THE CHILD AS AN OBJECT OF SEXUAL PRACTICES
We have now to consider a matter which bears but indirectly on the
sexual life of the child, and yet may be of the greatest importance in
relation to that life; we have to consider cases in which the child is
the object of sexual practices by others. I have previously referred to
instances in which one child loves another. But the child may also be an
object of sexual desire to adults; for in certain men and women, sexual
inclination is directed towards children. By von Krafft-Ebing this state
is termed _pædophilia erotica_.
Not all the cases in which sexual acts are performed on children belong
to the province of pædophilia. It is well known that in certain
countries--Germany is one of them--a superstition prevails among certain
strata of the population to the effect that venereal diseases may be
cured by means of sexual intercourse with children. Where this is the
motive of the sexual act, the case does not belong to the class of
pædophilia; and many other sexual acts in which children play a part
must also be excepted from this class. It sometimes happens that
debauchees, after having practised all kinds of venereal excesses,
finally take to misusing children; nursemaids, again, and other
servants, will carry out all sorts of sexual acts on the children
entrusted to their care, sometimes merely in order to quiet the
children, sometimes "for fun." Von Krafft-Ebing refers to a special
group of young men who do not feel sufficient confidence in their sexual
potency to attempt intercourse with grown women, also to masturbators
affected with psychical impotence; such persons are apt to seek an
equivalent for coitus in improper contacts with little girls.
One very large group of cases belongs to the sphere of psychiatry. In
quite a number of congenital and acquired states of mental defect or
disorder, sexual acts performed on children appear as symptoms of moral
and intellectual degeneration. In this connexion may be mentioned,
congenital imbecility, progressive paralysis (paralytic dementia),
senile dementia, chronic alcoholism, cerebral syphilis, and
post-epileptic dementia; with or without these conditions, epileptic
disturbances of consciousness may lead to sexual offences against
children.
None of these cases have anything to do with poedophilia erotica. And
there are yet other cases which it is desirable to distinguish from this
class, especially those cases in which a marked hyperæsthesia was the
determining cause of the sexual act. In such a case, it is to the person
thus affected almost a matter of indifference with whom the sexual act
is performed. Anything warm and alive will do, and inasmuch as a child
is often most readily available, a child often serves as victim, whilst
in other cases an animal is utilised.
Fritz Leppmann,[114] to whom we are indebted for a full and excellent
study of cases of this kind, distinguishes the influences which are
subjective to the offender from those which operate from without. Among
the latter he refers especially to the _Schlafbursch_ or
night-lodger;[115] it may be a young man in his prime, sleeping in the
same room or even in the same bed with little girls; also to
unemployment, which very readily gives occasion for sexual excesses; to
the practice of allowing little girls to run about without proper
supervision; to premature sexual development in children, which renders
these latter especially liable to be the subjects of sexual misconduct;
to child-prostitution, often at the instigation of the parents; to the
lack of proper sexual reserve; to obscenity, dances, and popular
festivals, whereby the sexual impulse may be stimulated; to unhappy
marriage; and, above all, to the effects of alcohol. Occupation and
position have also to be considered, for, in the case of many males, an
authoritative position (that of schoolmaster, priest, doctor, employer,
stepfather, tutor) gives extraordinary facilities for committing sexual
offences against children.
Although children of all ages, and even infants in arms, may be the
victims of sexual misconduct, in the majority of such cases we have to
do with children who are no longer quite young; and this is true, more
especially, of most cases of pædophilia erotica. This latter passion may
be directed against children of the same sex as the offender, but more
commonly it is directed towards children of the opposite sex. Not
infrequently, however, the impulse in such persons lacks sharp
differentiation, the pædophile showing inclination, now for immature
boys, now again for immature girls. Occasionally, pædophilia is the only
form in which sexual inclination exhibits itself in the persons
concerned; but in other cases the pædophilic impulse alternates with
normal sexual feelings, or with some other perverse sexual
manifestation. A homosexual man, for instance, may one day be sexually
attracted by children, the next by adult males. Less widely known,
although, as I think, far commoner than is usually believed, are the
cases in which women are sexually attracted by immature boys. Some of
those cases of which mention has previously been made, in which
nursemaids and other female servants seduce boys to the practice of
masturbation, belong to this category; but this does not exhaust cases
of such a nature. It is not necessary, when we see a woman caressing a
boy, to assume at once and in every case that a sexual motive is at
work; but unprejudiced observation will show that many of these cases
are sexually determined. An interesting case of this nature has been
published by Magnan.[116] It was that of a lady twenty-nine years of
age, with strongly marked hereditary taint, and suffering from very
various mental abnormalities, with five nephews, the eldest of whom was
thirteen years of age. At first, this eldest nephew was the object of
her desires. "The sight of him caused in her intense sexual excitement;
she experienced voluptuous sensations, which she was quite unable to
repress, sighed, rolled her eyes, and became flushed; sometimes she had
spasmus vaginæ, with local secretion." When this boy grew older, the
next brother took his place in her desires; and in succession these were
transferred to the other three. At the time when Magnan saw the patient,
her sexual inclinations were directed towards the youngest nephew, a boy
three years of age.
In many cases, the sexual inclination towards children is primary,
existing from the first appearance of the sexual impulse; or it may
appear simultaneously with other inclinations without there having been,
as far as can be learned, marked previous sexual excesses. There can be
no doubt whatever that in such cases we have to a large extent to do
with morbid personalities. No small part in these cases is played by a
purely psychological factor, namely, the innocence of the child. We know
that also in the case of the normal sexual inclination of the male,
innocence on the part of the female exerts a notable stimulus, in which
connexion the question whether we have to do here with a result of
conventional opinions or with an inborn mental disposition, must
naturally be left open.[117] But it is a fact that just as the knowledge
of a woman's immoral past, or obscene remarks or gestures on her part,
will in many men suffice to inhibit sexual desire; so, on the other
hand, for many men, innocence in the woman heightens the stimulus. In
many cases of desire for immature girls, the physical stimulus of the
narrow vagina may also contribute to increase libido; but the part this
plays is probably not considerable. Apart from the fact that in many
cases in which men have sexual inclination towards such girls, _immissio
membri_ does not take place at all, this consideration would in no way
explain those not very uncommon cases in which adult women experience
sexual inclination for immature boys.
In connexion with this last point, it is of interest to recall the fact
that in former days dwarfs, as well as fools, were kept at many courts.
In view of the tender relationship which obtained between many ladies of
position and such dwarfs, it has sometimes been inferred that the
inclination was a sexual one, the small size and the undeveloped
condition of the dwarf exercising a peculiar stimulus.
The depraver of children satisfies his desires in very various ways. It
will readily be understood that the progressive paralytic (paralytic
dement) will act in one way, and the true pædophile in another. I shall
not, however, discuss these details here, but shall merely endeavour to
give some general ideas on the subject. Often, and especially at first,
the depraver of children merely seeks opportunities for seeing children;
then he wants to touch the children with his hands, and often to handle
their genital organs; and while attempting this, or while doing it, he
has ejaculation. In other cases he presses the child more and more
closely into contact with himself, and especially against his own
genital organs. Finally, we may have more complete sexual acts; and,
especially when the child is a girl, there may be attempts at
intercourse, and even defloration; where the child is a boy,
pseudo-coitus may take place. The depraver of children gains his
opportunities by appeals to the child's peculiar weaknesses. He will,
for instance, tempt the child by the offer of sweets, and in this way
will obviously often gain his ends. Many such persons hang about in the
neighbourhood of a school or a children's playground, simply with this
end in view. Some years ago the police of a certain large town were
informed that "child-lovers" haunted a particular place. It appears that
here the children were in the habit of swinging on a chain suspended
between two pillars, and that the watchers waited to catch a glimpse of
the children's genital organs, or merely of their bare legs, when their
petticoats flew up occasionally in the act of swinging. Many pædophiles
become sexually excited at the mere sight of children sympathetic to
them. In other cases, by no means rare, men experience sexual excitement
whenever they see a little girl with short petticoats; these men will
follow such little girls all over the place, without, as a rule,
speaking to them or interfering with them in any way, being withheld
from doing so either by the fear of punishment or by moral restraint. To
many the mere sight of the child appears to afford sufficient sexual
gratification; and to others the simple contact of their hands with the
child suffices, and nothing more is attempted. But, in other cases,
handling the child's genital organs plays the chief part, frequently
because the offender can himself obtain sexual gratification only
through inducing sexual excitement in the child and watching this
excitement. Sometimes, however, the offender has no interest in the
child's genital organs; far from being excited sexually by regarding or
handling these organs, he may even find them repulsive; but in such
cases the sight of general nakedness often induces sexual excitement.
This is often associated with sadistic feelings, and this alike in men
and in women. In other cases, a woman will make attempts at coitus with
a little boy, having first induced erection of his penis by manipulating
the organ, by tickling it, or in some other way. Finally, there are
cases in which all kinds of other actions are performed. To the more
complex perversions I shall return. Here I shall only point out that
children may sometimes be utilised for the wildest orgies. A case was
formerly published by Tardieu, in which servant-maids in conjunction
with their lovers carried out with the children under their care all
sorts of perverse acts: cunnilinctus, masturbation, the introduction of
various objects into the vagina and the anus. Finally, it may be pointed
out that in the lack of an object, the pædophile will naturally satisfy
himself with the aid of imaginative ideas, masturbating the while, or he
may be content with purely psychical onanism. We must not forget that
the imagination usually suggests stimuli far stronger than those
furnished by objective experience, and this applies in a most marked
degree to pædophilia. Many pædophiles also satisfy themselves with the
aid of erotic and obscene literature, containing descriptions of the
acts in which they are interested, or with pictures of such acts. Among
obscene pictures and photographs, not a few depict sexual acts performed
with children; and there is no doubt that these are sometimes pictures
taken from the life, children having actually been photographed in such
obscene attitudes. The Latin countries appear to be the principal
source of such pictures and photographs.
It will readily be understood that the performance upon children of
sexual acts is a very serious matter for the children themselves,
especially as affecting their sexual morality. It is true that in many
instances pædophilia does not entail any consequences for the child,
which completely fails to understand that it has been made use of for
perverse purposes. The offender may know how to mask his actions, so
that even a third person who is looking on may detect nothing more than
tender caresses, and may remain altogether unaware of the existence of
any sexual excitement. But in other cases the consequences for the
children may be extremely grave. Not only is the child in this way
prematurely introduced to sexual practices, but its moral corruption may
result. The danger to the child is greater in view of the fact that the
child depraver often fails to realise that he is trespassing against the
child's rights. I remember a gentleman who had been punished with
imprisonment on account of improper relations with a boy, and who
continued to assure me that he had done nothing wrong in touching the
boy's penis. In other cases, well-educated young men and women have no
idea that unchaste conduct with children is an offence which may entail
severe punishment, even in cases in which the child's genital organs are
not touched.
It should not need demonstration that such sexual malpractices on
children may have serious consequences for these latter. A girl may
suffer most severely, alike morally and socially, even though
defloration has not been effected. It is quite conceivable that in such
a way a girl may be brought to prostitution. Certain investigators have
studied the question at what age defloration had been effected in women
leading a life of prostitution, and have ascertained that in many cases
this had taken place in childhood. Martineau[118] reports cases in which
defloration had been effected at the age of nine or ten years.
Experience teaches that boys also, especially when they have been
seduced by sexual inverts, are very apt to adopt a life of prostitution.
It must also be remembered that girls may occasionally become pregnant
and give birth to a child even before they have themselves passed the
years of childhood--another source of social danger. In addition, we
have to reckon with dangers to physical health; among these we have the
direct consequences of premature misuse of the genital organs, and,
above all, the danger of venereal infection. In a great many cases,
sexual offences against children are brought to light only when, on
examining the child, gonorrhoeal or syphilitic infection is disclosed.
Many authorities hold that the superstitious hope of curing venereal
disease by sexual intercourse with an innocent child, is a comparatively
frequent source of such infection in children. Freud, to whose views I
have referred several times before, believes that sexual attempts on
children may give rise in the latter to severe neuroses--an idea which
forms an important part of the etiological system put forward by this
author.
We must regard it as a peculiar danger of sexual relations on the part
of a child with an adult, that sexual perversion may be induced. I may
refer to what I said about this matter on pp. 60-62. The chief danger does
not arise from the fact that the child is occasionally utilised for a
homosexual act, but from the circumstance that in the period of the
undifferentiated sexual impulse, the child's sexual interest, and
especially its contrectation impulse, is directed towards one of its own
sex, and that thereby a permanent perversion may be induced. Edward
Carpenter,[119] indeed, considers that in such homosexual relationships
the younger partner makes the advances. "The younger boy looks on the
other as a hero, loves to be with him, thrills with pleasure at his
words of praise or kindness." In his general views on this question,
Carpenter takes a somewhat peculiar position. Unfortunately, he
overlooks the fact that the elder is not to be exonerated because the
younger made the first advances--at any rate, in cases in which the
elder is in a position to understand the true nature of such
relationships. Everyday experience shows that in many cases the elder
person is of such an age that there can be no doubt upon this point. And
apart from this, it is not usual to find that it is the younger person
who makes the sexual advances. In most of the cases which have come
under my own notice it was unquestionably the elder who began to lead
the younger astray. The matter is not as harmless as Carpenter makes
out. The same considerations apply to sexual intercourse with immature
girls. Beyond doubt, there are many girls who meet sexual advances
halfway, owing to the premature development of their own sexual impulse;
and some such girls go more than halfway. A common practice of
pædophiles is to begin by arousing sexual excitement in the child,
either by manual stimulation, or else by showing the child erotic
pictures, or by reading to it from an erotic book. We must also admit
that in certain cases the child meets sexual advances halfway, not so
much under the stimulus of its own sexual impulse, but for other
reasons; for example, the child may be following the instructions of its
parents, who regard their child as a marketable commodity, either
because they have been well paid by the pædophile, or because they wish
to use the child as an instrument in a blackmailing scheme. The point
last mentioned is one of great importance--the fact that intercourse on
the part of a grown person with a child under fourteen years of age is
sometimes deliberately instigated by the child's parents or guardians,
with the sole object of securing thereby a permanent income from
blackmail. In other cases, the instigation may not come from the parents
or guardians, or not directly from these, but from professional
procuresses, who have undertaken to satisfy the desires of sexual
perverts. I may refer in this connexion to the _Pall Mall Gazette_
revelations of the London of nearly a generation ago.
False accusations on the part of children, especially on the part of
little girls, who allege themselves to have been the subjects of sexual
assaults, have been mentioned in an earlier part of this work, but the
matter is one of such outstanding importance, that its further
consideration will not come amiss. An experienced Berlin lawyer has
recently emphasised this danger.[120] He shows that it is a regular
practice to utilise the existence of certain punishments as a means of
getting undesired persons out of the way, by bringing false accusations
against them. Immediately after the Franco-German War, these accusations
dealt with offences against the laws providing for the safety of the
Empire and of the individual States of the German Confederation. At a
later date, persons seeking revenge made frequent use of accusations of
_lèse majesté_. Still more recently, it is the section in the German
legal code dealing with sexual offences against children, which is
chiefly utilised for such purposes, "The good-natured householder who,
because it is his birthday, presents a few sweets to children assembled
in the courtyard of his house, is suspected of an offence against sexual
morals;" when he finds it necessary to give warning to his untrustworthy
hall-porter, this latter revenges himself by lodging a false accusation
of this kind. It is a melancholy fact that an experienced barrister
should find it necessary to make the following comprehensive
declaration: "As a rule it is of no use for the accused person to call
expert witnesses, who give the court long lectures upon the significance
of children's evidence, and upon the import of evidence in general. _In
our own experience one accused of such offences rarely escapes
conviction._ He is hardly ever spared the terrible ordeal of examination
and cross-examination. On all hands we hear the loud complaints of such
persons, declaring that they have been wrongfully condemned." My own
experience in the law courts leads me to accept these statements without
reserve, and _I regard as one of the gravest scandals of our present
penal system the ease with which a girl who makes a pretty curtsy to the
court, and who appears to be shamefaced when giving her evidence, is
believed by the judge or magistrate._ The dangers involved in this are
obvious to many, especially to those who have much to do with children.
An actor personally known to me, constantly received advances both from
married women and from young girls, was pestered with letters from such
persons, and to his great distress was several times followed in the
streets by half-mature and immature girls. One day, in the street, he
was walking with a friend, when two girls of about thirteen or fourteen
years of age began to follow him. Turning round, he shouted to the
girls that they had better run off home, or their father would give them
a good spanking. To his astonished companion he explained that only by
such drastic methods was he able, as he thought, to protect himself from
false accusations.
It is very generally assumed that sexual offences against children are
increasing in number. As regards the increase in Germany, the following
figures are given by Mittelmaier.[121] For sexual offences against
children, the convictions in the year 1897 numbered 3085; and in the
year 1904, 4378. But of hardly any offences specified in the code can we
say with more certainty than we can of sexual offences against children,
that the convictions bear no necessary relationship to the number of
offences actually committed. My own experience in the law courts leads
me to see in the figures nothing more than an increase in the number of
_convictions_ for such offences--convictions which may have involved the
innocent as well as the guilty. However this may be, historical studies
prove that sexual offences against children are no new thing. Long ago,
Martial, in the sixth and eighth epigrams of his ninth book, complained
of the procurement of children, referring to boys rather than to girls.
Otto Stoll[122] reports cases from uncivilised countries; and to his
account of the defloration of children he appends the following words:
"From all such details, we draw the ethnologically remarkable inference,
that those human beings who have attained the highest level of
civilisation, relapse frequently in the matter of the sexual life to the
rudest instincts of savagery; and that in this respect neither does one
civilised country much excel another, nor is 'civilised man' in a
position to cast many reproaches in the teeth of the savage." Finally, I
may refer to the experience of a Parisian Police Commissary,[123] who in
the middle of the nineteenth century described prostitution in Paris,
and devoted a special chapter to the subject of child-prostitution.
Beyond question, the committing of sexual offences against children is
no peculiar privilege of the civilised world or of modern times;
although it remains possible that there has of late been some increase
in the number of such offences.
It is obviously right that children should receive special protection
from the law. The higher limit of the age of protection varies from ten
to eighteen years. Ten years is the age-limit in certain States of the
American Union; seventeen is the age-limit in Finland.[124] According to
Mittelmaier, two considerations should guide us in regard to the
protection of children: bodily immaturity, and moral weakness. The
existence of the former leads the normal and healthy man to regard
sexual approaches to children as unnatural and detestable. But, apart
from the question of immaturity, we have to recognise that in children
the moral sphere also deserves consideration; that notwithstanding the
possible recent development of physical maturity, the child as such
requires protection, in order to prevent the occurrence of such moral
corruption as will render it incapable, when grown-up, of obeying the
moral law. No thoughtful person can refuse to admit the child's right to
protection.
But here a peculiar point needs attention, concerning, namely, the
treatment in the law courts of such offences against children. I
consider that by legal intervention in these cases the child's morals
are sometimes more gravely endangered than by the original offence. If a
man has momentarily laid his hand on the knee of a girl of ten, the
child can hardly be said to have been injured, and will certainly have
received much less injury than would result, if the case be brought into
court, from cross-questioning of the child, not merely by its own
relatives, but also by the police, the magistrate and his colleagues (in
the court of first instance), by the public prosecutor and the counsel
for the defence (in the higher court), and perhaps in addition by expert
witnesses. When such a child is asked, whether the offender did not put
his hand higher than the knee, whether he did or did not actually touch
the genital organs, grave dangers may arise from such questioning.
There is a further danger, in that some times, in such a case, the child
is present in court throughout the entire proceedings. Some years ago,
in Hamburg, I was called as an expert witness in a case of this kind. In
this instance, the presiding judge, and also the public prosecutor and
the defending counsel, exhibited the greatest possible delicacy, when
one child was under examination, in sending the others, as far as
possible, out of court. But I have also been present at trials in which
no such precautions were taken, but in which every child was allowed to
hear all the uncleanness in the evidence of the other children, and
perhaps also in that of adults. Knowledge of the world, and, above all,
tact, will best save the judge from treating children wrongly in this
matter. The way in which a trial is conducted, which is often an
extremely mechanical one, will not always enable the judge to avail
himself of the means requisite for the protection of children from
contamination in the course of such a prosecution. When we take a
comprehensive view of the harm that may be done to children by sexual
offences committed against them and by the consequent legal proceedings,
we shall find, in my opinion, that from the legal proceedings arises a
notable proportion of the injury.
The examination of the mental condition of the child-depraver is a
matter of the utmost importance. In cases in which we find that the
offender is suffering from some pronounced mental disorder, such as
progressive paralysis (paralytic dementia), senile dementia, or an
epileptic disturbance of consciousness, there can be no doubt as to the
existence of irresponsibility; but it must never be forgotten that in
the early course of such diseases, these sexual perversions often make
their appearance at a time when no other definite signs of the brain
disease have as yet appeared, and that for this reason the conviction of
innocent persons--old men, for instance--on account of sexual offences
against children, often occurs. Kirn,[125] who in the Freiburg prison
had under observation six old men at ages from sixty-eight to
eighty-one, all convicted for sexual offences against little girls,
states that in all of these there were intellectual defects, and in
several of them pronounced symptoms of senile dementia. The psychiatric
expert must examine all such cases with the utmost care. We may also
express a wish that judges were not inclined to regard themselves as
experts in this field, of which, as a rule, they have no expert
knowledge whatever.
Cases in which there is no definite mental disorder belong to a
different category. Fritz Leppmann, to whom we are indebted for the most
comprehensive studies in this field of inquiry, comes to the conclusion
that there is no such thing as a truly congenital sexual inclination
towards children. Such inclinations often appear, indeed, in
congenitally tainted or weak-minded individuals; but he considers that
we have no right to speak of the perverse impulse as being itself
congenital. Even if we admit this, and refuse to recognise the existence
of a congenital perverse impulse towards children, still we have to
admit that certain opportunities and conditions may not only lead to the
committing of sexual offences against children, but may also induce
pædophile tendencies. And the fact cannot be contested that this danger
arises more especially in those who are much associated with children;
especially, that is to say, in schoolmasters and tutors, on the one
hand, and in schoolmistresses and governesses, on the other, Now, in
every case that comes under our notice, two points must be taken into
consideration. In the first place, if a remarkably large number of
teachers come before the law courts charged with sexual offences against
children, we have to remember that a certain proportion of these cases
must arise from the false accusations to which those persons precisely
are exposed who are much associated with children. The second point, on
account of which limits are imposed on the extent of the last-mentioned
etiological factor, is that certain persons adopt the profession of
schoolmaster or mistress, or tutor or governess, either because they are
aware of the fact that their sexual impulse is directed towards
children, or else, and this is commoner, because, while they are but
obscurely conscious of it, they are influenced thereby in the choice of
a profession, without having any definite intention to make use of the
children under their care in the gratification of their sexual desires.
It is an indefinite impulse towards children which is here operative,
and sometimes determines the choice of occupation. I have seen cases in
which there seemed to be a sort of mania for giving education and
instruction, but in which on closer examination it appeared that the
interest in the children was a sexual one. Two cases which have been
reported to me show that in the case of women also opportunity very
easily awakens the sexual impulse; in these cases the giving of baths to
the children under their care, first definitely gave rise in two
governesses to such perverse inclinations, and in one of them
subsequently led to serious sexual malpractices with the children.
As regards the psychiatric treatment of true pædophilia, as a rule in
such cases there is no possibility of pleading extenuating
circumstances, as provided for by Section 51 of the Imperial Criminal
Code. By this section, the offence escapes punishment if the offender
was at the time in a state of unconsciousness, or was suffering from a
morbid disturbance of mental activity, by which free voluntary choice
was rendered impossible. In general, such persons must be held to be
legally responsible. It may indeed, in individual cases, be possible to
plead extenuating circumstances, or, when it is legally permissible, to
plead the existence of partial responsibility--this latter more
especially in cases in which symptoms of mental degeneration exist. But
by itself a qualitatively abnormal sexual impulse gives the offender
just as little right to plead irresponsibility, as a qualitatively
abnormal sexual impulse gives the right to invade the sphere of
interests of another. The fact that pædophile tendencies occur in those
who are in other respects admirable persons does not countervail the
need that children should be protected. It would be an error to assume
that only morally defective persons are thus affected. I may mention in
passing that Dostoiewski is said to have exhibited such pædophile
tendencies--at any rate for a time. From the circle of my own
acquaintanceship, I have learned that such a tendency may exist in
those who are in other respects morally and intellectually sound.
In the sexual inclination of adults towards children, we find a source
of serious danger; but the risks are greatly enhanced by the fact that
the pædophile tendency is often complicated by other sexual perversions.
Exhibitionism in the male is exhibited not only towards adult females,
but also towards children, commonly towards girls, but in exceptional
instances towards boys. It appears that in these cases the stimulus of
innocence plays the chief part. In many cases, the exhibitionist is
satisfied with exposing his genital organs; and only in comparatively
rare cases, which by many are not included in the category of
exhibitionism, do we find that the exhibitionist also masturbates,
sometimes in the presence of the child, sometimes after going elsewhere,
The fetichistic tendencies of adults are also in many instances directed
towards children. Well-known cases are those of the hair fetichists who
not infrequently cut plaits of hair from the heads of schoolgirls; but
other hair fetichists are satisfied with cutting from the head smaller
fragments of hair.
Sexual inclinations towards children are especially apt to be associated
with sadistic acts. In a comparatively large proportion of cases,
children are the victims of lust-murder, if this term be used in its
strictly limited signification, and not to include all possible sexual
acts complicated with murder, but simply to signify cases in which the
very act of murder provides a sexual stimulus, or when the corpse is
utilised for a lustful act; that is to say, we must exclude from
lust-murder proper, all the cases in which, for other reasons than a
sadistic impulse, the sexual act is complicated with murder, as when the
female witness of a previous sexual crime must be got out of the way.
Children, too, are often the victims of other sexual acts, such as rape,
which in a few instances only can be included in the category of sadism.
In some cases force is employed only because the victim resists the act
of violation, and here there is no question of sadism; but the rape is
sadistic when the use of force is _per se_ a sexual stimulus. Moreover,
children are often endangered by "stabbers."
In the year 1899, there was much anxiety in the city of Cologne on
account of such a stabber. Those injured were all schoolgirls, and
ultimately no children were sent alone to school, but they were always
accompanied by a servant or a relative. In 1901, there was a similar
series of cases in Moscow, a number of half-grown girls being stabbed by
a man with a dagger. In the year 1896, a stabber appeared in Berlin. He
enticed schoolgirls into the vestibule of a house, under the pretence
that he wanted to brush some mud from their clothing; then, drawing a
knife, he would inflict on the child a long and deep incised wound. In
the summer of 1901, the inhabitants of northern Berlin were terrorised
by a man who stabbed one girl fatally, and wounded two others severely.
A remarkable point about this case was that the stabber made three
separate assaults in a single afternoon, at very brief intervals. Unless
the offender is discovered, it is naturally impossible to ascertain
whether he has acted under the influence of some ordinary mental
disorder (such as mania or post-epileptic insanity), or if he is a
sexual pervert. The act alone will not enable us to answer this
question.
Boys also are liable to such attacks, as we learn from what happened in
Breslau in the year 1889. A student of philosophy in that town enticed
to his dwelling an eight-year-old boy whom he met in a public lavatory,
and wounded the boy's penis with a sharp-pointed knife. It appeared that
the offender had done the same thing before to other boys. Ultimately,
having been examined by a committee of experts, he was on their
recommendation adjudged to be insane. In the year 1869, Berlin was
disturbed by the doings of a certain X. This man had made use of two
boys for sexual purposes, and had inflicted on them horrible injuries:
in one, he cut off the testicles, and inflicted other severe wounds, so
that the boy died; in the other, he introduced a walking-stick through
the anus, and pushed it roughly onwards until it had perforated the
lung.
Far commoner than the acts of such stabbers are the cases in which the
striking of children is to the sadist a source of sex-stimulation.
Erotic literature is full of the description of such perversions. Thus,
in a well-known pornographic eroticon, we find pictures of a girl who
has to subserve the perverse lusts of a wealthy boyar (Russian
territorial magnate), the latter mishandling the child most horribly
with cane and knout. In the English erotic literature, it is remarkable
how often and how fully the flagellation of children is described.
Almost typical are the English educational works in which, with little
variation, we find descriptions of the flogging of little girls in order
to excite the perverse lusts of the schoolmistresses. Not very long ago,
in a certain English newspaper, a special column was devoted to accounts
of the chastisement of children, and especially of girls. Anyone who
reads this column with care could not fail to recognise that for the
most part these chastisements were the expression of perverse sexual
sensibilities. The available material shows, indeed, that in England
this sexually perverse whipping of children is no mere matter of
imaginative literary expression, but that such perversities are a matter
of actual experience. Such things are, however, by no means confined to
England, as is shown by a large number of recorded observations.
In Paris, not long ago, the following case was noted. A woman entered
into relations with the parents of girls of eleven and twelve years of
age, in order to hire the children as the subjects of chastisement for
perverse sexual purposes. The parents, who must have known for what
their children were wanted, received payment. Apparently the woman did
not do this for the satisfaction of any perversion of her own, but for
her perverse husband or for other perverts, who watched the whippings
through spy-holes. In Germany, some years ago, there was an important
trial, in which I was called as an expert witness, of a man who had
flogged his pupils (with one exception, they had all been boys) solely
to obtain perverse sexual gratification.
Many of these cases obtain publicity through the columns of the daily
press, although occasionally, in part from sensationalism, and in part
from sheer ignorance, a case may be allotted to the category of sadism,
which really has nothing to do with this perversion, or whose sadistic
character is doubtful. This applies, for example, to the well-known
Dippold case. Here, the sons of a wealthy Berlin family were mishandled
by a private tutor to such an extent that one of the children died.
Neither by the legal proceedings in this case, nor by any subsidiary
evidence, was it established, in my opinion, that sexual motives existed
for the maltreatment; and only when such motives exist have we any right
to speak of sadism. As a rule, such cases are elucidated only when the
mental life of the offender is very carefully analysed. Therefore, in a
great many cases, while there may be grounds for suspecting the
existence of sadism, adequate proof of this is not forthcoming. Some
cases bearing on this matter will now be briefly recorded.
A furniture polisher, twenty-five years of age, induced two young
fellows to enter his dwelling, and there, under the threat that if they
resisted they would be severely punished by their parents, he made them
submit to a thrashing with a cane. A similar case was reported in Paris
some years ago. A man thirty-seven years of age, supposed to have
formerly been a private tutor, took boarders into his house for love,
and not because he made his living by doing so. He also had under his
care an orphan boy, and it appeared that this child was grossly
ill-treated. When the authorities entered the house, they found the boy
entirely unclothed, but wrapped in rags; he was fastened to the
crossbars of the window, and quite exposed to the cold winter air. To
prevent the child from crying out, a gag had been placed in his mouth.
Of dubious nature, also, was a case which occurred at Berlin in the year
1906, in which a girl twelve years of age was enticed away by another
girl, and taken to a man who, at the suggestion of the second girl, drew
two teeth from the first. In the case reported from Salzwedel some years
ago, it is possible that the offender was insane; but he may have been
sadistically inclined. An eleven-year-old fifth-form boy was enticed
away by a young man of twenty, who took the lad to a hotel, gagged him,
beat him unmercifully with a walking cane, threatening him with a
revolver to prevent his calling for help. The boy suffered also two
severe contused wounds of the head. The offender himself put cold
compresses on these. When the police who were in search of the boy broke
into the room, the young man shot himself.
In the year 1891, the following case occurred in Berlin. A young man,
not yet eighteen years old, had in three cases undressed boys, and
performed improper acts on them. Then he misused and bound the boys. The
youth, who had previously been convicted of theft, was on this occasion
sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for an offence against (sexual)
morality. At Liegnitz, a few years ago, a pupil-teacher was sent to
prison for three months, because he had lured little boys to a remote
field, and there had mishandled them by beating them with a
walking-stick. The court held that these acts had been performed under
the influence of the sexual impulse, resulting from a sadistic tendency.
About two years ago, a teacher of the pianoforte committed suicide in
Berlin, because he had been accused of ill-treating children, apparently
owing to a sadistic tendency. The children were nine or ten years old;
he had undressed them and then flogged them. The matter had, it seemed,
been kept secret for a long time, until the parents of some of the
children discovered traces of the ill-treatment, and this led to the
charge being brought. A case which attracted considerable attention
occurred in Berlin in the year 1896. A man, supposed to be a Russian
prince, entered a well-known saddler's shop in the Potsdamerstrasse,
asked to be shown some dogwhips, and, on the pretext of wishing to try
their quality, persuaded some boys employed in the establishment to
allow him to try the whips on their persons. The boys were handsomely
paid for this, and the practice went on until the head of the firm
intervened and forbade it. Whilst some regarded the matter as a joke,
others expressed the suspicion that it was a case in which the rein had
been given to sadistic tendencies. A similar case was that of the
author, X., which occurred in Hamburg a few years ago. X. was acquainted
with a woman named Y., who lived in Berlin. The latter's son, eleven
years of age, was sent to reside with X. for educational purposes; and
without proper cause, but under the pretext of educational necessities,
this lad was severely mishandled by X. The boy was frequently taken from
his bed, stripped naked, and then struck with a switch. The boy's mother
stated that her boy had been put under the care of X. because the lad
needed severe discipline, being untruthful and dishonest. Further
charges were made against X. of various indecent acts against the boy.
Teachers and others, who were acquainted with this boy, deposed that he
was well behaved and not untruthful, and that he had in no way merited
such punishments as had been inflicted on him. A very remarkable case
was reported six years ago, from one of the minor German principalities.
Here, children who had been sentenced to imprisonment were pardoned by
the Prince, on condition that they submitted to a whipping; and the
remarkable feature in the case was that not only did the Prince make a
point of seeing the whipping, but himself in part administered it. In
some of the reports of this case it was added that the children were
stripped naked.
It is a not infrequent reproach against Catholic priests, monks, nuns,
&c., that they make use of the children entrusted to their care for
perverse, sadistic acts. I may recall the Graubund scandal of September
1906, in which girls and women were whipped by an acolyte until the
blood ran; also an affair which occurred in Christiania about fourteen
years ago, where, at a home kept by an unmarried woman, for children
from the age of two years until their confirmation, a horrible and
elaborate system of punishments was in use, whippings and other tortures
being the order of the day. In many biographies and other works giving
descriptions of life in the cloister, we find additional details: for
instance, in the memoirs of the Countess Kaunitz, mother of the
well-known statesman Kaunitz, we find an account of the severe whippings
which were administered to her during her childhood spent in a nunnery.
All kinds of subterfuges are employed by the sexual pervert to make the
punishment appear harmless and legitimate. Schoolmasters find this
comparatively easy, inasmuch as they are able to allege misconduct such
as would ordinarily be visited with a verbal reprimand, if not
completely overlooked, as the reason for a whipping. Obviously, some of
the excuses will be remarkable. In one case the flagellant asserted that
he wished to write a work on education, and had therefore to ascertain
how many strokes a child could endure. In a case which came under my
own notice the offender stated that he wished to make the children
courageous.
The expert who studies the advertisements in the newspapers will observe
that they often subserve such perverse tendencies. "Educational"
advertisements may be classified in three groups. Those of the first
group are perfectly harmless (in appearance). To this class belong
advertisements in which a teacher offers instruction to children. Since
this is the ordinary form of serious advertisement, it attracts no
special attention; there is nothing suspicious about it, and it is
merely intended to lead to correspondence with those who have boys or
girls to place as pupils. The advertiser hopes that in the course of
instruction he will find opportunity for inflicting chastisement without
giving rise to any suspicion. The second group has a definitely
suspicious air, some catch-word being employed to manifest to initiates
the existence of a perverse tendency; but there is nothing more than
this to excite suspicion. Among such catch-words, are the words
"energetic", "severe", "English instruction." In some cases an energetic
governess desires children to instruct; in others it is some one else
who desires an energetic instructress. It may be that the actual
advertiser is on the lookout for the energetic instructress; here we
have to do with masochism. But in other instances, the advertiser wants
the energetic instructress for children, and the wording of the
advertisement sometimes indicates that the advertiser's aim is to
experience sexual excitement in watching the instructress chastise the
children. Since these advertisements are intelligible only to initiates,
they naturally receive answers from persons who have failed to
understand their purport; but the sadist (male or female) and the
masochist (male or female) is aware that the use of the word "energetic"
refers to this sexual perversion. Of course, however, an advertisement
in which an energetic tutor or governess is asked for, may he perfectly
innocent. If an advertisement inserted in all good faith has really been
open to a double meaning, the advertiser will sometimes be greatly
astonished by the receipt of all sorts of perverse offers. A married
woman of my acquaintance advertised for energetic supplementary
instruction for her son, a rather naughty boy of ten; and received, in
addition to many serious answers several answers from perverts, who
stated that they would be delighted to be able to handle a boy in the
sense she mentioned. In many cases, notwithstanding the use of the words
"energetic" or "severe," we recognise from the general wording of the
advertisement that it is seriously intended, and not issued with a
perverse aim; but at other times we derive an opposite impression. When
an "energetic instructress" advocates her "Anglo-American methods of
education," hardly any room for doubt remains; and such advertisements
as this belong to our third group.
I will now give some of the advertisements which I have been collecting
for years, some belonging to the second, and some to the third group, in
illustration of what has just been said. Certain of the advertisements
which I have classed in the second group, were probably not issued with
a perverse intent; this being partly shown by the context, although
without this context they would have been suspicious.
The following advertisements belong to the second group: "Boy of seven
to be placed under simple and scrupulous care, for the purposes of
energetic education (premium paid)." "Boys and girls of a fair age
received in a strict and severe boarding-school." "A strict,
disciplinary master required to teach English at a preparatory school
for the Army." The following advertisements are extremely suspicious: "A
fairly well-educated gentleman offers _energetic_ gratuitous
supplementary instruction." "Severe education for boys and girls;
energetic gentleman offers also free supplementary lessons."
"_Distinguished_, experienced lady gives advice and help in difficult
educational questions; defects of character, &c., treated with success."
"Advertiser recommends himself for the severe chastisement of naughty
children."
Many advertisements worded as above, or similarly, are, as was pointed
out above, shown by the context to be seriously meant, and must not then
be interpreted as perverse; but in the absence of such a context, the
use of the catch-words so well known to sexual perverts would have
rendered them highly suspicious. "_Education of Boys_, strict if
necessary, diligence at school, school-work under continuous control,
&c." This advertisement was probably not issued with perverse intent,
since the advertiser's full name and address were given, and a number of
additional details suggested that it was seriously meant. The same is
true of the following advertisements: "Private tutor, elderly,
experienced, severe instructor, holds classes, and also takes private
pupils." "Daily supplementary lessons desired by a student in the fourth
form of the Gymnasium [School] at X. An energetic and experienced
governess wanted." "An experienced and energetic governess, thoroughly
competent in the English language, very musical, desires morning or
afternoon employment as teacher of children or adults." "_Officer_
desires board with small family, preferably with authority over sons,
with whom strict care would gladly be taken." "Some pupils under eleven
years of age wanted to live with our own well-behaved children--no
objection to those difficult to manage. Energetic assistance, strict
individual instruction in the family, &c." The last few advertisements
are appended in illustration, although the context (which is not in all
cases given in its entirety) shows that they had no perverse intent.
Speaking generally, in view of the significance attached by sexual
perverts to the words "energetic," "strict," "severe," "English
methods," "discipline," &c., it will be wise, alike for those offering
and for those seeking instruction, to exercise the utmost care when
there is any possibility of mistake; as thus only is it possible to
avoid being misled by the overtures of perverts.
Advertisements belonging to the third group, some examples of which will
now be given, have of late become much rarer. Here are some:
"Distinguished, energetic lady desires fairly old boys and girls for
strict education." "_Distinguished_ lady desires a child of fair age
(girl by preference), to receive into the house for strict education and
training." "_Distinguished_ lady wishes to undertake the strict care and
education of children of fair age, boys and girls, whose relatives have
gone abroad." "_Artist_ offers to teach French and English, strict and
energetic." "_Strict_, _energetic_ tutor desires children of fair age
for strict education." "_Energetic_ widow desires a boy of fair age and
of good family, for strict education. Apply 'energetic,' Post-Office,
No.----." "_Girl_, seven years old, received by energetic lady for
strict education." "_Tutor_ undertakes, gratuitously, strict education
of growing children; especially suitable for cultured widow, who lacks
herself the requisite energy. Unexceptionable references." "Pupils
requiring energetic management, even if fairly old, received by a
gentleman for _strict education_." "Half-grown girl received in _strict
board_ by a governess." The perverse character of these advertisements
is rendered unmistakable by the fact that the catch-words are all
italicised. "_Naughty_ children; recommended for severe discipline;
replies to 'Free.'" "_Governess_, from England, recommends her admirable
boarding establishment for pupils of fair age. Apply 'Hearneshouse.'" No
doubt is possible in this case, since "Hearneshouse" is the title of a
sadistic novel. "Strict task-mistress wanted for a naughty girl of
fourteen. Those replying to this advertisement should describe their
methods of instruction." Here it is obvious that the advertiser hopes
for sexual excitement from reading the descriptions of chastisement for
which he asks. "_English_, strict method, offered by gentleman."
"Highly cultured lady seeks position as English gouvernante. Delight
William, Post Office, No.----." "_Governess Housekeeper_; cultured and
distinguished lady wanted, good-looking, age twenty to twenty-eight, for
the education of two motherless children, knowledge of English language
required. Good presence requisite, and must be extremely energetic."
Here it is possible that the advertiser really wants a housekeeper; but
the advertisement is perverse in character. "_Governess_, youthful,
energetic, very strict, either Englishwoman or Frenchwoman, wanted for
spoiled children. Very good salary." "_Energetic gentleman_, severe
disciplinarian, offers _English instruction_ to boys and girls of fair
age." No shadow of doubt is possible as to the perverse nature of this
last advertisement. The same is true of the one that follows:
"_Gentleman_ offers strict instruction to older boys. Replies to
'English,' c/o Office of this paper."
An advertisement which appeared about four years ago in a Hamburg paper
had a tragi-comic sequel. It ran as follows: "Difficult educational
opportunity. Advertiser, residing in Hanover, with pretty daughter of
twelve years, wishes to place her under strict discipline in the care of
a widow with a daughter of similar age. Arrangements must be made to
enable the advertiser herself to stay with the lady in Hamburg when
visiting that town from time to time. In replying to the office of this
paper, give a detailed account of the methods of punishment." A
gentleman who suspected that this advertisement was issued by a sexual
pervert, and was anxious about the future of the child, sent a reply in
the simulated handwriting of a woman. The answer he received showed that
the child was, in fact, being subjected to perverse maltreatment, and in
order to rescue the girl, after consultation with some friends, he
communicated the facts to the Public Prosecutor. However, that official
refused to interfere at this time. Then the advertisement appeared once
more, and this time the offender was arrested. The gentleman thereupon
wrote to the Public Prosecutor, blaming him for not having taken action
on the first occasion. The Public Prosecutor regarded this as libellous,
and actually brought an action for libel against the philanthropic
gentleman. Happily the Public Prosecutor lost his case; but none the
less, in view of what happened, a good citizen may well hesitate in
future to take similar action in the public interest, if, for some
trifling excess of zeal, he is to render himself liable to an action for
libel.
As I said above, of late years, in Berlin at any rate, such
advertisements appear less often; or those that do appear belong chiefly
to the second group. Doubtless we owe this to the action of the
authorities, and more especially to a paragraph of the _Lex
Heinze_,[126] of whose existence but few persons are aware, and of
which, as my own note-books show, certain sexual perverts have only
become aware to their sorrow through a legal prosecution. I refer to the
paragraph by which the issue of advertisements for an immoral purpose is
declared to be a punishable offence. The newspapers have now become
cautious about the insertion of advertisements whose immoral purpose is
plainly perceptible. Moreover, the perverts themselves who used to issue
such advertisements, having through the activity of the authorities
learned the significance of the paragraph in question, no longer
advertise in unmistakable terms.