thought: her sister. She always looks upon her sister as the best
dressed, most spirited and most charming person she had ever known.
Why was the woman no longer on friendly terms with her sister?
Because, she claims, her sister is egotistical and cares nothing for
her. She was lying ill for a few weeks and her sister let her lie there
and took no more notice of her than if she were a dog; she wanted her
sister’s company when she went out, she could not do her shopping alone
but she could not get her sister to go along. So she had to go around
with a woman friend who was a disgusting and vulgar person. She ought
to be ashamed to show herself in such company; if she were in her
husband’s place, she would not tolerate it.... After all, it would not
be so very sinful if she did become intimate with her brother-in-law;
her sister was not true to him and kept up relations with an army
lieutenant but the poor fool does not see it and thinks the army
officer is his best friend....
She keeps up an incessant flow of talk. She wakes up thinking of her
sister, she thinks of her all day and she dreams of her every night. I
have studied her dreams over a period of weeks. There is not a dream
in which her sister fails to figure and none but portrays her erotic
attitude towards the sister.
In the course of the analysis her childhood experiences come to light
and she recalls that for a long time she slept in one bed with her
sister and they performed cunnilingus on one another. That was so long
ago, she had forgotten all about it. That experience discloses her
true nature. She is continually looking for woman; specifically she
is looking for one woman, her sister. She wants to forget her, the
traumatic experience with her she wants to drive out of memory, by
covering it with new experiences.
We see that her latent homosexuality drives her into the arms of
every man she meets. We also note the role of family relations in
homosexuality, a subject which we shall take up specifically later and
illustrate with proper data.
IV
Description of Don Juan Types who are satisfied with conquest and
forego physical possession—An unlucky Hero, whose love adventures
are interfered with by Gastric Derangements—A would-be Messalina who
hesitates on account of vomiting spells—Influence of Religion on
Neurosis.
_Ich wüsste kaum noch etwas Anderes geltend zu machen, das dermassen
zerstörrisch der Gesundheit und Rassenkräftigkeit, namentlich der
Europäer zugesetzt hat als das asketische Ideal; man darf es ohne
Übertreibung das eigentliche Verhängniss in der Gesundheitsgeschichte
des europäischen Menschen nennen._
_Nietzsche._
IV
_I know hardly what other factor could be held so harmful to the health
and racial vigor of European peoples, as the ascetic ideal; without
exaggeration this must be looked upon as the striking fatality in the
health history of the European._
_Nietzsche._
We have spoken thus far of the active Don Juan and of Messalina types
and we have attempted to prove that homosexuality is responsible. Along
the extreme types we find endless varieties of transitional types.
Nature nowhere confounds us through the richness of her varieties and
combinations so much as in the manifestations of human sexuality.
The would-be Don Juan and would-be Messalina are most interesting
types. They behave precisely like the true type. They manifest the same
uncontrollable and restless craving. But somewhere in their development
the capacity to carry out heterosexual adventures fails them. I am not
now speaking of the man who plays Don Juan in his mind’s fancy or of
the Messalina who does not truly possess the courage to try to live up
to her instinctive cravings. There are numberless such cases and a bit
of the type lurks in the breast of every person, a fact we recognize as
the polygamic tendency.
The type which I wish to describe approaches the ascetic. It is plain
that the ascetic ideal would not arise if a strong homosexual tendency
did not depreciate heterosexuality. For every action is the product of
instinct and repression. An overpowerful instinct may overcome even
the strongest inhibitions. But if a portion of the individual’s sexual
energy is anchored homosexually the aggressive sexual acts are endowed
only with a portion of the energy they require. If the energy is
shunted off its proper track entirely we have the ascetic person; and
if the energy is but partially side-tracked and is insufficient for the
accomplishment of the sexual aim, we have the would-be Don Juan type.
There are any number of men who daily dream only of their possible
conquests, begin adventures, and carry them along for a time only to
drop the affairs suddenly ... because they “get cold feet.” They envy
men who are able to pursue their adventures to the end, men fortunate
enough actually to make conquests and they bewail the fate which brings
them so close to the most tempting fruit only to prove elusive just
when the fruit seems ready to fall into their lap,—and to be gone
forever. Better than all generalizations may serve the account of an
actual case, like the following:
* * * * *
Mr. Xaver Z., would like to be a “lively fellow,” like most of his
companions. He claims that his shyness spoils his success. He is 29
years old and has never yet had a “real” affair. When he wakes up
in the morning he thinks: “Will you have luck today to talk up to
a girl and get her?” The whole day he thinks of this so that he is
continually distracted and unable to work. He is also dissatisfied with
his business accomplishments. Others work so easily and accomplish
everything without friction, he is slow and not energetic enough.
He thinks that somehow he lacks initiative. He is always tired and
depressed, and he has already been in sanitaria several times vainly
trying to get well. He can hardly wait for evening to arrive so he
may go into the street in search of adventure. He speaks to a number
of girls but nothing comes of it. He has also tried a “personal” in
the newspaper and corresponds with several women. But they are only
platonic relations. He either lacks the courage to become more intimate
with the women or finds himself repulsed when making a suggestion of
the kind. He thinks he is unlike other men and it discourages him. He
always feels lonely and Sundays are a torture to him. He tries to meet
poor people and pays them occasionally to partake of an evening meal
with them so as not to feel quite so lonely.
He is a travelling salesman. He fears that he is not an efficient
salesman. He lacks the power of influencing his prospective customers,
he seems unable to talk as convincingly to them as other men in his
calling. He acts indifferent and if he sees that the customer does not
intend to buy he goes right off. He is employed by an older brother. He
is lucky. Another employer would have dismissed him long ago. While his
brother does not reproach him in words he can read it in the brother’s
eyes.
Regarding his sexual life he is able to state that sexual matters
began early to interest him. He does not remember the beginning of
it. He does remember that he masturbated at 10 years of age and he
continued the practice till he was 20 years old. Then he heard about
the evil consequences and gradually gave it up. But even after that he
masturbated every two months or so and always felt very worried after
doing it.
He began going to women at twenty years of age. Since that time he
has intercourse about once every two weeks with prostitutes, or
occasionally with some girl whom he picks up on the street and who
usually expects pay; he is strongly potent. He has no particular
pleasure with prostitutes. He goes to them out of a sense of duty
because all his colleagues have intercourse with women and he wants to
be like them. It is a hygienic measure rather than an inner compulsion
with him. But he always fancies that, under the right conditions,
when the girl gives herself out of love, it must be different. He
felt so dissatisfied because he was never lucky enough to have a real
sweetheart. For the girls he picked up on the street were really
nothing more than ordinary prostitutes since they, too, expect some
present if not regular pay.
He was distinctly unlucky. Other young men were always lucky but he,
quite the contrary. There must be something about him that makes
persons keep away when they get to know him more intimately.
If these complaints are looked upon as true facts one would really
think that the young man was unlucky. But as a matter of fact he
himself lays the foundation for his lack of luck, he alone spreads the
bed in which he is to lie. He is a Don Juan who carries on flawlessly
the first part of his adventures; it is only when he tries to bring
the adventures to a head that his luck fails him and then the expected
conquest turns into a deception.[21]
It appears that he has actually brought many of his adventures to a
crisis only to withdraw at the supreme moment on the score of some
triviality or other. These occurrences are all alike except that the
alleged motives for breaking up the adventure differ in every case.
Perhaps it will be best to mention his last adventure as an example,
for it is particularly typical:
It was Sunday. Xaver felt again very lonely and neglected and went out
looking for a girl. An old friend whom he was to meet at a certain
place he neglected to look up. Today he must succeed. He is tired
of loneliness and neglect. Today he will get a girl. He makes a few
attempts but in each case he finds the girl expects pay and that does
not suit him. Finally he sees passing by a fine, sinewy, supple figure.
He hurries after it—she is an elegant, attractive woman. He speaks up,
telling her in one breath that she must not be angry, his intentions
are “entirely honorable.” He merely feels lonely and would like to
spend the evening in pleasant company. The woman is not prudish, she
permits him to accompany her and confesses that she, too, is lonely
and feels terribly depressed. He now worries because he promised her
“an honorable acquaintance” and during the walk tries to make up his
mind whether he ought not to change his tactics. It begins to rain.
They enter a Café where they listen to some music; then they go to a
restaurant for dinner. He shows himself very gallant, pays all expenses
and conducts her home. The woman tells him she has a telephone, as she
conducts a little business and suggests that he may call her up. They
agree to meet the following Sunday and spend their time together.
During the week he plans a line of attack and decides to put an end to
his shyness and come with her to the real object.... He calls her up,
they decide to go to the Opera together and then to a late supper. On
Sunday forenoon he purchases the tickets and intends to put them at her
disposal. Suddenly the thought strikes him, he ought to give up the
relationship. He sends the spare ticket to a friend and telephones the
woman that some of his relatives having arrived unexpectedly he cannot
go to the Opera. Afterwards he is unhappy over it, etc.
The friend was otherwise engaged, he remained alone, the ticket was
wasted. He worried considerably over the matter and returned home
feeling sad. When I pointed out to him next day that he really fled
from the girl, he shook his head and said his sister was really
responsible because “I told her everything and asked her what I should
do. Sister said: ‘she is pulling your leg, it will cost you money and
nothing will come of it.’”
“Do you tell your sister these things?”
“Certainly. We speak very frankly about all sexual matters. Sister has
started the custom and I find it natural. Why should I not advise with
sister?”
I explain to him that he expected her to turn him against the
adventure, that he was really afraid of the relationship and its
possible consequences. I show that the friend was more to him than the
woman and that the sending of the ticket to him meant: _my friend is
more important to me than a woman!_
I have occasion to prove again and again that he paves the way for his
failures very adroitly and sometimes tactlessly because while acting
the role of a “lively” man he wants at the same time to preserve
his inner attitude. The initial stage of conquest satisfies him and
thereafter he voluntarily renounces to its consummation.
That he vehemently denies,—he knows absolutely nothing about any
homosexual leaning! He declares he would be right if he could only
have the right kind of a love affair. He is continually looking for
it. It was really unbelievable to hear how many adventures he was
able to start in the course of a week. He was a handsome interesting
man and found no trouble conquering women’s hearts. But he always
managed affairs so as to break them up before they went too far. At the
last moment he always thought of something or other which prevented
consummation of the adventure.
This was shown typically one New Year’s day. A woman from a distance,
with whom he was in correspondence—they had also exchanged their
photographs—invited herself for that evening. He was to meet her
at the train and they were to celebrate the New Year’s together. He
went to the station but missed her because he “waited at the wrong
place.” Next day he succeeded in tracing her. Naturally she was angry
by that time; then, thinking to make up with her he proposed on the
spot to take the woman to a hotel with him. Naturally she resented the
insult and made him scurry out of her presence. He had provoked this
precipitate dismissal by his sudden proposal. He managed things so that
every promising victory turned into a defeat in the end.
He was late at his appointments or showed himself overanxious and even
coarse at the last moment, when the situation was most delicate, or
made some uncalled-for remark. Thus, to one girl who was already on the
way to a hotel with him he said: “Ah, all women are alike, they all run
after men and when they catch one they are happy!” She looked at him
with lifted brows: “Is that what you think of a girl who goes with you?
Then I want to have nothing to do with you ...” and turning around she
walked off.
That does not prevent him from running again after girls; he even
accosts married women on the street but he always complains about his
poor luck. At the same time his sexual desire is not excessive. His
physical requirements never cause him any uneasiness. It is a psychic
urge that drives him to seek women. At the same time he longs for
friends but then, such friends as he seeks are also not to be found.
Only the last friend was such a one because “he understood him.” They
went to brothels together. That was the first time he experienced a
really strong orgasm. We know this custom on the part of men to be a
convenient mask for homosexuality.
The motives of his conduct are revealed in a dream which throws
considerable light on the significance of homosexuality.
We have recognized for some time that this is a case of latent
homosexuality, repressed on the negative principle of aversion.
Xaver speaks incessantly of women, thinks of them all day long, so as
to avoid thinking of men. He tries to lean on women, but never becomes
intimate with them because the negative force that drives him is not
powerful enough. The better woman is for him a “noli me tangere,” he
suffers from an inhibition which keeps him from every woman who is
not paid. The prostitute is not considered a woman and, besides, her
charm is increased by the fact that she has intercourse with other men.
Through her it is therefore possible to give an outlet to a portion of
the homosexual tendency.
We shall now turn our attention to his dream. _Naecke_[22] justly
remarks that the dream is the best reagent for homosexuality.
Unfortunately he was not familiar at the time with the revelations of
dream analysis and he paid attention only to the manifest content. How
much richer in meaning the dream shows itself when we learn to read it
and to interpret its hidden symbolism.
The Dream:
_I am pursued by men and fear they are about to do something to me. One
man in particular, brandishing a big sword, is very hotly on my trail
and already he touches me from behind with the tip edge of his sword,
a curved thing like the Yatagan used by Turks. I run to the cemetery
to mother’s grave. I find there my cousin (female) who is also afraid
of the robbers. First we try to hide, then we look around carefully
and see that the coast is clear. We leave the cemetery together in a
carriage and we drive upon an endless dark road. I snuggle up to her,
as if for protection against the robbers and I am ashamed of my unmanly
attitude._
Of course it is not proper to conclude that a dreamer is homosexual
merely because the dream carries a homosexual meaning. For, as I have
shown in my _Language of Dreams_, every dream is bisexual, consequently
homosexual traits may be found in every dream. The dream only portrays
once more man’s bisexual nature and even the dreams of homosexuals are,
without exception, bisexual. We see through them merely the degree of
the repressed homosexuality and the dreams enable us to recognize more
easily the motives which impell the subjects to adopt a monosexual
path....[23]
This dream begins with a typical portrayal of a homosexual pursuit.
The subject is really pursued by his homosexual thoughts. The great
curved sword is a well-known phallic symbol. That the sword touches him
from behind is something easily interpreted. Equally obvious is the
reason why the sword appears curved when we learn that his brother has
a hypospadia and a phallus of that shape so that medical advice was
even sought on the matter. The pursuer had a big heavy beard exactly
like his brother and the same figure. Thus we see that the brother, who
stands out of the mass of pursuing males, in a certain measure typifies
the homosexual pursuit.
He flies to his mother’s grave in the cemetery. His mother shall save
him from homosexuality. She, the representative of femininity, is the
one to whom he flies, when pursued by men. The cousin is the wife of
another brother. She represents the typical incest compromise. Many
neurotics who are emotionally fixed upon their family, finally marry a
cousin. The cousin, whom he finds at the grave, is his savior and he
starts with her upon the dark path of life, a half man....
He tells that he was to marry the woman but she became instead his
brother’s wife because he kept hesitating and would not make up his
mind. But he had the fancy that he could be her sweetheart. He is
specially fond of his brothers’ wives and his sisters.... He has
numberless phantasies revolving around incestuous deeds. His two
sisters also figure in these day dreams.... He grew accustomed to talk
over sexual matter with his sister not without reason. He tells her all
his adventures with preconceived watchfulness. Thus he told her also of
the late acquaintance, as mentioned above, and was advised, as she had
previously advised him in a number of similar instances, to keep away.
Unconsciously he was awaiting from her the reply: _Why go out of your
way? Why seek in other women what you can find in me?_ ...
We understand now the inhibition which stands between him and women of
“the better class.” The latter stand for the sister and the mother.
The incest taboo is what stands in his way. He looks for a true
adventure but cannot find it. He looks for his sister and he looks
for the man. His brothers’ wives are the objects of his jealousy and
his yearning at the same time. With his questions and problems he
goes to his sisters-in-law, never to his brothers. His conscience is
uneasy with regard to his brothers. In their presence he is always
timid and ill at ease. He is in love with his older brother though he
does not acknowledge the fact to himself. His brother’s strength and
energy rouse his admiration. Occasionally his brother sang. The voice
lingers in his ears so sweetly that he declares his brother to be the
best singer in the world. He feels that his brother neglects him. The
brother does not seem to notice how ill he is or how much he suffers.
Once he was quite a jolly fellow but now (since giving up masturbation)
he is mostly depressed. But the brother takes no notice of it and never
asks him how he feels or how it goes with his health. If he only could
quit his brother’s business! He belittles himself in order to cling
to the brother more lovingly. He could not endure being away from his
brother. He does poorly during his business trips because it is against
his wish to travel at all and because he is jealous of his brother’s
large business.
His attitude towards the second brother, who was his playmate in
childhood, is even more tense. He never visits that brother and when he
cannot avoid meeting him has but little to say. He shows that peculiar
uneasiness towards the brother which persons manifest when they try to
cover a certain erotic attitude.
The following characteristic dream may be instructive at this point:
_I am in my brother’s store ... He puts before me an assortment of
underwear to mark up. I refuse to do it and step out of the store
saying: “Brother can kiss me....”_
His brother advised him to get married. This is the incentive to
the dream language “underwear to be marked.” But he loves only his
brother. The remark, “_er kann mich gern haben_,” (equivalent to the
colloquialism, “he can kiss me,” and its more vulgar variants) plainly
embodies a reference to a sexual act.
Incidentally anal irritation is one of his strongest paraphilias. He
suffers more or less continually of “anal itching,” which is at times
so unbearable that he cannot sleep. He consulted for this complaint
a physician who found no local trouble and who declared that it was
merely a “nervous” itching.
The fact is this subject is now on the point of becoming a homosexual.
Some precipitating occasion and his homosexuality is bound to become
manifest. His last friend is dearer to him than all the girls.... This
is shown clearly by the fact that he sent him the ticket which he had
bought for his lady friend. A portion of the hidden impulse had broken
forth on that occasion. Usually he covers his homosexual leanings
very cleverly. His friends and colleagues at the office think he is
a lucky Don Juan and have no idea that he never enjoys the ultimate
advantage of the role he plays. They see him always in the company of
girls, always going around with pretty women; he runs after them on the
street, he goes to public places with them; at the office he speaks of
nothing else but his conquests and new adventures.
But not to his brothers. He never mentions any sexual matters
especially in the presence of his younger brother, the one who was his
playmate in childhood.
The analysis did not last long. But during the very first few weeks
there came to light experiences with this brother which explained the
subject’s reticence.
Considering the remarkable fact that Xaver was animated by the desire
to be a regular Don Juan we have something with which to contrast the
extent of his moral qualms. For a long time he was very pious and then
all of a sudden he turned into a free thinker. Analysis discloses that
his religious piety still persists undiminished. Don Juan stands to his
mind only for the unreachable ideal of a free man, a man undisturbed
in his actions by any inhibitory feelings. But he invariably hears an
inner voice calling to him, at the last, supreme moment of action:
_Don’t! It is sinful._
It is the voice of his mother, who never failed to dwell on moral
themes, who warned him against the dangers of the big City, his mother
whom he so loved and honored. How often his dreams lead him to the
cemetery where his mother lies buried, as if to conjure up before his
eyes the dear image and to remind him to avoid all evil and to follow
in the Lord’s righteous path!