is still maintained by _Stier_ (Zur Aetiologie des kontraeren
Sexualgefuehls. Monatschrf. f. Psych, u. Neurol., vol. XXXII, 1914) and
very energetically criticised (ibid.) by _Hirschfeld and Burchard_.
“It is inconceivable,” state the above named authors, “how _Stier_
can ascribe an etiologic significance to onanism in connection with
homosexuality. Its distribution, ubiquitous—in the opinion of most
specialists, would permit one to hold masturbation responsible for
any other sexual development as well.” According to _Stier_, early
and long-continued onanism (especially mutual) is harmful because “it
does away with the feeling of shame in connection with one’s sexual
organs and makes for readier handling even by the uncorrupted adult.”
_Fleischmann_ also finds 33 excessive onanists among 60 inverts and
concludes (Beitr. zur Lehre der kontraeren Sexualempfindung, Zeitschr.
f. d. ges. Neur. u. Psychol., vol. VII, 1911) that “like alcoholism,
masturbation must influence the development of the perversion.” Many
of his patients mentioned the habit in a casual relation. We know well
that the sense of guilt is attached to the habit of masturbation.
But _Fleischmann_ sees in that a proof. “Onanism plays a role in the
development of the sexual perversion,” he argues, “because it rouses an
increased sexual excitability while the will power is weakened by it at
the same time and there follows a progressive wandering of the sexual
instinct away from the normal sexual aim and object.”
[4] This contention is altogether wrong. I have never seen so many and
such pronounced idealists as among masturbators. Young artists, poets
and musicians in particular often show, I have found, a strong tendency
to masturbation, and this agrees with the pronounced bisexuality of
all artists, which has been particularly pointed out by _Fliess_. The
youths of this type are often so delicate and sensitive that they see
in the sexual act only animal brutality and hide their own sexuality
from the whole world. Among masturbators we find the champions of
truth, the over-moralistic preachers, the ethical reformers and
dreamers.
[5] Cf., on the other hand, the views of _Bloch_: “That the contrary
sexual instinct-feeling in itself is not a sign of psychic degeneration
and need not be looked upon at all as morbid, is shown among others,
by the fact that the condition is often associated with spiritual
superiority. As proof we find, among all nations, men of proven
homosexuality, who are the pride of their respective people as writers,
poets, artists, military strategists, or statesmen. Further proof that
the contrary sexual feeling is no disease and does not necessarily
lead to immoral tendencies may be seen in all the noble qualities of
heart which it is capable of generating, precisely as the heterosexual
attraction, such as courage, self-sacrifice, altruism, artistic
feeling, creative energy, etc., just as it may be responsible also for
any of the morbidities and failings of heterosexual love (jealousy,
suicide, murder, unhappy love with its deleterious effects on mind and
body, etc.)”
[6] It was clearly the duty of the new editor of _Krafft-Ebing’s_
popular work to have recorded therein the author’s latest views.
In his “_Neuen Studien auf dem Gebiete der Homosexualitaet_,” he
states: “In contrast with the conception that contrary sexuality is
an inborn anomaly, a disorder in the evolution of the sexual function
of monosexuals and of the glandular development of the sex glands,
_the conception of ‘morbidity’ is untenable_. We may rather speak in
this connection of a malformation and compare the anomaly with bodily
malformations,—for instance, with the anatomic deviations from the
average type. But the concept of a simultaneous psychopathic state
remains a legitimate assumption, because subjects presenting anatomic
as well as functional deviations from type (_stigmata degenerationis_),
_may preserve good physical health for a time, and may even show points
of superiority_.
“At the same time so tremendous a deviation as contrary sexual feeling
must have a far wider influence upon the psyche than many of the
anatomic or functional stigmata of degeneration. That is the reason
why any disturbance in the usual development of a normal sexual life
reflects so commonly in an unfavorable sense upon the harmonious
psychic development of personality. _Victims of contrary sexual feeling
often show neuropathic and psychopathic predispositions_, such as, for
instance, a tendency to constitutional neurasthenias and hysteria,
milder forms of periodic psychosis, inhibitions against the unfoldment
of psychic energies (intelligence, moral sense), including moral
inferiority, especially associated with hyper-sexuality, eventually
leading to most serious disorders of the sexual instinct. At any
rate, it can be shown that, relatively speaking, heterosexuals prove
greater cynics about sexual matters than the homosexuals. Also that
other degenerative signs upon the field of sexuality, such as sadism,
masochism, fetichism, etc., are much more commonly found among the
former....”
[7] _Die kontraere Sexualempfindung, Symptom eines neuropatischen
(psychopathischen) Zustandes. Arch. f. Psych. u. Neurol., vol. II_, p.
106, 1870.
[8] _Handbuch der Sexualwissenschaften (Die Funktionsstærrungen des
Sexuallebens.)_ Leipzig, Verlag F. C. W. Vogel, 1912, p. 652.
[9] I find a very interesting observation by _Bloch_, one which
deserves to be widely circulated: “A final and not unimportant form
of Pseudo-homosexuality is hermaphroditism (_das Zwittertum_). It is
remarkable that science has concerned itself only in recent years with
the close study of hermaphroditic conditions which have not received
heretofore the attention warranted by their sociologic bearings and
their frequency. It is a great merit of _Neugebauer_ and of _Magnus
Hirschfeld_ that they have called general attention to these remarkable
sexual _Zwischenstufen_, intermediary states, and have pointed out
their great practical significance, a matter of which no one has
thought before, as is shown by the significant fact that the new
German civil code has done away with the legal proscriptions of the
old Prussian law concerning the _Zwitter_ (hermaphrodites), upon the
contention that no person is of unknown or unascertainable sex.”
[10] Hirschfeld emphasizes the fact that homosexuality has nothing to
do with organic bisexuality. He states:
“I deem it important to point out this fact: _The most extreme_
deviation of sexual type approaching the opposite sex, such as
hypertrophy of the clitoris and full facial hair growth in the female,
or hypospadia penis-scrotalis and gynecomasty in the male are found
linked with heterosexuality more often than with homosexuality.”
[11] English version by J. S. Van Teslaar, in preparation.
[12] Verlag J. F. Bergmann, Wiesbaden, 1913. Vid. note above.
[13] _Cf._ _Dichtung und Neurose_, J. F. Bergmann. Authorized English
version by James S. Van Teslaar.
[14] _Nervöse Angstzustaende._ _Die psychische Behandlung der
Epilepsie_, 2nd edition, p. 336.
[15] Hirschfeld relates several instances illustrating how heterosexual
potence may be increased by the fires of homosexual passion: A merchant
relates: “I am able to carry out sexual intercourse with women, only
if I keep thinking of the man who possessed the woman before me.” A
young workingman from Berlin relates: “When I was 17 years of age
and I saw young men of my age pick out sweethearts for themselves I
did the same. Later, as man, it seemed natural to me to get a woman,
although my own inclination had little to do with it. The physical
excitation necessary for the carrying out of the sexual act I could
rouse in myself only by thinking of some male person. This sort of
thing exhausted me and after a time I decided to give it up. I felt
myself strongly attracted to a relative at that time. He was younger
and as I had greater influence over women I helped him by putting him
in touch with some and so we often carried out coitus together. Seeing
him [go at it so hotly] excited me tremendously and then I carried out
coitus without any difficulty.” The proprietor of a German hotel also
relates that, before intercourse with his wife, he was in the habit of
rousing his passion by kissing his head waiter. This furnished him the
requisite sexual preparedness and as quickly as possible he hurried to
his wife, whose bed was in the next room. Hirschfeld writes further:
“These sketches from life I want to conclude with the account of a
patient who consulted me for sexual hyperesthesia which in his case was
so keen that seeing the statuettes of naked children ornamenting the
Berlin castle bridge while crossing it was enough to cause erection. He
was a merchant, 42 years of age. In order to obtain potentia coeundi
it was necessary for him not only to think, but also to speak aloud of
some pleasing man, in some such manner: “Did you notice that servant of
the Count’s, who called for a bundle this forenoon, how did you like
him? A neat boy, what? His livery seemed quite new! Didn’t you think
it fitted him a bit too tightly? How old should you say he was?” Only
by carrying on such talk with his wife, and he had to exercise the
greatest ingenuity in order to cover his object while doing so, was he
able to achieve ejaculation, and to beget children,—he was the father
of three.”
[16] _Die Transvestiten. Eine Untersuchung ueber den Erotischen
Verkleidungstrieb._ Alfred Pulvermacher. Berlin, 1910.
[17] (Cf. _Angstzustaende_, p. 417. An English translation of this work
is now in course of preparation and will appear shortly.)
[18] English translation by James S. Van Teslaar.
[19] Faust finds this temporarily in his Graetchen. But it is only
an episode and presently he is again restlessly searching until he
finds Helena, the most beautiful of all women. The Flying Dutchman is
released by a woman who remains true to the last in her love of him.
That is the projection of a subjective feeling upon the woman. He
wishes he could find a woman for whom he would feel a love so dear that
it would relieve him. In Ahasuerus the same problem is glossed over
with religious terms as the problem seen in the Don Juan story as the
requital of the all-highest father. All four must be faithless, they
cannot remain true to one woman.
[20] Once I treated a man who had separated from his wife, wanted to
marry another woman with whom he had fallen in love and to divorce his
wife. In the course of our interviews during that time this man said
repeatedly: “I would not introduce you to my first wife; you would fall
in love with her if I did; no man can help that.” At once I recognized
that the man’s neurotic disorder reached back to a suppressed love for
his wife. In his mind there rumbled continually sounds which he could
not reproduce. He recalled scraps of melodies which he could not place
at all. But once I was able to get at one such melody. It was a song
of which he did not know the words. When the matter was ferreted out
it was found that the words bore distinctly a reference to his first
wife. The vague melodies permitted his mind to dwell on her and at
the same time to cover from his consciousness the fact that he could
not keep her out of his mind. Here is a characteristic passage from
_Eichendorff’s_ poem:
Ich kam von Walde hernieder, Da stand noch das alte Haus; Mein Liebchen
schaute wieder Wie einst zum Fenster hinaus—
Sie hat einen andern genommen— Ich war draussen in Schlacht und Krieg—
Nun ist alles anders gekommen:— Ich wollt es war wieder Krieg....
These verses represent a summary of his great conflict.
[21] Cf. chapter entitled, _Der Pechvogel_, in: _Das Liebe Ich_. Verlag
Otto Salle, Berlin.
[22] _Der Traum als feinstes Reagens fuer die Art des Sexuellen
Empfindens. Monatschr. f. Kriminalpsychologie_, 1905, and other
contributions.
[23] If homosexuals had only homosexual dreams, as _Naecke_ maintains,
the fact would stand as a strong proof against my conception that all
men, including the homosexuals, are bisexual. But as a matter of fact
genuine homosexuals often have heterosexual dreams if one cares to look
into the subject carefully. _Hirschfeld_, through a questionnaire,
found that among 100 homosexuals, 13 per cent. dreamed all sorts of
heterosexual situations. Analytical investigation of their dream
life would lift the 13 per cent. fully to one hundred per cent. The
heterosexual dreams are associated with anxiety feelings in many cases.
They dream that they are married and find themselves impotent, so that
they are confronted with the compulsion of carrying out heterosexual
intercourse. We find here one more confirmation of the fact that the
dream releases all the excitations repressed from consciousness through
the day.
[24] Correction of detail after first report of the dream.
[25] Cf. Hans Freimark, _Das Sexuelle Moment in der religiösen
Exstase_, _Zeitschf. f. Religionsphilosophie_, vol. II, No. 17; also,
_Das Hexenproblem_, _Die Neue Generation_, vol. VIII; and _Sexuelle
Besessenheit_ ibid., vol. IX.
[26] The following statement of _Hans Freimark_ on the _Züchtbarkeit
der Homosexualität_ displays excellent insight into human nature:
“It does not require much psychology to note that some persons are
particularly impressed by and interested in whatever popular belief
ascribes as particularly characteristic of homosexuality. Repression
against homosexual deeds is in itself almost invincible. But that
which is considered the very essence of homosexuality acts apart and
frequently does so in a sense far from proper. It is enough to induce
young men who have no other claim to distinctions to try to imitate
these ‘singular doings’ and they become finally interested in the
acts.... Once the pose is assumed, it becomes part of reality, and then
contact with the homosexual circle contributes not a little towards
strengthening the attitude. Such an influence, naturally, is possible
only among young people. But the young are the ones who generally raise
the problem at all. It has been assumed that in view of the constancy
of the instinct, such a complete shifting from one sex to the opposite
is most unlikely. But since all investigators admit a certain period
of indifference, and since it is admitted further that during that
period the individual may abandon himself to an eroticism contrary to
the form adopted finally, the possibility cannot be excluded that weak
characters may be turned away from their original developmental goal.”
[27] “The flight to homosexuality is the result of repulsing the
incest phantasy.” _Nervöse Angstzustände_, 1st ed., 1908, p. 311. A
translation of the latest edition of this work is in preparation and
will appear shortly.
[28] Berlin, 1886. Verl. Aug. Hirschwald.
[29] 3rd Ser., vol. XXXI, 1906.
[30] _Alkohol und Homosexualität. Wiener klinische Wochenschrift_,
1913, No. 3.
[31] Krafft-Ebing also mentions a young man who carried out his first
homosexual aggression under the influence of alcohol. A man who
previous to that time had successful intercourse with prostitutes while
intoxicated grabbed hold of his friend’s genitals, they masturbated ...
and since that time he is homosexual.
[32] _Zur Psychologie des Alkoholismus_, _Zentralbl. f. Psychoanalyse
u. Psychotherapie_, vol. III, p. 1.
[33] Interesting is also the case of a high school teacher whose
feelings were predominantly homosexual during the stage of depression
and heterosexual during the stage of exaltation induced by the
addiction to morphine (_Hirschfeld_). There are persons who live a
double, alternating existence: homosexual and heterosexual. Their
conduct suggests that they are persons continually in search of a
bisexual ideal. Krafft-Ebing also describes a hysterical (_Jahrbuch
f. Sexuelle Zwischenstufen_, vol. III) who is attracted to men each
time that her neurosis improves after a sojourn at a sanitarium, while
during the height of her trouble she is homosexual. What does this mean
but that the heterosexual cravings are repressed during her neurosis!
For notwithstanding her extensive homosexual gratifications she has
become a victim of severe hysteria while every time she improves she
feels the love for man.
[34] Cf. author’s contribution, _Die psychische Impotenz des Mannes_.
Zeitschr. f. Sexualwissenschaft, 1916.
[35] _Beiträge zur Lehre von der konträren Sexualempfindung_, Zeitschr.
f. Psychol, u. Neurol., vol. VII, 1911.
[36] _Alkohol und Homosexualität._ Allg. Zeitschr. f. Psychol. und
gerichtl. Medizin, vol. LXVIII.
[37] It is not true that homosexuals are exposed to no dangers of
infection. I have examined a homosexual druggist who acquired in
Venice a serious gonorrhea of the anus. He confessed to me that he had
infected other men, because the thought of having fallen himself a
victim made him angry. But on the whole infections are not so frequent
an occurrence as during heterosexual intercourse, which is what would
be expected, considering that _copulatio analis_ is relatively rare.
[38] I must also emphasize that the first homosexual activity often
takes place in the twenties, if we omit from consideration the mutual
gratifications between boys and between girls which—with but very few
exceptions—are found to occur during the childhood of all persons.
Between small children (4-8 years of age) homosexual activity is very
common, then in many cases a period of latency seems to set in. During
the period from the 10th to the 15th year nearly every boy passes
through homosexual love (either purely platonic or grossly sexual).
After the onset of puberty there are numerous variations: persons who
later become homosexual continue heterosexual activity, try all sorts
of experiments and then withdraw into homosexuality in consequence
of some unpleasant heterosexual experience (infection, claim of
parenthood, etc.) or on account of impotence.
[39] As is well known _Bloch_ has endeavored to show that
_Schopenhauer’s_ antifeminism and pessimism are traceable to syphilitic
infection acquired during youth.
[40] _Beiträge zur Lehre der kontraeren Geschlechtsempfindung._
Zeitschrift f. d. ges. Neurol. u. Pathologie, 1911.
[41] _Zur Entstehung sexueller Perversitäten und ihrer Beurteilung vor
Gericht._ Archiv f. Psychiatrie, vol. LI, 1913.
[42] We shall see later that this attitude is due to the fact that
these persons fix their whole heterosexual psychic eroticism upon the
immediate members of their family. Heterosexual men in this situation
often experience merely physical gratification during intercourse with
prostitutes; with the other type of women they are wholly impotent.
[43] The following statement of _Hirschfeld’s_ illustrates this point
(l.c., p. 315): “An urning, writer,—_unus e multis_—writes me: ‘The
homosexual inclination developed in me in spite of the fact that the
first sexual aggression was of a heterosexual character—a nursemaid
seduced me—in spite of the fact that through training from childhood
on I was taught to look at the female sex and my reading of literature
showed me that woman was the object of love.’” I add: this tendency
developed because the first sexual experience was associated with
disgust on his part and because the domineering of woman led him to
hate that sex.
[44] _Die Darstellung der Neurose in Traums._ Zentralblatt f.
Psychoanalyse. vol. III, p. 26.
[45] In a novel which is an autobiography and a confession at the same
time, the hero relates that during his first visit to the brothel
he had to think of his mother. (_Erlebnisse des Zoeglings Taxil._
Wiener Verlag.) This book is interesting also because it describes
accurately the homosexual practices in a school of cadets. The fact
that young boys are impelled to think of their mother when visiting the
brothel for the first time is often the cause of total impotence. Cf.
_Weininger_: _Geschlecht u. Charakter_, chapter: _Mutter u. Dirne._ The
work has been translated into English.