However, it should not be taken for granted that perverse sexuality
is, in itself, good. Nothing that is raw and undeveloped is as good as
that which is strong and mature. On the other hand, a seed cannot by
magic suddenly become a beautiful flower. It must pass through the dark
stage of being in the muck and manure, and only painfully and slowly,
step by step, will it develop to the flower. This appears to be a law
of nature, and we can say of the development of man, that his evolution
began in the “mud and slime of things,” and that in the myriad ages
that have passed, he has not yet attained full manhood.
When we look at some of the dark things that the race has gone through,
we cannot call them “good,” but often we must admit that they were
necessary. So, too, with this matter of sexuality: it cannot always be
arranged according to what we think is best.
Nevertheless, there are many cases of what might be called sick or
false sexuality. It would appear, according to Jung, that anyone who
neglects a function or gift which he should be developing, is apt to
go astray sexually. In other words, our energy craves the outlets
provided for it by our innate character. If a man, for instance, was
born an artist, that is not something he can escape. Art is the natural
outlet of much of his energy. But if, because of his training, or say,
his belief that art is an idle matter and not manly enough, he should
turn from this gift, then a certain amount of his energy goes idle.
Idle energy, so Jung has found, usually descends to the sexual zone;
and the young man finds himself with an unnatural and excessive sexual
craving. Since this is more than the normal sexual desire, it is apt to
take abnormal form; and the man becomes by an irresistible compulsion,
a homosexual.
His homosexuality is not an innate thing; it is a _symptom_. It is
_misplaced energy_. The cure, of course, is for him to take up his art.
His sexuality then will become quite normal.
There is the case of the young woman who not only had an incessant and
excessive sexual craving, but who desired any and every man she met.
It took all her strength to hide her feelings, for she was well-bred,
sensitive, and with a high standard. She went to a noted analyst who
discovered that she was the rare case of a woman who belonged to the
thinking type. But thinking in her circle was not favored when it came
to women. She had therefore neglected to develop her intellect, and
as soon as she began to do so, the symptom disappeared and she became
quite normal.
It should be clear from these cases that wherever perverse sexuality
appears, there is need of an investigation. It is necessary to discover
if it isn’t a case of misplaced energy. Indeed, one may say offhand,
that all _excessive_ cases are of this nature, as for instance, a
marked sadism (sexual cruelty), a marked homosexuality, a too great
sexual desire. Such cases need the treatment of a psycho-analyst.
However, if energy may be misplaced _to_ the sexual zone, it may also
be misplaced _from_ the sexual zone. This is particularly true in this
country, because of our Puritan tradition. It was no longer ago than my
own childhood that a vast array of American children were taught that
sex is a bad thing; that to think in sexual terms was evil, that to
commit sexual acts was wicked; and that sexuality existed solely for
the purpose of propagating the species. It was whispered about that
auto-erotism led to insanity or loss of manhood. Words like gonorrhea
and syphilis were not mentioned, and ignorance in sexual matters was
not only disastrous, but, one might say, criminal. There were women
who came to marriage without any inkling of how children were born;
there were boys who doubtless did go insane from the practice of
auto-eroticism, not because the practice hurt them, but because of the
shame and fear attached to their “secret sin.”
This darkness has not wholly vanished yet, though much light has
appeared. It is natural that many sensitive people, growing up in such
an atmosphere, should _repress_ their sexuality. In certain cases this
might do no harm; an intuitive woman, for instance, might be all the
better for it. But since sexuality is a powerful instinct which needs
in the end its own natural expression, the repression of it, in many
cases, would mean that sexual energy was misplaced away from the sexual
zone, and produced a symptom.
Perhaps the simplest way of saying it is this, that whatever we attempt
to repress in ourselves we tend to repress in others. If we have cut
off the glow of life in ourselves, we come under a compulsion sometimes
to cut off others in the same way. This is where the misplaced sexual
energy goes. We become crusaders, we go out and fight vice wherever it
shows its head, we censor art, we bring about prohibition. We become
persecutors, driven by a kind of madness, thus poisoning our own lives
and the lives of others.
But since sexuality is a social instinct, and is at the root of
love, its repression may lead to something equally fanatic, but of a
different nature. The crusading spirit, instead of being prohibitive,
calls the world to salvation. The revivalist appears, or the bringer of
a new religion, or the founder of a sect. There is a feverish attempt
to convert and to “save the world.”
America is full of it. Great waves of sexualized religious fervor sweep
over the country. Any means may be used: the revivalist may use jazz
bands and slang, do the Charleston on his platform, paint primitive
pictures of hellfire and damnation, broadcast his violent sermons,
shame people into conversion, and arouse a whole community to hysteria.
To anyone with a discerning eye, the performance is false on the face
of it. It is a lot of misplaced sexual energy gone wrong and running
like a high fever.
A mild case of it which came under an analyst’s observation shows the
trouble clearly enough. The man in question felt that he had a message
to broadcast to the people, which would bring them to a better life.
The scheme, however, was actually of a cheap nature, which he admitted,
on criticism, but could not give up nevertheless. It was as if he had
to do it. The key-dream which showed the situation was as follows:
An advertising man of his acquaintance had set out to put up the
highest advertising sign in the world. This was being built on a
prairie, so that it could be seen from immense distances. It was
already so high that the dreamer could not see the top of it. On
rope-hung scaffoldings many men were at work on the sign. At the
bottom of the sign was a moat of water. Closing time came, and the men
immediately leaped from their scaffoldings like frogs into the water
below.
His scheme is shown up as not a real attempt to help others, but as
a matter of self advertising, a stunt. More than this, the energy
which put up the sign, namely, the men at work on it, leaps down like
frogs. Frogs, as a rule, have a sexual significance; and sometimes mean
auto-erotism.
In short, the energy behind his attempt to save the world is misplaced
sexuality, and that sexuality of an infantile nature. His compulsion
left him when he gained the proper sexual expression.
However, if repression of sexuality is a bad thing, temporary
abstinence is sometimes good. Not only are men and women able, at
times, to go without sexuality for relatively long periods but, in
certain cases, and at certain times, this has the highest value.
In many savage tribes, on the night before the warriors went out to
battle, the men were not allowed to have any contact with women.
Doubtless this was done that their energy might remain unimpaired,
and that their warlike fervor might not be softened with any of the
feelings of love.
In fact, in times of crisis, it would appear that there can be a
displacement of sexual energy which is beneficial. When men are under
the unusual strain of a great task, abstinence often seems to help.
Their whole energy becomes transformed into the task, which they can
now do with greater freedom. Naturally, this is a detour, a forced
march, and not a way of living.
We find often in the case of great artists, that before beginning work
on their masterpieces, they withdraw from sexual experience. Balzac,
for instance, always cut himself off from society, put on a monk’s
robe and secluded himself until the task was accomplished. It is
obvious what the monk’s robe meant: it was a temporary renunciation of
love as well as of the world.