual practices are rare,

though very common among Arab men. In Egypt, however, according to Godard,

Kocher, and others, it is almost fashionable, and every woman in the harem

has a "friend." In Turkey homosexuality is sometimes said to be rare among

women. But it would appear to be found in the harems and women's baths of

Turkey, as well as of Islam generally. Brantôme in the sixteenth century

referred to the Lesbianism of Turkish women at the baths, and Leo

Africanus in the same century mentioned the tribadism of Moorish women and

the formal organization of tribadic prostitution in Fez. There was an

Osmanli Sapphic poetess, Mihiri, whose grave is at Amasia, and Vambery and

Achestorides agree as to the prevalence of feminine homosexuality in

Turkey.[152] Among the negroes and mulattoes of French creole countries,

according to Corre, homosexuality is very common. "I know a lady of great

beauty," he remarks, "a stranger in Guadalupe and the mother of a family,

who is obliged to stay away from the markets and certain shops because of

the excessive admiration of mulatto women and negresses, and the impudent

invitations which they dare to address to her."[153] He refers to several

cases of more or less violent sexual attempts by women on young colored

girls of 12 or 14, and observes that such attempts by men on children of

their own sex are much rarer.

In China (according to Matignon) and in Cochin China (according to

Lorion) homosexuality does not appear to be common among women. In India,

however, it is probably as prevalent among women as it certainly is among

men.

In the first edition of this Study I quoted the opinion of Dr.

Buchanan, then Superintendant of the Central Gaol of Bengal at

Bhagalpur, who informed me that he had never come across a case

and that his head-gaoler had never heard of such a thing in

twenty-five years' experience. Another officer in the Indian

Medical Service assures me, however, that there cannot be the

least doubt as to the frequency of homosexuality among women in

India, either inside or outside gaols. I am indebted to him for

the following notes on this point:--

"That homosexual relationships are common enough among Indian

women is evidenced by the fact that the Hindustani language has

five words to denote the tribade: (1) _dúgáná_, (2) _zanàkhé_,

(3) _sa'tar_, (4) _chapathái_, and (5) _chapatbáz_. The _modus

operandi_ is generally what Martial calls _geminos committere

cunnos_, but sometimes a phallus, called _saburah_, is employed.

The act itself is called _chapat_ or _chapti_, and the Hindustani

poets, Nazir, Rangin, Ján S'áheb, treat of Lesbian love very

extensively and sometimes very crudely. Ján S'áheb, a woman poet,

sings to the effect that intercourse with a woman by means of a

phallus is to be preferred to the satisfaction offered by a male

lover. The common euphemism employed when speaking of two

tribades who live together is that they 'live apart.' So much for

the literary evidence as to the prevalence of what, _mirable

dictu_, Dr. Buchanan's gaoler was ignorant of.

"Now for facts. In the gaol of R. the superintendent discovered a

number of phalli in the females' inclosure; they were made of

clay and sun-dried and bore marks of use. In the gaol of S. was a

woman who (as is usual with tribades in India) wore male attire,

and was well known for her sexual proclivities. An examination

revealed the following: Face much lined, mammæ of masculine type,

but nipples elongated and readily erectile; gluteal and iliac

regions quite of masculine type, as also the thighs; clitoris,

with enlarged glands, readily erectile; nymphæ thickened and

enlarged; vulvar orifice patent, for she had in early youth been

a prostitute; the voice was almost contralto. Her partner was of

low type, but eminently feminine in configuration and manner. In

this case I heard that 'the man' went to a local ascetic and

begged his intercession with the deity, so that she might

impregnate her partner. ('The Hindoo medical works mention the

possibility of a woman uniting with another woman in sexual

embraces and begetting a boneless fetus.' _Short History of Aryan

Medical Science_, p. 44.)

"In the town of D. there 'lived apart' two women, one a Brahmin,

the other a grazier; their _modus operandi_ was tribadism, as an

eyewitness informed me. In S. I was called in to treat the widow

of a wealthy Mohammedan; I had occasion to examine the pudenda,

and found what Martineau would have called the indelible stigmata

of early masturbation and later sapphism. She admitted the

impeachment and confessed that she was on the best of terms with

her three remarkably well-formed and good-looking handmaidens.

This lady said that she began masturbation at an early age, 'just

like all other women,' and that sapphism came after the age of

puberty. Another Mohammedan woman whom I knew, and who had a very

large clitoris, told me that she had been initiated into Lesbian

love at 12 by a neighbor and had intermittently practised it ever

since. I might also instance two sisters of the gardener caste,

both widows, who 'lived apart' and indulged in simultaneous

sapphism.

"That sometimes the actors in tribadism are most vigorous is

shown by the fact that, in the central gaol of ----, swelling of

the vulva was admitted to have been caused by the embraces of two

female convicts. The subordinate who told me this mentioned it

quite incidentally while relating his experiences as hospital

assistant at this gaol. When I questioned him he stated that the

woman, whom he was called to treat, told him that she could never

'satisfy herself' with men, but only with women. He added that

tribadism was 'quite common in the gaol.'"

The foregoing sketch may serve to show that homosexual practices

certainly, and probably definite sexual inversion, are very widespread

among women in very many and various parts of the world, though it is

likely that, as among men, there are variations--geographical, racial,

national, or social--in the frequency or intensity of its obvious

manifestations. Thus, in the eighteenth century, Casanova remarked that

the women of Provence are specially inclined to Lesbianism.

In European prisons homosexual practices flourish among the women fully as

much, it may probably be said, as among the men. There is, indeed, some

reason for supposing that these phenomena are here sometimes even more

decisively marked than among men.[154] This prevalence of homosexuality

among women in prison is connected with the close relationship between

feminine criminality and prostitution.

The frequency of homosexual practices among prostitutes is a fact of some

interest, and calls for special explanation, for, at the first glance, it

seems in opposition to all that we know concerning the exciting causes of

homosexuality. Regarding the fact there can be no question.[155] It has

been noted by all who are acquainted with the lives of prostitutes, though

opinion may differ as to its frequency. In Berlin, Moll was told in

well-informed quarters, the proportion of prostitutes with Lesbian

tendencies is about 25 per cent. This was almost the proportion at Paris

many years ago, according to Parent-Duchâtelet; today, according to

Chevalier, it is larger; and Bourneville believes that 75 per cent, of the

inmates of the Parisian venereal hospitals have practised homosexuality.

Hammer in Germany has found among 66 prostitutes that 41 were

homosexual.[156] Hirschfeld thinks that inverted women are specially prone

to become prostitutes.[157] Eulenburg believes, on the other hand, that

the conditions of their life favor homosexuality among prostitutes; "a

homosexual union seems to them higher, purer, more innocent, and more

ideal."[158] There is, however, no fundamental contradiction between these

two views; they are probably both right.

In London, so far as my inquiries extend, homosexuality among prostitutes

is very much less prevalent, and in a well-marked form is confined to a

comparatively small section. I am indebted to a friend for the following

note: "From my experience of the Parisian prostitute, I gather that

Lesbianism in Paris is extremely prevalent; indeed, one might almost say

normal. In particular, most of the chahut-dancers of the Moulin-Rouge,

Casino de Paris, and the other public balls are notorious for going in

couples, and, for the most part, they prefer not to be separated, even in

their most professional moments with the other sex. In London the thing

is, naturally, much less obvious, and, I think, much less prevalent; but

it is certainly not infrequent. A certain number of well-known prostitutes

are known for their tendencies in this direction, which do not, however,

interfere in any marked way with the ordinary details of their profession.

I do not personally know of a single prostitute who is exclusively

Lesbian; I have heard vaguely that there are one or two such anomalies.

But I have heard a swell _cocotte_ at the Corinthian announce to the whole

room that she was going home with a girl; and no one doubted the

statement. Her name, indeed, was generally coupled with that of a

fifth-rate actress. Another woman of the same kind has a little clientele

of women who buy her photographs in Burlington Arcade. In the lower ranks

of the profession all this is much less common. One often finds women who

have simply never heard of such a thing; they know of it in regard to men,

but not in regard to women. And they are, for the most part, quite

horrified at the notion, which they consider part and parcel of 'French

beastliness.' Of course, almost every girl has her friend, and, when not

separately occupied, they often sleep together; but, while in separate,

rare cases, this undoubtedly means all that it can mean, for the most

part, so far as one can judge, it means no more than it would mean among

ordinary girls."

It is evident that there must be some radical causes for the frequency of

homosexuality among prostitutes. One such cause doubtless lies in the

character of the prostitute's relations with men; these relations are of a

professional character, and, as the business element becomes emphasized,

the possibility of sexual satisfaction diminishes; at the best, also;

there lacks the sense of social equality, the feeling of possession, and

scope for the exercise of feminine affection and devotion. These the

prostitute must usually be forced to find either in a "bully" or in

another woman.[159]

Apart from this fact it must be borne in mind that, in a very large number

of cases, prostitutes show in slight or more marked degree many of the

signs of neurotic heredity,[160] and it would not be surprising if they

present the germs of homosexuality in an unusually high degree. The life

of the prostitute may well develop such latent germs; and so we have an

undue tendency to homosexuality, just as we have it among criminals, and,

to a much less extent, among persons of genius and intellect.

Homosexuality is specially fostered by those employments which keep women

in constant association, not only by day, but often at night also, without

the company of men. This is, for instance, the case in convents, and

formerly, at all events,--however, it may be today,--homosexuality was

held to be very prevalent in convents. This was especially so in the

eighteenth century when very many young girls, without any religious

vocation, were put into convents.[161] The same again is today the case

with the female servants in large hotels, among whom homosexual practices

nave been found very common.[162] Laycock, many years ago, noted the

prevalence of manifestations of this kind, which he regarded as

hysterical, among seamstresses, lace-makers, etc., confined for hours in

close contact with one another in heated rooms. The circumstances under

which numbers of young women are employed during the day in large shops

and factories, and sleep in the establishment, two in a room or even two

in a bed, are favorable to the development of homosexual practices.

In England it is seldom that anyone cares to investigate these

phenomena, though, they certainly exist. They have been more

thoroughly studied elsewhere. Thus, in Rome, Niceforo, who

studied various aspects of the lives of the working classes,

succeeded in obtaining much precise information concerning the

manners and customs of the young girls in dressmaking and

tailoring work-rooms. He remarks that few of those who see the

"virtuous daughters of the people," often not more than 12 years

old, walking along the streets with the dressmaker's box under

their arm, modestly bent head and virginal air, realize the

intense sexual preoccupations often underlying these appearances.

In the work-rooms the conversation perpetually revolves around

sexual subjects in the absence of the mistress or forewoman, and

even in her presence the slang that prevails in the work-rooms

leads to dialogues with a double meaning. A state of sexual

excitement is thus aroused which sometimes relieves itself

mentally by psychic onanism, sometimes by some form of

masturbation; one girl admitted to Niceforo that by allowing her

thoughts to dwell on the subject while at work she sometimes

produced physical sexual excitement as often as four times a day.

(See also vol. i of these _Studies_, "Auto-erotism.") Sometimes,

however, a vague kind of homosexuality is produced, the girls,

excited by their own thoughts and their conversation, being still

further excited by contact with each other. "In summer, in one

work-room, some of the girls wear no drawers, and they unbutton

their bodices, and work with crossed legs, more or less

uncovered. In this position, the girls draw near and inspect one

another; some boast of their white legs, and, then the petticoats

are raised altogether for more careful comparison. Many enjoy

this inspection of nudity, and experience real sexual pleasure.

From midday till 2 P.M., during the hours of greatest heat, when

all are in this condition, and the mistress, in her chemise (and

sometimes, with no shame at the workers' presence, even without

it), falls asleep on the sofa, all the girls, _without one

exception_, masturbate themselves. The heat seems to sharpen

their desires and morbidly arouse all their senses. The

voluptuous emotions, restrained during the rest of the day, break

out with irresistible force; stimulated by the spectacle of each

other's nakedness, some place their legs together and thus

heighten the spasm by the illusion of contact with a man." In

this way they reach mutual masturbation. "It is noteworthy,

however," Niceforo points out, "that these couples for mutual

masturbation are never Lesbian couples. Tribadism is altogether

absent from the factories and work-rooms." He even believes that

it does not exist among girls of the working class. He further

describes how, in another work-room, during the hot hours of the

day in summer, when no work is done, some of the girls retire

into the fitting-room, and, having fastened their chemises round

their legs and thighs with pins, so as to imitate trousers, play

at being men and pretend to have intercourse with the others.

(Niceforo, _Il Gergo_, cap. vi, 1897, Turin.) I have reproduced

these details from Niceforo's careful study because, although

they may seem to be trivial at some points, they clearly bring

out the very important distinction between a merely temporary

homosexuality and true inversion. The amusements of these young

girls may not be considered eminently innocent or wholesome, but,

on the other hand, they are not radically morbid or vicious. They

are strictly, and even consciously, _play_; they are dominated by

the thought that the true sexual ideal is normal relationship

with a man, and they would certainly disappear in the presence of

a man.

It must be remembered that Niceforo's observations were made

among girls who were mostly young. In the large factories, where

many adult women are employed, the phenomena tend to be rarer,

but of much less trivial and playful character. At Wolverhampton,

some forty years ago, the case was reported of a woman in a

galvanizing "store" who, after dinner, indecently assaulted a

girl who was a new hand. Two young women held the victim down,

and this seems to show that homosexual vice was here common and

recognized. No doubt, this case is exceptional in its brutality.

It throws, however, a significant light on the conditions

prevailing in factories. In Spain, in the large factories where

many adult women are employed, especially in the great tobacco

factory at Seville, Lesbian relationships seem to be not

uncommon. Here the women work in an atmosphere which in summer is

so hot that they throw off the greater part of their clothing, to

such an extent that a bell is rung whenever a visitor is

introduced into a work-room, in order to warn the workers. Such

an environment predisposes to the formation of homosexual

relationships. When I was in Spain some years ago an incident

occurred at the Seville Fábrica de Tabacos which attracted much

attention in the newspapers, and, though it was regarded as

unusual, it throws light on the life of the workers. One morning

as the women were entering the work-room and amid the usual scene

of animation changing their Manila shawls for the light costume

worn during work, one drew out a small clasp-knife and, attacking

another, rapidly inflicted six or seven wounds on her face and

neck, threatening to kill anyone who approached. Both these

_cigarreras_ were superior workers, engaged in the most skilled

kind of work, and had been at the factory for many years. In

appearance they were described as presenting a striking contrast:

the aggressor, who was 48 years of age, was of masculine air,

tall and thin, with an expression of firm determination on her

wrinkled face; the victim, on the other hand, whose age was 30,

was plump and good-looking and of pleasing disposition. The

reason at first assigned for the attack on the younger woman was

that her mother had insulted the elder woman's son. It appeared,

however, that a close friendship had existed between the two

women, that latterly the younger woman had formed a friendship

with the forewoman of her work-room, and that the elder woman,

animated by jealousy, then resolved to murder both; this design

was frustrated by the accidental absence of the forewoman that

day.

In theaters the abnormal sexuality stimulated by such association in work

is complicated by the general tendency for homosexuality to be connected

with dramatic aptitude, a point to which I shall have to refer later on. I

am indebted to a friend for the following note: "Passionate friendships

among girls, from the most innocent to the most elaborate excursions in

the direction of Lesbos, are extremely common in theaters, both among

actresses and, even more, among chorus-and ballet-girls. Here the

pell-mell of the dressing-rooms, the wait of perhaps two hours between the

performances, during which all the girls are cooped up, in a state of

inaction and of excitement, in a few crowded dressing-rooms, afford every

opportunity for the growth of this particular kind of sentiment. In most

of the theaters there is a little circle of girls, somewhat avoided by the

others, or themselves careless of further acquaintanceship, who profess

the most unbounded devotion to one another. Most of these girls are

equally ready to flirt with the opposite sex, but I know certain ones

among them who will scarcely speak to a man, and who are never seen

without their particular 'pal' or 'chum,' who, if she gets moved to

another theater, will come around and wait for her friend at the

stage-door. But here, again, it is but seldom that the experience is

carried very far. The fact is that the English girl, especially of the

lower and middle classes, whether she has lost her virtue or not, is

extremely fettered by conventional notions. Ignorance and habit are two

restraining influences from the carrying out of this particular kind of

perversion to its logical conclusions. It is, therefore, among the upper

ranks, alike of society and of prostitution, that Lesbianism is most

definitely to be met with, for here we have much greater liberty of

action, and much greater freedom from prejudices."

With girls, as with boys, it is in the school, at the evolution of

puberty, that homosexuality usually first shows itself. It may originate

in a way mainly peripheral or mainly central. In the first case, two

children, perhaps when close to each other in bed, more or less

unintentionally generate in each other a certain amount of sexual

irritation, which they foster by mutual touching and kissing. This is a

spurious kind of homosexuality, the often precocious play of the normal

instinct. In the girl who is congenitally predisposed to homosexuality it

will continue and develop; in the majority it will be forgotten as quickly

as possible, not without shame, in the presence of the normal object of

sexual love.

I may quote as fairly typical the following observation supplied

by a lady who cannot be called inverted: "Like so many other

children and girls, I was first taught self-indulgence by a girl

at school, and I passed on my knowledge to one or two others,

with one of whom I remember once, when we were just 16, spending

the night sensually. We were horribly ashamed after, and that was

the only time. When I was only 8 there was a girl of 13 who liked

to play with my body, and taught me to play with hers, though I

rather disliked doing so. We slept together, and this went on at

intervals for six months. These things, for the sake of getting

enjoyment, and not with any passion, are not uncommon with

children, but less common, I think, than people sometimes

imagine. I believe I could recall without much difficulty, the

number of times such things happened with me. In the case I

mentioned when I did for one night feel--or try to excite in

myself and my girl-companion of 16--sensual passion, we had as

little children slept together a few times and done these things,

and meeting after an absence, just at that age, recalled our

childish memories, and were carried away by sexual impulse. But I

never felt any peculiar affection or passion for her even at the

time, nor she for me. We only felt that our sensual nature was

strong at the time, and had betrayed us into something we were

ashamed of, and, therefore, we avoided letting ourselves sleep

too close after that day. I think we disliked each other, and

were revolted whenever we thought of that night, feeling that

each had degraded the other and herself."

The cases in which the source is mainly central, rather than peripheral,

nevertheless merge into the foregoing, with no clear line of demarcation.

In such cases a girl forms an ardent attachment for another girl, probably

somewhat older than herself, often a schoolfellow, sometimes her

schoolmistress, upon whom she will lavish an astonishing amount of

affection and devotion. There may or not be any return; usually the return

consists of a gracious acceptance of the affectionate services. The girl

who expends this wealth of devotion is surcharged with emotion, but she is

often unconscious or ignorant of the sexual impulse, and she seeks for no

form of sexual satisfaction. Kissing and the privilege of sleeping with

the friend are, however, sought, and at such times it often happens that

even the comparatively unresponsive friend feels more or less definite

sexual emotion (pudendal turgescence, with secretion of mucus and

involuntary twitching of the neighboring muscles), though little or no

attention may be paid to this phenomenon, and in the common ignorance of

girls concerning sex matters it may not be understood. In some cases there

is an attempt, either instinctive or intentional, to develop the sexual

feeling by close embraces and kissing. This rudimentary kind of homosexual

relationship is, I believe, more common among girls than among boys, and

for this there are several reasons: (1) a boy more often has some

acquaintance with sexual phenomena, and would frequently regard such a

relationship as unmanly; (2) the girl has a stronger need of affection

and self-devotion to another person than a boy has; (3) she has not, under

our existing social conditions which compel young women to hold the

opposite sex at arm's length, the same opportunities of finding an outlet

for her sexual emotions; while (4) conventional propriety recognizes a

considerable degree of physical intimacy between girls, thus at once

encouraging and cloaking the manifestations of homosexuality.

The ardent attachments which girls in schools and colleges form to each

other and to their teachers constitute a subject which is of considerable

psychological interest and of no little practical importance.[163] These

girlish devotions, on the borderland between friendship and sexual

passion, are found in all countries where girls are segregated for

educational purposes, and their symptoms are, on the whole, singularly

uniform, though they vary in intensity and character to some extent, from

time to time and from place to place, sometimes assuming an epidemic form.

They have been most carefully studied in Italy, where Obici and

Marchesini--an alienist and a psychologist working in conjunction--have

analyzed the phenomena with remarkable insight and delicacy and much

wealth of illustrative material.[164] But exactly the same phenomena are

everywhere found in English girls' schools, even of the most modern type,

and in some of the large American women's colleges they have sometimes

become so acute as to cause much anxiety.[165] On the whole, however, it

is probable that such manifestations are regarded more indulgently in

girls' than in boys' schools, and in view of the fact that the

manifestations of affection are normally more pronounced between girls

than between boys, this seems reasonable. The head mistress of an English

training college writes:--

"My own assumption on such, matters has been that affection does naturally

belong to the body as well as the mind, and between two women is naturally

and innocently expressed by, caresses. I have never therefore felt that I

ought to warn any girl against the physical element in friendship, as

such. The test I should probably suggest to them would be the same as one

would use for any other relation--was the friendship helping life as a

whole, making them keener, kinder, more industrious, etc., or was it

hindering it?"

Passionate friendships, of a more or less unconsciously sexual character,

are common even outside and beyond school-life. It frequently happens that

a period during which a young woman falls in love at a distance with some

young man of her acquaintance alternates with periods of intimate

attachment to a friend of her own sex. No congenital inversion is usually

involved. It generally happens, in the end, either that relationship with

a man brings the normal impulse into permanent play, or the steadying of

the emotions in the stress of practical life leads to a knowledge of the

real nature of such feelings and a consequent distaste for them. In some

cases, on the other hand, such relationships, especially when formed after

school-life, are fairly permanent. An energetic emotional woman, not

usually beautiful, will perhaps be devoted to another who may have found

some rather specialized lifework, but who may be very unpractical, and who

has probably a very feeble sexual instinct; she is grateful for her

friends's devotion, but may not actively reciprocate it. The actual

specific sexual phenomena generated in such cases vary very greatly. The

emotion may be latent or unconscious; it may be all on one side; it is

often more or less recognized and shared. Such cases are on the borderland

of true sexual inversion, but they cannot be included within its region.

Sex in these relationships is scarcely the essential and fundamental

element; it is more or less subordinate and parasitic. There is often a

semblance of a sex-relationship from the marked divergence of the friends

in physical and psychic qualities, and the nervous development of one or

both the friends is sometimes slightly abnormal. We have to regard such

relationships as hypertrophied friendships, the hypertrophy being due to

unemployed sexual instinct.

The following narrative is written by a lady who holds a

responsible educational position: "A friend of mine, two or three

years older than myself (I am 31), and living in the same house

with me, has been passing through a very unhappy time. Long

nervous strain connected with this has made her sleep badly, and

apt to wake in terrible depression about 3 o'clock in the

morning. In the early days of our friendship, about eight months

ago, she occasionally at these times took refuge with me. After a

while I insisted on her consulting a doctor, who advised her,

amongst other things, not to sleep alone. Thenceforth for two or

three months I induced her to share my room. After a week or two

she generally shared my bed for a time at the beginning of the

night, as it seemed to help her to sleep.

"Before this, about the second or third time that she came to me

in the early morning, I had been surprised and a little

frightened to find how pleasant it was to me to have her, and how

reluctant I was that she should go away. When we began regularly

to sleep in the same room, the physical part of our affection

grew rapidly very strong. It is natural for me generally to

caress my friends, but I soon could not be alone in a room with

this one without wanting to have my arms round her. It would have

been intolerable to me to live with her without being able to

touch her. We did not discuss it, but it was evident that the

desire was even stronger in her than in me.

"For some time it satisfied us fully to be in bed together. One

night, however, when she had had a cruelly trying day and I

wanted to find all ways of comforting her, I bared by breast for

her to lie on. Afterward it was clear that neither of us could be

satisfied without this. She groped for it like a child, and it

excited me much more to feel that than to uncover my breast and

arms altogether at once.

"Much of this excitement was sexually localized, and I was

haunted in the daytime by images of holding this woman in my

arms. I noticed also that my inclination to caress my other women

friends was not diminished, but increased. All this disturbed me

a good deal. The homosexual practices of which I had read lately

struck me as merely nasty; I could not imagines myself tempted to

them;--at the same time the whole matter was new to me, for I had

never wanted anyone even to share my bed before; I had read that

sex instinct was mysterious and unexpected, and I felt that I did

not know what might come next.

"I knew only one elder person whom (for wide-mindedness,

gentleness, and saintliness) I could bear to consult; and to this

person, a middle-aged man, I wrote for advice. He replied by a

long letter of the most tender warning. I had better not weaken

my influence with my friend, he wrote, by going back suddenly or

without her consent, but I was to be very wary of going further;

there was fire about. I tried to put this into practice by

restraining myself constantly in our intercourse, by refraining

from caressing her, for instance, when I wanted to caress her and

knew that she wanted it. The only result seemed to be that the

desire was more tormenting and constant than ever.

"If at this point my friend had happened to die or go away, and

the incident had come to an end, I should probably have been left

nervous in these matters for years to come. I should have

faltered in the opinion I had always held, that bodily

expressions of love between women were as innocent as they were

natural; and I might have come nearer than I ever expected to the

doctrine of those convent teachers who forbid their girls to

embrace one another for fear an incalculable instinct should

carry them to the edge of an abyss.

"As it was, after a while I said a little on the subject to my

friend herself. I had been inclined to think that she might share

my anxiety, but she did not share it at all. She said to me that

she did not like these thoughts, that she cared for me more than

She had ever done for any person except one (now causing most of

her unhappiness), and wanted me in all possible ways, and that it

would make her sad to feel that I was trying not to want her in

one way because I thought it was wrong.

"On my part, I knew very well how much she did need and want me.

I knew that in relations with others she was spending the

greatest effort in following a course that I urged on her, and

was doing what I thought right in spite of the most painful

pressure on her to do wrong; and that she needed all the support

and comfort I could give her. It seemed to me, after our

conversation, that the right path for me lay not in giving way to

fears and scruples, but in giving my friend straightforwardly all

the love I could and all the kinds of love I could. I decided to

keep my eyes open for danger, but meanwhile to go on.

"We were living alone together at the time, and thenceforward we

did as we liked doing. As soon as we could, we moved to a bed

where we could sleep together all night. In the day when no one

was there we sat as close together as we wished, which was very

close. We kissed each other as often as we wanted to kiss each

other, which was very many times a day.

"The results of this, so far as I can see, have been wholly good.

We love each other warmly, but no temptation to nastiness has

ever come, and I cannot see now that it is at all likely to come.

With custom, the localized physical excitement has practically

disappeared, and I am no longer obsessed by imagined embraces.

The spiritual side of our affection seems to have grown steadily

stronger and more profitable since the physical side has, been

allowed to take its natural place."

A class in which homosexuality, while fairly distinct, is only slightly

marked, is formed by the women to whom the actively inverted woman is most

attracted. These women differ, in the first place, from the normal, or

average, woman in that they are not repelled or disgusted by lover-like

advances from persons of their own sex. They are not usually attractive to

the average man, though to this rule there are many exceptions. Their

faces may be plain or ill-made, but not seldom they possess good figures:

a point which is apt to carry more weight with the inverted woman than

beauty of face. Their sexual impulses are seldom well marked, but they are

of strongly affectionate nature. On the whole, they are women who are not

very robust and well developed, physically or nervously, and who are not

well adapted for child-bearing, but who still possess many excellent

qualities, and they are always womanly. One may, perhaps, say that they

are the pick of the women whom the average man would pass by. No doubt,

this is often the reason why they are open to homosexual advances, but I

do not think it is the sole reason. So far as they may be said to

constitute a class, they seem to possess a genuine, though not precisely

sexual, preference for women over men, and it is this coldness, rather

than lack of charm, which often renders men rather indifferent to them.

The actively inverted woman usually differs from the woman of the class

just mentioned in one fairly essential character: a more or less distinct

trace of masculinity. She may not be, and frequently is not, what would be

called a "mannish" woman, for the latter may imitate men on grounds of

taste and habit unconnected with sexual perversion, while in the inverted

woman the masculine traits are part of an organic instinct which she by no

means always wishes to accentuate. The inverted woman's masculine element

may, in the least degree, consist only in the fact that she makes advances

to the woman to whom she is attracted and treats all men in a cool,

direct manner, which may not exclude comradeship, but which excludes every

sexual relationship, whether of passion or merely of coquetry. Usually the

inverted woman feels absolute indifference toward men, and not seldom

repulsion. And this feeling, as a rule, is instinctively reciprocated by

men. At the same time bisexual women are at least as common as bisexual

men.

HISTORY XXXIV.--Miss S., aged 38, living in a city of the United

States, a business woman of fine intelligence, prominent in

professional and literary circles. Her general health is good,

but she belongs to a family in which there is a marked

neuropathic element. She is of rather phlegmatic temperament,

well poised, always perfectly calm and self-possessed, rather

retiring in disposition, with gentle, dignified bearing.

She says she cannot care for men, but that all her life has been

"glorified and made beautiful by friendship with women," whom she

loves as a man loves women. Her character is, however, well

disciplined, and her friends are not aware of the nature of her

affections. She tries not to give all her love to one person, and

endeavors (as she herself expresses it) to use this "gift of

loving" as a stepping-stone to high mental and spiritual

attainments. She is described by one who has known her for

several years as "having a high nature, and instincts unerringly

toward high things."

HISTORY XXXV.--Miss B., artist, of German ancestry on the

paternal side. Among her brothers and sisters, one is of neurotic

temperament and another is inverted. She is herself healthy. She

has no repugnance to men, and would even like to try marriage, if

the union were not permanent, but she has seldom felt any sexual

attraction to a man. In one exceptional instance, early in life,

realizing that she was not adapted for heterosexual

relationships, she broke off the engagement she had formed. Much

later in life, she formed a more permanent relationship with a

man of congenial tastes.

She is attracted to women of various kinds, though she recognizes

that there are some women to whom only men are attracted. Many

years since she had a friend to whom she was very strongly

attached, but the physical manifestations do not appear to have

become pronounced. After that her thoughts were much occupied by

several women to whom she made advances, which were not

encouraged to pass beyond ordinary friendship. In one case,

however, she formed an intimate relationship with a girl somewhat

younger than herself, and a very feminine personality, who

accepted Miss B.'s ardent love with pleasure, but in a passive

manner, and did not consider that the relationship would stand in

the way of her marrying, though she would on no account tell her

husband. The relationship for the first time aroused Miss B.'s

latent sexual emotions. She found sexual satisfaction in kissing

and embracing her friend's body, but there appeared to be no

orgasm. The relationship made a considerable change in her, and

rendered her radiant and happy.

In her behavior toward men Miss B. reveals no sexual shyness. Men

are not usually attracted to her. There is nothing striking in

her appearance; her person and manners, though careless, are not

conspicuously man-like. She is fond of exercise and smokes a good

deal.

HISTORY XXXVI.--Miss H., aged 30. Among her paternal relatives

there is a tendency to eccentricity and to nervous disease. Her

grandfather drank; her father was eccentric and hypochondriacal,

and suffered from obsessions. Her mother and mother's relatives

are entirely healthy, and normal in disposition.

At the age of 4 she liked to see the nates of a little girl who

lived near. When she was about 6, the nurse-maid, sitting in the

fields, used to play with her own parts, and told her to do

likewise, saying it would make a baby come; she occasionally

touched herself in consequence, but without producing any effect

of any kind. When she was about 8 she used to see various

nurse-maids uncover their children's sexual parts and show them

to each other. She used to think about this when alone, and also

about whipping. She never cared to play with dolls, and in her

games always took the part of a man. Her first rudimentary

sex-feelings appeared at the age of 8 or 9, and were associated

with dreams of whipping and being whipped, which were most vivid

between the ages of 11 and 14, when they died away on the

appearance of affection for girls. She menstruated at 12.

Her earliest affection, at the age of 13, was for a schoolfellow,

a graceful, coquettish girl with long golden hair and blue eyes.

Her affection displayed itself in performing all sorts of small

services for this girl, in constantly thinking about her, and in

feeling deliciously grateful for the smallest return. At the age

of 14 she had a similar passion for a girl cousin; she used to

look forward with ecstasy to her visits, and especially to the

rare occasions when the cousin slept with her; her excitement was

then so great that she could not sleep, but there was no

conscious sexual excitement. At the age of 15 or 16 she fell in

love with another cousin; her experiences with this girl were

full of delicious sensations; if the cousin only touched her

neck, a thrill went through her body which she now regards as

sexual. Again, at 17, she had an overwhelming, passionate

fascination for a schoolfellow, a pretty, commonplace girl, whom

she idealized and etherealized to an extravagant extent. This

passion was so violent that her health was, to some extent,

impaired; but it was purely unselfish, and there was nothing

sexual in it. On leaving school at the age of 19 she met a girl

of about the same age as herself, very womanly, but not much

attracted to men. This girl became very much attached to her, and

sought to gain her love. After some time Miss H. was attracted by

this love, partly from the sense of power it gave her, and an

intimate relation grew up. This relation became vaguely physical,

Miss H. taking the initiative, but her friend desiring such

relations and taking extreme pleasure in them; they used to touch

and kiss each other tenderly (especially on the _mons veneris_),

with equal ardor. They each experienced a strong pleasurable

feeling in doing this, and sexual erethism, but no orgasm, and it

does not appear that this ever occurred. Their general behavior

to each other was that of lovers, but they endeavored, as far as

possible, to hide this fact from the world. This relation lasted

for several years, and would have continued, had not Miss H.'s

friend, from religious and moral scruples, put an end to the

physical relationship. Miss H. had been very well and happy

during this relationship; the interference with it seems to have

exerted a disturbing influence, and also to have aroused her

sexual desires, though she was still scarcely conscious of their

real nature.

Soon afterward another girl of exceedingly voluptuous type made

love to Miss H., to which the latter yielded, giving way to her

feelings as well as to her love of domination. She was afterward

ashamed of this episode, though the physical element in it had

remained vague and indefinite. Her remorse was so great that when

her friend, repenting her scruples, implored her to let their

relationship be on the same footing as of old, Miss H., in her

return, resisted every effort to restore the physical relation.

She kept to this resolution for some years, and sought to divert

her thoughts into intellectual channels. When she again formed an

intimate relationship it was with a congenial friend, and lasted

for several years.

She has never masturbated. Occasionally, but very rarely, she has

had dreams of riding accompanied by pleasurable sexual emotions

(she cannot recall any actual experience to suggest this, though

fond of riding). She has never had any kind of sexual dreams

about a man; of late years she has occasionally had erotic dreams

about women.

Her feeling toward men is friendly, but she has never had sexual

attraction toward a man. She likes them as good comrades, as men

like each other. She enjoys the society of men on account of

their intellectual attraction. She is herself very active in

social and intellectual work. Her feeling toward marriage has

always been one of repugnance. She can, however, imagine a man

whom she could love or marry.

She is attracted to womanly women, sincere, reserved, pure, but

courageous in character. She is not attracted to intellectual

women, but at the same time cannot endure silly women. The

physical qualities that attract her most are not so much beauty

of face as a graceful, but not too slender, body with beautiful

curves. The women she is drawn to are usually somewhat younger

than herself. Women are much attracted to her, and without any

effort on her part. She likes to take the active part and

protecting rôle with them. She is herself energetic in character,

and with a somewhat neurotic temperament.

She finds sexual satisfaction in tenderly touching, caressing,

and kissing the loved one's body. (There is no _cunnilinctus_,

which she regards with abhorrence.) She feels more tenderness

than passion. There is a high degree of sexual erethism when

kissing, but orgasm is rare and is produced by lying on the

friend or by the friend lying on her, without any special

contact. She likes being herself kissed, but not so much as

taking the active part.

She believes that homosexual love is morally right when it is

really part of a person's nature, and provided that the nature of

homosexual love is always made plain to the object of such

affection. She does not approve of it as a mere makeshift, or

expression of sensuality, in normal women. She has sometimes

resisted the sexual expression of her feelings, once for years at

a time, but always in vain. The effect on her of loving women is

distinctly good, she asserts, both spiritually and physically,

while repression leads to morbidity and hysteria. She has

suffered much from neurasthenia at various periods, but under

appropriate treatment it has slowly diminished. The inverted

instinct is too deeply rooted to eradicate, but it is well under

control.

HISTORY XXXVII.--Miss M., the daughter of English parents (both

musicians), who were both of what is described as "intense"

temperament, and there is a neurotic element in the family,

though no history of insanity or alcoholism, and she is herself

free from nervous disease. At birth she was very small. In a

portrait taken at the age of 4 the nose, mouth, and ears are

abnormally large, and she wears a little boy's hat. As a child

she did not care for dolls or for pretty clothes, and often

wondered why other children found so much pleasure in them. "As

far back as my memory goes," she writes, "I cannot recall a time

when I was not different from other children. I felt bored when

other little girls came to play with me, though I was never rough

or boisterous in my sports." Sewing was distasteful to her. Still

she cared little more for the pastimes of boys, and found her

favorite amusement in reading, especially adventures and

fairy-tales. She was always quiet, timid, and self-conscious. The

instinct first made its appearance in the latter part of her

eighth or the first part of her ninth year. She was strongly

attracted by the face of a teacher who used to appear at a

side-window on the second floor of the school-building and ring a

bell to summon the children to their classes. The teacher's face

seemed very beautiful, but sad, and she thought about her

continually, though not coming in personal contact with, her. A

year later this teacher was married and left the school, and the

impression gradually faded away. "There was no consciousness of

sex at this time," she wrote; "no knowledge of sexual matters or

practices, and the feelings evoked were feelings of pity and

compassion and tenderness for a person who seemed to be very sad

and very much depressed. It is this quality or combination of

qualities which has always made the appeal in my own case. I may

go on for years in comparative peace, when something may happen,

in spite of my busy practical life, to call it all out." The next

feelings were experienced when, she was about 11 years of age. A

young lady came to visit a next-door neighbor, and made so

profound an impression on the child that she was ridiculed by her

playmates for preferring to sit in a dark corner on the

lawn--where she might watch this young lady--rather than to play

games. Being a sensitive child, after this experience she was

careful not to reveal her feelings to anyone. She felt

instinctively that in this she was different from others. Her

sense of beauty developed early, but there was always an

indefinable feeling of melancholy associated with it. The

twilight, a dark night when the stars shone brightly; these had a

very depressing effect upon her, but possessed a strong

attraction nevertheless, and pictures appealed to her. At the age

of 12 she fell in love with a schoolmate, two years older than

herself, who was absorbed in the boys and never suspected this

affection; she wept bitterly because they could not be confirmed

at the same time, but feared to appear undignified and

sentimental by revealing her feelings. The face of this friend

reminded her of one of Dolce's Madonnas which she loved. Later

on, at the age of 16, she loved another friend very dearly and

devoted herself to her care. There was a tinge of masculinity

among the women of this friend's family, but it is not clear if

she can be termed inverted. This was the happiest period of Miss

M.'s life. Upon the death of this friend, who had long been in

ill health, eight years afterward, she resolved never to let her

heart go out to anyone again.

Specific physical gratification plays no part in these

relationships. The physical sexual feelings began to assert

themselves at puberty, but not in association with her ideal

emotions. "In that connection," she writes, "I would have

considered such things a sacrilege. I fought them and in a

measure successfully. The practice of self-indulgence which might

have become a daily habit was only occasional. Her image evoked

at such times drove away such feelings, for which I felt a

repugnance, much preferring the romantic ideal feelings. In this

way, quite unconscious of the fact that I was at all different

from, any other person, I contrived to train myself to suppress

or at least to dominate my physical sensations when they arose.

That is the reason why friendship and love have always seemed

such holy and beautiful things to me. I have never connected the

two sets of feelings. I think I am as strongly sexed as anyone,

but I am able to hold a friend in my arms and experience deep

comfort and peace without having even a hint of physical sexual

feeling. Sexual expression may be quite necessary at certain

times and right under certain conditions, but I am convinced that

free expression of affection along sentimental channels will do

much to minimize the necessity for it along specifically sexual

channels. I have gone three months without the physical outlet.

The only time I was ever on the verge of nervous prostration was

after having suppressed the instinct for ten months. The other

feelings, which I do not consider as sexual feelings at all, so

fill my life in every department--love, literature, poetry,

music, professional and philanthropic activities--that I am able

to let the physical take care of itself. When the physical

sensations come, it is usually when I am not thinking of a loved

one at all. I could dissipate them by raising my thought to that

spiritual friendship. I do not know if this was right and wise. I

know it is what occurred. It seems a good thing to practise some

sort of inhibition of the centers and acquire this kind of

domination. One bad result, however, was that I suffered much at

times from the physical sensations, and felt horribly depressed

and wretched whenever they seemed to get the better of me."

"I have been able," she writes, "successfully to master the

desire for a more perfect and complete expression of my feelings,

and I have done so without serious detriment to my health." "I

love few people," she writes again, "but in these instances when

I have permitted my heart to go out to a friend I have always

experienced most exalted feelings, and have been made better by

them morally, mentally, and spiritually. Love is with me a

religion."

With regard to her attitude toward the other sex, she writes: "I

have never felt a dislike for men, but have good comrades among

them. During my childhood I associated with both girls and boys,

enjoying them all, but wondering why the girls cared to flirt

with boys. Later in life I have had other friendships with men,

some of whom cared for me, much to my regret, for, naturally, I

do not care to marry."

She is a musician, and herself attributes her nature in part to

artistic temperament. She is of good intelligence, and shows

remarkable talent for various branches of physical science. She

is about 5 feet 4 inches in height, and her features are rather

large. The pelvic measurements are normal, and the external

sexual organs are fairly normal in most respects, though somewhat

small. At a period ten years subsequent to the date of this

history, further examination, under anesthetics, by a

gynecologist, showed no traces of ovary on one side. The general

conformation of the body is feminine. But with arms, palms up,

extended in front of her with inner sides of hands touching, she

cannot bring the inner sides of forearms together, as nearly

every woman can, showing that the feminine angle of arm is lost.

She is left-handed and shows a better development throughout on

the left side. She is quiet and dignified, but has many boyish

tricks of manner and speech which seem to be instinctive; she

tries to watch herself continually, however, in order to avoid

them, affecting feminine ways and feminine interests, but always

being conscious of an effort in so doing.

Miss M. can see nothing wrong in her feelings; and, until, at the

age of 28, she came across the translation of Krafft-Ebing's

book, she had no idea "that feelings like mine were 'under the

ban of society' as he puts it, or were considered unnatural and

depraved." She would like to help to bring light on the subject

and to lift the shadow from other lives. "I emphatically

protest," she says, "against the uselessness and the inhumanity

of attempts to 'cure' inverts. I am quite sure they have perfect

right to live in freedom and happiness as long as they live

unselfish lives. One must bear in mind that it is the soul that

needs to be satisfied, and not merely the senses."

HISTORY XXXVIII.--Miss V., aged 35. Throughout early life up to

adult age she was a mystery to herself, and morbidly conscious of

some fundamental difference between herself and other people.

There was no one she could speak to about this peculiarity. In

the effort to conquer it, or to ignore it, she became a hard

student and has attained success in the profession she adopted. A

few years ago she came across a book on sexual inversion which

proved to be a complete revelation to her of her own nature, and,

by showing her that she was not an anomaly to be regarded with

repulsion, brought her comfort and peace. She is willing that her

experiences should be published for the sake of other women who

may be suffering as in the past she has suffered.

"I am a teacher in a college for women. I am 34 years old and of

medium size. Up to the age of 30 I looked much younger, and since

older, than my age. Until 21 I had a strikingly child-like

appearance. My physique has nothing masculine in it that I am

aware of; but I am conscious that my walk is mannish, and I have

very frequently been told that I do things--such as

sewing,--'just like a man.' My voice is quite low but not coarse.

I dislike household work, but am fond of sports, gardening, etc.

When so young that I cannot remember it, I learned to whistle, a

practice at which I am still expert. When a young girl, I learned

to smoke, and should still enjoy it.

"Several men have been good friends of mine, but very few

suitors. I scarcely ever feel at ease with a man; but women I

understand and can nearly always make my friends.

"I am of Scotch-Irish descent. My father's family were

respectable, prosperous, religious people; my mother's family

only semi-respectable, hard livers, shrewd, but not intelligent,

industrious and money-getting, but fond of drinking and

carousing. There were many illegitimates among them. Both

grandmothers, though of little education, were unusual women. Of

my four maternal uncles, three drank heavily.

"When 43, my mother gave birth to me, the youngest of 8 children.

Of those who grew to adult years, 2 seem quite normal sexually; 1

is exceedingly erratic, entirely unprincipled, has been a thief

and a forger, is a probable bigamist, and has betrayed several

respectable women. Aside from his having inordinate desire, I

know of no sexual abnormality. Another brother, married and a

father, as a boy was much given to infatuations for men. I fancy

this never went beyond infatuation and of late years has not been

noticeable. A third brother, single, though much courted by women

on account of his good looks and personal charm, is wholly

unresponsive, has no gallantry, nor was ever, to my knowledge, a

suitor. He is, however, fond of the society of women, especially

those older than he. He has a somewhat effeminate voice and walk.

Though he has begun of late years to smoke and drink a little,

these habits sit rather oddly upon him. When a child, one of his

favorite make-believe games was to pretend that he was a famous

woman singer. At school he was always found hanging around the

older girls.

"As a child I loved to stay in the fields, refused to wear a

sunbonnet, used to pretend I was a boy, climbed trees, and played

ball. I liked to play with dolls, but I did not fondle them, or

even make them dresses. When my hair was clipped, I was delighted

and made everyone call me 'John.' I used to like to wear a man's

broad-brimmed hat and make corn-cob pipes. I was very fond of my

father and tried to imitate him as much as possible. Where

animals were concerned, I was entirely fearless.

"I think I was not a sexually precocious child, though I seem to

have always known in a dim way that there were two sexes. Very

early I had a sense of shame at having my body exposed; I

remember on one occasion I could not be persuaded to undress

before a young girl visitor. At that time I must have been about

3. When I was 4 a neighbor who had often petted me took me on his

lap and clasped my hand around his penis. Though he was

interrupted in a moment, this made a lasting impression on me. I

had no physical sensation nor did I have any conception of the

significance of the act. Yet I had a slight feeling of repulsion,

and I must have dimly felt that it was wrong, for I did not tell

my mother. I was not accustomed to confide in her, for, though

truthful, I was secretive.

"At the age of 5 I commenced to attend a district school. I

remember that on my first day I was Greatly attracted by a little

girl who wore a bright-red dress.

"My first definite knowledge of sex came in this way: I was

attending Sabbath school and had become ambitious to read the

Bible through. I had gotten as far as the account of the birth of

Esau and Jacob, which aroused my curiosity. So I asked my mother

the meaning of some word in the passage. She seemed embarrassed

and evaded my question. This attitude stimulated my curiosity

further, and I re-read the chapter until I understood it pretty

well. Later I was further enlightened by girl playmates. I fancy

I enjoyed listening to their talk and repeating what I knew on

account of the mystery and secrecy with which sex subjects are

surrounded rather than any sensual delight.

"I cannot recall any act of mine growing directly from sexual

feeling until I was 10 years old. Several other little girls and

myself two or three times exposed private parts of our bodies to

each other. In one instance, at least, I was the instigator. This

act gave me some pleasure, though no distinct physical sensation.

One incident I recall that happened when I was about 10. A girl

cousin and myself had been playing 'house' together. I do not

recall what immediately led to it, but we began to address each

other as boys and tried to urinate through long tubes of some

sort. I also recall feeling a vague interest in this process in

animals, and observing them closely in the act.

"From this time until I was about 14 I grew ruder, more

boisterous and uncontrollable. Prior to this I had been a quite

tractable child. When 12 I became interested in a boy in my grade

at school, and tried to attract him, but failed. Once at a

children's party where we were playing kissing games I tried to

get him to kiss me, but he was unresponsive. I do not recall

bothering myself about him after that. A year later I had a boy

chum about whom my schoolmaster teased me. I thought this

ridiculous. At the age of 13 I menstruated, a fact that caused me

shame and anger. Gradually I grew to feel myself peculiar, why, I

cannot explain. I did not seem to myself to be like other girls

of my acquaintance. I adopted, as a defense, a brusque and

defiant air. I spent a good deal of time playing alone in our

backyard, where I made a pair of stilts, practised rope-walking,

and such things. At school I felt I was not liked by the nicer

girls and began to associate with girls whom I now believe were

immoral, but whom I then supposed did nothing worse than talk in

an obscene manner. I copied their conversation and grew more

reckless and uncontrollable. The principal of the high school I

was attending, I learned afterward, said I was the hardest pupil

to control she had ever had. About this time I read a book where

a girl was represented as saying she had a 'boy's soul in a

girl's body.' The applicability of this to myself struck me at

once, and I read the sentence to my mother who disgusted me by

appearing shocked.

"During this period I began to fall in love,--a practice which

clung to me until I was nearly 30 years old. I recall various

older women with whom I became much enamored, and one man. Of

these there was only one with whom I became acquainted well

enough to show any affection; another was a teacher, and another

was a young married woman at whom I used to gaze ardently during

an entire church service. Toward all my women teachers I had a

somewhat sentimental attitude. They stimulated me, while the men

gave me a wholly impersonal feeling. This abnormal sentimentality

may have been caused, or at least was increased, by the reading

of novels, some of a highly voluptuous nature. I began to read

novels at 7, and from 11 to 14 I absorbed a great many

undesirable ones. This lead to my picturing my future with a

lover, fancying myself in romantic scenes and being caressed and

embraced. I had always supposed I should marry. When about 5 I

decided that when I grew up I would marry a certain young man who

used to come to our house. Several years later he married, to my

real disappointment. I had no affection for him, but merely

thought he would make a desirable husband.