extremely delighted to play the part of a naked model. I tried with
great energy in various places (Vienna, Leipzig, and Hamburg) to get
such a photograph as I wanted; but I was always turned away with a
shrug of the shoulders or a shake of the head. Finally I succeeded in
Erfurt, at a small photographer’s, in having my wish fulfilled.” (The
patient sent a copy of this photograph.)
As the description clearly shows, we have here to do with exhibitionism
upon an epileptic or neurasthenic basis. The patient describes the
“confusional state,” out of which he awakens to “reality,” very vividly.
An objection, however, to the idea of epilepsy is to be found in his
very complete memory of these transactions.
Without doubt, in the following case, reported by von Schrenck-Notzing
(_op. cit._, p. 96), we have to do with a case of neurasthenic
exhibitionism:
The patient, a portrait-painter thirty-one years of age, was accused
in the law-courts of repeated acts of exhibitionism. The imagination
and sensuality of the accused have been abnormally excitable since
earliest youth. For the last twenty years he has masturbated to
excess almost every day, with imaginative representation, when
masturbating, of male and female genital organs. In coitus he obtained
no gratification. He preferred to expose his own genital organs to
persons of the female sex, in the belief that he would in this way
produce in them sexual excitement. This exhibitionism is a central
point in his sexual life, and has acquired the character of a coercive
impulse. He is profoundly neurasthenic, and exhibits extensive changes
of character, loss of energy, lachrymosity, ideas of suicide, etc.
Exhibits signs of mental weakness. Exhibitionism is to him a complete
equivalent to ordinary sexual enjoyment, and is performed owing to an
organic compulsion. Ethically, his personality is weakened. The
accused was discharged on account of greatly diminished criminal
responsibility.
As a sub-variety of exhibitionists, we must refer to the so-called
“=frotteurs=,” individuals who rub their genital organs, either bared or
covered, against persons of the opposite sex, and thus obtain sexual
gratification. In their case also we almost always have to do with
morbid conditions. The following case (_Vossische Zeitung_, No. 258,
June 6, 1906) was recently observed in Berlin:
The architect, Eduard P., was accused of offences committed in the
opera-house of Berlin. In February and March, 1906, he had repeatedly
soiled ladies’ clothing in a disgusting manner. At a time when the
ladies had their whole attention directed to the stage, the offender,
standing or sitting behind them, contaminated their clothing, and
disappeared in the next interval. The whole mode of procedure
suggested the activity of a man with an abnormal morbid
predisposition, who in this place yielded to certain perverse
impulses. Several complaints having been made, some detectives were
dispersed through the audience, until finally the accused was caught
in the act. During the second act of a performance of “Lohengrin,” the
detective Brumme observed the accused pressing up from behind against
a lady, and, in the semi-obscurity of the performance, acting in the
manner already mentioned. P. was arrested, and admitted that he had
repeatedly acted in this way. Before the judge the accused also
confessed that he had done the same thing on other occasions. How he
had been led to do it he could not say. Each time after committing the
offence he had suffered very bitter remorse.
The accused was acquitted of the criminal charge on the ground of mental
disorder.
The psychical element of exhibitionism also plays a part in the practice
of the so-called “=voyeurs=”[664] and “=voyeuses=,” that numerous group
of male and female individuals who are sexually excited by =regarding=
the sexual acts of other persons (active _voyeurs_), or who =allow
themselves to be watched= by others when themselves performing sexual
acts (passive _voyeurs_). In many brothels, apertures in the wall or
other arrangements have been made for these _voyeurs_ or _gagas_,
through which they watch sexual scenes. In fashionable dressmakers’
shops, men are also said to watch ladies trying on dresses--at least, so
I have been informed by a Parisian. Recently women also have been more
and more inclined to see such spectacles, so that Schwaeblé devotes a
special chapter to the _voyeuses_ in his book on the perverse women of
Paris. Messalina compelled her court ladies to prostitute themselves in
her presence. Not infrequently male and female _voyeurs_ unite to form
societies and =secret sexual clubs=, in which all the sexual acts are
performed in public.
Thus, in the end of September, 1906, in Graz, a “Secret Society for
Immoral Purposes” was discovered by the police. At the head of this
club was a merchant, thirty years of age, B----, jun. A number of
other persons of good position belonged to this sexual club. They met
in the great restaurant “Zum Königstiger.” Under the title of “An
Assembly of Beauty,” festivals were held in the magnificent garden of
this restaurant, which were concluded as orgies behind closed doors.
The beautiful gardens of the Schlossberg were also the scene of many
meetings of the club.[665]
A remarkable category of _voyeurs_ is constituted by the so-called
“=stercoraires platoniques=,”[666] individuals who obtain sexual
enjoyment by observing the acts of defæcation and micturition performed
by persons of the other sex, and seek opportunities for such
observations in brothels or public lavatories. In the closet of one of
the Berlin railway-stations such a _stercoraire_ recently made a small
artificial opening in the wall, through which he was able to watch other
persons when engaged in the act of defæcation!
Here also we may refer to =heterosexual pædication=, to _coitus analis_,
which, according to the reports of French authors (Tardieu, Martineau,
and Taxil), appears to be especially common in France, but which is by
no means rare also in other countries. It becomes comprehensible only in
view of the fact that the anus may itself be an erogenic zone. Details
regarding this matter are given by Freud.[667] Krauss, also, in the
second volume of his “Anthropophyteia” (p. 392 _et seq._), has given
numerous examples of pædication. Among others, he reports two cases
related to him by the ethnologist Friedrich Müller, in which men had
coitus with their wives only _per anum_.
Finally, we must refer to a practice which appears to be confined to
France, the =customary use of opium, hashish, and ether, for the purpose
of inducing sexual excitement=, regarding which Schwaeblé (_op. cit._,
pp. 19-36) and d’Estoc (_op. cit._, pp. 151-158) give very interesting
reports. There exist in Paris special opium-houses, hashish-houses, and
ether-houses, some for men and some for women. Three opium-houses are to
be found, for example, in the Avenue Hoche, the Avenue Jéna, and the Rue
Lauriston; there is an ether-restaurant in Neuilly; one for opium,
hashish, and ether in the Rue de Rivoli. All these means of enjoyment
evoke after a time sexual ideas and fantasies of an extremely peculiar
character, associated with actual voluptuous sensations. Opium gives
rise to “ardent, brilliant pictures of an excessively stimulated
imagination,”[668] frequently of a perverse character; hashish has a
similar but even stronger influence; and ether gives rise to a more
powerful stimulation of the sexual organs, to a “vibration of the flesh
and of the soul.” The interior of these unwholesome places of exotic
enjoyment, in which frequently homosexual acts also occur, is vividly
described by both the above-named French authors.[669]
APPENDIX
THE TREATMENT OF SEXUAL PERVERSIONS
In the treatment of sexual perversions and anomalies, always a matter of
great difficulty, knowledge of mankind, tact, and the finer
understanding of the physician for the psychological peculiarities of
each individual case, must play a greater part than any definite method
of medical treatment. An exact understanding of the true =nature= of the
sexually abnormal personality is the indispensable preliminary to our
exercising a favourable influence upon morbid impulses and practices.
Unquestionably, the physician must in the first place treat all =actual
diseases underlying the sexual abnormalities=, by means of the physical
and pharmacological therapeutical methods open to us in such abundance.
Bodily and mental =repose= is here often the first need we have to
satisfy; and for this purpose a change of environment, climatic cures,
and such drugs as bromide and camphor may be very useful. But the
principal matter must remain =psychical, suggestive= treatment. The mere
=discussion= of the matter with the physician, the possibility at length
of confiding in one capable of taking a thoroughly objective, calm,
comprehensive view of the matter, one who by his profession is
instructed in all secrets of the human spiritual and impulsive life, and
who is aware of all the bodily necessities--this by itself suffices to
restore to these unhappy beings, who are tortured by the evil demon of
their unhappy impulse, who are often in a state of spiritual despair and
hypochondria, to restore to them an inward confidence and a healing
repose. This is the great triumph of medical research in this hitherto
tabooed, and yet so enormously important, department, which only crass
ignorance or evil-minded hypocrisy could designate as “improper” or
“unworthy.” We have passed beyond the fruitless and dangerous method of
“moral preaching,” to attain a =scientific understanding= of sexual
anomalies; we have exposed the roots of these anomalies, lying deep in
the physical and psychical nature of humanity, and we have recognized
their connexion with so many other phenomena of the civilization of our
time. When I speak of a “treatment” of the common, widely diffused
sexual anomalies, it appears to me that that standpoint is the best
which regards them as pure =diseases of the will=, which have been
diffused in all times, but have never been more distinctly manifest, and
never have possessed more importance, than they do at the present day,
when will, energy, has become the most important weapon in the ever
more violent struggle for existence. As Napoleon III. said, it is not to
the apathetic man, but to the =energetic= man, that the future belongs,
to the man with the will of iron. But nothing paralyzes the will so much
as the dominance of blind and, above all, of =abnormal=, impulses.
Unquestionably they conceal within themselves, when frequently
gratified, feelings rather of pain than of pleasure, and become the
unconquerable source of hypochondria and self-contempt. The stronger the
impulse becomes, the longer the habit has lasted of yielding to that
impulse, the greater is the loss of will from which the individual
suffers. The first and most important task of the physician is,
therefore, to weaken the impulse by means of strengthening the will. He
must consistently and methodically =educate the will=, in order to
assist the patient to obtain the victory over his impulse. As Goethe
says in his “Epimenides”:
“Noch ist vieles zu erfüllen,
Noch ist manches nicht vorbei:
Doch wir alle, durch den =Willen=
Sind wir schon von Banden frei.”
[“Much there remains to fulfil,
Many things have yet to be endured:
Still, all of us, by the exercise of =will=
Can to a large extent free ourselves from our fetters.”]
The best way to attain this is to employ =personal influence= by means
of =suggestion=. We must recommend frequent =conversations= on the part
of the patient with the physician, which can be powerfully supplemented
by =epistolary communications= on the part of the physician, of which an
excellent example will be found in the “Psychotherapeutic Letters” by H.
Oppenheim (Berlin, 1906).[670] =Hypnosis= is also of value, although it
does not appear to do any more in these cases than is effected by
suggestion in the waking state.[671]
It is not so easy to transform a Hamlet into a man of action. We must
impose tasks upon the will, tasks both mental and physical; we must
regulate the mode of life; we must give to the individuality special
prescriptions adapted to the particular case, and we must call to our
assistance, whenever advisable, the friends and associates of our
patient. The great enemy of the will, alcohol, must be absolutely
prohibited; on the other hand, the taste for finer enjoyment and also
for easy sports and pastimes must be stimulated.[672] The _vita
sexualis_ needs repose in every case, and, above all, masturbation must
be energetically resisted. If we succeed in diminishing the intensity of
the impulse, and in increasing the power of the will, we have already
done much. In isolated cases, we must also always make the attempt to
conduct the libido and its activity very gradually into normal channels,
perhaps with the assistance of suggestive ideas _in coitu_, for which,
above all, the assistance of the sexual partner is indispensable. Only
an experienced physician can here hit the mark.
[638] The Public Prosecutor Amschl reports in the _Archives for
Criminal Anthropology_, 1904, vol. xvi., p. 173, a gross case of this
character, in which a peasant affected with venereal ulcers, having
been advised that a cure could only be obtained by intercourse with a
pure virgin, had sexual intercourse with his own daughter, and--was
cured!!
[639] See 1 Kings i. 1-4.
[640] E. Laurent, “Morbid Love: A Psycho-Pathological Study,” pp. 183,
184 (Leipzig, 1895). _Cf._ also P. Bernard, “Des Attendants à la
Pudeur sur les Petites Filles” (Paris, 1886).
[641] A detailed description of this affair is given in my “Sexual
Life in England,” vol. i., pp. 350-381 (Charlottenburg, 1901).
[642] Compare in this connexion more especially the apt remarks of J.
P. Frank, “System of a Medical Polity,” vol. vi., pp. 94, 95
(Frankenthal, 1792).
[643] _Cf._ Sollier’s remarks on this subject in Von
Schrenck-Notzing’s “Die Suggestions-Therapie,” p. 7.
[644] Regarding child prostitution in Berlin, numerous details are to
be found in the work, “Child Prostitution in Berlin: Unvarnished
Revelations and Moral Pictures by an Initiate” (Leipzig, 1895).
[645] G. Schmoller, “Elements of General Political Economy,” vol. i.,
p. 233 (Leipzig, 1901).
[646] Such relations can become actual, even at the present day, as we
learn from the case reported by the Public Prosecutor, Dr. Kersten, in
the _Archives for Criminal Anthropology_ (1904, vol. xvi., p. 330), of
a Moor, sixty-five years of age, who, in intercourse with his
step-daughter, procreated a daughter, and later with this daughter of
his own, when she was thirteen years of age, had sexual intercourse!
[647] G. Mirabeau, “Erotika Biblion,” p. 91 (Brussels, 1868).
[648] German authors use the word _Sodomie_ to denote sexual
relationships between human beings and animals. Mr. Havelock Ellis
informs me (in a private letter) “the German use of ‘sodomy’ to
include ‘bestiality’ is quite ancient, and no doubt had a theological
origin. I imagine the confusion was made with the idea of throwing on
to ‘bestiality’ the same reprobation as the Bible metes out to
‘sodomy.’” There is, of course, no mention of bestiality in connexion
with the destruction of Sodom. The sin for which the city was
destroyed was the desire for carnal knowledge of the two angels in the
house of Lot (Gen. xix. 5). The signification of the various terms
used to denote unnatural intercourse is thus defined by Mann, in his
work on “Forensic Medicine”: =Sodomy= means unnatural sexual
intercourse between two human beings, usually of the male sex....
=Tribadism=, the gratification of the sexual instinct between two
human beings of the female sex.... =Pederastia= is that form of sodomy
in which the passive rôle is played by a boy, the active agent being
man or boy. =Bestiality= means sexual intercourse between mankind and
the lower animals. Generally speaking, in this translation the terms
mentioned are used as above defined. If there is any variation from
that use, the context will manifest it. In any case, =Sodomy= has
never been employed in the translation as an equivalent of the German
_Sodomie_, the latter term having been invariably rendered by
=Bestiality=.--TRANSLATOR.
[649] Iwan Bloch, “A Remarkable Case of Sexual Perversion
(Zoophilia),” published in _Medizinische Klinik_, 1906, No. 2.
[650] Of the recent literature on this subject I may refer to G.
Dubois-Dessaulle, “Étude sur la Bestialité au Point de Vue Historique,
Médical, et Juridique” (Paris, 1905); F. Reichert, “The Significance
of Sexual Psychopathy in Human Beings, in Relation to Veterinary
Practice,” Inaugural Dissertation (Bern and Munich, 1902); Franz Hora,
“A Case of Unnatural Fornication with a Goose,” published in the
_Tierärztliches Zentralblatt_, 1903, No. 13, p. 197; R. Froehner,
“Sadistic Injuries to Animals,” published in the _Deutsche
Tierärztliche Wochenschrift_, No. 1, 1903, p. 153; same author in _Der
Preussische Kreistierarzt_, vol. i., pp. 487-491 (Berlin, 1904);
Grundmann, “A Case of Bestiality and Sadism,” published in the
_Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift_, 1905, No 45. A very
painstaking and critical study of unnatural fornication with animals
is published by Haberda in the _Vierteljahrsschrift für Gerichtliche
Medizin_, 1907, vol. xxxiii., supplementary number. It deals with 162
medico-legal cases. Among these, two only concern girls of sixteen and
twenty-nine years of age respectively, persons who have had improper
relations with dogs. Most of the male offenders were =persons whose
occupations brought them much into contact with domestic animals=;
about half of them were under twenty years of age. The animals
concerned were cattle, goats, horses, dogs, pigs, sheep, and hens. In
the majority of cases there were fornicatory acts--acts analogous to
sexual intercourse--less commonly other sexual contacts. The girl of
sixteen was caught in the act of intercourse with a dog. The majority
of male offenders made use of female animals. In two cases young men
allowed dogs to have intercourse with them _per anum_, the dogs having
been trained to do this, and in both of them were found lacerations of
the anus and rectum. Only in a few of the 172 cases of bestiality was
there any reason to doubt the mental integrity of the person
concerned. In those cases there was senile dementia, epilepsy, or
alcoholism. The principal causes for the practice of bestiality were
enhanced opportunities, the lack of possibility in the country for
conjugal or extra-conjugal normal sexual intercourse, or, finally,
superstition (belief in the possibility of curing of venereal disease
by intercourse with animals).
[651] Regarding the ethnology of bestiality, consult my “Etiology of
Psychopathia Sexualis,” vol. ii., pp. 272-276.
[652] _Cf._ F. S. Krauss, “Bestial Aberrations,” published in
“Anthropophyteia,” vol. iii., pp. 265-322.
[653] Iwan Bloch, “The Origin of Syphilis,” part i., p. 22 (Jena,
1901).
[654] The following authentic case, which occurred in the year 1902,
appears to be unique. A man compelled his wife, who was amiable but
somewhat weak-minded, to have intercourse with a male pointer, which
he himself prepared for the act, and in course of time he made the
animal complete coitus with his wife five or six times whilst he
looked on (“A Horrible Case,” published in the _Archives for Criminal
Anthropology_, vol. xiii., pp. 320, 321). A case of bestiality with a
rabbit is reported by Boëteau (“Un Cas de Bestialité,” published in
_France Médicale_, 1891, vol. xxxviii., p. 593). Regarding passive
bestiality with dogs, _cf._ A. Montalti, “La pederastia tra il cane a
l’ uomo,” published in _Sperimentale_, 1887, vol. lx., p. 285;
Delastre et Linas, “Sodomie Bestiale” (_Societe de Médecine Lègale_,
1873-74, vol. cxi., p. 165); Brouardel, “Pédérastie d’un Chien à
l’Homme,” (published in the _Semaine Médicale_, 1887, vol. vii., p.
318); Féré, “Note sur un Cas de Bestialité chez la Femme” (published
in _Archives de Neurologie_, 1903, p. 90).
[655] The belief in vampires is in part dependent upon necrophilia. In
Southern Slavonic countries the corpses of young women and girls were
sometimes found which had been disinterred. The necrophilist had
misused them sexually, and had then cut off the breasts and torn out
the intestines (F. S. Krauss, “Anthropophyteia,” vol. ii., p. 391). In
the fifth decade of the nineteenth century the notorious necrophilist
Sergeant Bertrand performed similar acts.
[656] Reported by A. Eulenburg, “Sadism and Masochism,” p. 56. Another
case of necrophilia, with subsequent mutilation, occurred during the
night of December 21-22, 1901, in the mortuary at Weiher, on the
corpse of the wife of a day-labourer. The offender, who was arrested,
had, on account of intense sexual hyperæsthesia, committed other
sexual offences, among them bestiality (_cf._ “A Case of Necrophilia,”
published in the _Archives of Criminal Anthropology_, 104, vol. xvi.,
pp. 289-303).
[657] These æsthetic motives were predominant in the cases of
statue-love reported from antiquity.
[658] _Cf._ L. Fiaux “Les Maisons de Tolérance,” pp. 176, 177 (Paris,
1892). Moreover, the well-known tableaux vivants of the variety
theatre can be regarded as a lesser form of such pygmalionistic
spectacles.
[659] Ch. Lasègue, “Les Exhibitionistes,” published in _L’Union
Médicale_, 1877, No. 50.
[660] _Cf._ A. Hoche, “Elements of a General Forensic
Psycho-Pathology,” published in the “Handbook of Forensic Psychiatry,”
p. 502 (Berlin, 1901).
[661] G. Burgl, “Exhibitionists before the Law-Courts,” published in
the _Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie_, 1903, vol. lx., Nos. 1, 2, pp.
119-144.
[662] Regarding this custom of obscene gestures, which is extremely
remarkable from the point of view of the history of civilization, see
the second volume, now in course of preparation, of my work on “The
Origin of Syphilis.”
[663] Von Schrenck-Notzing, “Crimino-Psychological and
Psycho-Pathological Studies,” pp. 50-57 (Leipzig, 1902).
[664] Not to be confused with the “=essayeurs=,” a speciality of the
brothels of Paris. These are male individuals who are hired by the
owner of the brothel, in order, in the presence of clients, to carry
out indecent manipulations in association with the prostitutes, and
thus to induce sexual excitement in the guests, and stimulate them to
fornication (_cf._ L. Fiaux, “Lee Maisons de Tolérance,” p. 177).
[665] Regarding secret sexual clubs, see also my “Sexual Life in
England,” vol. i., pp. 400-415.
[666] _Cf._ L. Taxil, “La Corruption Fin de Siècle,” p. 226 (Paris,
1904).
[667] S. Freud, “Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory,” pp. 40-42.
[668] L. Lewin, the article “Opium,” in Eulenburg’s “Realenzyklopädie
der Heilkunde,” vol. xvii., p. 629 (Vienna, 1898).
[669] The following interesting reports, given by A. Wernichs
(“Geographico-Medical Studies,” pp. 48-50), elucidate very exactly the
nature of the sexual fantasies of the opium-smoker, which have the
character of an indeterminate and by no means coercive sexual desire:
“It is not necessary to proceed to gratification; one is almost
disinclined to bring the series of beautiful pictures to an end in
this way. All the joyful sexual experiences follow one another in a
peculiar and fanciful admixture. Alluring forms appear in the most
stimulating postures. Often one does not seem to take part in the
matter oneself. Beautiful women whom one has seen in any part of the
world, at the theatre, etc., move before one’s eyes, in the most
beloved games of our youth. Everything that memory and the half-dream
brings us is naked, shining, delicate, luxurious--and for us alone;
for me these groupings, these fountains with bathing forms, these
gestures, these embraces.” It is, therefore, not simply by chance that
the majority of Chinese brothels have arrangements for opium-smokers,
and that, contrariwise, many opium-dens provide opportunities for
sexual enjoyment. Indeed, prostitutes are said to prefer
opium-smokers, precisely because the latter, as long as the effect of
the opium persists, do not come to an end of their enjoyment.
[These sexual fantasies of the opium-smoker probably occur only in the
initial stages of indulgence in the drug. The =confirmed=
opium-smoker, like the man habituated to the hypodermic injection of
morphine, is probably, with rare exceptions, completely impotent.
Sexual appetite and power return, however, when the habit is
cured.--TRANSLATOR.]
[670] I refer more especially to the last letter, one directed to an
onanist (pp. 42-44), as instructive in this connexion.
[671] _Cf._ also Alfred Fuchs, “Therapeutics of the Abnormal Sexual
Life in Men” (Stuttgart, 1899).
[672] In such cases music, more especially the more emotional music of
Wagner, must be employed only with great care.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.--With regard to offences against morality, see the
comprehensive work by Mittermaier, “Crimes and Offences against
Morality” (Berlin, 1906) (gives a comparative description of the
legislation of various countries). See also J. Werthauer, “Offences
against Morality in Large Towns” (Berlin, 1907).
CHAPTER XXIV
OFFENCES AGAINST MORALITY FROM THE FORENSIC STANDPOINT.
“_In view of the peculiar character of sexually perverse acts, or
rather in view of the widely diffused interest in sexual questions and
of the hypocrisy which seems inseparable from their consideration, it
is easily comprehensible how to these acts there is commonly ascribed
a forensic importance greater than that which properly attaches to
them. And it is precisely this hypocrisy with which all questions
connected with sexuality are treated on the public platform, which
hinders a natural mode of regarding them, and renders so difficult an
unprejudiced judgment regarding all the relevant facts._”--J. SALGÓ.
CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XXIV
Importance of sexual perversions to the State and to society --
Exaggerated views regarding their injurious influence -- One-sided
condemnation of them from the forensic-psychiatric standpoint -- Their
wide diffusion among healthy individuals -- Protection against real
injury to public and private interests from sexual offences -- Their
frequency among diseased persons -- The idea of degeneration --
Congenital taint and the stigmata of degeneration -- Significance of
these stigmata -- Social causes of degeneration -- Significance of
tattooing -- § 51 of the Criminal Code -- The idea of “diminished
responsibility” -- Characterization of sexual emotions -- Other
factors lessening responsibility (menstruation, etc.) -- Points of
view in the punishment of acts of fornication with persons under age
-- Value of the evidence of children in the law-courts -- The age of
consent -- The condemnation and punishment of sexual offences.
CHAPTER XXIV
It is the evident duty of the State to protect society from certain
manifestations of the sexual impulse, occurring publicly in the form of
“=offences against morality=,” and whenever these manifestations
=interfere= with the persons and the rights of citizens. The sexual
impulse has been compared with a powerful stream, which, when confined
to its natural bed, is a never-ending source of blessing to the
surrounding country; but which, as soon as with elemental force it
overflows its banks and gives rise to widespread floods, is the cause of
unspeakable misery among the entire population.[673] This comparison
would be just if the facts were as stated. But, as I have already
pointed out, =as a whole=, sexual perversions have played a far smaller
part in the decadence of fallen nations than has hitherto been assumed.
The biological and economical history of civilization has taught us to
recognize numerous other influences, which, in such a process of
national decay, play at least as great a part as sexual “degeneration,”
and in many cases a much greater part than this. Frequently, indeed,
sexual perversions and unnatural modes of gratification of the sexual
impulse are =in the first place a consequence of economic and social
abnormalities=, and are intimately connected with the so-called social
problem. The above-named stream, to pursue the image, only trickles over
its banks here and there, without giving rise to any widespread and
devastating flood. And so long as these destructive tendencies are
wanting, the State has no right to take measures against sexual
perversions, or at most can justly do so only by dealing with their
social causes. In view of the extensive diffusion of sexual anomalies
among persons who in other respects are perfectly healthy, we must ask
ourselves whether the importance of these anomalies, in respect of the
offences against morality to which in certain circumstances they may
give rise, has not been overestimated. This idea has recently been put
forward by J. Salgó, in his valuable monograph, “The Forensic Importance
of Sexual Perversities” (Halle, 1907). I am more especially pleased to
find that this author shares the view which I have myself advocated for
years, that sexual perversities in the majority of cases are not
indications of “degeneration,” as has been assumed both by psychiatrists
and neurologists, especially under the influence of the doctrine of
Möbius, who pushed this idea much too far. Moreover, the late Jolly, in
his lectures to practising physicians upon sexual aberrations, expressly
maintained the justice of my view of sexual anomalies as an
anthropological phenomenon. With regard to the nature of sexual
perversions, psychiatric science will have greatly to modify its general
views, in order to attain an objective consideration of their
significance.
“=Psychiatry=,” says Salgó (_op. cit._, pp. 37, 38), “=must not follow
the decoy-call of the law (which has wandered into a blind alley), by
endeavouring to cover with the mantle of specialist science the
serious legal errors in the matter of perverse sexuality. The
incontestable domain of psychiatric experience in forensic questions
is already sufficiently large, and it needs no artificial extension.
But it is an artificial extension to indicate as morbid all the
aberrations of sexual activity, or any single one of such aberrations,
in the absence of indubitable or demonstrable symptoms of physical
disturbance, and in the absence of a clearly recognizable and abnormal
course--simply because they contravene the existing criminal law.=”
The blind alley of psychiatry is the prison and the asylum. Because
psychiatry is principally concerned with those sexual perversities which
have criminal or psychiatric importance, with the =abnormalities= and
the =crimes= of the sexually perverse, psychiatric science failed to
recognize the extraordinarily wide diffusion of sexual perversions among
persons who are mentally and physically healthy. Among the healthy,
homosexuality, sadism, masochism, fetichism, etc., may make their
appearance in more or less severe forms; just as other “vicious habits”
may occur in the healthy, just as passionate tobacco-smoking, or
intoxication with any sport, may become =an ineradicable habit=, or at
least a =habit extremely difficult to eradicate=. Neither jurisprudence
nor psychiatry can be spared the accusation of having misled “public
opinion,” this terrible monster so often hostile to civilization, in
respect of sexual perversities, regarding whose nature recent scientific
research, and above all, anthropological research, has diffused a light.
=I am acquainted with a number of persons whose bodily and mental health
is excellent, persons who are, indeed, imposing in respect of their
primeval German racial force, who have assured me that they suffer from
the most severe sexual perversions!= Recall the description given on p.
584 of a masochistic “slave” of the most extreme type. I do not go so
far as Salgó, who demands for sexual anomalies, in so far as they are
not criminal, the same “right of existence” (p. 7) as for the normal
sexual impulse; but I do assert that sexual anomalies exist in
individuals who are in other respects perfectly healthy, and that they
do not always injure the personal health or the bodily and moral
well-being of another, as is the case with sexual perversions arising
upon a morbid foundation and attaining forensic importance. Above all, I
must sharply condemn the fashion of =glorifying= sexual perversities,
which have been regarded as a peculiar privilege of the highest mental
development, and as corresponding to an especial refinement of
sensibility. This assertion may be refuted by reference to the fact,
often mentioned before, that the most incredible and most artificial
sexual malpractices occur among savage races, who in this respect could
give points to our modern decadents and epicurean æsthetes. In any case,
sexual perversions in themselves have neither a moral nor a forensic
importance, and must be regarded as more or less biological variations
of the normal impulse.
Where, on the other hand, the =public= or =individual= interest is
injured by these perversions, the State has unquestionably the right of
intervention and the right of prevention. In every case in which we have
to do with the production of a public nuisance, with the bodily or
mental injury of other human beings, with the employment of force, with
the misuse of the lessened or absent responsibility of children, of
unconscious persons, of those asleep, and of those mentally disordered,
society must intervene in its own interest, and must take suitable
measures to protect itself against such offences. Now, it is
certain--and to have established this is an honour to psychiatric
science--that it is precisely these latter sexual =offences= which in
the great majority of cases are committed by =diseased= persons and by
those who are more or less =irresponsible=. Therefore, we are thoroughly
justified in demanding that in every such criminal case, the bodily and
mental condition of the accused should be subjected to a medical
examination. A typical mental disorder, such as imbecility, epilepsy,
alcoholic insanity, general paralysis of the insane, paranoia, etc.,
will be detected without difficulty, and thereby responsibility will at
once be excluded. More difficult are the =transitional= stages between
health and disease, the so-called “=borderland cases=,” the cases of
“psychopathically deficient responsibility” and of “disequilibrium.” In
forensic medicine two ideas play a very great part in this connexion,
that of “=degeneration=” and that of “=diminished responsibility=.”
Every sexually perverse person must be examined for signs of severe
hereditary taint, as well as for the so-called “stigmata of
degeneration.” If we can prove that in his family there have been
=several= instances of =severe= mental disorder, of alcoholism,
syphilis, diabetes, and other diseases leading to degeneration, the
suspicion that there is a psychopathic foundation for the sexual offence
is justified. But we must insist that congenital taint does not make
itself felt in every case, and cannot, therefore, always be made
responsible as a causal influence in the production of a sexual
perversion.[674]
The so-called “stigmata of degeneration” have importance only when they
are =very markedly= developed, and when =several= of them are
simultaneously present. We distinguish physical and mental _stigmata
degenerationis_. To the former belong disturbances and inhibitions of
development, malformations, such as asymmetry of the skull, narrowness
of the palate, hare-lip, cleft palate, anomalies of the teeth and the
hair, difficulties of speech, tic convulsif, abnormal and morbid states
of the genital organs and genital functions, and more especially
malformations of the ear, such as Morel’s ear (the complete or partial
absence of the helix or antihelix), the Darwinian pointed ear, etc.[675]
The mental degenerative phenomena comprise all that are known as
“bizarre or abnormal” characters; those who possess such characters are
termed “eccentrics” and “originals,” or are known as persons
“psychopathically below par” (J. L. A. Koch), as “disequilibrated”
(Eschle), as “superior degenerates” (Magnan). These phenomena comprise
peculiar disturbances of the harmony of the spiritual life,
characterized by lack of balance between emotion and intellect, as well
as by an abnormal irritability and undue reaction to stimulation. We may
find complete absence of ethical perception, so-called “moral insanity,”
of which E. Kraepelin and his school have proved that it may arise
secondarily as a sequel to certain mental disorders. Striking in these
unbalanced persons is the disharmony of the entire conduct of life, the
internal lack of the _point d’appui_, the unsteadiness, the suddenness
of their actions, which often occur under the influence of coercive
ideas and abnormal impulses, the abnormally early appearance and the
extraordinary intensity of the sexual impulse, the tendency to cruelty
(O. Rosenbach). In judging the personality of the degenerate as a whole,
we must always take into account the =entire course of life=, to which
only too often the remark of Stifter applies: “In his life we saw only
beginnings without continuations, and continuations without beginnings.”
On the other hand, we must not forget that many of the bodily stigmata
of degeneration occur also in healthy persons, and that the existence of
such stigmata in mentally disordered persons and in criminals may also
be referred to social causes, to bad conditions of life and deficient
nutriment, to alcoholism, syphilis, or rickets. For this reason P.
Näcke[676] rightly insists =that many of the so-called stigmata of
degeneration are socially produced=, and will therefore disappear with
the employment of a purposive social hygiene; he gives as an example the
rachitic bandy legs of English factory labourers. Therefore, for the
proof of degeneration, we must lay more stress upon =mental= stigmata,
upon abnormality of the spiritual personality, abnormality of its
intellectual and emotional character, and from this proceed to infer the
irresistible character of a morbid impulsive manifestation.
In addition to the study of the stigmata of degeneration, the study of
=tattooing= is of forensic importance in the consideration of the sexual
offences; the character and the date of the tattooing give sometimes
interesting information regarding the nature of the personality.
Thus Lombroso[677] reports the case of an offender against morality,
fifty years of age, with prominent ears and scanty growth of hair.
This man ravished a girl of fifteen, whose mother was his mistress.
=At the early age of fifteen= he had had the most obscene pictures
tattooed upon his body; and upon inquiry he stated that he had begun
to masturbate at the age of thirteen years, and had begun to have
intercourse with women at the age of fifteen years. He denied the
accusation of rape, and maintained that he had enjoyed the girl
without using force. =His tattooing, however, gave evidence= of his
capacity to commit sexual crime. The pictures served as a =certain and
important proof of this=.
This appeared even more clearly in the case of the ravisher Francesco
Spiteri, published by Dr. F. Santangelo in 1892, =whose utterly
immoral and sexually perverse mode of life was most wonderfully
displayed and recorded by means of the tattooings by which his entire
body was covered=. It will suffice here to allude to the drawing of a
fish and of seven points upon his membrum. This indicated that his
penis (Italian, _pesce_ = fish) since his youth had pædicated seven
boys (= seven points)!
In the case of sexual offences we have to consider, in addition to the
question of degeneration, that of =diminished= or =entirely absent
responsibility=. In cases of unmistakable mental disorder,
responsibility does not exist, nor in epileptic confusional states, nor
in profound alcoholic intoxication.[678] Between complete
irresponsibility and complete responsibility there are numerous
transitional stages, which are all classified under the idea of
=diminished responsibility=. This fact is not recognized by § 51 of the
Criminal Code, which runs as follows:
“A punishable offence has not been committed when the accused at the
time the action was performed was in a state of unconsciousness, or in
a state or morbid disturbance of mental activity, by means of which
his freedom of will was excluded.”
In this we find the idea of “morbid disturbance of mental activity,”
which is definitely wider than the idea of mental disease, in so far as
it embraces transient mental disorders in persons who are not suffering
from definite mental disease; but it does not take into consideration
the even more important notion of diminished responsibility, which is
applicable to all the above described borderland states and transitional
conditions lying between mental health and mental disease. Häussler
(_op. cit._, p. 39) as long as eighty years ago demanded the recognition
of the idea of diminished responsibility--that is, of a condition “in
which responsibility for the action was =diminished= by an imperfectly
developed intelligence, without the disturbance of intellectual activity
being sufficiently great completely to abolish free voluntary
determination” (Aschaffenburg). Since that time, by the address given
on September 16, 1887, to the Association of German Alienists at
Frankfort on “diminished responsibility,” Jolly opened a discussion upon
this question. In this discussion the majority of German psychiatrists
recommended the legislative recognition of such an idea, among these
Wollenberg, Hoche, Cramer, Kirn, Aschaffenburg, von Schrenck-Notzing,
etc.[679]
In connexion with diminished responsibility we must distinguish between
=individuals= and =actions=. Among the individuals recognized above as
persons “psychopathically below par,” responsibility may be diminished
permanently and for a number of different actions; but in other cases
healthy normal individuals may exhibit diminished responsibility in
respect of =isolated actions=, when, for example, an =excessively strong
emotion=, or a state of =acute intoxication=, has for a certain time and
in relation to a particular action abrogated responsibility. In this
connexion, in addition to acute alcoholic intoxication, certain =sexual=
processes have especially to be considered. Häussler recognized the
influence of the sexual impulse upon responsibility, and considered that
certain actions performed under the influence of that impulse were
performed without complete responsibility, and he declared that the
voluptuary was a person whose mental health was imperfect.[680]
Forel[681] also regarded the “slaves of the sexual impulse” as mentally
abnormal, as individuals whose responsibility was diminished. I consider
it indisputable that sexual emotions, especially when they arise
suddenly, diminish responsibility, and limit, to some extent at least,
the freedom of voluntary determination. Regarding certain processes of
the _vita sexualis_, such as the epoch of =puberty= in both sexes,
regarding =menstruation=, =pregnancy=, and the =climacteric in women=,
this fact has been already generally recognized. It ought, however, to
be admitted regarding the sexual impulse in general, more especially
when the whole character of the action proves that it has been the
consequence of a suddenly arising powerful emotion. Von Krafft-Ebing
also is of this opinion.[682] It is, moreover, in most cases possible to
determine whether the offence was caused =only by a powerful sexual
emotion=, by means of which the intelligence and the freedom of the will
of a person, in other respects normally responsible, were temporarily
limited or completely arrested; or whether other motives intervened, so
that the action must be regarded as the result of conscious choice.
In conclusion, another point must be considered, which is related to the
question of sexual offences committed with children, and which possesses
forensic importance. This is the circumstance that in many such cases
there is no question of the “seduction” of children, but that, on the
contrary, the incitation =first= proceeded from the children themselves.
In the previous chapter we discussed the early appearance of sexual
activity in children. Moreover, in such cases we could distinguish
between a nobler and a grosser, more sensual love.
As an example of the former, I may allude to the ardent, affectionate
love of a girl of twelve for a thoroughly honourable man of forty
years of age, who certainly had no idea of sexual intimacy with the
child, and who was unable to free himself from her passionate
caresses. We often observe such intimate inclinations on the part of
young girls towards mature men, and we must be careful in such cases
to avoid immediately thinking of pædophilic unchastity.
In another case a mother complained that her daughter, seven years of
age, was in continual pursuit of a boy of fourteen, and could not be
cured of the affection.
Maria Lischnewska reports (“Mutterschutz,” 1905, p. 155) the case of a
boy, not yet six years of age, who drew up the nightgown of his
foster-mother, and endeavoured to have intercourse with her.
The sexual offences committed by clergymen and tutors upon the girls
taught by them are apt to be seen in a different light when we subject
the youthful accuser to a strict cross-examination, and, in addition, to
a physical examination, whereby in many cases we bring to light the fact
that, long =before= the recent offence, they have been accustomed =of
their own free will= to have sexual relations with =other= men. Casper
long ago drew attention to these circumstances. Very often =from the
pupil herself proceed actual advances= of the worst kind, which have
proved ruinous to many a young teacher whose morals were previously
above reproach.
Finally, there is an important point which must not be forgotten: the
untrustworthy character of childish evidence, a matter which has
recently been discussed by the specialist Adolf Baginsky.[683] This
writer, whose knowledge of childish psychology is so profound, remarks:
“The evidence given by children in the law-courts appears to those who
are really familiar with the child mind to be =absolutely worthless=
and =utterly devoid of importance=, and this is the more the case the
more frequently the child repeats its statement, and the more firmly
it sticks to its evidence.”
He alludes to the law of Sweden, according to which the child is not
competent to give evidence in a law-court before the completion of its
fifteenth year.
All these circumstances must be considered in relation to the question
of the so-called “=age of consent=.” M. Hirschfeld justly remarks that
the natural age of consent is equivalent to that at which a child is
competent to make a choice (“The Nature of Love,” p. 284). I consider
that the decision of the Italian Criminal Code is the best; by this Code
the age of consent for =both= sexes is placed at the conclusion of the
sixteenth year.
The majority of crimes committed from purely sexual motives belong to
the crimes of passion, in the sense of Ferris, and indeed to crimes
committed under the coercion of the most powerful of organic impulses. I
doubt whether the existing punishments are the most suitable for the
purpose for which they are designed. In any case, gentleness is here
above all demanded, and we should invoke the saying, “Judge not, that ye
be not judged!” Indeed, an evangelical minister[684] speaks truly when
he says:
“=The enormous majority of men and women, who constitute themselves
the judges of offences against morality, whilst they themselves take
every opportunity of infringing the moral laws they profess to
uphold--lie day after day, throughout their whole life--their position
is built upon hypocrisy and lies.=”
It very rarely happens that a judge who condemns a thief or a murderer
has himself been guilty of this crime, but without doubt it frequently
happens that a judge condemns other men on account of sexual offences
which he has himself committed. In the case of =sexual crimes= we almost
always have to do with individuals to whom more good could be done by
=medical influence= than by imprisonment; we must entrust the physician
with the duty of protecting society against such offenders. “=In this
province, physicians will become the judges of the future=,” says M.
Hirschfeld most justly.[685] Until this end is attained, let us remind
German judges of an anecdote which I found in an old French
encyclopædia:[686]
“A courtesan in Madrid killed her lover, on account of his
unfaithfulness; she was condemned and brought before the king, from
whom she hid nothing. The king said to her: ‘Thou hast loved =too
much= to be a reasonable being.’”
[673] E. Weisbrod, “Offences against Morality before the Law Courts,”
p. 5 (Berlin and Leipzig, 1891). _Cf._, regarding offences against
morality, in addition to the above-mentioned work of Tardieu, the
interesting “Notes et Observations de Médecine Légale: Attentats aux
Mœurs,” by H. Legludic (Paris, 1896); also P. Viazzi, “Sur Reati
Sessuali” (Turin, 1896); L. Thoinot, “Attentats aux Mœurs et
Perversions du Sens Génital” (Paris, 1898); Toulouse, “Les Délits
Sexuels,” published in “Les Conflicts Intersexuels et Sociaux,” pp.
318-326 (Paris, 1904). Regarding offences against morality from the
forensic standpoint, see also the comprehensive work of Mittermaier,
“Crimes and Offences against Morality” (Berlin, 1906), which contains
a comparative account of the legislative enactments of the principal
countries of Europe. In addition, consult J. Werthauer, “Offences
against Morality in Large Towns” (Berlin, 1907).
[674] _Cf._ Th. Ziehen, “Degeneratives Irresein,” in Eulenburg’s
“Realenzyklopädie,” vol. v., p. 448 (Vienna, 1895); A. Hoche,
“Handbook of Forensic Psychiatry,” p. 413.
[675] _Cf._, in this connexion, P. Näcke, “The Value of the So-called
Stigmata of Degeneration” (_Archives of Criminal Psychology_, May,
1904), and “The Great Value of Certain Signs of Degeneration”
(_Archives of Criminal Anthropology_, 1904, vol. xvi., pp. 181, 182).
The most important, according to him, are stigmata of the head and of
the genital system, on account of the relationships to the brain and
to the reproductive organs. Disturbances of development of the auricle
are not so important as those of the globe of the eye (absence of the
iris, nystagmus, opacities of the lens, coloboma iridis, ptosis,
microphthalmus, anophthalmus, colour-blindness, etc.). Penta has
recently drawn attention to the importance and frequency of anomalies
of the sexual organs in stuprators and in the sexually perverse (_cf._
_Archives of Criminal Anthropology_, 1904, vol. xvi., p. 343; _cf._
also the observations of Matthaes, quoted in note ^{490}, p. 477).
[676] Paul Näcke, “Criminality and Insanity in Women,” pp. 154-156
(Vienna and Leipzig, 1894).
[677] C. Lombroso, “Recent Advances in the Study of Criminality,” pp.
177, 178.
[678] _Cf._ G. Aschaffenburg, “Responsibility in Mental Disease,”
published in Hoche’s “Handbook of Forensic Psychiatry,” pp. 13-47.
[On the question of “Responsibility in Mental Disease,” English
readers will naturally refer to Maudsley’s classical work bearing this
title, published in the International Scientific Series.--TRANSLATOR.]
[679] _Cf._ A. von Schrenck-Notzing, “The Question of Diminished
Responsibility, etc.,” published in “Crimino-Psychological and
Psychopathological Studies,” pp. 76-101 (Leipzig, 1902).
[680] Häussler, _op. cit._, p. 39.
[681] A. Forel, “The Responsibility of Normal Human Beings,” p. 21
(Munich, 1901).
[682] Von Krafft-Ebing, “Psychopathia Sexualis,” p. 331.
[683] Adolf Baginsky, “The Impressionability of Children under the
Influence of their Environment,” published in _Medizinische Reform_,
edited by Rudolf Lennhoff, 1906, Nos. 43, 44 (especially pp. 533,
534).
[684] “Another Conventional Lie: Studies concerning Love, Marriage,
and Morality,” by an Evangelical Clergyman, p. 7 (Leipzig).
[685] Kraepelin (“The Question of Diminished Responsibility,”
published in the _Monatschrijt für Kriminal-Psychiatrie_, 1904, No. 8)
pleads that the necessity for imprisonment should be determined, not
by judges, but by medical “crimino-pedagogues,” and he demands “places
of secure restraint” (“Sicherungsanstalten”), differing in character
from ordinary prisons, for the detention of criminals whose
responsibility is diminished. Similarly, P. Näcke (“The So-called
Moral Insanity,” p. 60; Wiesbaden, 1902), considers that the prison
should be transformed into a kind of “hospital and educational
institution.”
[686] “Encyclopediana ou Dictionnaire Encyclopédique des Ana,” p. 59
(Paris, 1701).
CHAPTER XXV
THE QUESTION OF SEXUAL ABSTINENCE (DIE ENTHALTSAMKEITSFRAGE)
“_O heiliger Büsser, folg’ ich dir,_
_Folge ich dir, Frau Minne?_”
EDUARD GRISEBACH.
[“_Holy Penitence, art thou my aim,_
_Or is it thou whom I pursue, lovely woman?_”]
CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XXV
Great variation in the views held regarding sexual abstinence -- Five
groups -- The apostles of absolute asceticism -- Criticism of their
views -- View of duplex sexual morality -- Its refutation -- The
unfounded doubt in the possibility of abstinence -- Recommendation of
relative temporary abstinence from the medical and moral standpoint --
Relative abstinence as an ideal of civilization -- Recognition of this
ideal among the ancient Israelites -- Wise prescriptions and
utterances in the Bible and the Talmud -- Misrepresentation of this
idea by the notion of absolute asceticism -- Reaction against the
latter -- Rules regarding the frequency of intercourse -- Self-command
as a principle of enjoyment -- Abstinence before the first sexual
intercourse -- Sexual maturity and physical maturity -- Sexual tension
of the third decade of life -- Erb’s experiences regarding the harmful
consequences of abstinence -- Lowenfeld’s reports -- Comparison with
the dangers of extra-conjugal sexual intercourse -- Value of
abstinence later in life -- Influence upon intellectual activity --
Higher civilizing value of the idea of abstinence.
CHAPTER XXV
There is no disputed question in respect of which the divergent views
are so sharply opposed as they are regarding the importance, the value,
and the consequences of =sexual abstinence=.
[The question has been recently discussed by O. Schreiber, in a paper
entitled “Sexual Abstinence,” published in _Medizinische Blätter_, 1907,
Nos. 25-27.]
I distinguish =five= groups of opinion:
1. The apostles of =absolute asceticism= during the whole of life
(Tolstoi, Weininger, Norbert Grabowsky, Kurnig, etc.).
2. The _medical_ advocates of =relative temporary continence=, until it
becomes possible to enjoy permanent hygienic intercourse, free from all
objections.
3. The advocates of “=duplex sexual morality=,” who demand from _woman_
sexual abstinence until she marries, but who regard this as impossible
in the case of _man_.
4. The “=Vera=”[687] =enthusiasts=, who on =moral= grounds demand
abstinence for =both= sexes until marriage.
5. Those who =doubt= the possibility of abstinence of =any= kind for
either sex, whether absolute =or= relative.
Regarding those mentioned under the first heading, who demand absolute,
life-long sexual abstinence, it is hardly necessary to say a word. It is
nonsense, a pious superstition, a Utopia contrary alike to nature and to
civilization, born of the belief in the “sinfulness” of sexual
intercourse.
The normal sexual impulse is a =natural= phenomenon; it is pure and
thoroughly ethical; and it is only in an insane confusion and in a
morally reprehensible falsification of his own nature that man has come
to regard it as a “sin,” as an “evil.” Man has a natural, inborn right
to the gratification of the sexual impulse. Absolute asceticism must be
rejected as a thoroughly =immoral= doctrine.
The same is true of the duplex sexual morality, alluded to under the
third heading, by which that is justified to man which is denied to
woman. This “=morality=” (_lucus a non lucendo_) presupposes for man a
natural impulse, and demands for him a right to gratify it, whilst the
existence of such an impulse and of such a right is denied to woman. We
have shown that this view is an inevitable consequence of coercive
marriage morality.[688]
The standpoint of the sceptics alluded to under § 5 is one which denies
the possibility of =any= abstinence, even merely temporary abstinence;
but this view is equally to be rejected. Man is a natural being; his
sexual impulse is a natural instinct, and as such one whose existence is
justified; but at the same time man is a =civilized being=. Civilization
is an elevation, an ennoblement, a transfiguration of nature, whose
unduly powerful impulses and powers must be tamed and harmonized by
civilization. The right to sexual gratification is therefore opposed by
the =duty= to set bounds to the sexual impulse, to conduct it into such
paths that no harm can result from its exercise, either to the
individual or to society; and in order that, like all other impulses, it
may subserve the purposes of the evolution of civilization. To this end,
however, a =relative abstinence= is of great importance (this is a
matter which has not hitherto been sufficiently recognized); but this
course it is only possible to follow when, at the same time, we
emphatically =affirm the rightness of sexuality=, and when it is our
desire to utilize it as a =civilizing factor of the first rank=. The
“individualization” of the sexual impulse has been described in detail
in an earlier chapter of this work, to which I may refer the reader. If
we fail to recognize the value of =temporary abstinence=, and the
importance of the storing up of sexual energy which is thereby effected,
and the transformation of this energy into other energies of a spiritual
nature, such an individualization becomes impossible.
Alike the medical advocates (§ 2) and the moral advocates (§ 4) of a
relative temporary abstinence for both sexes have, from their respective
standpoints, made a just demand. This is, in fact, in both cases an
“ideal standpoint,” to use the phrase of F. A. Lange; but it is also an
ideal most desirable to set before youth, and more especially before our
German youth. We cannot repeat too often, or insist with too much
emphasis, what an endless blessing results from the endeavour towards,
and from the realization of, temporary sexual abstinence, more
especially in the years of =preparation= for life, but also in the years
of =independent creative work=.
The importance of =relative= sexual abstinence was first recognized by
the ancient Israelites. Numerous wise prescriptions and utterances prove
this. Julius Preuss, the most celebrated student of ancient Jewish
medicine, has recently, in an interesting study of “Sexual Matters in
the Bible and the Talmud” (_Allgemeine Medizinische Central-Zeitung_,
1906, No. 30 _et seq._), collected the following facts bearing on the
matter:
“Chastity was a self-evident demand for the unmarried. It is true
that, in view of the early occurrence of puberty, they married very
young--at the age of eighteen or twenty; and Rabbi Huna is of opinion
that anyone who at the age of twenty is still unmarried passes his
days in sin or--which he regards as even worse--in sinful thoughts.
There are three whom God praises every day: an unmarried man who lives
in a large town and does not sin; a poor man who finds an object of
value and returns it to the owner, and a rich man who gives his tithe
secretly. Once when this doctrine was read out in the presence of
Rabbi Safra, who as a young man lived in a large town, his face
lighted up with joy. But Raba said to him: ‘It is not meant such a one
as thou art, but such a one as Rabbi Chanina and Rabbi Oschaja, who
live in the street of the prostitutes, and make shoes for them, to
whom, therefore, the prostitutes come, and look upon them, but who,
notwithstanding this, do not raise their eyes to look upon the
prostitutes.’”
After marriage also they endeavoured by valuable prescriptions to
enforce the great civilizing idea of temporary sexual abstinence. Thus,
intercourse during menstruation was strictly forbidden, and was regarded
as a deadly sin; the same was the case as regards intercourse when there
was any other hæmorrhage from the genital organs; but in this case the
abstinence must last even longer. It is remarkable that the Catholic
theologians allowed sexual intercourse without limit when such morbid
hæmorrhage was present, and allowed it also, with certain restrictions,
during menstruation. Further, among the ancient Hebrews intercourse was
forbidden during the week of mourning for parents or brothers or
sisters; it was forbidden also during the festival of atonement. Guests
in an inn when travelling were also forbidden sexual intercourse,
doubtless on grounds of decency. Intercourse was likewise forbidden in
times of famine, in order to spare the bodily forces.
Golden sayings recognize the value of moderation and of relative
abstinence.
According to an ancient Israelitish popular saying, sexual intercourse
is one of eight things =which are beautiful when enjoyed in strict
moderation, but harmful when enjoyed very freely=. The others are
walking, possessions, work, wine, sleep, warm water (for bathing and
for drinking), and venesection.
Rabbi Jochanan said: “Man possesses a little limb: he who satisfies it
hungers; he who allows it to hunger is satisfied.”
Rabbi Ilai said: “When man observes that his evil impulse is more
powerful than he is himself, let him go to a place where people do not
know him, let him put on dark clothes, let him wear a dark turban, and
let him do that which his heart desires; but let him not publicly
profane the name of God.” This can only mean that in general he only
controls the desire who has already tasted the fruit--that is to say,
that abstinence is the safest means against lust; but he who,
notwithstanding this, finds that the impulse threatens to become too
violent, still has the duty to fight against it, and in any case not
to yield immediately.
This ancient notion of relative asceticism was, unfortunately, falsified
and thrust into the background by the Utopian and contra-natural idea of
absolute asceticism; its great value was completely obscured by the
inevitable reaction against the principle of absolute chastity. This
reaction led actually to the formation of rules regarding the frequency
of intercourse, such as that attributed to Luther--“Twice a week does
harm neither to her nor to me”; =although it is precisely in this
department of life that no rules can be given, and that the greatest
individual variations occur=, so that “twice a week” may for many
constitute by far too much, and can only be regarded as permissible to
robust constitutions. =Daily= indulgence in sexual intercourse,
continued for a =long period= of time, would be deleterious even to a
Hercules, =and in all circumstances would be harmful to both parties=.
Nature herself, by exhibiting a certain periodicity in sexual excitement
(which periodicity is admittedly far more distinct in women than it is
in men, who can “always” love), has facilitated temporary abstinence.
This is, in fact, a natural demand even of the most extreme ethical
materialism; for, as Friedrich Albert Lange[689] rightly points out,
“even though the individual sensual pleasure, as with Aristippos or
Lamettrie, is raised to a principle, =self-control= still remains a
requirement of philosophy, if only in order to assure the permanence of
the capacity for enjoyment.” So also the poet of the “New Tanhäuser”
sings:
“Selig, der da ewig schmachtet,
Sei gepriesen, Tantalus,
Hätt’ er je, wonach er trachtet,
Würd’ es auch schon Ueberdruss:
Gib mir immer =Eine= Beere,
Aus der vollen Traube nur,
Und ich schmachte gern, Cythere,
Lebenslang auf deiner Spur!”
[“Happy is he who eternally desires.
A happy man art thou, Tantalus!
If he ever attained that for which he longs,
He would instantly taste satiety:
Let me have but a =single= grape
From the full cluster,
Gladly, Cytherea, will I live,
Ever desiring, in thy courts!”]
The question of abstinence is an entirely different one, according as it
relates to the time =before= or =after= the first experience of sexual
intercourse. Experience shows that in the former case abstinence is far
easier than it is when the forbidden fruit has once been tasted. If,
with the author of this book, relative asceticism is regarded as the
most desirable ideal, we shall endeavour in =youth= to realize that
ideal for as long a time as possible, =without= any interruption by
sexual intercourse; whereas in the later period of the fully-developed
sexual life we shall practise sexual abstinence only from time to time.
With regard to the former point, it would be the greatest good fortune
for every man if he could remain sexually abstinent until the complete
maturity of body and mind--that is, until the age of twenty-five.[690]
But this is in most cases an impossibility. Yet it =is possible= for
=every= healthy man--and it is an imperative demand of individual and
social hygiene--=to abstain completely from sexual intercourse at least
until the age of twenty=. That is possible without any harm resulting,
and it is carried out by innumerable persons of both sexes. It is,
indeed, a fact that in civilized countries the physical and mental
maturity of girls and boys by no means coincides with their sexual
maturity, but, on the contrary, occurs from three to five years later.
First between the ages of twenty and twenty-two does man attain complete
development.[691] If the sexual impulse is not artificially awakened and
stimulated during these years of adolescence, it may remain very
moderate, without masturbation and without pollutions, and can be easily
controlled. Relations with the other sex have not yet become necessary
for the development of the individual personality. The human being has
still enough to do in isolation. First with the commencement of the
third decade of life do the conditions alter, and sexual tension becomes
so great as to demand the adequate and natural discharge given by the
normal sexual act. If this is impossible, pollutions form the natural,
or masturbation forms the unnatural, outlet; and when abstinence is
continued for a long time after attaining this age, the vital freshness
and the spiritual and emotional condition are more or less impaired. To
have emphasized this fact, in opposition to those authors[692] who
declared that total sexual abstinence is absolutely harmless to mature
men, was the great service of Wilhelm Erb,[693] the celebrated, widely
experienced Heidelberg neurologist.
“It is a well-known fact,” he writes, “that healthy young men with a
powerful sexual impulse suffer not a little from abstinence, that from
time to time they are ‘as if possessed’ by the impulse, that erotic
ideas press in upon them from all sides, disturb their work and their
nocturnal repose, and imperiously demand relief. I always remember the
remark of a friend of my youth, a young artist, who, when speaking of
these things, was accustomed to say with intense meaning: ‘Wer nie die
kummervollen Nächte in seinem Bette weinend sass....’ And the same man
could not sufficiently extol the relaxing, disburdening, and
positively refreshing influence of an occasional gratification; and
the same thing has been said to me innumerable times by earnest and
thoroughly moderate men.”
Women also gave him similar assurances.[694] In numerous cases Erb
observed physical and mental harm to result from abstinence--sometimes
in healthy individuals, but more especially in the neuropathic.
Important also are the investigations of L. Löwenfeld[695] regarding the
influence of abstinence. He found that in men under the age of
twenty-four any troubles worth mentioning as a result of sexual
abstinence were comparatively rare, as compared with the case of men
between the ages of twenty-four and thirty-six years, the years of
complete manly power and sexual capacity; and he found that whereas in
healthy persons these disturbances were indeed of a trifling character
(general excitability, sexual hyperæsthesia, hypochondriacal ideas,
disinclination for work, slight attacks of giddiness), in neuropathic
persons, on the contrary, there would occur coercive ideas, melancholy,
feelings of anxiety, and even hallucinations. Females, according to
Löwenfeld, bear abstinence--even absolute abstinence--much better than
men, but in them also hysterical and neurasthenic conditions may develop
as a result of sexual abstinence.
All these harmful consequences of abstinence are, however, neither in
man nor in woman, of such a nature that, where an opportunity for sexual
intercourse at once hygienic and free from ethical objections is
wanting, the gratification of the sexual impulse need be advised by the
physician as a “therapeutic measure.” No; Erb himself insists that, on
the contrary, the dangers threatened by venereal diseases =altogether
outweigh= the comparatively rare and trifling injuries to health
resulting from abstinence. “Extra-conjugal” sexual intercourse involves
the dangers of syphilitic or gonorrhœal infection, or of illegitimate
pregnancy, which latter to-day must, unfortunately, be regarded as a
kind of severe disease. In contrast with these evils, any harmful
consequences of abstinence fade away to nothing.
Later in life, when the possibility of a permanent pure love exists, the
value of temporary abstinence is to be found especially in the spiritual
sphere. Precisely for the “erotocrat,” as Georg Hirth terms one endowed
with a powerful and healthy sexual impulse, is this temporary abstinence
of a certain importance, because the stored-up quantum of sexual tension
re-enforces the inward spiritual productivity. A number of men, at once
endowed with strong sexual needs and with a noble mental capacity, have
assured me that, in consequence of abstinence, they have temporarily
experienced a peculiar deepening and concentration of their mental
capacity, by means of which they were undeniably enabled to increase
their mental output. This point in the hygiene of intellectual activity,
which seems not to have been unknown to Goethe, has been as yet too
little studied.
In any case, it is definitely established that from the standpoint of
civilization the idea of sexual abstinence is justified, if for this
reason alone: because in it we find a great means for increasing and
strengthening of the =will=; but, in the second place, because in it we
have a valuable protection against the dangers of wild love; and,
finally, because sexual abstinence emphasizes the fact that life
contains other things worth striving for besides matters of sex, that
the content of life is far from being exhausted by the sexual, even
though the sexual impulse, in addition to the impulse of
self-preservation, will always remain the most powerful of all vital
activities.
[687] “Vera” is the heroine of a novel (“Eine für Viele: Aus dem
Tagebuche eines Mädchens”) which attracted considerable attention in
Germany. She demanded from men entering on marriage the same virgin
intactitude which men are accustomed to expect in their wives. English
readers will be reminded of Evadne, in Sarah Grand’s “The Heavenly
Twins.” Evadne, it will be remembered, left her husband at the church
door, owing to information she received regarding his preconjugal
career. In England we might speak of “Evadne” enthusiasts, instead of
“Vera” enthusiasts.--TRANSLATOR.
[688] P. Näcke also (“A Contribution to the Woman’s Question and to
the Question of Sexual Abstinence,” _op. cit._, p. 49) strongly
condemns this duplex morality, which he regards as “obviously unjust.”
_Cf._ also Max Thal, “Sexual Morality: an Attempt to solve the Problem
of Sexual, and more Particularly of the so-called Duplex Morality”
(Breslau, 1904).
[689] Friedrich Albert Lange, “History of Materialism,” vol. iii., p.
302, English edition.
[690] “My dear young men,” thus wrote Ernst Moritz Arndt, at the age
of eighty-nine, to the Burschenschaft (Students’ Association) of Jena,
“I can wish nothing better for you than that you should arrange your
course of life in Jena, and pass through it, as I heretofore passed
through it, making a courageous, vigorous, and earnest fight against
the lusty, overbearing impulses of youth, which in the best case are
so easily carried to excess.... In these your most valuable years,
between eighteen and twenty, you must, with redoubled manliness,
courage, and chastity, strive to deserve the praise given by Caius
Julius Cæsar to the young men of Germany.”
[691] _Cf._, in this connexion, the remarks of A. Herzen, “Science and
Morality,” pp. 11, 12 (Berlin, 1901). The same age for human maturity
was fixed on also by J. C. G. Ackermann (“The Diseases of the
Learned,” p. 268; Nürnberg, 1777).
[692] I need mention only Seved Ribbing, Acton, Rubner, Paget, Hegar,
Beale, Herzen, A. Eulenburg, V. Cnyrim, and Fürbringer.
[693] Wilhelm Erb, “Remarks on the Consequences of Sexual Abstinence,”
published in the _Journal for the Suppression of Venereal Diseases_,
1903, vol. ii., No. I., pp. 1-18.
[694] Theodor Mundt, in his “Madonna” (pp. 240, 241; Leipzig, 1835),
has very vividly described the beneficial and refreshing influence of
coitus upon women.
[695] L. Löwenfeld, “The Sexual Life and Nervous Troubles,” pp. 62-69,
fourth edition.
CHAPTER XXVI
SEXUAL EDUCATION
“_Better a year too early than an hour too late._”--OKER BLOM.
CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XXVI
Science and practice have hitherto, for the most part, ignored the
sexual -- The danger of blind chance in the sexual province --
Necessity for the enlightenment of the coming generation -- Sexual
education as a part of general pedagogy -- The right to the knowledge
of one’s own body -- Sexual enlightenment of young people -- The
dispute regarding the when and the how -- Distinction between the
youth of the country and the youth of the town -- Points of
association -- A passage from Gutzkow’s autobiography -- Disastrous
sources of early sexual enlightenment -- Character of the pedagogic
enlightenment -- Importance of this -- Suggestions regarding the
methods of sexual enlightenment (Sigmund, Lischnewska, F. W. Förster)
-- My own views -- Education of the character and of the will --
Principal rules of sexual pedagogy -- Education to manhood.
CHAPTER XXVI
The manner in which up to the present day humanity has, properly
speaking, completely ignored the fact of sexuality is at once remarkable
and difficult to understand. Until recently people went so far as to
regard scientific research into sexual matters by =adult persons= as
improper! The mystical idea of the sinfulness, of the radically evil
character, of the sexual, was a dogma which even natural science
appeared to admit. Our attitude towards the sexual was as if it were at
once Sphinx and Gorgon’s head, as if it were the veiled statue of Sais.
We stood helpless, in the face of this mysterious and malignant power,
against the =blind hazard of chance which plays= so momentous a part,
more especially in sexual affairs. As everywhere in life, so here also,
the dominion of chance could be overcome only by means of knowledge. The
solution of the sexual problem demands, in the first place, =openness=,
=clearness=, =learning= in the department of the sexual, knowledge of
cause and effect, and the =transmission= of this knowledge to the =next
generation=, so that this latter may without harm become wise. =Sexual
education= is an important chapter in general pedagogy.[696]
Regarding animals, plants, and stones the youthful human being of to-day
acquires the most exact information, but we have hitherto =refused= him
the right to understand his own body, and to acquire a knowledge of
certain important vital functions of that body. There can be no doubt
about the fact that the modern human being, who has learned to so large
an extent to regard himself as a =social= being, has a sacred natural
right to this knowledge.
Celebrated pedagogues of a hundred years ago, such as Rousseau,
Salzmann, Basedow, Jean Paul, etc., expressed themselves in favour of
the early sexual enlightenment of youth, and gave the most valuable
advice regarding the methods to be employed;[697] but their views
remained for the most part devoid of practical effect, and it is only in
recent years, in connexion with the question of the protection of
motherhood, with the campaign against prostitution, and with the attempt
to suppress venereal diseases, that interest in this matter has been
reawakened; and there now exists in this department an extensive
literature, belonging chiefly to the last few years, proceeding from the
pens of physicians, pedagogues, hygienists, and advocates of woman’s
rights.[698] It is, in truth, the burning question of our time, the
solution of which is here attempted. Correct sexual education forms the
foundation for the ennoblement and resanation of our entire sexual life.
Only =knowledge= and =will= can here effect a cure. Thus, sexual
pedagogy naturally falls into two parts--=sexual enlightenment= and the
=education of the will=.
The need for sexual enlightenment is now recognized by all far-seeing
social hygienists and pedagogues. The only difference of opinion
concerns the =when= and the =how=. Some plead for enlightenment as early
as possible, in the first years of school life; others wish to defer
enlightenment until puberty, or even later. I am of opinion that the
circumstances in this respect are entirely different, according as we
have to do with small towns and the open country, where more careful
watching of children is possible, and where the dangers of premature
sexual development and of seduction are not so great, or as we have to
do with large towns, where, in my view, the children =cannot be
enlightened too early=, since town life brings the children of all
classes, and social misery brings more especially the children of the
lowest classes of the population, so early into contact with sexual
matters that a purposive enlightenment becomes absolutely indispensable.
Children living in large towns should, from ten years onwards, be
gradually and carefully made acquainted with the principal facts of the
sexual life. We find here =more points of association= than is usually
imagined. Gutzkow, in his admirable autobiography, “From the Days of My
Boyhood” (Frankfort-a.-M., 1852, pp. 263, 264), has beautifully
described this:
“The first appearances of love in the heart of the child occur as
secretly as the fall of the dew upon flowers. Playing and jesting,
innocence gropes its way through the darkness. Words, perceptions,
ideas, which to the adult appear to be full of dangerous barbs, the
child grasps with careless security, and takes the duplex sexual life
of humanity to be a primeval fact which came into the world with man
as a matter of course, and one which requires no explanation. Born
from the mother’s womb, to the child the mother is the secure bridge
by which it is conducted past all the riddles of womanhood. The child
imitates the love of the father for the mother, plays the game of the
family, plays father and mother, plays at being himself, a child. From
the rustling autumn leaves, from abandoned bundles of straw, huts and
nests are built, and for half an hour at a time a completely blameless
boy can lie down besides his girl playmate, quietly, and as if
magnetized by the intimation of love. Danger is in truth not far
distant from such a practice of childish naïveté; it lurks in the
background, and seeks only an opportunity to lead astray. But a child
never understands the significance of the severe punishment which it
so often receives for its imitative imaginary family life. The amatory
life of the adult first breaks upon the imagination of the child and
upon his quiet play like the opening of a door into a house. People
take so little care of what they do before the innocent; they exhibit
passionate affection for one another; they caress when the children
are by. The child sees, ponders, and listens. Certain hieroglyphics
alarm it; tales are laughed at--tales which suddenly throw a strange
and wonderful light upon quite familiar human beings. The boy will
notice that his elder sister has a joy or a sorrow, the nature of
which he cannot completely grasp. He sees an elder brother filled with
the joy of life, with the lust of youth, with the love of adventure,
and no attempt is made to conceal these passions from the child....
Such and similar experiences succeed one another without cessation,
and tales which the child hears are listened to with eagerness. The
red threads of love and of the charm of beautiful women are not to be
grasped by the hand of a child, and yet they have upon the child a
certain secret influence.”
The child hears and sees much that is erotic, even immoral, but does not
stop to think about it, does not understand it. After a while its
ignorance becomes a puzzle; soon lascivious thoughts arise. Maria
Lischnewska describes very vividly this psychological process in the
soul of the child, in part according to her observations as a teacher.
She justly criticizes the “stork stories,” to which the child listens
without believing them, in order subsequently to be enlightened in an
extremely disagreeable manner by older ill-conditioned comrades.[699]
These children, ten or twelve years of age, often learn about sexual
matters from the lowest side, =without= obtaining a =true knowledge=.
They frequently acquire the most astounding verbal treasury of lewd
expressions, and even sing obscene songs, of which Maria Lischnewska
gives a remarkable example on the part of a girl twelve years of age.
No, there can be no question that the child at school, from the tenth
year onwards, should, without fear of disastrous consequences, be
enlightened regarding sexual matters by parents and teachers, in order
to avoid the dangers which we have just described. But this instruction
must be divested of any individual relationship, of any personal
character, and must be communicated in thoroughly general terms, as
=natural scientific knowledge=, as a medical doctrine, belonging to the
province of philosophical and pathological science. In this way will be
avoided any undesirable accessory effect related to subjective
perceptions. When Matthisson esteems youth as happy on this account,
because the =book of possibilities= is not yet open to its gaze, this
certainly does =not= hold as regards sexual enlightenment. Here, to a
certain degree, this book of possibilities must be disclosed, if we do
not wish all the poetry and all the ideal view of life to be utterly
destroyed by contact with rude reality. Precisely in this case do we
understand the wonderful remark of Goethe, that we receive the veil of
poetry from the hand of =truth=. This first renders possible a truly
earnest and profound conception of sexual relationships; this creates a
consciousness of responsibility which cannot be awakened sufficiently
early. The true danger is, as Freud[700] also points out, the
intermixture of “lasciviousness and prudery” with which humanity is
accustomed to regard the sexual problem, just because people have not
learned sufficiently to understand the connexion between cause and
effect in this department of human activity.
Various methods have been recommended for sexual enlightenment. I shall
discuss more particularly the suggestions of the Austrian _Realschul_
professor, Sigmund, of the _Volkschul_ teacher, Maria Lischnewska, and
of the University professor, F. W. Förster.
Sigmund (quoted by Ullmann, _op. cit._, p. 7) considers that in the
_Volkschüler_ (primary schools), in the case of children up to the age
of eleven years, there should be no systematic explanation of sexual
matters, and that this should be begun first in the Gymnasium (higher
school). His scheme of instruction is as follows:
1. The enlightenment of the pupils at the Gymnasium is to be effected
in five stages (Classes I., II., V., VI., VII.)
2. The enlightenment in the lower classes is limited to the processes
of sexual reproduction. In the first class, the origin and birth of
the mammalian young and the origin of insects’ eggs are explained. In
the second class, the origin and birth of reptiles’ and birds’ eggs,
the fertilization of the eggs of fishes and batrachians, the ova of
the sea-urchin, and those of the jellyfish, are described. =The act of
sexual intercourse will not be alluded to in the first two
classes--that is, it will not be mentioned to children before the age
of thirteen years.=
3. The completion of the idea of “sexual life” is effected by means of
botanical and zoological instruction in the upper school in a
synthetic manner, wherein no important detail is omitted, but the
copulatory act is kept in the background.
4. All sexual matters expressly concerning human beings, and all the
pathological relations of the sexual life, should be left to the
hygienic instruction, which is given during one hour weekly to the
seventh class as a part of general instruction in somatology.
5. The natural history taught to the sixth class will embrace zoology
only; the natural system will be considered in an ascending series
(excluding human somatology, which in a logical manner is deferred
until the study of zoology is completed, and it will thus be dealt
with in the seventh class, as a preparation to the instruction in
hygiene).
6. In conferences with parents, the parents can be kept informed
regarding the nature of the instruction which is being given to their
children, and can at the same time be led to work in unison with the
school in this matter.
Maria Lischnewska advises beginning already in the third class of
primary schools--that is, when the child is only eight years old--to
give instruction in the elements of natural science, more especially
utilizing, as the first means of sexual enlightenment, the examples of
vegetable fertilization, as well as the reproduction of fishes and
birds. Even to the question “Whence do little children come?” an answer
should be given, more or less in the following terms:
“The child lies in the body of the mother: when she breathes, then the
child breathes; when she eats and drinks, the child also obtains his
food. It lies there warm and safe. Gradually it becomes larger and
begins to move. It has to lie somewhat curled up, because there is so
little room for it. But the mother feels that it is alive; she is full
of joy, and makes ready the child’s clothing and its bed. Finally it
is fully grown. The mother’s body opens, and the child comes to the
light. Then the mother takes it into her arms with joy and nourishes
it with her milk.” Then the teacher would pause, and continue after a
while: “Now, would you like to see the child?” Then there would
naturally be a many-voiced “Yes, yes!” and the teacher would show to
the class a picture such as our anatomical atlases exhibit now in
beautiful form. The abdominal walls of the mother are turned back, and
the child is seen slumbering. Then the teacher would say: “Thus you
also slept within the body of your mother. You belong to her as to no
other human being in the whole world. For this reason you should
always love and honour her.”
Thus is the child’s urgent demand for knowledge satisfied. He is freed
from all prying into nooks and corners. He experiences a feeling of
honourable respect towards the primary source of life.
In the fourth school year further examples of the reproduction of
plants, fishes, and birds should be given; in the fifth and sixth years
the first demonstration of the process of sexual union among the
mammals, with some account of embryology; and the process of birth
should also be described. Then there should follow (at about the age of
thirteen or fourteen) enlightenment regarding the development of the
sexual life and regarding venereal diseases--information, that is to
say, concerning hygiene and concerning the protection of one’s own body.
Physicians such as Oker Blom and Dr. Agnes Hacker definitely demand that
elucidation regarding this latter point should =not= be deferred until
the time of puberty.
F. W. Förster proposes to postpone the whole process of enlightenment
=until the twelfth or thirteenth year=; and if at an earlier age a child
expresses any natural doubt regarding the stork fables, the following
answer should be given (_op. cit._, p. 606):
“Where small children come from is a matter which you cannot yet
understand. We grown-up persons even understand very little about it.
I promise you that I will explain to you what we know of the matter on
your twelfth birthday, but only if you promise me something in return.
Do you know that there are boys and girls so bumptious that they
behave as if they already knew all about it, because they have
somewhere picked up a word or two without really understanding it?
Promise me that you will never listen when such as these begin to talk
about the matter; for you may be certain that the true secrets are
matters of which they are ignorant, for this reason--they would not
speak about it. He who really knows holds it as a sacred matter; he is
silent about it, and does not call it out at the street comers.”
Förster strongly advises =against= associating sexual enlightenment with
a knowledge of the reproductive process in plants and animals, for this
reason: that if this is done “the human being is brought too near to the
vegetable and animal life,” and the “sacred thought” of the elevation of
humanity above the animal is obscured. He then gives very beautiful
examples and modes of instruction for such sexual enlightenment of
children twelve years of age.
I myself am of opinion that, without in any way making light of the
difference between man and animal, the earlier elucidation at about the
age of ten years should be associated with the general instruction in
natural history regarding the reproductive process of animals and
plants; and then very gradually, up to the age of fourteen, all
important points in this department can be explained, including,
finally, an account of the venereal diseases. It is obvious that after
this time, more especially in the dangerous years of puberty, systematic
enlightenment must be continued. That which is good and useful in this
department of knowledge cannot be too often repeated.
But all enlightenment will be useless unless hand in hand with it there
proceeds =a process of education of the character and the will=. Our
school youth thinks and dreams too much, and does too little. Up to the
present time it has been believed that it is sufficient to teach
children, and to continue to teach them, to care for their health, to
see that they have good food and sound sleep, without also taking into
consideration the necessity for awakening the =individuality= and the
=energy= slumbering in each one of them. The “gymnasium” must concern
itself with the =gymnastics=, not only of the body, but also of the
mind, and must thus restore that harmony between body and mind which
appears to have been quite lost at the present day. Bodily education by
games and sports is only one of the means for this purpose. The
principal aim is to strengthen the character, to induce the habit of
self-command and self-denial by a profound and intimate grasp of sexual
problems. Nowhere does fantastic dreaming take revenge more thoroughly
than in sexual relationships, for which reason also the so-called “only
children” are especially endangered;[701] nowhere do clear knowledge,
objective acquirements, and a firm will celebrate finer triumphs over
blind impulses than they do here. The principal rule of sexual pedagogy
runs as follows: Avoid the =first opportunity= and the =first contact=;
keep the child and the young man and the young woman at a distance from
all the stimulating pleasures and enjoyments of the adult. The
production of manliness, as it has recently been described by
Mosso,[702] Güssfeldt,[703] Georg Sticker,[704] and Ludwig Gurlitt,[705]
has the greatest importance, more especially as regards the sexual life.
This has been insisted on, above all, by Hans Wegener[706] and F. W.
Förster (_op. cit._). Moral statistics have incontrovertibly proved that
progress in civilization and morals does not depend upon punishment or
upon prophylactic measures against errors and excesses of passion, but
only upon the =subjective= improvement and strengthening of the single
individual. Guizot declared: “C’est de l’état _intérieur_ de l’homme que
dépend l’état visible de la société.” Drobisch,[707] in his “Moral
Statistics,” has established this fact yet more firmly. Energy is the
magic word for all vital activities of the present day, both spiritual
and physical. Discipline, work, abstinence, bodily hygiene, are the
means for educating the character, and these also play the principal
part in sexual pedagogy.[708]
[696] For this reason, Fr. W. Förster, in his admirable “Jugendlehre”
(Berlin, 1906), devotes a special section to the subject of “sexual
pedagogy” (pp. 602-652).
[697] Maria Lischnewska, in her admirable work upon “The Sexual
Instruction of Children,” published in _Mutterschutz_, 1905, vol. i.,
pp. 137-150, quotes the principal passages relating to this subject
from the works of the writers just mentioned.
[698] In addition to the two admirable works already mentioned, by F.
W. Förster and M. Lischnewska, I may allude also to the following:
Richard Flachs, “Sexual Enlightenment as a Part of the Education of
our Young People,” with a full bibliography (Dresden and Leipzig,
1906); Carl Kopp, “Sexual Affairs in the Education of Youth” (Leipzig,
1904); Max Marcuse, “Sexual Enlightenment in Youth” (Leipzig, 1905);
“Sexual Hygiene and Sexual Enlightenment in the School” (a Discussion
at the First International Congress for School Hygiene, held at
Nürnberg, 1904), published in the “Reports of the German Society for
the Suppression of Venereal Diseases,” 1904, vol. ii., pp. 63-71; Karl
Ullmann, “The Sexual Enlightenment of School-Children,” published in
the _Monatsschrift für Gesundheitspflege_, 1906, No. 1; M. Flesch,
“Enlightenment in the School,” published in _Blätter für
Volksgesundheitspflege_, vol. iv., p. 164; Emma Eckstein, “The Sexual
Question in the Education of the Child” (Leipzig, 1904); Adelheid von
Bennigsen, “Sexual Pedagogy in the House and the School” (Berlin,
1903); Alfred Fournier, “Pour nos Fils quand ils auront Dix-huit Ans”
(Paris, 1905); M. Oker Blom, “Beim Onkel Doktor auf dem Lande”: a Book
for Parents, second edition (Vienna, 1906); Friedrich Siebert, “A Book
for Parents” (Munich, 1905); same author, “What shall I say to my
Child?” (Munich, 1904); Mary Wood-Allen, “When the Boy becomes Man”
(Zurich, 1904); same author, “Tell me the Truth, dear Mother”; W.
Busch, “No more Stork Stories: a Practical Introduction, showing how
Children should be taught the Truth, and how the Family should be
Safeguarded from Moral Contamination” (Leipzig, 1904); E. von den
Steinen, “The Human Sexual Life: a Lecture to those leaving School”
(Düsseldorf, 1906); _cf._ also, by the same author, “An Address to
those leaving School concerning Sexual Love,” published in the
_Journal for the Suppression of Venereal Diseases_, 1900, vol. v., pp.
259, 260; F. Siebert, “Our Sons: their Enlightenment regarding the
Dangers of the Sexual Life” (Straubing, 1907); F. Siebert, “The Sexual
Problem in Childhood,” published in “The Book of the Child,” edited by
Adele Schreiber (Leipzig and Berlin, 1907), vol. i., pp. 106-117; L.
Bergfeld, “Take the Bandage from your Eyes, dear Sister: an Open
Letter to Adolescent Girls” (Munich, 1907).
[699] In some cases the child will criticize the grown-up’s fables
with a sharp-sighted logic, as the following story proves: Pepito, a
child seven years of age, asks his mother, “Tell me, mamma, how do
children come?” “People buy them.” “I don’t believe that people buy
them!” “Why not?” “Because poor people have the most!”
[700] S. Freud, “Collection of Minor Writings upon the Doctrine of
Neurosis,” p. 216 (Leipzig and Vienna, 1906).
[701] _Cf._ Eugen Neter, “The Only Child and its Education” (Munich,
1906).
[702] Angelo Mosso, “Physical Culture in Youth” (Hamburg and Leipzig,
1894).
[703] Paul Güssfeldt, “The Education of German Youth” (Berlin, 1890).
[704] Georg Sticker, “Health and Education,” second edition (Giessen,
1903).
[705] Ludwig Gurlitt, “Education in Manliness” (Berlin, 1907).
[706] Hans Wegener, “We Young Men: the Sexual Problem of the Cultured
Young Man before Marriage: Purity, Strength, and the Love of Woman”
(Düsseldorf and Leipzig, 1906).
[707] M. W. Drobisch, “Moral Statistics and the Freedom of the Human
Will,” pp. 96-101 (Leipzig, 1867). Valuable works regarding the
education of the character and the social education of the child are
found in the first volume (second edition) of the monumental work
edited by Adele Schreiber, “The Book of the Child” (Leipzig and
Berlin, 1907), from the pens of Laura Frost (pp. 42-63), F. A. Schmidt
(pp. 168-179), Lüngen (pp. 192-201), G. Kerschensteiner (pp. 202-207),
R. Penzig (pp. 215-222), and Adele Schreiber (pp. 223-231). Important
in relation to sexual enlightenment is also the question (one actively
discussed at the present moment) of the =education of the sexes in
common=--the so-called =co-education=. It has been proved by
experience that co-education has a good effect in sexual relationships
(_cf._ Gertrud Bäumer, “Co-education,” _op. cit._, vol. ii., pp.
44-48).
[708] The question of sexual education and enlightenment occupies at
the moment a place in the foreground of public interest, and rightly
so; for upon this depends principally the further reform and the
resanation of all the sexual relationships of civilized peoples. For
this reason the Discussions, now in the press, of the Third Congress
of the Society for the Suppression of Venereal Diseases
(“Sexualpädagogik”), Leipzig, 1907, were occupied exclusively with
this subject, which was considered in elaborate debates from four
points of view:
1. Sexual instruction in the house and the school.
2. Sexual enlightenment of young persons at puberty.
3. Sexual instruction of teachers and parents.
4. Sexual dietetics and education.
The present position of sexual pedagogy in all these respects is
exactly defined in this comprehensive volume; and, in addition, at the
conclusion of the book we find a compend of the recent literature of
the subject. Much of value regarding sexual regimen is to be found in
the work of H. Mann, “Art and the Sexual Conduct of Life”
(Oranienburg, 1907), and in that of A. Eulenburg, “Sexual Regimen,”
published in _Mutterschutz_, July and August, 1907. As an opponent of
early sexual enlightenment, we must mention G. Leubuscher (“School
Medicine and School Hygiene,” pp. 65-70; Leipzig, 1907). He considers
that such enlightenment should only be given at the time of leaving
school. His reasons, however, are not convincing, and, above all, do
not apply to large towns.
CHAPTER XXVII
NEO-MALTHUSIANISM, THE PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION, ARTIFICIAL STERILITY
AND ARTIFICIAL ABORTION
“_Formerly the use of such devices was regarded as immoral and
punishable, and was actually punished; it was condemned as an
interference with the Divine plan. But such views and measures are
extreme. Here, as everywhere, human foresight and methodical
interference are permissible._”--GUSTAV SCHMOLLER.
CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XXVII
Importance of the problem of population -- Malthus and hie doctrine --
Its fallacies -- Temporary validity -- “Moral restraint” --
Neo-malthusianism -- The foundation of the Malthusian League -- Great
antiquity of malthusian practices -- Disharmony of the family instinct
-- The mica operation of the Australian indigens -- Artificial
abortion among primitive races -- Methods of preventing pregnancy in
ancient times -- In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries --
Relative justification of the use of preventive measures -- Views of
recent physicians on this subject -- Summary of the principal methods
of preventing conception -- Limitation of coitus to particular times
-- Advice of Soranos and Capellmann -- Feskstitow’s “conception-curve”
-- Influence of particular seasons of the year -- Prolongation of the
period of lactation -- Buttenstedt’s “Happiness in Marriage” and
Funcke’s “New Revelation” -- Criticism of these fantasies --
Divergences from the normal method of coitus -- Passive demeanour of
the woman -- _Coitus interruptus_ -- Exaggerated views of its
injurious influence -- _Coitus interruptus_ and anxiety-neurosis --
Trifling effect in healthy individuals -- Repeated interruptions of
coitus -- Mechanical means of preventing conception -- Compression --
Muscular action -- Mensinga’s “occlusive pessary” -- Holweg’s
“obturator” -- The condom -- Chemico-physical preventive measures --
Douches -- The “Lady’s Friend” -- Antiseptic powders and security
sponges -- Combination of chemical and mechanical means -- The “Venus
apparatus” -- The duplex occlusive pessary -- Inflammatory affections
after the use of chemical preventive measures -- Herpes progenitalis
-- Artificial sterility -- Operative methods of inducing it --
Vaporization and castration -- The “ovariées” -- Wide diffusion of
artificial abortion -- Critical remarks regarding the punishment of
abortion in Germany -- The right of the unborn child -- Rape and
abortion -- The methods of expelling the ovum -- Internal means --
Mechanical means -- Danger and consequences of both -- Social means
for limiting abortion.
CHAPTER XXVII
Whereas in former times opinions on social questions were determined
principally by =economic= considerations, to-day we are to a great
extent influenced also by the aims and endeavours of individual and
social =hygiene=; for this reason the so-called =problem of population=
has come to occupy the consciousness of civilized mankind to a far
greater extent than before it has passed from the stage of theory into
that of practice. Serious critical political economists, such as, for
example, B. G. Schmoller,[709] have recognized this. The increasing
understanding of the conditions of social life, knowledge of the
connexion between economic conditions and the number and quality of the
population, must of itself lead to the discussion of the question
whether the regulation of the number of children born is not one of the
principal duties of modern civilization. The Englishman Robert Malthus
was the first who, stimulated by an idea of Benjamin Franklin, in the
year 1798, in his “Essay on the Principles of Population,” discussed
this serious, and even alarming, question of the natural =consequences=
of unrestricted sexual intercourse, and answered it in an extremely
pessimistic sense. For, according to him, whereas human beings tend to
increase in number according to a geometrical progression--that is, in
the ratio 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on--the means of subsistence increase
only in arithmetical progression--that is, in the ratio of 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, and so on. Hence it follows that the numbers of the population can be
kept within bounds, so as to remain proportional to the nutritive
possibilities, only by means of decimating influences, such as vice,
poverty, disease, the entire “struggle for existence,” by preventive
measures, and by the so-called “moral restraint” in and before marriage.
Although this celebrated theory, which filled with alarm, not only all
those already living in Europe, but also all those who wished to
=produce= new life, has to-day been generally recognized as false,[710]
since it failed to take into account technical advances in the
preparation of the soil[711] and other ways in which it will become
possible to increase the means of subsistence; and he equally ignored
the possibility of a better division of property. None the less does his
theory remain apposite in respect of many of the social relationships of
more recent times; the doctrine has, in fact, temporary validity for
certain periods of civilization, such as our own. Malthus recommended,
as the principal means of preventing over-population, =abstinence= from
sexual intercourse (moral restraint) before marriage, and the
=postponement= of marriage; thus he was an apostle of the “relative
asceticism” recommended in the twenty-fifth chapter of the present work.
In England this early view found utterance among the political
economists and sociologists, such as Chalmers, Ricardo, John Stuart
Mill, Say, Thornton, etc. It was also actively discussed in wide circles
of the population, so that as early as the year 1825 the “disciples of
Malthus” were a typical phenomenon of English life.
A further development of malthusianism in the practical direction was
represented by the so-called “neo-malthusianism”--that is, an actual
diffusion of instruction in the means for the prevention of pregnancy
and for the limitation of the number of children. Such a procedure was
first publicly recommended by Francis Place, in the year 1822; but no
widespread teaching of practical malthusianism occurred till a
considerably later date, notably after the foundation of the Malthusian
League, on July 17, 1877. The principal advocates of neo-malthusianism
in England were John Stuart Mill, Charles Drysdale, Charles Bradlaugh,
and Mrs. Besant.
Malthusian practice is, however, much older than the theory.
Metchnikoff[712] declares the endeavour to diminish the number of
children to be a very widely diffused “disharmony of the family
instinct,” which in itself is much more recent, and is much less widely
diffused in the animal kingdom than the sexual instinct. Animals, at any
rate, know nothing of the prevention of conception; that is a
“privilege” of the human species. By primitive races such preventive
measures are very widely employed. Among these measures one of the best
known is the “mica” operation of the Australian natives--the slitting up
of the urethra of the male along the lower surface of the penis, so that
the semen flows out just in front of the scrotum, and is ejaculated
outside the vagina.[713] Regarding the wide diffusion of artificial
abortion among savage races, Ploss-Bartels gives detailed reports. The
pursuit of material enjoyments, characteristic of civilized peoples, is
not here (as recent authors have erroneously assumed) the determining
influence; we have, in fact, to do with a widely diffused disharmony of
the family instinct,[714] for which in certain =definite= conditions
some justification must be admitted. The period for the unconditional
rejection of malthusianism by pietists and absolute moralists has passed
away definitely. Not only physicians, but also professional political
economists, recognize the relative justification and admissibility of
the use of preventive measures in certain circumstances for the
limitation of the procreation of children. It has rightly been pointed
out[715] that in =every= marriage a time must eventually arrive when
preventive measures in sexual intercourse are employed, and necessarily
must be employed, because, in respect of the state of health of the
wife, and also in view of economic conditions, their use is urgently
demanded. These relationships have been discussed with great insight by
A. Hegar,[716] and he has proved the justification of practical
neo-malthusianism in every ordinary marriage, as well as for the
population at large. By means of a “regulation of reproduction,” an
immoderate increase of the population is prevented; by diminishing the
quantity we improve the quality of the offspring. Late marriages, long
pauses between the separate deliveries, and the greatest possible sexual
abstinence, subserve this purpose.
Like Hegar, the Munich hygienist Max Gruber[717] also recognizes the
necessity for setting bounds to the number of children to be brought
into the world, since the capacity of the human species to increase is
far greater than its power to increase the means of subsistence. He
describes very vividly the physical and moral misery of the parents and
the children when the latter are too numerous; he also shows that from
the birth of the fourth child onwards the inborn force and health of the
children diminish more and more. Naturally, also, diseases affecting the
parents, and the pressing danger of the inheritance of these diseases,
renders necessary the use of sexual preventive measures, or else of
moral restraint. Gruber enunciates the thoroughly neo-malthusian
proposition:
“The procreation of children must be kept within bounds, if mankind
wishes to free itself from the cruel condition by which, in irrational
nature, the balance is maintained--death in the mass side by side with
procreation in the mass!”
L. Löwenfeld[718] also sees in the recommendation of such measures for
the prevention of pregnancy “nothing either improper or immoral”; he
sees in these measures “means for diminishing the poverty of the lower
classes, and for abolishing, to a great extent, the high infantile
mortality of these classes, although neo-malthusianism is in no way a
panacea for all the social evils of our time”; and he writes very
strongly against the condemnation of preventive measures by a “perverse
medical zealotry”; in fact, he assigns to preventive measures an immense
hygienic importance. Many other physicians also, such as Mensinga[719]
(the discoverer of the occlusive pessary, the first medical man in
Germany to assert with energy the justification of employing means for
the prevention of pregnancy, and the first to establish with precision
the indications for the use of these measures, especially in relation to
the disadvantageous consequences to women’s health of bearing a large
number of children), Fürbringer,[720] Spener,[721] and others, have
drawn attention to the eminent hygienic and social importance of
measures for the prevention of pregnancy; whereas, on the other hand, in
France, in view of the alarming decline in the population of that
country, scientific medicine has adopted a more hostile attitude; no
longer, however, so bitterly hostile as in the work (now somewhat out of
date, but nevertheless containing interesting details) of Bergeret.[722]
A layman also, Hans Ferdy (A. Meyerhof),[723] has published a number of
interesting works on practical neo-malthusianism.
We shall now proceed to give a brief account of the means commonly
employed for the prevention of pregnancy.
l. =The Restriction of Intercourse to Particular Periods.=--It is clear
that by means of relative asceticism, and by restriction of the number
of individual acts of sexual intercourse, the possibilities of
fertilization can be limited to a considerable extent. Thus, Capellmann,
in a work published in 1883, entitled “Facultative Sterility, without
Offence to Moral Laws,” recommended abstinence from intercourse for
fourteen days =after= the cessation of menstruation and for three or
four days =before= the commencement of the flow, in the belief that
fertilization occurs principally during the days immediately before and
after menstruation. Capellmann thus revived the prescription of Soranos,
a gynecologist of the days of antiquity. According to the researches of
the physiologist Victor Hensen, it is true that the greatest number of
fertilizations take place during the =first= few days after the
menstrual period; but conception =may= also occur on any other day of
the menstrual cycle, although the probability of conception at other
periods than those named is a diminishing one. Feskstitow has based upon
statistical data an interesting “conception curve,” according to which
the frequency of fertilization on the last day of menstruation, on the
first, ninth, eleventh, and twenty-third days after the end of the flow,
varies respectively according to the ratios 48, 62, 13, 9, 1; between
these points the course of the curve is almost straight. On the
twenty-third day after menstruation the probability of conception is
thus one-sixty-second of the maximum. Thus, though the probability of
fertilization following intercourse on the twenty-third day after the
cessation of the flow is much =less= than the probability of
fertilization as a result of intercourse shortly after menstruation,
still, the possibility of conception in the former case cannot be
absolutely excluded.
It has also been recommended that in certain =seasons of the year=, to
which a peculiar influence upon fertility has been ascribed, more
especially the months of May and June, abstinence from intercourse
should be observed. But this is naturally =quite untrustworthy=, since
the same mother can conceive in all months of the year, as is
sufficiently proved by the ordinary variations in the birthdays of
children.
Somewhat more trustworthy, but still =not= absolutely to be depended
upon, is the practice, after the birth of a child, of =artificially
prolonging the period of lactation=, since it is well known that during
lactation the menstrual periods often fail to occur, and that
fertilization is exceptional. Upon the recognition of this causal
sequence, notwithstanding the fact that it does not possess any absolute
validity, there has recently been founded a very remarkable method of
practical malthusianism, which the two discoverers, Karl
Buttenstedt[724] and Richard E. Funcke,[725] have announced to their
astonished contemporaries as a “new revelation,” and as the realization
of “happiness in marriage.” These remarkable apostles have combined
another observation with the one mentioned above of the relative
infertility of women during lactation, the new observation being that
sometimes by the mammary glands of women who are not pregnant, and even
by those of virgins, milk is secreted, especially during menstruation.
This fact was known to earlier gynecologists, as, for example, to
Dietrich Wilhelm Busch.[726]
Buttenstedt, to whom the “priority” of the new doctrine of happiness
unquestionably belongs, an advocate of the extremely optimistic theory
of the possibility of an everlasting life for humanity and of the
cessation of death (!), also conceived the idea of evoking lactation
artificially in =all= women by means of the sucking of their breasts by
men! In this way he believed that artificial sterility and amenorrhœa
might be produced.
Naturally, also, woman’s milk is regarded as an elixir of life for old
men, a true panacea for the elongation of life _ad infinitum_; and this
“happy marriage” in itself is to be a means by which all the possible
ills of degenerate humanity are to be cured. In this pæan he is joined
by Funcke, who regards woman’s milk as “the best, most natural, and most
valuable drug,” and on p. 70 of his book preaches to girls and women the
“new categorical imperative” (_sic_).
“Thou shalt not leave thy vital force unutilized; thou shalt not
menstruate unless thou hast the firm will and desire to become
pregnant; thou shalt allow thy vital force in the form of milk to flow
from thy breasts for the benefit and enjoyment of other human beings.”
Buttenstedt, who possesses some historical knowledge, wishes also to
make the breasts of men lactiferous (p. 24), so that the sexes can
exchange their “blood through the breasts,” thus become more and more
alike one another, and ultimately become urnings!
This beautiful lactation idyll or, more correctly, mammalian idyll, will
not bear the test of scientific criticism. In the first place, the
effect of the proposed manipulations is exceedingly =dubious=, and would
only produce the desired result in exceptional cases; in the second
place, such an artificial lactation, continued for a long period, would
be extremely =harmful=, just as an excessive protraction of lactation
after normal delivery is known to be deleterious; and in the third
place, last, not least, the reputed anticonceptional effect would, in
the majority of cases, =fail to occur=. At any rate, there appears to be
no reason why pregnancy should not ensue, since the condition of the
genital organs would apparently permit this, and would certainly differ
from that which obtains in women who give suck in a normal manner after
giving birth to a child.
2. =Divergences from the Normal Mode of Coitus.=--Attempts have been
made to prevent fertilization by means of various modifications of the
sexual act. Thus, starting from the old belief that active participation
in the sexual act on the part of the woman, as well as libido and the
sexual orgasm on her part, are indispensable prerequisites of the
occurrence of impregnation, a more passive demeanour of the woman has
been recommended--a distraction of the mind and the senses from the
sexual act, after the manner of the _cong-fou_ of the Chinese, who
frequently employ this trick during intercourse. This opinion is
deceptive, for, in the absence of all activity and orgasm on the part of
the woman, in the most diverse conditions possible, conception may
ensue.[727] Thus, in this case also we have to do with a quite
untrustworthy method.
=Trustworthy=, on the other hand, and therefore extremely widely
diffused, is the so-called =coitus interruptus=--interrupted
intercourse, in which the penis is withdrawn from the vagina shortly
before the ejaculation of the semen (so-called “withdrawal,”
“Zuruckziehen,” “Sichinachtnehmen,” “fraudieren,” “congressus
reservatus, onanismus conjugalis”). The views regarding the harmfulness
of this method, by which pregnancy can certainly be prevented, have in
recent years undergone considerable change, in so far as the
disadvantages are to-day considered less serious than they formerly
were. More especially, Dr. Alfred Damm, in his work “Neura,”
overestimated the harmful effects of _coitus interruptus_, inasmuch as
he attributed to it the entire degeneration of a race. These extreme
views, supported by no facts whatever, of the degeneration fanatic Damm
are briefly described in a little book by E. Peters, “The Sexual Life
and Nervous Energy” (Cologne, 1906).[728]
It cannot be denied--and has, in fact, been maintained by other
physicians such as Gaillard Thomas, Goodell, Valenta, Bergeret,
Mantegazza, Payer, Mensinga, Beard, Hirt, Eulenburg, Freud, von Tschich,
Gattel, and others--that the “ineffective” excitement occurring during
_coitus interruptus_, the absence of the natural discharge of sexual
tension, the voluntary postponement of ejaculation, the strain put upon
the will during the sexual act, may have a transient harmful influence
upon the nervous system; but, according to recent researches, it is only
in those who are =already= neuropathic that permanent troubles result,
in the form of “=anxiety-neurosis=” (which, as Freud[729] has proved, is
actually dependent upon _coitus interruptus_), or in the form of other
neurasthenic and hysterical troubles, and also sometimes of local
irritative conditions. The harmful influence of frustrated sexual
excitement is shown also by the frequency of nervous troubles during the
period of engagement, which, as a witty colleague of mine remarked, must
be regarded as a single, long-drawn-out _coitus interruptus_. But it has
not been proved that in healthy individuals _coitus interruptus_, even
when the practice is continued for a long time, gives rise to serious
and permanent injuries to health. According to the experience of
Fürbringer, Oppenheim, von Krafft-Ebing, Rohleder, Spener, and, above
all, of L. Löwenfeld, who has instituted exceptionally exact researches
into the matter, such consequences are quite exceptional. This is also
true of the disorders which _coitus interruptus_ is reputed to cause in
women.
Another method for the prevention of pregnancy, which, according to
Barrucco, is practised especially in Italy, is the prolongation of
sexual enjoyment by means of =repeated= interruptions of the act,
followed by =renewed= erections. This, naturally, is extremely harmful.
Fürbringer, however, reports the case of certain frigid men who were
able to extend the act of conjugal intercourse for long periods, without
any disastrous effect upon their health. One of these men was able to
find time during the act for smoking and reading!
3. =Mechanical Means for the Prevention of Conception.=--According to
Kisch, in Transylvania and in France a method is in use according to
which, during the sexual act, the woman, at the commencement of
ejaculation in the male, presses her finger forcibly upon the root of
his penis just in front of the prostate gland. In this way the passage
through the urethra is temporarily occluded, and ejaculation of the
semen is prevented: it regurgitates into the bladder, and is
subsequently evacuated with the urine. Unquestionably this manipulation
would be likely to prove exceedingly injurious to health.
In Italy and in New Guinea many women expel the semen from the vagina,
as soon as coitus is completed, by means of muscular action, by vigorous
movements of the perineum.
A mechanical apparatus for the prevention of conception which is
unquestionably carefully thought out is the so-called =occlusive
pessary= of Dr. Mensinga--a hemisphere of rubber surrounded by a steel
ring, introduced into the vagina before coitus, and even left _in situ_
for prolonged periods, so that the os uteri is occluded. When accurately
applied, it does, in fact, definitely prevent fertilization. Various
considerations, however, render its use undesirable: (1) the difficulty
of the introduction, which most women are unable to master; (2)
liability to displacement of the pessary during the act; (3) the
occurrence of irritative conditions of various kinds (discharges,
diseases of the uterine annexa, etc.), if, as often happens, the pessary
is allowed to remain in the vagina for a long time. Recently a pessary
has been constructed of waterproof cambric, which is said not to
produce any such irritative reaction. Moreover, Mensinga himself, and
Earlet, have made other improvements upon the occlusive pessary. Easier
to introduce is Gall’s “balloon occlusive pessary.” In this instrument,
by means of a compressible rubber ball and tubing, air is blown into the
interior of a thin-walled rubber ring which surrounds a soft elastic
rubber disc. A =dangerous= article, and =one to be avoided=, is
Hollweg’s “obturator.” The ideal mechanical means for the prevention of
pregnancy is, once more, the =condom=, regarding the application and
qualities of which we have already said all that is necessary (_vide
supra_, pp. 378, 379). Simple in its mode of application, it is, when of
good quality, certain in its effect, and is relatively the =most
harmless= of all preventive measures. When it is used, coitus runs a
perfectly normal course, with the sole exception of the sensation during
ejaculation. We must reject as harmful the use of the so-called
“stimulant condom,” which bears a ring of spines or points, in order to
increase libido in the woman.
4. =Chemical Physical Preventive Measures.=--To these belong, above all,
=douching= of the vagina immediately after sexual intercourse, for which
purpose cold water, solutions of alum (1 per cent.), copper sulphate
(1/2 to 1 per cent.), sulphate of quinine (1 : 400), etc., may be used.
The douching must be effected when the woman is in the recumbent
posture, and the vaginal tube must be introduced deeply. This method,
however, is very =untrustworthy=.[730]
The same is true of attempts to destroy the spermatozoa by the
insufflation of chemically active =powders=; or by the insertion of
antiseptic “=security sponges=,” which Rohleder has rightly named
“insecurity sponges”; untrustworthy also is the combination of these
with mechanical apparatus.
The number of articles belonging to this category is legion. I need
mention a few only: “Security ovals,” containing boric acid, quinine,
or citric acid; “little vaginal plugs”; “salus ovula”; Kamp’s
anticonceptional cotton-wool plugs; Hüter’s vaginal insufflator “for
the malthusian”; Noffke’s tampon-speculum; “spermathanaton”;[731]
Weissl’s preservative (a combination of speculum and rubber disc with
a steel spring and a cotton-wool plug impregnated with a drug); the
“Venus apparatus” (a double rubber ball, the smaller ball filled with
“Venus powder” (_sic_) being introduced within the vagina, whilst the
woman herself, at the moment of ejaculation, presses the larger ball
lying near to her thighs, whereupon the powder is expelled from the
smaller ball into the vagina); the “duplex occlusive pessary” (an
occlusive pessary with double walls, perforated with round apertures,
containing in its interior boric acid tablets for the purpose of
killing the spermatozoa).
It may be that now and again, by some of the means just mentioned,
conception may be prevented. But on the whole they are very uncertain;
and, on the other hand, it is doubtful if the chemical substances
introduced in this way are harmless. It is possible that many peculiar
inflammatory conditions of the male and female genital organs may be
referred to their use. For example, Blumreich[732] reports the case of a
man who, after coitus in which a means of this kind had been used, had
an extremely obstinate inflammatory eruption upon the penis.
I take this opportunity of pointing out that the so-called =herpes
progenitalis=, a peculiar vesicular eruption of the genital organs,
occurring chiefly in males, which alarms a great many patients,
because they regard it as the result of syphilitic infection, is, in
the great majority of cases, a perfectly harmless affection caused by
some transient irritation.[733]
Besides the above-mentioned methods for the prevention of pregnancy, we
have also to consider two radical means of practical malthusianism which
belong to the =purely medical= province, and can =only= be employed when
life and death are involved, when pregnancy and parturition would entail
upon the woman severe illness or certain death. These two means are the
operative induction of =artificial sterility= and =artificial abortion=.
Artificial sterility can be produced by various measures, as by the
intentionally effected =malposition= of the uterus, such as is practised
among the indigens of the Malay Archipelago; by =section of the
Fallopian tubes=, as recommended by Kehrer; by the so-called _castratio
uterina_ by means of =vaporization= (the application of superheated
steam by the method of Pincus, whereby menstruation is suspended and the
uterine cavity is obliterated); and finally by =castration= proper, the
=extirpation of the ovaries=[734] (=oöphorectomy=, spaying, Battey’s
operation), which was carried out in ancient times by quite savage
races, in order to prevent reproduction.[735] In France, theoretically
anti-malthusian, but practically through and through malthusian, in the
country from which the song originates--
“Ah! l’amour, l’amour!
C’est le plaisir d’un jour
Pour le regret d’ neuf mois.”
[“Ah! love, love!
’Tis the pleasure of a day
For the regret of nine months”]
--it appears, according to recent descriptions,[736] that oöphorectomy
is greatly prized by distinguished ladies as a means for the prevention
of pregnancy. It is said that there even exist “specialists” for the
production of these child-hating “_ovariées_,” men who undertake this
operation at a high fee. In Germany, happily, this radical measure for
the prevention of conception is not employed in healthy persons; the
operation is performed only in women who are seriously ill, and strictly
for therapeutic purposes.