but very irritable man. Already at the age of 5 she had carried on
certain sexual plays _with a small boy_. She admits having attempted
intercourse at the time with the boy who was four years of age. The
intercourse consisted of _mutual cunnilingus_. At six years of age she
was sent to school and here she soon began intimate relations with
small girls. With a number of them she carried on mutual _cunnilingus_
as she had done with the boy. From the time when she first began this
with the girls her heterosexual inclination disappeared completely;
after that she never again went through a similar experience with
a boy. We shall see that later she did allow herself to be used
occasionally by men; but we must note in that connection that the
heterosexual acts took place without the cooperation of sexual feelings
on her part. At 12 years of age she began to menstruate. At that time
she had as playmates the children of a neighborly family who had a
governess with whom she soon entered into close intimacy. The governess
prevailed upon her to carry on sexual acts, particularly _cunnilingus_,
and the active part was taken now by each in turn from time to time.
In the course of these relations she experienced for the first time
sexual gratification, so far as she is able to recall. Their intimacy
lasted for some time. Miss X. differs from other women of her type in
that she is not averse to other forms of gratification. Soon she sought
also _anus feminarum amatarum lambere_, in addition to the genitals.
The thought of carrying out such an act with a man was repulsive to
her. Just as we know that occasionally perverse men want _urinam feminæ
dilectæ in os proprium immittere_ so we see that Miss X. likes to
have the same thing done to her by other girls. For a number of years
already Miss X. has been in the habit of allowing _fæces amicæ in os
proprium iniciire_; the act produces in her gratification and orgasm.
She had first indulged in these acts during her intercourse with the
governess above mentioned, which lasted several years. Miss X. is also
tremendously roused when she _sanguinem menstruationis amicæ lambit
et devorat_; but, she explains that she is able to carry out these
disgusting acts only when there is complete mutual confidence and only
if the relationship has endured for some time. She declares further
that she is sexually roused also when she is struck with a whip. When
asked how she came to acquire this habit she answered that she knew
a man who required to be thus treated by a former sweetheart. But,
to secure her any sexual excitement the whiplashes must fall upon
her from the hands of a woman. She has allowed herself very often to
be flagellated by her friend with whom she has also been carrying on
the disgusting acts mentioned above. It may be mentioned also that
when they kiss each other Miss X. wants to be bitten by her friend,
preferably upon the ear lobe. This may be carried so far as to actually
cause pain and swelling of the ear.
It is necessary to delineate more clearly the attitude of Miss X.
towards the male sex. She does not remember having ever felt any
attraction towards the male. But during a celebration where much
drinking was had a man prevailed upon her to spend the night with him.
She had always wondered why she never felt any attraction towards the
male sex and the desire to find out definitely about this as well as
the don’t-care-attitude brought on by drink induced her to spend that
night with the man. Coitus brought her no satisfaction. Some time later
another man became interested in her and fell in love with her but she
did not reciprocate his feeling in the least. Nevertheless she wanted
to try once more whether she could learn to care for a man’s embrace.
She therefore permitted herself to be induced by that man to have
intercourse a few times; again she found that ordinary coitus did not
rouse the least sexual feeling in her. She requested the man to carry
on _cunnilingus_ with her. This roused her sexually and thereupon she
experienced gratification; but, without being asked specifically about
it, she declares at the same time, that it was necessary for her to
imagine that the person performing _cunnilingus_ on her was a woman;
otherwise even _cunnilingus_ would have yielded her no satisfaction.
The thought of carrying on any of the disgusting acts mentioned above
with a man, Miss X. found in the highest degree repulsive. (_Moll_,
l.c, p. 565.)
This case appears to me very noteworthy. It supports my contentions
regarding the influence of alcohol upon the homosexual. Miss X.
beclouds the fact and thinks she was actuated by the desire to find out
definitely whether man had any attraction for her. Absence of orgasm
during her intercourse with the first man shows clearly that even
indulgence in alcohol was unable that time to release the inhibitions.
But she allows herself the experience a second time and this time
_cunnilingus_ by the man yields her gratification. It is interesting
that her first experience of this kind was with a boy. This corresponds
exactly with my observations. In other ways, too, man plays in her
condition a greater role than she is willing to recognize. Flagellation
she adopts because she knew a man who was treated that way by his
previous sweetheart. The relationship of this paraphilia to the strong,
irritable father is fairly obvious. Her misophilic acts with women show
that _she does not want to belittle herself before man, but that she
looks upon subjecting herself to woman as a manner of paying homage to
her sex._ In my study on _Masochism_ I go further into this subject.
The other acts indicate a sexual infantilism, rarely seen in a more
discreet polymorph-perverse form.
* * * * *
_Fleischmann_[35] also records a few cases showing homosexual seduction
carried out during a state of intoxication. He relates also the case
of a homosexual who when intoxicated was able to have intercourse with
women. “At 28 years of age,” relates the author about this subject, “he
visited a house of prostitution for the first time and, animated by
drink, he was able to carry out coitus once with a woman; when sober a
twenty-horse team could not drag him into such a place,” according to
the urning. But after drinking he was always able to have coitus.
We see that the incentive to drink is obviously due to an ungratified
craving. Psychoanalytic experience reiterates again and again that
almost every craving to become drunk or otherwise to lose one’s
senses betrays an ungratified sexuality. Among the inebriates, the
morphine and cocaine addicts, we always find pronounced paraphiliacs
and bisexuals who have repressed a portion of their sexual instinct.
In the same way every unprejudiced investigator will find a similar
condition true of homosexuals who, according to my experience, are
bisexuals who have repressed the heterosexual component of their
instinct. I cannot agree with _Naecke_,[36] who contends that urning
as such is a moderate drinker and seldom inebriate. Nor do I believe
that in homosexual circles moderation in drink is the rule. Of course,
I do know a number of temperate homosexuals, but the data under my
observation as a whole and the material supplied through the objective
accounts of physicians, reveal an entirely different situation.
A great deal of what takes place during states of intoxication never
comes to the attention of those not immediately concerned. Possibly
infantile experiences with drunken parents may have a greater role in
the psychogenesis of homosexuality than we are aware of at the present
time.
Now and then it happens that parents, drunken or otherwise debauched,
attack their own children. I have had occasion to observe that some
very curious habits are still prevalent in the nursery, here and there.
One subject related to me that his mother had the habit of playing
with his penis until he was six years of age. His wife also found this
a convenient way to lull their child to sleep. He thought it was as
harmless a practice as it seemed efficacious in quieting the child.
* * * * *
H. T., a homosexual chemist by profession, who has a theoretic interest
in psychoanalysis, writes me: “The contribution that I am able to make
may be of some use to you. I have often tried to think whether dreams
have had any influence upon the development of my sexual life. But I
could recall no experience which I could correlate to my condition. I
have felt early an interest in the _membrum virile_ and this interest
abides with me to this day. The sight of the penis in a state of
erection is enough to rouse in me the strongest feelings of pleasure.
While walking on the street I always try to observe the respective
region in passers-by and I try to estimate the size of the organ by
outward appearances,—my fancies are full of such reflections. I have
always masturbated in front of the mirror watching my penis during the
act. But it took a very long time for me to overcome my shyness enough
to find companions for these acts.
A few days ago I had a dream in which I saw my father who has been dead
for ten years. He was the best man in the world, but unfortunately a
periodic drinker. When in the inebriate state he treated mother very
roughly. I dreamed a scene which scared me so that I awoke. I saw my
father give me in hand his _membrum erectum_. And suddenly there
flashed through my mind the recollection that he had done repeatedly
this very thing when he was drunk. But with every fibre of my being I
cling to my mother who is for me the ideal of womanhood such as I shall
never again find the equal of in all this world! Beyond that my love
is directed only to the male and specifically I am attracted to common
men. Can you explain my riddle? I feel myself attracted to ordinary
drivers, men of vulgar tastes such as one finds in the dram shops. Only
once was I able to have intercourse with a girl. I was so “soused” at
the time that I then did something which I could never carry out while
in my ordinary senses....”
I emphasize once more: The outbreak of heterosexual excitations after
indulgence in alcohol proves the presence of that tendency and shows
that under ordinary conditions the heterosexual tendency, though
continually present, is subjected to suppression. The tendency is
preserved in some closed-in compartment of the soul, the door to which
may gape open under certain circumstances. Occasionally alcohol acts as
a master key which opens up every enclosure.
It is interesting also to observe the sublimation which the
heterosexual love undergoes among homosexuals. They endeavor to
de-sexualize the other sex, at the same time have recourse to
heterosexual friendships by preference. I know quite a number of
homosexuals of this class, men who maintain motherly, sisterly, or even
grandmotherly friendships and to whom these friendships are positively
indispensable. We psychoanalysts are in a position to appreciate the
source of these sexual attachments. They are due to repression and are
also the result of an inhibition which extends merely over sexuality
but allows the _sublimated_ eroticism to manifest itself. Among the
homosexuals there are many women haters (misogynists).
They often hate all women with but one exception: their mother.
Occasionally some sister, aunt, or some friend of their mother’s is
also exempted. They never fail to emphasize: this is an exception!
But the law of bipolarity teaches us that alongside this tremendous
hatred there exists an equally powerful love. Occasionally the dislike
is hidden and the homosexuals pose as completely indifferent towards
the other sex. A little close analysis shows that this attitude is an
artefact, that the assumed indifference really covers the fear that
the true attitude will be betrayed otherwise. Beyond the apparent
indifference stands the fear of woman and back of that fear there may
be hidden, in its turn, a sadistic attitude towards woman. It is thus
that the homosexual learns to cover his feelings with one another, to
change them, or else he transforms, substitutes, overstresses here
and assumes indifference there, until his actual state of feelings is
completely hidden from view. Superficial observers merely remark of
some man: he hates women!...
What stands back of such a dislike has been pointed out by _Bloch_
(l.c.) with considerable insight. He mentions the famous misogynist
of Classical Greece, Euripides, and in that connection makes a very
appropriate observation. He states:
“The strongest invectives against the female sex are found in _Ion_,
_Hippolytos_, _Hekate_, and _Kyklops_ of _Euripides_. (_Verses_
602-637, 650-655.) (Here he introduces the actual quotation.)
“These verses contain the whole quintessence of modern misogyny. But
_Euripides_ also discloses the ultimate background for this attitude:
‘The most wanton creature,’ he says in a fragment, ‘is woman.’ _Hinc
illæ lacrimæ!_ Only men who are not accustomed to woman, men who cannot
endure to have her act with them as a free personality, and who are so
little certain of themselves that they fear an inroad into their own
personality, some irreparable damage or possibly complete annihilation,
only such men are genuine women haters.” (_Bloch_, l.c., p. 533.)
Here _Bloch_ has come close to a solution of the problem having plainly
adopted the view developed later by _Adler_, who traces homosexuality
to the fear of the sexual partner. Unfortunately he has failed to draw
the further inferences which this excellent observation is capable of
yielding.
_Hate, fear, disgust and shame are the inhibitions which keep the
homosexual away from the sexual partner._
Let us examine first the feeling of disgust. How does the feeling
arise? In my study of _Anxiety States_ I have explained this matter
more fully. But there is a form of disgust whose action is positive.
Disgust need not always be necessarily repressed desire. If I should
see today a woman covered all over with furuncles it may inspire me
with disgust to hear that she is an old aunt whom I must greet with a
kiss. In a case of this kind only the super-analyst in his folly might
be able to discover suppressed components of the libido.
But we do know that occasionally homosexuality may be aroused through
episodes which enlist the negative reactions (hate, fear, disgust,
shame). These revulsive effects then protect the individual against
their own positive tendencies. Disgust covers craving, hate covers
love, fear covers longing; and shame—boldness.
But indulgence in alcohol is capable of turning revulsive effects into
positive. Disgust is turned into desire, hate into love, fear into
longing and shame turns into daring. If the fearful, repressed sadism
is also added to this transformation of the negative into positive
affects, when it cannot be sublimated into lasting love, the moral man
is turned into a criminal who represents but a stage in the development
of the human race.
VI
May Disgust Produce the Homosexual Attitude? Cases by Krafft-Ebing,
Fleischmann, Liemcke—Observation (personal) and Case by Bloch.—Late
Trauma as Cause of Homosexuality—Personal Observation of a case of
Late Homosexuality—Two Cases of Bloch—Further Discussion of the
Problem—A Case of Pfister’s with the Analysis of several Dreams.
_Wären nicht die Details unseres geschlechtlichen Lebens so unendlich
mannigfaltig und läge es nicht bei den meisten Menschen fast in allen
wichtigen Erscheinungen und Fragen unterhalb des Bewusstseins, und
wäre es nicht eine Wesenheit der Liebe, immer wieder die Schleier
des Mysteriums über unsere sexuellen Empfindungen zu werfen, so dass
allen stark empfindenden unverdorbenen Menschen, namentlich in der
wichtigen Periode der Geschlechtsreife, Zynismen und Offenheiten über
das geschlechtliche Leben sogar als unwahr erscheinen (Frauen und
keusche Jünglinge sind schon beleidigt, wenn man über die Liebe auch
nur wissenschaftlich anders als schwärmerisch, allgemein oder poetisch
metaphorisch redet) und hätten wir nicht endlich mit der grossen
Heuchelei und Verlogenheit der Gesellschaft in erotischen Dingen zu
rechnen, so dass sogar die Anomalen und Perversen von ihr angesteckt
werden, die es gar nicht mehr nötig haben, zu lügen und unwissend zu
bleiben; kurz könnten wir unsere Erotik in seelischer und körperlicher
Hinsicht bis zu den letzten Zusammenhängen analysieren, dann würden wir
vielleicht mit Schauder erfahren, einen wie kleinen Bruchteil unseres
Lebens wir unserem eigentlichen Geschlecht angehören._
_Leo Berg._
VI
_If the details of our sexual life were not so endlessly manifold;
if they did not belong for the most part and in their most important
aspects to the realm beyond ordinary consciousness; if it were not a
peculiarity of love continually to throw the cover of mystery over
our sexual feelings, so that all normal persons of strong feeling,
particularly during the period of their sexual ripeness look upon
frankness in sexual matters as untruth (women and shy young men feel
insulted if one speaks about love even scientifically, in other than
romantic or poetic and false, metaphorically veiled, language); and if
we did not have to consider the tremendous hypocrisy, and falsehood of
society in all matters pertaining to sex, so that even the abnormal
and the perverse, who no longer need to lie and assume ignorance, are
inspired to assume a similar ‘chaste’ attitude; in short, if we could
analyze our eroticism in its physical as well as in its psychic aspects
down to the last details, we should then probably discover with horror
to what a small extent we truly belong to our own sex._
_Leo Berg._
The form of homosexuality which develops late in life is perhaps
best suited to serve as an introduction to our inquiry into the
psychogenesis of homosexuality and may help us understand the origin of
the more complicated cases.
There are, in fact, a number of cases, in which homosexuality appears
to have developed in consequence of a feeling of dislike for the other
sex. Many authors consider the development of homosexuality among
prostitutes as due to this cause. _Bloch_, for instance, writes:
“The naturally heterosexual prostitutes are driven to homosexuality for
one of two reasons: First through the contact with and the influence
of their truly Lesbian comrades, which strengthens the inner feeling
of solidarity common among all prostitutes; Second, through their
dislike of intercourse with men which grows with their experience and
with the passage of time, the more so because they see man only in his
brutal and raw aspect. The continual compulsion under which they find
themselves of satisfying the animal sensuousness of oversophisticated
men often by means of disgusting procedures, rouses in them eventually
an unconquerable dislike of the male sex, and therefore they devote
to their own sex the nobler feelings of which they may be capable.
The homosexual relationship appears to them as something ‘higher,
something nobler and more innocent,’ something pertaining to a purer
realm than sexual contact with men, a fact which _Eulenburg_ (_Sexuelle
Neuropathie_, p. 143-144) has rightly observed.” (_Bloch_, l.c., p.
603.)
_Krafft-Ebing_ (_Neue Studien_, l.c.) also holds this view and thinks
that, “many prostitutes endowed with great sensuousness, repelled by
contact with perverse or impotent men who misuse them in connection
with detestable sexual deeds, turn to pleasing members of their own
sex.”
In connection with my discussion of the Messalina type I have
already shown that latent homosexuality is what drives many women to
prostitution. They run away from woman and into the arms of man, into
the arms of a great number of men! They expect quantity to replace what
quality fails to supply them. We have additional reasons to assume
that the women who lean most strongly towards the homosexual side are
those who supply the ranks of prostitutes. That of course is true of
the largest number though by no means holding true of every case. For
there are prostitutes who are attached to their lover (cadet), and who
experience orgasm only during intercourse with him, while the embraces
of other men leave them unaffected. Here and there the factors pointed
out by _Bloch_ and _Krafft-Ebing_ may also enter into the situation.
In the presence of an already avowed homosexual inclination disgust
brought about through a number of possible circumstances may act as an
effective barrier against heterosexuality.
This is revealed to us through the life histories of certain
homosexuals. We often come across the statement that certain men,
and women too, became homosexual after an infection, particularly
gonorrhea. The fear of infection also plays an important role in the
psychogenesis of homosexuality.[37]
_Krafft-Ebing_ mentions (_Late Homosexuality_, etc.) the case of a
young man, 27 years of age, who after masturbating since 7 years of
age, at 19 years had intercourse with women and enjoyed it. After
a gonorrheal infection he became so disgusted with women that when
frequenting houses of prostitution he found himself impotent. Old
masochistic-homosexual phantasies reappeared and before long he was
attracted to the respective circle and seduced.[38] I must draw
attention particularly to the fact that this man was able to experience
orgasm during intercourse with women. Nevertheless his experience
was so impressive that it intensified his revulsive attitude towards
heterosexuality by generating a feeling of disgust. (In other cases
under similar circumstances there arises a dislike for prostitutes, and
the subject seeks as sexual partner a healthy woman.) The infection
often becomes the root of a phantastic hatred of women without leading
all the way to the development of a manifest homosexuality.[39] The
next case which has come under my own observation belongs to this
category:
* * * * *
I. P., engineer, 30 years of age, appears to me a typical anxiety
neurotic. He is unable to leave his room, a personal servant must
accompany him wherever he goes. For the past ten years has been
sexually abstinent, because he had the misfortune to acquire a very
serious luetic infection from a so-called “respectable” woman. Since
that experience he feels a tremendous hatred for the sex. He reads with
interest _Strindberg_, gloats over _Weininger_ and he has translated
into a foreign language _Moebius’_ “_Der physiologische Schwachsinn
des Weibes._” Homosexual activity does not inspire him with disgust
but he claims that it has no attraction for him. Analysis discloses
that the anxiety attacks appear as a defence against homosexual deeds.
After the syphilitic infection he was for a time in danger of becoming
homosexual. Now he protects himself against that tendency by various
defensive measures. The path to woman is effectively blocked for him
through his disgust and hatred of the sex.
The cure of his anxiety state was not very difficult. A few years
later I found him a married man. He had married a woman who was 10
years older than he and who lacked every womanly characteristic. He is
entirely potent in his marital relations, claims to experience orgasm
satisfactorily, and believes his orgasm would be even greater if he
did not have to use precautionary measures against pregnancy. As a
syphilitic he wants to avoid bringing sickly children into the world.
For coitus he prefers the _a posteriori_ position and _situs inversus_
and justifies this theoretically on the basis of the structure of the
female genitalia....
* * * * *
Concerning the relationship between sexual infection and homosexuality
we also have an illuminating observation by _Fleischmann_.[40] This
case is an _urlind_ (homosexual woman):
She is an illegitimate child. Father a heavy drinker. She was badly
brought up, neglected and persecuted. As a child she avoided work and
was unruly. Prison experience. “At 16 years of age I had to earn my own
living. My first position was in a restaurant serving beer. There I met
Mr. X., the man who seduced me and gave me a sexual disease.
“At the hospital I saw and heard things that opened my eyes. From that
time on I worked no longer. Years passed in struggle with suffering
and want; prison life; house of correction; solitary confinement. In
the house of correction most girls handled one another at night and
from that time on no man could interest me any more. I have intercourse
only with girls who are pretty. For the past year I have been a
prostitute,—mostly drunk,—for I wanted to forget what has become of
me and the morbid inclination to which I have fallen a victim.”
The first sexual experience of the poor girl an infection! Then
followed the homosexual seduction and the heterosexual channel
was blocked. We see here the characteristic homosexuality of the
prostitute, already mentioned; then alcoholism, obviously to forget her
longing after true love. It must be clear also that her hatred of the
father played a certain role and that this feeling towards the drunkard
who brought her into the world a bastard she transferred towards all
men.
The two cases reported by _Ziemke_[41] are also fairly clear:
An artist; between the age of 16 and 17 years a relative taught him
to masturbate and he kept up the practice regularly every week. At
18 years of age first intercourse with woman; acquired gonorrhea;
later, once more coitus, this time with a prostitute; never took any
particular interest in the female sex; on the other hand as a boy
9 years of age he already was pleased at the sight of the _membrum
virile_ so much that it brought on erection. First sexual dreams were
definitely of homosexual import, according to his own declaration, and
continued of that character. Later has had repeated sexual experiences
with other men, always feels fresh and well after that, while normal
sexual intercourse fills him with disgust. His sexual partner he
seeks among men of middle age; he is familiar with the literature on
homosexuality.
* * * * *