wife is charming today!” or if some stranger says to him: “Who is that
beautiful woman?” as has actually happened at balls and entertainments
he feels supremely happy. Or, if he introduces his wife to some man who
gallantly remarks later: “I did not know that you had such a charming
wife!” his happiness knows no bounds and his wife has a good time in
consequence. The very next day he buys her a costly gem, he is tender
with her and bestows upon her pleasant flatteries.
But, on the other hand, if he sees that his wife passes unobserved in
a crowd, or if there is some other pretty woman in the room, he feels
unhappy. Then he meets his wife with severest reproaches because she
does not know how to dress attractively, he growls, and raves, and is
angry for several days until another event takes place and his wife is
again noticed by men and women when he quiets down. He cannot endure to
hear that some other man also has a pretty wife. He does not rest until
he meets that woman and is happy if some one says to him: “Your wife is
really prettier.” But if he hears that another woman is praised and his
wife is not mentioned at same time he feels again very depressed and
his wife pays unpleasantly for it. His uncles—he has no brothers—all
have pretty women. His chief concern is to find out whether his wife
is really the prettiest. He asks this question frequently of his
acquaintances, in an offhand manner of course, for he would not have
them suspect his feelings for anything in the world and the opinion
of a man towards whom he is otherwise completely indifferent often
determines his disposition for the whole day. He is happy if he notices
that some one is making love to his wife. On the other hand it troubles
him if he sees there are young men around and they fail to gather
around his wife. He is not jealous because he knows his wife well, can
trust her and, besides, she is never alone. She is either with him
or in her mother’s company. That is why he is very happy to see men
gather around her. He goes with her wherever any beauty contests are
on and spends a great deal of money to make sure that his wife will win
the prize. If another woman is the winner it makes him unhappy and he
genuinely envies the man who possesses or will possess such a woman.
In spite of all that, the man is a Don Juan and was never true to his
marital vows. He maintains a second house where he receives girls and
also such of his friends’ wives as find favor in his eyes and are
willing to accept his attentions. As he is a well preserved, stately
man of most attractive appearance he is very lucky with women.
Besides that he receives a number of girls in his laboratory where he
has fitted out a room for this purpose. Not a day passes in which he
does not possess some woman—any woman—in addition to his wife. He
looks well, though occasionally a little pale, feels physically very
fresh and energetic. He works really but two or three hours a day. In
this brief time he accomplishes more than other men in a day’s grind.
The character of his sexual gratification is noteworthy. While carrying
out normal coitus with his wife, with the girls and other women he
indulges in the kind of practices which furnish him the greatest
orgasm. He gives them his phallus which they take hold of, and kisses
them, _dum puella membrum erectum tenet et premit_. He carries out
coitus if the partner requests it. But the act is interrupted and
again exchanged for hand manipulation. As he is a very potent man, he
is able to satisfy the woman and still has time to withdraw his penis
before ejaculation and put it in the woman’s hand to be manipulated
by her. There have been also various other indulgences. He has tried
everything. The form of gratification just mentioned he prefers to all
others. A certain feeling of shame has prevented him from asking his
wife to do it for him.
His anamnesis is very fragmentary. He remembers no particular incidents
of childhood or early youth. He began to masturbate very early and up
to the time of his marriage masturbated regularly every night before
falling asleep. Already before marriage he had had such compulsory
habits, but usually he was through his bed time searching in about
one half hour. At any rate he masturbated daily even when he had
intercourse with women. He never took women to his house. They always
came to his laboratory. He is greatly attached to his mother who is
yet a very attractive woman and shows great veneration for his father
who brought him up with strict but just discipline and who showed some
light neurotic peculiarities.
He recalls no homosexual episodes. He masturbated excessively and began
intercourse with women at 18 years of age; after that he rapidly became
a confirmed woman hunter but he developed a very particular taste. All
his women had to be very fair, have a pretty, round, strongly feminine
figure, a delicate tint and be, above all, very beautiful. Yet a very
white and smooth skin would make up for the lack of other points of
beauty in his eyes. With the perfectly white face he required dark,
fiery eyes. This type of beauty seems to coincide with his mother’s
who was a remarkably attractive woman and who to this day carries with
great dignity the obvious signs of her former great beauty.
He had also certain antifetichistic peculiarities. If he notices hair
on a woman’s body, for instance, at once she loses all attractiveness
in his eyes. Such a woman he finds as disgusting as a woman with a
mustache. Equally disgusting to him are all women with sharp figures
and no breasts such as remind one of a man. “A woman should be a
woman,” is his favorite remark. He despises all “blue stockings”
and emancipated women and has requested his wife to drop the
acquaintanceship of a friend of hers who had taken an interest in
various women’s movements.
In the course of the analysis he refers continually first of all to his
wife. According to him he has married an angel of patience. It takes
great love to endure this man’s moods and whims. But the wife loves
him devotedly and has learned to stand everything from him because she
knew that he loved her and she said to herself: every man has his
peculiarities. She was contented and the house vibrated with her happy
laughter. If he troubled her with his foolish reproaches she did not
pout for long. On the contrary she soon smiled forgiveness so that
their married life was really a model.
He insists that his wife is an ideal person. When early in the
course of analysis one confesses such a deep affection, the opposite
feeling, scorn, is sure to become disclosed before long. First the
advantages,—then the disadvantages. But this woman seemed to have no
unpleasant component in her nature. He could tell only favorable things
about her and about his concern regarding her beauty.
But before long—in the course of a few weeks—the tone of his talk
changed. There was another trauma about which he felt he must tell me,
something of tremendous significance which had shattered his whole
married life. At the time of his marriage he had resolved nothing
less than to give up his Don Juan adventures and to be true to his
wife. Just before marriage he had been carrying on with six different
girls at the same time and it kept him on the jump to keep each woman
from finding out about the others. He wanted to live quietly after
marriage and be true to his wife. He had also resolved solemnly to
give up masturbation after marriage. As a married man this would be
easy,—instead of masturbating before going to sleep he would have
intercourse with his wife.
Before the marriage ceremony he became obsessed with the thought
that his bride might have hair growing on her breasts. That would be
unbearable. He was on the point of demanding that his bride should be
examined by a physician but, as a man of high standing, he was ashamed
to make such a suggestion. During the bridal night he discovered a few
light hairs on her breast and a light soft down on her abdomen. He was
so shocked that he would have wanted to send her back to her parents.
For months after that he was very unhappy and every night he wept over
his misfortune. His great hope, to find a woman who would take the
place of all other women in his life, was gone.
This notion about his wife’s hairs made him most unhappy and prevented
his moral resurrection. He had planned to turn a new leaf. But he
continued to feel himself irresistibly attracted to beautiful white
women with marble-like smooth skin and no hair to remind one of a man’s
body.
The most remarkable feature, characteristic of the whole case is the
fact last mentioned.
The man is avowedly bisexual with a strong leaning towards
homosexuality. This homosexual trend was gratified up till that time
through masturbation—as he has pointed out. He sought contact with
fully developed women, to forget man. He wanted a very beautiful wife
because he imagined her beauty would serve to drive away from him
all thought of man and to focus his libido exclusively upon her. He
wanted to have the prettiest woman in the world: Helen. If his wife’s
appearance pleased other men, this so roused the homosexual component
of his libido that he enjoyed sexual intercourse with her more keenly.
Above all he wanted to avoid the thought of man. The anxiety on account
of man came over him particularly before retiring at night and it was a
morbid anxiety over masturbation at the same time. In his head, within
his brain, man was a living thought, something that threatened him and
demanded release. But this was also something his consciousness refused
to recognize and therefore the thought of man tortured him and he could
not fall asleep. He projected this intruder into his room and it led
him to search his empty closets for a non-existent man, as if saying to
himself: I have no trace of any homosexual leaning whatever! That is
what he actually told me when I referred to the homosexual significance
of his compulsory acts: such a Don Juan as I! I have devoted myself
completely to woman. The thought of man is repulsive to me.
I explained to him that disgust is but a hidden form of longing. If he
were indifferent to the thought of man it would be more convincing.
“Well then, I am indifferent to the thought.”
Thus he tried to convince me that he was not homosexual. But we
conceive that the hairs he discovered upon his wife’s body reminded
him of the fatal homosexuality. He felt so unhappy over it he was
considering a separation on that account. Whatever reminded him of man
was painfully unpleasant to him. He threw himself into love adventures
to forget man. He gave up his clubs and male companions because he
wanted to be all the time in the company of his wife.
I pass over for the present the further significance of his neurosis
as disclosed by the analysis of his dreams. I shall only give an
example illustrating how untrustworthy are the statements of those who
attempt to give an account of their lives and insist that they remember
everything accurately. This or that particular kind of incident, they
are sure, has never occurred in their life. Regarding sexual matters
all men lie consciously, unconsciously and half-consciously.
After further, continuously progressive analysis the subject himself
came to the conclusion that he must have been struggling against
homosexuality. Now he understood his sudden decision to get married,
after having maintained right along that he would remain a bachelor.
He was interested at the time in a laboratory assistant, a young man
with pretty rosy cheeks. He showered gifts upon that young man and
planned to give him an education so as to have a friend always close to
him. The first compulsory acts appeared at the time. He married, felt
unhappy for a time but for a few years he lived at least a relatively
quiet life. Then another man came into his life destroying his peace of
mind, a man who had lived for some time in foreign countries and now
returned to his fatherland. This was an uncle.
Now he recalls something of which he had not thought for many
years—for he was going to keep this from me,—namely, that he had
maintained certain intimacy with this uncle for about a year. They
lived in a boarding house where they occupied a room together. The
uncle always came to lie in his bed and they played with each other
before falling asleep.
His uncle carried out the kind of manipulations which he now required
of his women lovers: manual gratification. During his relations with
his wife, however, he wanted to avoid all thought of homosexuality; she
should not practice this form of gratification for him nor should her
body remind him of homosexuality. She must save him of the burden of
homosexuality which still plagued him under the form of onanism.
After resurrecting this memory a mass of other homosexual data came
trooping forth out of his past.
This man was strongly bisexual from childhood with particular
predisposition towards the male sex. As a child he did crocheting and
showed various female characteristics. After the onset of puberty his
homosexuality was strongly repressed, persisting chiefly under the
guise of onanism. For the act of masturbation takes place just before
falling asleep in a half dreamy state during which he thinks, though
indistinctly, of his uncle and of other men. The latent homosexuality
was the most important factor in his neurosis.
The result of the analysis was most gratifying in this case. The
subject soon abandoned his compulsory acts and was able to sleep
quietly. His life became regular; he ceased being a Don Juan. He
allowed his wife to carry out those manipulations which seemed
essential for his orgasm and for his peace of mind. Occasionally I see
him.
These observations show that in the dynamics of the “polygamic
neurosis,” homosexuality plays a tremendous role. The observation that
every love is really self-love receives new confirmation. Don Juan
seeks himself in woman and finds in her that femininity which has
turned him into a Don Juan.
* * * * *
In his book (_Don Juan, Cassanova and other Erotic Characters_) already
mentioned (Stuttgart, 1906), _Oskar A. H. Schmitz_ states:
“Cassanova would not begrudge woman the possession of all those traits
which are called ‘male,’ through ignorance, just as he himself has
been described as possessing many female traits. The division of
mankind in men and women is a great convenience. But he who undertakes
to investigate erotic problems to their bottom must bear in mind that
there are no absolute male and female persons any more than there are
persons who are purely quick tempered, good-natured, envious, Germans
or Semites. All these designations, like Theophrast’s characters,
represent so many psychic elements which must have a name. But they
are met only in various combinations which may be compared and
contrasted with chemical combinations. I believe it is noticeable that
men of overstressed virility do not necessarily appeal to women, who
find them, instead, partly repulsive, partly amusing. On the other
hand it is certainly true that all female tempters were remarkable
for their intellect and wit—some of them were veritable amazons
intellectually—and we note in our own day with great reason the
disappearance of the “_crampon_” together with the leaning instinct of
Epheus. Even the disappearance of Don Juan may be due partly to his
overstressed virile characteristics. The erotic temperament includes
a number of female traits; such peculiarities as tenderness, vanity,
talkativeness need not interfere with his amorous adventures.”
III
Diagnosis of Satyriasis—Priapism—A case of Satyriasis—A second
case of Satyriasis—A case of Nymphomania—Proof that the cravings
represented by this condition are traceable to the ungratified
homosexual instinct.
_Wenn man die letzten Funken einer Leidenschaft
im Herzen trägt, wird man sich eher einer neuen
hingeben, als wenn man gänzlich geheilt ist._
_La Rochefoucauld._
III
_So long as the last ember of a passion still glows
in the heart it is easier to rouse a new passion than
if the cure is complete._
_La Rochefoucauld._
The last case has shown us that cryptic sexual goals which remain
hidden make for unrest and in spite of frequent sexual experiences
bring about a state of sexual insatiety, endless hunger, longing and
unrest. Man’s unsatisfied instinct drives him like a motor to all sorts
of symbolic acts; it induces him to taste all gratifications which are
not under the sway of inhibition, robbing him of sleep and rest.
All the symptomatic acts we have mentioned, trying the doors,—looking
under the bed, etc.—were due to the subject’s fear of homosexuality.
The doors of his soul must be hermetically sealed so that the terrible
enemy should find no entry.
The subject also displayed a number of other symptomatic acts which
richly symbolized his inversion. He turned around certain objects from
the left to the right. He felt more satisfied after doing so. Why did
he do it? Because in consciousness the right side always stands for
what is permitted, while the left symbolizes the forbidden. Some things
he turned around and upside down to see whether they would keep their
balance. If they tumbled it filled him with uneasiness, if they stood
up, he felt satisfied. Occasionally he found a vessel that kept its
balance when turned upside down. But he was satisfied if it did not
break.
His phantasy played with the possibility of turning sexuality upside
down. If the change involved no mishap it carried to him the meaning:
even if you are homosexual, you need not lose your balance, you
can keep up and stand on your feet. After such a symbolic act he
experienced promptly erection and ran to his wife who only disappointed
him because she did not gratify him enough. These men have a strong
yearning for great heterosexual passion which shall make them forget
their homosexuality. Usually imagination comes to their aid and they
find women who give them so much spiritually, that they overlook the
absence of physical attractiveness. They sublimate their homosexuality,
heighten the meaning of sexuality by endowing it with spiritual
erotism, and by means of spiritual ecstacy they make up for the lack of
physical lure.
If this transposition does not take place, if the flame blazes only
upon the physical sphere, a permanent love hunger becomes established
known as satyriasis. This condition must be differentiated from
priapism which is caused solely by organic conditions and consists of a
more or less continuous state of erection.
Priapism is often brought about by diseases of the _corpora cavernosa_,
by diabetes and diseases of the spinal cord, and is a condition very
unpleasant to the sufferer. Here the instinct is not brought into play,
the excited organ requires nothing,—it is merely unwell. The psychic
impulse is entirely lacking. The subjects feel their condition as
something painfully unpleasant, they cohabit merely to get rid of the
troublesome erection. On the other hand, the victim of satyriasis is
continually impelled to seek gratification and it often happens that
he is unable to carry on intercourse because erection fails him. The
impulse is psychic rather than physical. Satyriasis is an attempt to
exhaust a psychic impulse through the physical channel. A transference
of priapism into the psychical sphere, that is, the establishment of a
disposition along this path on the basis of a priapistic excitation, is
something I have not encountered.
Satyriasis may be produced in a number of ways. We have seen already
that persons with sadistic fancies, necrophiliac tendencies and with
all sorts of infantile misophilias may be addicted to masturbation.
In all these cases, if onanism is given up, a condition develops
resembling satyriasis. What these persons seek is a transference of
their libido upon the normal path. At the same time my observations
enable me to declare that the various conditions mentioned are
overshadowed by the significance of latent homosexuality. The most
important as well as the most powerful driving force is homosexuality.
But I also know of a homosexual in whom the latent heterosexuality has
broken forth as a satyriasis directed along homosexual channels.
* * * * *
We shall now turn our attention to a case which illustrates many of
these points:
Mr. Alfred V., clerk, 26 years of age, complains of a long array of
nervous symptoms. In the first place there is his inability to attend
to his work. He is without employment, because he is unable to hold on
to any place. He cannot concentrate his thoughts as his mind turns all
the time to women.
In the morning, as soon as he wakes up, his first thought is: I could
enjoy a woman now! He thinks this over and finds that, after all, it is
too early in the day. He goes to the restaurant and there looks over
the morning papers. It is almost too much for him to do even that.
Usually he only glances over the news of the day and then turns to the
want ads, particularly those marriage offers and “personals” with more
or less pointed allusions. Several hours pass that way and meanwhile
he looks at the women passing by the window. Then he takes a walk
and tries to talk to the girls he meets and to strike up acquaintance
with them. If he finds that they are after money he breaks up his
talk with them. He would rather take a real prostitute than pay a
half-prostitute. Occasionally he finds a girl who meets his wishes.
Then he goes with her to a hotel, although it is still forenoon. For a
short time after that he is more quiet and he even feels that he could
work an hour or two. But soon his restlessness seizes him again which
is always at first a purely psychic urge. It is not erections that
trouble him, but craving and unrest. He attains erection only when he
is with the _puella_. His _potentia_ varies. Sometimes he is through
very rapidly, sometimes he requires a half hour before he accomplishes
erection and orgasm. Again he may indulge in coitus several times in
succession, although he feels quieted down after the first.
This condition he naturally describes as painful and unpleasant. He
tries to interest himself in art and science, as other men do; he would
also like to carry on intellectual conversations. But he can only think
of “obscenities” to talk about. The more foolish and cynical the better
he likes them. He feels impelled to use the grossest expressions,
especially before prostitutes and doing so brings him great pleasure.
He also has fits of anger during which he is almost beside himself. If
something is not to his liking it makes him raving mad. At such times
he is likely to break out with violence, for instance, destroy a chair,
or hurl things through the window regardless of the danger of striking
some passer-by, and he may say the most awful things to his landlady.
He has had many quarrels and violent scenes have been caused on account
of his uncontrollable temper.
For some months he kept a fairly good job but had to quit because he
talked back to his office chief, using bad language. It always made him
mad to have work piled up on him. Work is a red rag to him. He found
on his desk twenty letters which had to be done. Instead of settling
down to work he began swearing. What did the folks think anyway? How
did they expect one man to do it all? The very impertinence! etc. After
several hours of fuming that way he fell to his work. Then everything
was all right and he got through fast enough for he always finished his
work before all others in the office.
He wondered that he was not dismissed from that office long before. His
chief had the patience of an angel. Finally even that man’s patience
was exhausted and he was discharged. After that he could find no
permanent employment. He kept a job a few days at a time; then the chip
on his shoulder would cause him to be discharged.
He related his sexual life in great detail; of particular importance
is his statement that he never had anything to do with homosexuals;
though he well knew there are homosexuals. Such folks were “beasts” who
inspired him only with disgust....