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Title: Homo-sexual life
Author: William J. Fielding
Release date: April 21, 2026 [eBook #78514]
Language: English
Original publication: Girard: Haldeman-Julius Company, 1925
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMO-SEXUAL LIFE ***
LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 692
Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
Homo-Sexual Life
William J. Fielding
Author of “The Caveman Within Us,” “Sanity In
Sex,” “Health and Self-Mastery Through Psychoanalysis
and Autosuggestion,” “The Puzzle of
Personality,” “Autosuggestion--How It
Works,” “Psychoanalysis--The Key to
Human Behavior,” “Rejuvenation--Science’s
New Fountain of
Youth,” “Rational Sex
Series,” etc.
HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
GIRARD, KANSAS
Vol. IX
Rational Sex Series
William J. Fielding
Copyright, 1925
Haldeman-Julius Company
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
HOMO-SEXUAL LIFE
CHAPTER I.
COMPLEXITY OF SEX.
It has been stated that a person normally goes through three stages
in the course of his sexual development--which are represented
by the following dominant characteristics, in the order given:
_Autosexuality_, _Homosexuality_, and _Heterosexuality_.
Each is normal at a certain stage of life. Circumstances, hereditary
or environmental, or a combination of both (there is a vast amount of
controversy about this phase of the subject), may halt the course of
development at either the first or second stage, so that the final
evolution of sexual life may never be realized.
This refers to the psychological and emotional aspects of sexual
development, rather than the purely physical, as it is the former that
sustains the shocks in the difficult process of the individual’s social
adjustment.
While there is a great deal of theoretical abstraction in such a
broad survey of the sexual life, nevertheless, there are enough
concrete facts at hand to make the conclusions as accurate and
serviceable as any that are to be obtained within the realm of actual
clinical practice. The sexual urge is by no means a simple, direct
manifestation, but consists of many partial and often conflicting
impulses, with ramifications that extend into every channel and byway
of life.
AUTO-SEXUALITY, as the term implies, means that an individual’s sexual
interest is turned upon himself. This condition is normal to infants.
It also is more pronounced in primitive and savage tribes, and has its
analogy, in more practical form, in the lower order of the animal and
vegetable world in those species whose individuals are self-sufficient
sexually.
These types, which are capable of reproducing their kind without
depending for fertilization upon another individual of the same
species, are called _hermaphrodites_. This latter term, in its real
sense, means combining the sexual organs of the two sexes.
There are some human beings--_variants_--who possess hermaphrodite
characteristics, usually combining the more or less completely
developed organs of one sex with the rudimentary organs of the opposite
sex.
These hermaphrodite characters are not without their
significance--namely, the innate bisexuality of man. While in the
normal person, the attributes of one sex are dominant, there are always
present in latent form some evidences of the opposite sex. This is no
new discovery. In fact the concept of bisexuality is very ancient.
Traces of it are to be found in Chinese mythology. The classical Greek
mind seems to have had a particular interest in speculating about it.
The mythical personification of bisexuality in the Hermaphroditos, the
narrative of Aristophanes in the Platonic dialogue, and at a later
period the suggestion of a Gnostic sect (Theophites) that primitive
man was a “man-woman,” are all based on this presentiment. The first
divinities were always bisexual, being either women with a penis or men
with a female breast.
WHAT BIOLOGY TEACHES US.
Lower down in the biological scale--in fact, at the very bottom--we
find the _amoeba_, which represents an auto-sexual, or more accurately,
a mono-sexual, form. It has all the potentialities for reproduction
within itself. By the process of division, first of its nucleus, and
then its whole self, it becomes two new individuals.
A little further up the evolutionary path, we find the _paramoecium_.
At one stage of its career it will divide its nucleus first, and then
itself (an autosexual act) similar to the _amoeba_. At another stage it
will engage in an elementary sexual act by coming ventrally together
with another _paramoecium_, exchange one-half of its nucleus for
half the nucleus of the other _paramoecium_, through the mouth, and
this process is followed by other nuclear changes, and finally each
_paramoecium_ divides itself into two new entities.
There is no apparent difference between these primitive little
animals. They have no male and female organs, but it is a plausible
assumption that the nuclei of each one contains a “male” and “female”
portion--something unknown but necessary to procreation. In this
instance we have the beginning of bisexuality; but autosexuality is
still an essential factor in reproduction.
Somewhat higher up the scale we come across the _hydra_, a
multicellular animal. Here, also, autosexuality plays a prominent role.
The _hydra_ can, without the aid of another, “bud off” a new living
_hydra_. Bisexuality is evidenced, however, in the presence of male
and female cells which form in the single _hydra_. These unite with
one another to produce a new individual in true bisexual manner. In a
sense this creature is a combination of the autosexual, bisexual and
hermaphrodite.
Another step up the evolutionary ladder we find the earthworm. Each
worm has the organs of the two sexes--the equivalent of testes and
ovaries,--properly developed, but each worm needs another worm to
induce fertilization. In this instance, we have true hermaphroditism,
and bisexuality is definitely established. However, as the two worms
are of the same sex--each being male as well as female--they are in
that way homosexual, as well, being attracted by worms of similar
constitution.
As life grows more complex and we ascend the biological scale, the
sexual processes also become more ramified, until in the higher forms
of life we find the sexual nature of the individuals of the different
genera and species sharply differentiated.
But even in the highest form of life, there are the vestigial organs
and characters of the opposite sex, so that while the normal human
being has a definite sexual category, it is just as truly apparent that
no individual is wholly of one sexual character. The most masculine man
is not one hundred per cent masculine, nor is the most feminine woman
one hundred per cent feminine. The proof of this will be shown as we
proceed in our discussion.
The physical bisexual characters--those of the opposite sex being
present in rudimentary form--are readily observable. In the male, there
are the vestigial breasts and nipples, and other rudimentary features
less prominent; and sometimes a general feminine contour of body is
noticeable in the male.
The most feminine of women have a growth of colorless hair, called
the “lanugo,” corresponding to the male beard. If the woman has a
larger proportion of masculine chemistry in her make-up, this hirsute
growth may be quite prominent; and in some cases very pronounced, as
in the instance of the bearded ladies who exhibit themselves in shows
and circuses. Women with a more or less definite masculine cast of
figure, movement, manner and voice are commonplace;--as is the opposite
phenomenon--effeminate men.
The psychological phases of bisexualism parallel the physical. We might
even go farther and state they are more in evidence than the physical,
as they are subject to modification by environmental influences to a
degree far exceeding the physical.
As was observed in the opening paragraph of this chapter, the
individual may suffer a retardation or fixation at any stage of
the sexual development, which holds him back into another and more
primitive psychical and emotional level, which he has chronologically
outgrown.
All infants and small children are autosexual, and evidence a sexual
interest in their bodies. Sometimes this is true in only a slight,
almost casual, degree; other times it is pronounced, and becomes a
problem. There is often a tendency toward automatic masturbation,
or other forms of so-called sexual precocity, which may unduly
alarm parents. However, it is well for parents to know that these
manifestations are not abnormal--unless grossly over-emphasized--but
are merely indicative of the passing stage of autosexuality. They will
in due course be outgrown and replaced by other manifestations of
sexual interest, unless unwise methods of repression are used.
HOMOSEXUALITY means a state in which one is sexually attracted toward
members of the same sex. This is normally a primitive characteristic
of childhood, which prevails up to the time of adolescence, but which
may persist in adult life. Some degree of it does normally hold over in
every adult, but it remains in the background of the unconscious, and
is sublimated along social lines.
Young boys and young girls usually have little interest in the opposite
sex--in fact, are frequently quite scornful of them. On the other hand,
they form strong friendships with members of their own sex, and, as
is well known, when their sexual interests have not been successfully
sublimated, engage in mutual sexual practices and masturbation.
Before the full development of the genital organs, the sexual
tendencies are predominantly homosexual, although the influence of the
preceding stage (autosexuality) is still considerably in evidence,
and there is also present the germ of the succeeding stage of
heterosexuality (erotic desires toward members of the opposite sex).
If the youth has been reared in a healthy, constructive environment,
conducive to proper sublimation of his primitive sexual tendencies,
and particularly if his libido is not excessive, he may scarcely be
conscious of his homosexual impulses. On the other hand, if he is
endowed with an unusually strong hereditary sexual constitution, or if
the repression and sublimation have been faulty in his upbringing, the
homosexual tendencies may reflect themselves in various ways in his
conscious attitudes.
It should be borne in mind that there is no abrupt line of demarcation
between these stages of development. They overlap, and some of each of
them, even the most primitive and infantile, are carried over in the
unconscious mind throughout adult life. In the normal, well-adjusted
adult, there are still extant rudiments of the previous stages of the
emotional and affective life, just as the body contains vestiges of
the bisexual organism, from which it evolved in the early weeks of
intrauterine life.
The predominant homosexual element or primitive emotional character
asserts itself in various typical forms that are apparent to those
informed upon the subject. In this connection, Bousfield states:
“Cruelty on the part of boys at school (bullying) is nearly always
a sexual manifestation which, like homosexuality, should be only a
passing phase, which is later repressed into the unconscious. The
monks who denied themselves sexual intercourse, but found pleasure in
flogging themselves or others, form an example of the way that sexual
energy, when denied its normal course, finds a more primitive outlet.
A schoolmaster with repressed and unconscious homosexuality will often
be noted for his flogging proclivities, and so forth. Children, more
especially boys, are observed to have an instinct of cruelty; for
example, they pull the wings off flies. The sport of the chase or of
fishing serves to gratify the instinct in adults.”
Prominent in the classification of adolescent homosexual attraction
are the school-friendships of girls, which are known variously as
“crushes,” “flames,” and “raves.” Elaborate romances are sometimes
bound up in these attachments, with their love at first-sight,
courtship, love letters, jealousy, and other manifestations of erotic
affection. Havelock Ellis states that while these alliances are
sometimes sexual, they are often not so--but are full of “psychic
erethism.”
CHAPTER II.
THEORIES ABOUT HOMO-SEXUALITY.
Some of the greatest sexologists and psychiatrists of modern times have
concerned themselves with the causative factors of homosexuality. So
much new material relating to unconscious mental activities has been
uncovered in recent years, that many of the older authorities, whose
opinions have long carried much weight, are now considered obsolete, at
least in respect to homosexual problems.
Krafft-Ebing, for instance, a widely quoted authority, and still a
factor through his works in influencing both the profession and laymen,
originally conceived homosexuality as the result of a hereditary
transmission. This contention has never been fully corroborated by the
observations of later investigators.
To this extent only is homosexuality an inherited trait beyond fear of
any contradiction: Everybody inherits homosexual _tendencies_.
As we observed in the previous chapter, every child is homosexual in
disposition. Therefore, heredity _per se_ does not give us the key to
the problem, except possibly in those instances where the hereditary
constitution furnishes certain predisposing factors to homosexuality.
And this predisposition may be overcome, wholly or in part, in a
healthy, constructive environment; or it may be cultivated in the
opposite kind of environment.
From this standpoint, heredity may furnish a favorable soil--for almost
anything. The crop that is harvested depends upon the seeds that are
sown, and the care that is given, or the injuries that are sustained,
through environment. Consider for a moment how fertile a breeding
ground for the homosexual disposition is the homelife presided over by
certain types of nervous and psychopathic parents!
Even more in error is Krafft-Ebing in associating homosexuality with
the early habit of masturbation. This is largely confusion of cause
and effect. Perhaps all homosexuals are found to have masturbated
in childhood--ergo, masturbation is a sign of homosexuality! This
explanation, of course, leaves entirely out of consideration the
innumerable persons who have masturbated in childhood and have become
normal heterosexual adults.
“Nothing is more likely,” states Krafft-Ebing, “than masturbation so
to disturb and occasionally thwart all noble emotions at the source
as they arise spontaneously out of the sexual feeling. The habit robs
the nascent feeling of charm and beauty, leaving behind only the husk
of grossly animal craving for sexual gratification. An individual, so
thwarted, attains the age of maturity lacking the esthetic, ideal, pure
and undefiled longing which leads to the other sex. At the same time,
the heat of sensuous passion cools off while the inclination toward
the other sex is significantly weakened. Thus, deficiency embraces the
morals, the ethics, the phantasy and the disposition of the youthful
masturbator as well as his emotional and instinctive life, and holds
true of both sexes, occasionally reducing to zero the yearning after
the opposite sex, so that in the end masturbation is preferred to every
other form of gratification.”
Dr. Stekel has answered this statement very effectively in the
following words (from “_Bi-Sexual Love_,” translated by James Van
Teslaar, M.D.): “This contention is altogether wrong. I have never
seen so many and such pronounced idealists as among masturbators.
Young artists, poets and musicians in particular often show, I have
found, a strong tendency to masturbation, and this agrees with the
pronounced bisexuality of all artists, which has been particularly
pointed out by Fliess. The youths of this type are often so delicate
and sensitive that they see in the sexual act only animal brutality and
hide their own sexuality from the whole world. Among masturbators we
find the champions of truth, the over-moralistic preachers, the ethical
reformers and dreamers.”
If Krafft-Ebing’s theory of masturbation being an index of
homosexuality were true, it might well be set forth as a demonstrable
fact, in the hope that this knowledge would be a stepping-stone to
constructive results in our understanding of the sexual life. However,
in addition to being a fallacious conception, it has the further
discredit of probably having wrought great damage to masturbating
youths in giving them a false and hopeless impression of their
actual situation. If a youth in his effort to overcome masturbation,
believes himself, in addition, to be a predestined victim of
homosexuality--especially with the prevailing social stigma which
that condition carries--the injurious effect may quite conceivably be
disastrous.
Magnus Hirschfeld, one of the greatest of contemporary authorities on
the sex question in all its phases, is convinced that homosexuality
is a normal state, and that genuine homosexuality is always an inborn
condition. His views may be summed up in the statement that there is a
genuine inborn homosexuality which must not be considered a morbidity.
Furthermore, it should not be confused either with bisexuality or with
pseudo-sexuality.
Those who look upon homosexuality from the psycho-pathological
viewpoint are in agreement to this extent--that the homosexual
condition is not a product of degeneration in the ordinary sense, but,
rather, a neurosis.
Stekel states emphatically, “_I have never yet found a homosexual who
was not a neurotic._”
The relationship of neurosis and homosexuality is set forth by the same
authority as follows:
(a) Pronounced physical and mental stigmata of degeneration are
relatively rare among homosexual men and women; at any rate such signs
are not more frequent in proportion to the total number of homosexuals
than among the heterosexuals of both sexes.
(b) On the other hand, we find frequently and not merely as a result
of homosexuality, _a greater instability of the nervous system_
(frequently shown in the periodic character of endogenous temperamental
instability.)
(c) The family of the homosexual often contains a larger number of
nervous persons and such as deviate from the normal sexual type.
This latter observation, of course, tends to give homosexuality an
hereditary aspect, which is Hirschfeld’s opinion. But, when analyzed,
this may mean that a nervous or neurotic disposition is inherited,
which, under certain environmental conditions (the negative attitude of
parents, the dominant mother, etc.) leads to a homosexual goal.
Dr. Iwan Bloch, who has world-wide standing as a sexologist, gives the
following interesting opinion:
1. The so-called “undifferentiated” stage of the sexual instinct is
often eliminated when the instinct becomes directed toward a definite
particular sex among heterosexuals or homosexuals before the advent of
puberty. Homosexuality shows a definite, clear direction of the sexual
instinct towards the same sex long before puberty.
2. A comprehensive theory of homosexuality must also explain the
extreme cases, particularly male homosexuality coupled with complete
virility.
3. Sexual parts and genital glands cannot determine homosexuality
in those possessing typical normal male genitalia and testicles;
neither can the brain itself be the determining factor in genuine
homosexuality, because homosexuality cannot be rooted out by the
strongest conscious and unconscious heterosexual influences brought to
bear upon thought and phantasy,--the condition developing in spite of
such influences.
4. Since as a predisposition (not as sexual instinct) homosexuality
appears long before puberty and before the actual functioning of
the respective genital glands, it suggests that in homosexuals some
physiologic action pertaining to “sexuality,” but not necessarily
related to the functioning of the genital glands, undergoes some subtle
change as the result of which the sexual instinct is turned from its
goal.
5. The condition suggests chemical changes, alteration in the chemistry
of sexual tension, the latter being fairly independent of the activity
of the sexual glands proper, as is shown by the fact that it may be
preserved among eunuchs and others who undergo castration.
Krafft-Ebing, Hirschfeld and Bloch, as well as many other investigators
and writers, have failed to appreciate the psychological factors
involved in homosexuality. Every young individual unconsciously
patterns its conduct, especially in the matter of its attitudes toward
persons of the opposite sex, after some one in the home environment.
When the boy, for instance, is raised under conditions which cause
him to pattern his actions after the mother-model, to _feel_ himself
woman-like, he will unconsciously and automatically imitate feminine
ways and adopt woman’s attitudes, in the sexual sphere as well as
otherwise.
To illustrate this point, if a boy is brought up by a widowed mother,
let us say, in a home environment in which there is no male present,
the young boy, impelled to imitate some one in order to establish
a standard of conduct, copies his mother’s attitude of physical
indifference to women and physical interest in men (if she is a
normally constituted woman). If the mother, or other feminine guardian,
should be homosexually disposed, i.e., showing a physical interest in
women and a physical indifference to men, then, by the same token, the
boy would tend to develop a sexual interest in women, and become a
normal heterosexual man.
Every young boy’s ambition, normally, is to be like his father;
later, it may be to excel the father--but this identification, under
the circumstances, is present. Now, the absence of a father in the
house, or the presence of a father of weak character, who suffers
in comparison with the mother, tends to force the youth to make his
ego-ideal identification with the mother, with results that are not
conducive to normality in the sexual life.
Under the latter condition, the youth associates the mother with
sex domination and personal power--it is a woman-dominated world.
Consequently there is also present the attitude, either of wishing to
be a woman and rule, or of fleeing from woman when she clashes with his
will to power as man.
Anyone who knows the dynamic influence that mental processes,
particularly the unconscious ones, have over the physical organism
and its far-reaching manifestations, will recognize at once the
possibilities that are bound up in this situation.
We see this same principle every day, and in fact apply it (in the
opposite manner to obtain the opposite results), when we inculcate
manly ideas in the minds of our boys and encourage them to conduct
themselves in a manly way, in order to develop in them the attributes
of manliness. With girls, we foster the womanly ideal and encourage
them in the direction of proper feminine conduct to promote the
accredited qualities of womanhood.
We also see evidenced at times the wish to remain a child, and to
retain the privileges and attentions of childhood, which apply to
neurotic persons. This notably interferes with their development and
progress toward adulthood.
Stekel tells us that when a boy acts like a girl, it does not
necessarily mean that he has that kind of a _predisposition_. It may
only signify his identification with his mother or with a sister, whom
he unconsciously accepts as a model to pattern his conduct after.
It is the conviction of Sadger that permanent homosexuality is
established through some significant incident which leads to the
repression of the mother in her role as helper and teacher. Among such
incidents may be death, sudden financial reverses, and consequent
neurosis, making sanatorium treatment necessary, inconsiderate
persecution of the boy on account of masturbation, and similar psychic
shocks. Sadger’s conclusions may be summed up as follows:
(a) The urning is a victim of withdrawal from the mother (the first
caretaker or nurse, respectively), in whom he is himself seriously
disappointed. He represses the mother by identifying himself completely
with her.
(b) The path to homosexuality leads through narcissism--that is, love
of self, as one was, or as one may ideally be.
(c) The sexual ideal of the invert includes not only traits of former
female and male sexual objectives, but also features of one’s own
beloved self.
(d) Being brought up in surroundings exclusively feminine--the father
does not count in such circumstances--fosters homosexuality in the male
as well as in the female, for reasons that are not sufficiently clear
as yet. Moreover, the urning is usually an only child.
(e) Finally, inversion may be fostered by a sort of “latter-day
obedience” to the mother’s commands. I have observed not rarely that
mothers warn their children against harmless, though warm and friendly
contact with the other sex, as something unpermissible and bad and that
the teaching thus instilled may unfortunately increase the disposition
towards one’s own sex through later obedience.
As Stekel has well stated, in commenting upon Sadger’s conclusions,
the first of these is false, because the homosexual is not a victim
of withdrawal from the mother, but rather of a fixation upon her.
Further, one does not repress a person when one identifies one’s self.
Identification is direct love; differentiation means repression. Where
homosexuals (male) identify themselves with the mother--as many of them
do--there may also be present a repression of the father-ideal.
Alfred Adler, whose conception of the neurosis is based on the
hypothesis of “_the male protest_,” also associates homosexuality
with this principle. In his opinion, all reactions and protective
constructions or fixations of the neurotic are based on the wish to
be “_a complete being_,” as he sees it. Homosexuality exemplifies
this protest in a singular form. The homosexual’s ambition is (in its
unconscious implications): _I want to be a woman!_ This, according to
Adler, _is a male protest under the use of female means_. He maintains
that the homosexual attempts by this means to enhance his strength of
personality. The latter turns away from woman because he fears his
inferiority. He fears the sexual partner. Fear, shame, hate and disgust
are the inhibitions which drive the homosexual away from the opposite
sex.
Adler mentions that the over-valuation of the homosexual partner serves
also to raise the neurotic invert in his own estimation. Thus, in
neuroses, homosexuality, even when carried into practice, is always
found to be a symbol by means of which it is sought to place the
individual’s own superiority beyond question. This mechanism is similar
to that of a religious psychosis, in which the fancied nearness to God
has the significance of an elevation. In a sense, the religious fanatic
identifies himself with God, just as the non-religious psychopath may
identify himself with Napoleon, Caesar, Alexander the Great, or some
other character in history whose personality completely dominated its
environment.
_Syphilophobia_ (fear of syphilis) is one of the forms which the fear
of women is especially likely to take. The attitude of such phobists
is usually as follows: They fear that they will not be able to play
a dominating part in regard to women because of some feeling of
inferiority, for which they have all sorts of imaginary foundations,
at times without conscious motivation. In this manner, following the
increasing trend to belittle woman, they arrive at suspicious trains of
thought which are to secure them against sexual relations. Sometimes
a woman is a riddle, sometimes a criminal person, or a shallow
spend-thrift, always thinking of adornment and similar vanities, and
sexually insatiable.
The suspicions constantly arise that woman is a crafty and cunning
being, bent on evil. This conception is universal and is found in
all periods of history. As Adler states, “They emerge in the most
sublime and lowest creations of art, have a place in the thoughts and
efforts of the wisest, and create in man and in society a constant
predisposition which develops suspicious and cautious traits, in order
always to keep in touch with the enemy and to be in good time for the
defense against knavish attacks. It is an error to think that it is
only the man who harbors distrust of the sexual partner. The same trait
is found also in the woman, often less distinct in character, when
fictions of her own strength put a check to the doubt of her own value,
but flashing up most strongly when the feeling of degradation becomes
overpowering.”
The detraction of woman, which recurs so constantly in Jewish,
Christian and Mohammedan religious writings and usages, undoubtedly
has this psychological impulse, behind it. The medieval disputes
as to whether woman had a soul, or, indeed, whether she was really
a human being at all; the hideous persecution and burning of women
as witches and vampires, which was participated in by church, state
and populace,--all of these practices had behind them in some degree
a neurotic fear of woman as the sexual partner. Man feared his
inferiority, and he compensated for that fear by subjecting, and often
eliminating, the object of his phobia. By this irrational gesture, he
symbolically raised himself to a position of greater security.
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895), a brilliant and learned man and
able legal official of Hanover, Germany, for many years expounded and
defended homosexual love. He was himself an invert, and made many
attempts to secure a revision of the legal position of the sexual
invert in Germany.
Ulrichs formulated an elaborate classification of human types, with
an interesting nomenclature, which despite its elaborateness has been
found serviceable.
Among males, he classifies the normal man as the “Dioning,” and the
invert as the “Urning.”[1] Urnings are subdivided into several groups.
First, those who are thoroughly manly in appearance and mental habit
and character (“Mannlings”) and who tend to love softer and younger
specimens of their own sex; second, those who are effeminate in
appearance and cast of mind (“Weiblings”), who love rougher and older
men; third, those who are of medium type (“Zwischen Urnings”) and love
young men.
[1] From _Uranos_, heaven; his idea being that the Uranian love was of
a higher order than the normal attachment.
Then there are “Urano-Dionings,” who have the capacity of love in both
directions, that is, for women and for men. These are generally of a
manly type.
Besides these there are some sub-species, such as the “Uraniaster,” who
is a normal man who has acquired the urning habit; and the “Virilized
Urning,” who is an Urning who has gotten the normal habit, although,
according to Ulrichs’ classification, this is not really natural to him.
A better conception of the whole arrangement may be obtained from the
following table:
{ (a) Normal Man or Dioning--called
{ Uraniaster when he acquires
{ Urning tendencies.
{ { 1. Mannling.
The { { 2. Zwischen-Urning.
Human { (b) Urning { 3. Weibling.
Male { { 4. Also called Virilized
{ { Urning when he
{ { acquires the normal
{ { habit.
{ (c) Urano-dioning.
Edward Carpenter states that if we add to this a corresponding table
for the female, we shall have an idea of the complication of Ulrichs’
system! Yet, complex as it is, and whatever criticisms we may make upon
it, we must allow that it does not exceed the complexity of the real
facts of Nature.
As we observe from the foregoing, there are many and conflicting ideas
regarding homosexuality, but I believe no concept of this phenomenon is
so satisfactory as that based on psychoanalytical data, as developed
from the teachings of Freud.
Taking into consideration the findings of all the analysts, it seems to
me that Stekel’s conception of the problem, summarized as follows, is
pre-eminently the most logical and valid:
“All persons originally are bisexual in their predisposition. There
is no exception to this rule. Normal persons show a distinct bisexual
period up to the age of puberty. The heterosexual then represses his
homosexuality. He also sublimates a portion of his homosexual cravings
in friendship, nationalism, social endeavors, gatherings, etc. If this
sublimation fails him he becomes neurotic, since no person overcomes
completely his homosexual tendencies. Everyone carries within himself
the predisposition to neurosis. The stronger the repression, the
stronger is also the neurotic reaction which may be powerful enough
in its extreme form to lead to paranoia. If the heterosexuality is
repressed, homosexuality comes to the forefront. In the case of the
homosexual, the repressed and incompletely conquered heterosexuality
furnishes the disposition toward neurosis. The more thoroughly his
heterosexuality is sublimated the more completely the homosexual
presents the picture of a normal healthy person. He then resembles
the normal heterosexual. But like the normal heterosexual individual,
even the ‘male hero’ type displays a permanent latent disposition to
neurosis.
“The process of sublimation is more difficult in the case of the
normal homosexual than in the case of the normal heterosexual. That
is why this type is extremely rare and why a thorough analysis
always discloses typical neurotic reactions. The neurotic reactions
of expression are anxiety, fear, shame, disgust and hatred. The
heterosexual is inspired with disgust at any homosexual act. That
proves his affectively determined negative attitude. For disgust is but
the obverse of attraction. The homosexual manifests the same feeling
of disgust for woman, showing him to be a neurotic. (Or else he hates
woman). For the normal homosexual--if there be such a type--would be
indifferent towards woman. These generalizations already show that the
healthy person must act as a bisexual being.”
My only criticism of Stekel’s ideas is to call attention to the fact
that, being a medical psychologist, his whole experience has been
practically with those types whose neurotic tendencies have been
emphasized. There are and have been a great many inverts who have
not only enjoyed average mental and physical health--but have been
versatile and productive in their accomplishments. Chapter V is devoted
to the achievements of the better types of inverts. Many have been
brilliantly endowed, have attained outstanding success in the arts and
sciences, and even in the military field, as well as in other spheres
of activity.
CHAPTER III.
HOMO-SEXUALITY IN HISTORY.
It has been mentioned on another page that the problem of bisexuality,
in a more or less general manner, has engaged the attention of
observers for ages. The specific phenomenon of homo-sexuality has
been even more closely studied, dramatized, romanced about, and even
idealized.
No less a luminary and distant character than Plato expressed himself
in the following words regarding the subject under discussion (quoted
from Plato’s _Banquet_, chapters VIII and IX): “There is no Aphrodites
without an Eros. But there are two goddesses. The older Aphrodites came
into existence without a mother; being the daughter of Zeus and Diana
and is called Pandemos. The Eros of the former must, therefore, be
Uranos, that of the latter Pandemos. With the love of Eros Pandemos the
ordinary human beings love; Eros Uranos did not choose a female, but
a male; this is the love for boys. Whoever is inspired with this love
turns to the male sex.”
Herodotus, the Greek historian, who seemed possessed of omnipresence,
because he appeared to have been everywhere and seen everything in the
known world of his time, described definite characteristics indicative
of homo-sexuality. Thus, writing of the Scythians, he referred to a
“peculiar disease,” the symptoms of which were these: That certain of
the men became effeminate in character, put on female garments, did the
work of women, and even became effeminate in appearance.
In attempting an explanation of this abnormality of the Scythians,
Herodotus fell back on the myth that the goddess Venus, angered by the
plundering of the temple at Ascalon by the Scythians, had made _women_
of these plunderers and their posterity.
Herodotus also made the curious remark, with respect to these
effeminate Scythians, whom he called _Enarees_ or _Androgyni_, “that
they were endowed by Venus with the power of divination,” and were
consulted by the King of the Scythians when the latter was ill.
Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine,” having no faith in supernatural
causes of disease, ascribed the cause to impotence. He attributed
it, however incorrectly, as due to the custom of the Scythians to
have themselves bled behind the ears in order to cure an affliction
brought about by excessive horse-back riding. It was his theory that
these veins were of great importance in the preservation of the sexual
powers, and that when they were severed, impotence followed.
The Scythians so afflicted, however, believing their impotence due to
divine punishment and beyond human aid, donned the garb of females and
lived as women among women.
It is thought that fear of excess population on the part of the early
Greeks was one factor in turning their erotic interests from women
to young men. As the so-called Greek states of that period consisted
principally of cities with very limited capacity for sustenance, the
problem of feeding the population was one of some concern. Aristotle,
on this account, advised the men to shun their wives and to indulge in
boy-love. Even before him, Socrates had already hailed pederasty as a
mark of superior culture.
Diotima revealed to Socrates a new spiritual principle in erotic
life--the principle which guides man beyond the pleasures of the senses
and, through love, leads him to the divine. “The slave of his senses
runs after women; but he who loves with his soul and strives to win
immortality through virtue and wisdom, seeks a great and beautiful
soul that he may surrender himself to it completely.” This looks
innocent enough on the surface, but as it was the opinion of the Greeks
that a beautiful soul was to be found only in the body of a man, the
implications are clear.
Dr. Beatrice M. Hinkle (_The Re-Creating of the Individual_) remarks
that “The symbol of this human ideal achievement for the Greek was the
psychic hermaphrodite, the blend of feminine and masculine attributes
in a male form and its immortalization was attained in Greek art. The
homosexuality flourished as the natural accompaniment of man’s love
for himself--that is, of his own sex--was an incidental result which
does not affect the real significance of the Greek achievement, nor
alter the greatness of their ideal aim, the creation of the highest
human values under the conception of ideal love, and the effort at its
achievement in the world of reality.... The ‘great and beautiful soul’
could only be found in the male form--women belonged to the animal
sphere and could contribute only to the sensual pleasure of man.”
As the women were neglected by the men, the former tended to engage
in erotic practices among members of their own sex. In the island of
Lesbos, the women were especially given to indulging in the love of
their own sex--from which historic precedent we get the term _Lesbian
Love_.
Sappho, the _Lesbian Nightingale_, who lived about 600 B. C. was the
principal representative and has remained the classical oracle of this
form of erotic expression. In her ode to Venus, she sings fervently of
her passions:
“Thou who rulest all, upon flowers enthroned,
Daughter of Zeus, born of foam, thou artful one,
Hark to my call.
Not in anguish and bitter suffering, O goddess,
Let me perish!--”
The Hellenic conception of beauty was quite invariably realized in
the male form, with a characteristic touch of bisexuality--almost
a modified hermaphroditism. The sculpture of the period, and of
subsequent periods, whenever it has been influenced by the Greeks,
shows this tendency. Both Apollo and Dionysus are represented with male
and female attributes. The female figures approach the masculine in the
cast of their features as well as in their bodily proportions.
As the growing boy comes nearest to combining the male and female
lines, the blending of these in sculpture realized the ideal of
classical Greek art.
A striking example of the combining of the male and female attributes
is seen in the Apollo in the temple at Delphi--one of the foremost
seats of prophesy and divination in the old world. Apollo, who presided
at this shrine, was a queer blend of masculine and feminine characters.
He was frequently represented as being very feminine in form,
particularly in the more archaic statues.
Apollo was the patron of song and music. He was, too, a representative
divinity of the Uranian love, being the special god of the Dorian
Greeks, who seem to have been responsible for establishing the custom
of invert love in that country. It was said of Apollo that to expiate
his pollution by the blood of the Python, whom he slew, he became the
slave and devoted favorite of Admetus.
Muller described a Dorian religious festival, in which a boy, taking
the part of Apollo, “probably imitated the manner in which the god,
as herdsman and slave of Alcestis, submitted to the most degrading
service.”
The opinion is expressed by Dr. Iwan Bloch in his great work, “_Die
Prostitution_” that homosexuality, on account of its strange and
inexplicable character, was accounted by primitive people as something
divine and miraculous. To the homosexual man or woman were therefore
attributed supernatural powers. In this respect, the homosexual had
characteristics in common with the primitive gods, which probably
accounts for the ancients venerating their inverts.
Bloch says on this score: “This riddle, which despite all our efforts,
present-day science has not yet satisfactorily solved, must to the
primitive intelligence have appeared even more inexplicable than to us;
and a man born with the inclination toward his own sex must have been
regarded as something extraordinary, as one of those strange freaks of
Nature which among Primitives are so easily accounted divine marvels
and honored as such. The by no means scanty supply of ethnological
facts on this subject which we possess confirms the above view, and
shows in what odor of sanctity homosexual individuals have often stood
among Nature-folk--for which reason they frequently played an important
part in religious rituals and festivals.”
It was the theory of Adolf Bastian, a German authority, that the
priests among early peoples, as representatives of the bisexual
principle in Nature, encouraged homosexual rites in the temples on the
same footing as heterosexual rites.
“The men,” stated Bastian, “prayed to the active powers of Nature, and
the women, in privacy and retirement, to the feminine powers--while
the priests, who had to satisfy the demands of both parties, learned
the idea of sex changes from the Moon, and served the masculine gods
in masculine attire, and the goddesses in feminine garments, or set up
images of a bearded-Venus and of a Hercules as spinning at the wheel.”
Practically all the ancient deities, at one time or another, seem to
have been invested with bisexual characters. Even Venus or Aphrodite
was sometimes worshipped in the dual form. Frazer in his _Adonis_,
etc., states that in Cyprus there was a bearded and masculine image of
Venus in female attire, and that according to Philochorus, the deity
thus represented was the moon. Sacrifices were offered to him or her by
men clad as women, and by women clad as men.
This bearded female deity is sometimes also referred to as Aphroditus,
or as Venus Mylitta. While the worship of bearded goddesses was
practiced principally in Cyprus and Syria, Egypt also had a
representation of a bearded Isis, with the infant Horus in her lap.
In the Orphic hymns, we find the following bisexual features and powers
attributed to the deities:
“Zeus was the first of all, Zeus last, the lord of the lightning;
Zeus was the head, the middle, from him all things were created;
Zeus was Man, and again Zeus was the Virgin Eternal.”
In another passage, Adonis is addressed thus:
“Hear me, who pray to thee, hear me, O many-named and best of deities,
Thou, with thy gracious hair ... both maiden and youth, Adonis.”
Boy-love is believed to have been introduced in Hellas by the Dorians,
as in the pre-Doric period (Homer, for instance), the custom of
homosexual practice had as yet no roots as an institution.
In Greece, boy-love was the privilege of the elect only, being
permitted to the free citizen, the knight. Slaves were forbidden to
indulge in the practice, often under penalty of death. Strict rules
were formulated for the regulation of the practice, which in time took
on the aspect of a social institution, fostered and approved by the
state.
In Sparta the lovers were held to a strict accounting for their
“companions” who became attached to them from their twelfth year;
so that they, and not their young companions, were punished for any
shameful act on the part of the latter.
The choice of boy-lovers in Crete took the form of bridal theft. The
lover advised the boy’s family of his intention of stealing the boy.
If the family did not like the “match,” it tried to avoid the capture
of the youth; but on the other hand if the alliance was considered a
desirable one, the “romance” was encouraged. The higher the lover’s
social position the greater was the honor felt by the boy and the
family. Afterwards, the chosen one was sent home bearing gifts.
So established was the practice upon the rock of social convention
that it was considered a shame for a boy to possess no knightly
lover. It was a great honor, on the other hand, for a youth to be
coveted by numerous lovers. Repelling a wooing knight was considered
ignominious--a blot on one’s honor.
In Crete, Thebes and Thera, these unions enjoyed religious sanction.
The engagement of the lovers, or at least their physical attachment,
was accorded the protection of some god or hero. In Thebes, upon the
holy promontory near the City, some 50 to 70 meters from the temple of
Apollo Karneies and on the sacred site dedicated to Zeus, there is a
chiselled inscription, which bears these words: “On this holy place,
under the protection of Zeus, Krion has consummated his union with the
son of Bathykles and proclaiming it proudly to the world dedicates to
it this imperishable memorial. And many Thereans with him, and after
him, have united themselves with their boys on this same holy spot.”
Referring to Rome in the time of the emperors, during which time
lewdness and debauchery assumed forms that could only have been
inspired by moral insanity, Bebel states that men and women vied with
each other in immorality. The number of public brothels increased
rapidly, and besides “Greek love” (Pederasty) was practiced more
and more by the men. As an indication of the extent of homosexual
indulgence, at one time the number of male prostitutes in Rome was
greater than the number of female prostitutes.
Later, when the pendulum swung the other way, repressive measures were
taken to stamp out the practice of homosexuality. Both Constantine and
Theodosius enacted legislation against sexual inversion, even going
to the extent of committing the offenders to “avenging flames.” These
statutes, however, were not rigidly enforced, and modern opinion on the
question may be said to have come from Justinian’s enactments.
HOMO-SEXUALITY AMONG PRIMITIVE PEOPLE.
Among primitive tribes, religious rites and ceremonies in association
with homosexual acts have long been observed. Dr. W. A. Hammond reports
that the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico cultivate so-called “mujerados,”
of which one is required in every tribe of this group. They play
an important role in the Spring religious festivals--which, from
the modern viewpoint, are really orgies--in which pederasty figures
prominently. These Saturnalia naturally were guarded with the greatest
secrecy from the observation of outsiders.
To cultivate a _mujerado_, a very powerful man is chosen, and he is
induced to masturbate excessively and ride horseback constantly. This
combination of activities gradually produces an irritable weakness
of the genital organs, resulting in great loss of semen. Paralytic
impotence follows this condition of chronic irritability, and
finally atrophy of the testicles and penis sets in. This condition
is accompanied by characteristic physical changes; the beard falls
out, the voice loses its depth and volume and physical strength and
energy decrease. The disposition and inclinations become feminine.
Thenceforth, the _mujerado_ loses his position in society as a man. He
adopts feminine customs and manners, and associates quite exclusively
with women. Notwithstanding his effeminization, he is for religious
reasons, held in honor. It is probable that at other times of the
year than during the festival occasions, he is used by the chiefs for
pederasty.
Hammond was privileged to examine two _mujerados_. One, then
thirty-five years of age, had undergone his metamorphosis seven years
previously, when he was fully masculine and potent. Gradually atrophy
of the testicles and penis came about, and concurrently he lost his
potency and the power of erection. At the time of examination he
differed in no way in dress or manner from the women with whom he
associated. In contrast to the degeneration of his genital organs,
he had developed large breasts like a pregnant women, and claimed
that he had nursed several children whose mothers had died. The other
_mujerado_, who was then thirty-six years of age, had been effeminate
for ten years. He presented the same general peculiarities as the one
already referred to, but with less development of the mammary glands.
Like the first, his voice was high-pitched and thin, and the body plump.
The relation of excessive horse-back riding to underdevelopment of
the male genitals has been noted by many authorities. The Apaches and
Navajos, who spend practically all their waking hours on horse-back
are remarkable for small genitals and mild libido and vitality.
Kraproth and Chotomski record that even at the present time impotence
is very prevalent among the Tartars, which was attributed to riding on
unsaddled horses.
Westermarck, in his monumental work, _The Origin and Development of
the Moral Ideas_, remarks, in describing the Koriaks: “Krasheninnikoff
makes mention of the _Ke’yev_, that is men occupying the position of
concubines, and he compared them with the Kamchadale (a Behring’s
Strait Tribe) _Koe’kcuc_, as he calls them, that is men transformed
into women. Every _Koe’kcuc_ is regarded as a magician and interpreter
of dreams.... The _Koe’kcuc_ wore women’s clothes, did women’s work,
and were in the position of wives or concubines.”
Elsewhere, Westermarck says: “There is no indication that the North
American aborigines attached any opprobrium to men who had intercourse
with those members of their own sex who had assumed the dress and
habits of women. In Kadiak such a companion was, on the contrary,
regarded as a great acquisition; and the effeminate men, far from being
despised were held in repute by the people, most of them being wizards.”
In the South Sea Islands, in 1796-98, Captain James Wilson found men
there who were dressed like women and enjoyed certain honors. He
expressed surprise that “even their women do not despise these fellows,
but form friendships with them.” Another traveler in these islands,
William Ellis, a missionary, reported that the natives not only enjoyed
the sanction of the priests, but even became the direct examples of
their divinities.
China and Japan, as well as Malaysia, offer many examples of Buddhist
priests, or _Bonzes_, who have boys attached to the service of the
temples. It is the duty of each priest to educate a novice to follow
him in the ceremonies, and it is known that the relations between
the two are often intimate physically. As long ago as 1549, Francis
Xavier, then traveling in Japan, refers to this. He states that the
_Bonzes_ admitted the nature of their relations with the youths, but
asserted it was no sin. They said, however, that intercourse with
women was for them a deadly sin, and even punishable with death. The
homosexual relation, on the other hand, was not only harmless, but
even commendable. It appears that in all the Buddhist sects in Japan,
except the _Shinto_, celibacy is enforced upon priests, but homosexual
relations are not discouraged.
In Hindu mythology, _Brahm_ is often represented as two-sexed.
Originally he was the sole Being. But, “delighting not to be alone he
wished for the existence of another, and at once he became such, as
male and female embraced (united). He caused this his one self to fall
in twain.”
A Russian traveler by the name of Dawydow writing about 1800, reported
that among the Konyagas of Alaska, in the island of Kadiak, there were
here men with tatooed chins, who work only as women, who live with the
womankind, and like the latter, have husbands, and not infrequently
even two. These inverts were called _Achnutschiks_. They were held in
the highest regard in the community, and were generally considered
wizards. The native who possessed an _Achnutschik_, instead of a female
wife, was envied. When the parents regarded their son as effeminate in
appearance or bearing they often dedicated him in early childhood to
the vocation of an _Achnutschik_. In case parents were disappointed
with a son when a daughter was desired, they sometimes made their
new-born son an _Achnutschik_.
Referring to the Pelew Islanders, Frazer (_Adonis, Attis and Osiris_)
attributed the adoption by the priests of female attire to the fact
that it often happens that a goddess chooses a man not a woman, for
her minister and inspired mouthpiece. When this occurred, the favored
man thenceforth was regarded and treated as a woman. He remarked that
this pretended change of sex under the inspiration of a female spirit
perhaps explains a custom widely spread among savages, in accordance
with which some men dress as women and act as women throughout life.
The association of supernatural, or at least super-normal, powers
with these inverts is quite extensive, as we have already noticed.
Still speaking of the Pelew Islanders, Frazer states: “These unsexed
creatures often, perhaps generally, profess the arts of sorcery and
healing; they communicate with spirits and are regarded sometimes with
awe and sometimes with contempt, as beings of a higher or lower order
than common folk. Often they are dedicated or trained to their vocation
from childhood. Effeminate sorcerers or priests of this sort are
found among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo, the Burgis of South Celebes, the
Patagonians of South America.... In Madagascar we hear of effeminate
men who wore female attire and acted as women, thinking thereby to
do God service. In the Kingdom of Congo, there was a sacrificial
priest who commonly dressed as a woman and gloried in the title of
Grandmother.”
HOMO-SEXUALITY AND GENIUS.
The list of individuals, famous in art and letters, of homosexual
disposition, either active or latent, is an imposing one. The Greek
philosophers, playwrights and poets of the classic age have placed
themselves on record as devotees of invertism. Some of them have been
quoted on previous pages.
Among the men of genius and leadership accredited with being outright
homosexuals or having a strong bisexual character, are Alexander the
Great, Julius Caesar, Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, William of
Orange, Charles XII of Sweden, William Rufus, James I, Frederick the
Great of Prussia, Ludwig II of Bavaria, Edward II, Nietzsche, Oscar
Wilde, etc.
The Uranian temperament has also been attributed to Marlowe,
Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Tennyson, Chopin, and other great poets and
musicians.
Charles G. Leland (_The Alternate Sex_) states that “Great geniuses,
men like Goethe, Shakespeare, Shelley, Byron, Darwin, all had the
feminine soul very strongly developed in them.... As we are continually
meeting in cities women who are one-quarter, or one-eighth, or so
on, _male_, so there are in the Inner Self similar half-breeds, all
adapting themselves to circumstances with perfect ease. The Greeks
recognized that such a being could exist in nature, and so beautified
and idealized it as Sappho.”
Weininger remarked that Sappho was only the forerunner of a long line
of famous women who were either homosexually or bisexually endowed.
Among them may be mentioned Queen Christine of Sweden, Catherine II of
Russia, Madame Blavatsky, George Sand, Rosa Bonheur, and others.
Pronounced bisexuality in woman is indicated by a strong masculine cast
in the constitutional make-up, which is often observed in women who
have achieved outstanding success in various fields of activity. Often
they never marry.
In man, pronounced bisexuality is evidenced by a large endowment of
femininity. There are, however, homosexual types of both sexes who do
not give outward evidence of the characteristics of the opposite sex.
In these instances, the homosexual state is almost entirely psychic,
and would not seem to be constitutionally or organically conditioned.
Among the modern artist-writers and poets who have done great service
in interpreting and reconstructing Greek life and ideals--Carpenter
cites men like Winkelmann, Goethe, Addington Symonds, Walter Pater, as
having a marked strain of this temperament. And this, he adds, has been
a service of great value, one which the world would ill have afforded
to lose.
CHAPTER IV.
THE HOMO-SEXUAL NEUROSES.
Freud was the first to make clear that the so-called “perversions” and
“inversions,” which appear in certain adult types in striking forms,
belong to the normal sexual life of the young child. They are also seen
in veiled forms in many cases of nervous illness.
We have already given some consideration to the analogy between certain
forms of sexuality and the narcissism of childhood--having shown that
the former trait is a fixation (at least there is a preponderance
of psychological evidence to this effect) of the emotional erotic
development at a primitive level.
It should be emphasized, as it has been in the preceding pages, that
inversion is by no means synonymous with degeneracy. It will, of
course, be conceded that there are degenerate homosexuals, just as
there are degenerate heterosexuals.
Barring the neurotic disposition, however, inversion is found among
persons who otherwise show no marked deviation from the normal.
Not only may a homosexual be a person of normal capability, but he may
possess outstanding intellectual qualities and be distinguished by high
cultural attainments.
The eminence achieved by a number of inverts has already been referred
to; as also have been the prevalence of general homosexual practices
among the people of ancient nations at the heights of their culture.
Among the latter, as we have seen, inversion becomes an institution
endowed with important functions.
From the standpoint of anatomical development and the libido, there are
frequently found in the inverted a diminution of the sexual impulse,
and a slight stunting of the generative organs. However, this is not
preponderately the rule, so it must be recognized that inversion
and somatic hermaphroditism (bodily bisexual characters) are quite
independent of each other.
Freud has demonstrated how neurosis is definitely connected with some
phase of the sexual instinct--often the suppression of its normal
manifestations. In addition to that, he has shown that the symptoms
of neurosis only too frequently represent the converted expression of
impulses which in a broader sense may be designated as _perverse_, if
they could manifest themselves directly in phantasies and acts without
deviating from consciousness. The inference, therefore, is that the
symptoms are partially formed at the cost of abnormal sexuality. “The
neurosis is, so to say, the negative of the perversion.”
Psychoanalysis has brought to light the fact that the well-known
fancies of perverts which under favorable conditions are changed into
contrivances, the delusional fears of paranoiacs which are in a hostile
manner projected on others, and the unconscious fancies of hysterics,
agree as to content often in the minutest details.
This illustrates that the unconscious mental processes of all persons
have much that is held in common, based upon biological promptings
that are the common property of mankind. The varied ways in which they
manifest themselves are due to the different trends of disposition,
mental aptitude, environmental influences, etc.
According to the psychoanalytic hypothesis, the sexual impulse of the
psychoneurotic shows all the aberrations of morbid sexual life. This
principle may be summarized as follows (after Freud):
(a) In all the neurotics without exception there is evident feelings
of _inversion in the unconscious psychic life, fixation of libido
on persons of the same sex_. It is impossible, without a deep and
searching discussion, adequately to appreciate the significance of
this factor for the formation of the picture of the disease; but it
may be safely asserted that the unconscious propensity to inversion is
never wanting and is particularly of immense service in explaining male
hysteria.
(b) All the inclinations to anatomical transgression can be
demonstrated in psychoneurotics in the unconscious and as
symptom-creators. Of special frequency and intensity are those which
impart to the mouth and the mucous membrane of the anus the role of
genitals.
(c) The partial desires which usually appear in contrasting pairs, play
a very prominent role among the symptom-creators in psychoneuroses.
They are known as carriers of new sexual aims, such as peeping
mania, exhibitionism and the actively and passively formed impulses
of cruelty. The contribution of the last is indispensable for the
understanding of the morbid nature of the symptoms; it almost regularly
controls some portion of the social behavior of the patient. The
transformation of love into hatred, of tenderness into hostility,
which is characteristic of paranoiacs, takes place by means of the union of
cruelty with the libido.
The significance of the erogenous zones in relation to inversion is
important. Moll’s concept, which divides the sexual impulse into the
impulse of contrectation and detumescence, is useful in this field.
(Contrectation signifies a desire to touch the skin; detumescence the
subsidence of the state of physical sexual preparedness.)
“In the perversions, which claim sexual significance for the oral
cavity and the anal opening,” as Freud remarks, “the part played by the
erogenous zone is quite evident. It behaves in every way like a part
of the sexual apparatus. In hysteria, these parts of the body, as well
as the tracts of mucous membrane proceeding from them, become the seat
of new sensations and innervating changes in a manner similar to the
genitals when under the excitement of normal sexual processes.”
HOMO-SEXUAL PANIC.
Dr. Edward J. Kempf refers to the pressure of uncontrollable perverse
cravings as “_acute homosexual panic_,” which is frequently observed
whenever men or women are grouped alone for prolonged periods, as
in army camps, aboard ships, on exploring expeditions, in prisons,
asylums, and schools.
The acute panic of the personality is due to the perverse sexual
cravings which threaten to overcome the ego, and disestablish the
individual’s self-control. At the same time, the affections for winning
social esteem are pushed into an eccentric adjustment. The weakness
of the ego may be attributed to fatigue, debilitating illness, loss
of the love object, homesickness, misfortunes, imposition on the part
of a superior, or erotic companions. As the individual shows his
eccentricities and irritability, he is often teased and tormented
by his fellows. With this there comes a loss of social influence,
which develops a sense of inferiority, or strengthens the feeling of
inferiority that already exists.
The attempt to overcome the fear of inferiority spurs the subject
on to intense compensating efforts which, however, because of their
eccentric character, further increases the antagonism. Thus we have a
vicious circle in the realm of the emotions and affective nature, which
gradually becomes a persecution. The erotic individual, under these
circumstances, as the perverse sexual impulses tend to force him into
further danger, becomes panic-stricken.
The perverse craving causes delusions about, and hallucinations of,
situations, objects and people which tend to gratify the craving.
Still, Kempf says “The pressure of the perverse craving occurs despite
the social honor and social future of the individual. Horrified, he is
swept off his feet into a hell of hallucinated temptations and demons
of distractions.”
With regard to the physiological reactions of fear to painful contact
stimuli, this authority states they are quite like the fear reactions
to horrible, painful hallucinated stimuli. The mechanism of the
terrifying dream, for instance, like the hallucination, is first an
effective disturbance due to the repressed autonomic tensions becoming
released by the relaxation of self-control (as in sleep). During
sleep indigestible food will cause increased effort on the part of
the stomach and intestines. This produces consciousness of unpleasant
sensory images which may coalesce into a horrible perception, like
black dots forming a picture. This horrible image, in turn, causes the
fear reaction. “The next stage would be to compensate by awaking, by
flight or counter-attack. _When the erotic, hallucination is felt to be
an external reality, and no defense is found, panic ensues._”
The panic may be more or less serious, lasting from a few hours to
several months. The disturbances to the physical processes and the
bodily economy as a whole, attending such dissociations of personality,
may be very serious. All these ill results, under the given
circumstances, are traceable to _fear_.
The definite physiological effects of this uncontrolled
emotion--fear--are increased blood-pressure and pulse-rate, increase
of adrenin and thyroid secretions, increase of blood sugar and
decrease of the digestive and assimilative properties of the stomach
and intestines; also decrease of heterosexual potency, and pronounced
increase of trial and error movements of the skeletal apparatus--hence,
restlessness, irritability, insomnia, etc.
On the other hand, the acute dissociation of the personality, in
both sexes, may become chronic and run a protracted course, varying
from several weeks to many years. Final recovery may ensue, or (1)
the condition may become permanent without further deterioration, or
(2) the condition may pursue a course of progressive deterioration
depending upon the negative nature of the transference and adjustment
to the erotic pressure.
A frequent accompaniment is the development of a vigorous, persistent
counter-attack of hatred, which becomes directed against the social
conventions. Its animus is aimed particularly against those to whom
social obligations bind the subject (as parents, mate, offspring,
employer, etc.) because they are repressing influences. The climax of
this is a loss of social adaptation.
Kempf believes that the tendency to homosexuality in males has a dual
determination. Not only are homosexual associations attractive, but
there is an insurmountable affective (fear) resistance to heterosexual
potency which becomes aroused by the amorous approach of the female.
Through some affective mechanism, she, like the “serpent-headed Meduza,
freezes his soul. Her sexuality horrifies instead of fascinates.”
Anxiety and depression may develop quickly after a heterosexual failure
in this type of male. Such reactions may be characterized by suicidal
impulses due apparently to an irresistible regression to the mother.
The subject feels that she cannot give him up, and he, being helpless
to free himself, in order to become devoted to another woman, finds
life is not worth living.
In summarizing his conception of this disorder, Kempf considers
the acute homosexual panic a distinct stage in the psychosis. He
maintains it may be diagnosed as readily as paresis by certain cardinal
conditions: (1) _panic_ and the autonomic reactions which accompany
grave fear; (2) the defensive compensation against the compulsion to
seek or submit to assault; (3) the symbols used by the erotic affect
and the disturbances of sensation it causes.
The latter are complained of as visions, voices, electric injections,
“dopy” feelings, “poison” and “filth” in the food, seductive and
hypnotic influences, irresistible trance states, crucifixion, etc. It
is necessary to estimate the significance of the systems in a neutral
environment and the significance of the various symbols used.
As previously stated, the condition of acute homosexual panic is
chiefly manifested in men and women who are grouped for prolonged
periods away from members of the opposite sex--and is considerably
different in its symptoms from the inverted sexuality which, for
whatever reasons, develops in the man or woman living in a more normal
environment.
With regard to the prospect for overcoming the disorder, Kempf states
that the prognosis of homosexual panic in a soldier or sailor is
usually favorable for that episode, but the future of that individual
is most insecure unless he obtains insight and a fortunate sexual
adjustment.
In a series of several hundred cases which have been recognized in
a period of half a dozen years, most of the cases recovered. The
occurrence of panic, later, among men who secretly re-enlisted in some
branch of the government’s service and were returned to the hospital,
as well as the return several years later of men who had profoundly
deteriorated after having been discharged as social recoveries, shows
that the recurrence of panic results from inability to control the
tendency to become perverse, that is, biologically abnormal. “This
abortive tendency seems eventually to become dominant and incurable.”
A NEURO-(PSYCHO-)PATHIC STATE.
Krafft-Ebing, already referred to, has described the peculiar sexual
feeling of the invert as a functional sign of degeneration, and as
a partial manifestation of a neuro-(psycho-)pathic state, in most
cases (he believed) heriditary. He has catalogued the following
characteristics as signs of this disorder:
1. The sexual life of individuals thus organized manifests itself,
as a rule, abnormally early, and thereafter with abnormal power.
Not infrequently still other perverse manifestations are presented
besides the abnormal method of sexual satisfaction, which in itself is
conditioned by the peculiar sexual feeling.
2. The psychical love manifest in these men is, for the most part,
exaggerated and exalted in the same way as their sexual instinct is
manifested in consciousness, with a strange and even compelling force.
3. By the side of the functional signs of degeneration attending
antipathic sexual feeling are found other functional, and in many cases
anatomical, evidences of degeneration.
4. Neurosis (hysteria, neurasthenia, epileptoid states, etc.) co-exist.
Almost invariably the existence of temporary or lasting neurasthenia
may be proved. As a rule, this is constitutional, having its root in
congenital conditions. It is awakened and maintained by masturbation or
enforced abstinence.
(We have already considered the fallacious reasoning of ascribing
homosexuality to masturbation. W. J. F.)
5. In the majority of cases, psychical anomalies (brilliant endowment
in art, especially music, poetry, etc., by the side of bad intellectual
powers or original eccentricity) are present, which may extend to
pronounced conditions of mental degeneration (imbecility, moral
insanity). In many urnings, either temporary or permanent insanity of
a degenerative character (pathological emotional states, periodical
insanity, paranoia, etc.) makes its appearance.
6. In almost all cases where an examination of the physical and mental
peculiarities of the ancestors and blood relations has been possible,
neurosis, psychosis, degenerative signs, etc., have been found in the
families.
It is Krafft-Ebing’s view that the study of antipathic sexual feeling
points directly to anomalies of the cerebral organization of the
afflicted individuals. “The very fact that in these cases, with few
exceptions, the sexual glands are found quite normal, anatomically and
functionally, seems to favor this assumption.”
Of all the old school psychiatrists of standing, it seems
Krafft-Ebing’s ideas are the most marked by superficial generalizations
and rash guesses to account for unknown factors. In contrast to the
concept of homosexuality as purely a neuro-(psycho-)pathic state, or
“degenerative taint,” we will consider in the next chapter the attitude
of Edward Carpenter on this subject. Carpenter is distinguished by his
calm reasoning powers and far-sighted vision, and while he perhaps
shows a partiality to the urning that is beyond the casual student, his
views must be considered in any fair and impartial study of the subject.
CHAPTER V.
SUPERIOR TRAITS OF INVERTS.
Edward Carpenter, in his thoughtful treatise on homosexuals--whom he
calls the _Intermediate Sex_--justly maintains that it is impossible,
by a sweeping gesture to dismiss these types as _good_ or _bad_, simply
because they are _different_.
The subtleties and complexities of nature cannot be dispatched in this
off-hand manner.
As he expresses it, “the great probability is that, as in any other
class of human beings, there will be among these too, good and bad,
high and low, worthy and unworthy--some perhaps exhibiting through
their double temperament a rare and beautiful flower of humanity,
others a perverse and tangled ruin.”
It is Carpenter’s opinion that the defect of the male Uranian, or
Urning, is not sensuality--but rather sentimentality. The lower, more
ordinary types of Urning are often extremely sentimental; the superior
type strangely, almost incredibly emotional; but neither _as a rule_
(though, of course, there must be exceptions) are so sensual as the
average normal man.
“The immense capacity of emotional love represents, of course, a
great driving force. Whether in the individual or in society, love is
eminently creative. It is their great genius for attachment which gives
to the best Uranian types their penetrating influence and activity, and
which often makes them beloved and accepted far and wide even by those
who know nothing of their inner mind.
“How many so-called philanthropists of the best kind (we need not
mention names) have been inspired by the Uranian temperament, the
world will probably never know. And in all walks of life, the great
number and influence of folk of this disposition, and the distinguished
place they already occupy, is only realized by those who are more or
less behind the scenes. It is probable also that it is this genius
for emotional love which gives to the Uranians their remarkable
_youthfulness_.”
With these unusual qualities, amounting in their finest expressions, to
extraordinary gifts--containing as they do a double measure of human
values, both of the man and of the woman--Carpenter believes that these
people have a special field of work as reconcilers and interpreters of
the two sexes to each other.
Thus, it is probable that the superior Urnings will become in affairs
of the heart, to a large extent, the teachers of future society; and if
so, their influence will tend to the realization and expression of an
attachment less exclusively sensual than the average of today, and to
the diffusion of this in all directions.
To call people of such temperament “morbid,” according to this
authority, is of no use. Such a term, in fact, is absurdly inapplicable
to many, who are among the most amiable and worthy members of society.
Certainly, it brings no solution to the problem in question, and “only
amounts to marking down for disparagement a fellow creature who has
already considerable difficulties to contend with.”
It is a great mistake, he argues, to suppose that their attachments are
necessarily sexual, or connected with sexual acts. On the contrary,
they are often purely emotional in their character; and to confuse
Uranians, as is often done, with libertines having no law but curiosity
in self-indulgence is to do them a great wrong.
It is undoubtedly true that their special temperament may sometimes
cause them difficulty in regard to their sexual relations. But then,
all types have more or less difficulty in making sexual adjustments--so
while the homosexual has some special problems to meet in this
respect--the heterosexual also has his problems which not infrequently
lead to dire results.
The difficulties in both cases, of course, are due in no small
degree to the obstacles put in the way by others, through lack of
understanding. This is both a social and individual problem.
With respect to the personal idiosyncrasies of the urnings, the male
tends to be of a rather gentle, emotional disposition, with defects,
if such exist, in the direction of subtlety, evasiveness, timidity,
vanity, etc. The female, on the other hand, is just the opposite, being
active, fiery, bold and bluntly truthful, with defects running to
brusqueness and coarseness.
The mind of the male urning (characteristic of its feminine bias)
is generally intuitive and instinctive in its perceptions, with
more or less artistic feeling. In extreme types, we find excessive
sentimentality, an individual mincing in gait and manners, something
of a chatter-box, with a tendency to be skilful with the needle and in
woman’s work, sometimes taking pleasure in dressing in women’s clothes.
In the case of the female, we note the opposite characteristics. Her
mind is more logical, scientific and precise than usual with the normal
woman. So marked are these general characteristics, observes Carpenter,
that sometimes by means of them (though not an infallible guide) the
nature of the boy or girl can be detected in childhood, before full
development has taken place. The importance of being able to do this
is readily apparent, if an understanding and sympathetic attitude is
brought to bear on the matter.
As Dr. Moll, the well known German authority, has pointed out, the
extreme characteristics do not by any means show themselves in all
urnings. Though one may find this or that indication in a great many
cases, yet it cannot be denied that a very large percentage of the
males, perhaps by far the majority of them, do not exhibit pronounced
effeminacy.
Considering the more “normal” type of Uranian male, it is not unusual
to find a man who, while possessing thoroughly masculine powers of mind
and physique, combines with them the more emotional soul nature of the
woman. Sometimes this is present in a notable degree.
Such men are often muscular and well built, and not noticeably
different in external structure and bodily carriage from others of
their own sex. Emotionally, however, they are extremely complex,
sensitive, tender, sympathetic and loving--and, as has been said, “full
of storm and stress, of ferment and fluctuation of the heart.”
While the logical faculty may or may not, in their case, be well
developed, intuition is always strongly in evidence. Like a woman they
read characters at a glance, and know, without knowing how, what is
transpiring in the mental processes of others. Naturally, men of this
kind have a peculiar aptitude for nursing and administering to the
needs of people. A Swiss writer on this subject has expressed himself
thus: “Happy, indeed, is that man who has won a real Urning for his
friend--he walks on roses, without ever having to fear the thorns.” And
he added: “Can there ever be a more perfect sick nurse than an Urning?”
The invert has a strongly developed artist nature, with the artist’s
perception and sensibility. De Joux, who writes on the whole
favorably of the Uranian men and women, says of the former: “They are
enthusiastic for poetry and music, are often eminently skilful in the
fine arts, and are overcome with emotion and sympathy at the least
occurrence. Their sensitiveness, their endless tenderness for children,
their love of flowers, their great pity for beggars and crippled folk
are truly womanly.” In another passage, he indicates the organic base
of the artist nature in the following words: “The nerve system of many
an Urning is the finest and the most complicated musical instrument in
the service of the interior personality that can be imagined.”
It does not appear justified to assume that men of this kind despise
women, the general belief to the contrary notwithstanding. In previous
chapters, we have read the evidence of the psychiatrist, who testified
to this alleged antagonistic sentiment. But after all, the psychiatrist
and neurologist get the sick and pathologic cases, and rarely the
better kind, so while the opinions of these specialists have great
value as supplementary evidence in the consideration of homosexuality,
they should not be accepted without reservation or such modification as
may be necessary in the light of fuller knowledge of the subject.
Naturally, the male Urning is not inclined to fall in love with a
woman, but that they are drawn near to women seems logical as it
is characteristic of similar types to have much in common, such as
sympathetic interests, etc. And, of course, the male Urning and the
normal woman have a great deal in common in the sphere of spiritual and
emotional interests and understanding.
Carpenter states in this connection, “it would seem they often feel
a singular appreciation and understanding of the emotional needs and
destinies of the other sex, leading in many cases to a genuine though
what is called ‘Platonic’ friendship. There is little doubt that they
are often instinctively sought after by women who, without suspecting
the real cause, are conscious of a sympathetic chord in the homogenic
which they miss in the normal man.”
De Joux confirms this in these words: “It would be a mistake to suppose
that all Urnings must be woman haters. Quite the contrary. They are not
seldom their faithfulest friends, the truest allies and most convinced
defenders of women.”
Havelock Ellis in Chapter VI of his “_Sexual Inversion_,” also scouts
the idea that the Uranian temperament is necessarily morbid, and
states that the tendency should be considered an anomaly rather than
a disease. He makes this interesting observation on the subject,
comparing the invert to the “sport” or variation in the animal and
vegetable world: “Thus in sexual inversion we have what may fairly be
called a ‘sport’ or variation, one of those organic aberrations which
we see throughout living nature in plants and in animals.”
And Ellis writes, with reference to the artistic proclivities of the
invert: “An examination of my cases reveals the interesting fact that
thirty-two of them, or sixty-eight per cent, possess artistic aptitude
in varying degrees.
“Galton found, from the investigation of nearly one thousand persons,
that the general average showing artistic taste in England is only
about thirty per cent. It must be said that my figures are probably
below the truth, as no special point was made of investigating the
matter, and also that in many cases their artistic aptitudes are of
high order. With regard to the special avocations of my cases, it must,
of course, be said that no occupation furnishes a safeguard against
inversion. There are, however, certain occupations to which inverts are
specially attracted. Acting is certainly one of the chief of these.
Three of my cases belong to the dramatic profession, and others have
marked dramatic ability. Art, again, in its various forms, and music,
exercise much attraction. In my experience, however, literature is
the avocation to which inverts seem to feel chiefly called, and that
moreover in which they may find the highest degrees of success and
reputation. At least half a dozen of my cases are successful men of
letters.”
The Uranian, although quite invariably high strung and sensitive,
is not by any means always an impractical dreamer. He is usually _a
dreamer_, to be sure, but not infrequently he has the capacity to
transform his dreams into actuality. He may even show extraordinary
ability in the business world. While he is usually not militantly
aggressive--war with its bloodshed, horrors and destruction is somewhat
foreign to his temperament--there are exceptions.
Some of the mighty military commanders of history have had a strong
Uranian strain--among them may be mentioned Alexander the Great,
Caesar, Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick II of Prussia, etc. When the
capacity for high organizing ability and power of command is present,
the potent bisexual disposition vouchsafes a temperament that arouses
the enthusiasm and assures the personal attachment of the troops. All
of this goes a long way to making a formidable commander--and in the
olden days of personal combat, it was a well-nigh invincible one.
Carpenter calculates that not less than ten per cent of the English
kings--from the time of the Norman conquest to the present day--have
shown a decidedly homogenic temperament. (This authority prefers to use
the term _homogenic_, from two root words, both Greek, i. e., “homos,”
same, and “genoc,” sex, instead of _homosexual_.)
Three of these kings, namely, William Rufus, Edward II and James I
were homosexual in a high degree--possibly enough so as to be classed
as Urnings. Others, like William III, had a marked strain of the same
temperament.
Of these monarchs, William Rufus and William III, were in their
different ways men of great courage and personal force. James I was
not a creditable character--and while the term degenerate might be
applicable to him--it would be equally fitting to several others of the
royal line.
It is also apparent that one of England’s greatest queens, Elizabeth,
had a highly developed homosexual disposition, enough to bring
out in no uncertain manner those characteristics that are usually
associated with the masculine gender. She was inordinately resourceful,
independent, assertive--and showed no particular erotic leanings toward
the opposite sex.
Referring to the common belief that a male who experiences love for his
own sex must be despicable, degraded, depraved, vicious, and incapable
of humane or generous sentiments, J. Addington Symonds (_A Problem of
Modern Ethics_) remarks that “If Greek history did not contradict this
supposition, a little patient enquiry into contemporary manners would
suffice to remove it.”
De Joux, who has already been quoted on the subject, expresses
the finer sensibilities of the superior type of Urning, and his
consciousness of the same, in the following words: “It is true that
we are often inferior to normal men in force of will, worldly wisdom,
and sense of duty; but on the other hand, in depth and delicacy of
feeling and every virtue of the heart, we are far superior. We cannot
_love_ women, but we lament with them, and help them on the hearth
and by the cradle, in need and loneliness, as their most unselfish
friends.... We do not despise women because they are weak, for we are
much clearer-sighted, much less prejudiced than the so-called lords
of creation, much nobler, more helpful, and just minded than they....
Anyhow, if either of the sexes has cause to withhold its respect in
any degree from the other--which has the most cause? Say what you will
of them, the second and third sexes--women and Urnings--are ever so
much better than the brutal egotistical men, who today are plunged in
grossest materialism; for, with whatever corruption, both the former
are still of purer heart, easier kindled towards whatever is good, and
more capable of genuine enthusiasm and love of their fellows than the
latter.”
In a sense, then, we may say that the so-called Intermediate Sex is
older and nearer to nature than the differentiated male and female
sexes. It may be considered a modern holdover, or vestige, of the
bisexual character typical of primitive beings and organisms. But when
found in the _genus homo_--when not debauched by a vicious environment
or distorted by an unfavorable heredity--it may, as we have seen, reach
the highest stage of human fruition.
Transcriber’s Note:
- Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
- Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.
- Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes:
Page 1: “GIRARD, RANSAS” to “GIRARD, KANSAS”
Page 6: “there are the vestigal” to “there are the vestigial”
Page 23: “called Urniaster” to “called Uraniaster”
Page 23: “(c) Urano-dioing” to “(c) Urano-dioning”
Page 28: “immortalization was attrained” to “immortalization was attained”
Page 35: “this group. They plays” to “this group. They play”
Page 35: “the voice looses” to “the voice loses”
Page 36: “describing the Koriaks: Krashenininikoff” to “describing the
Koriaks: Krasheninnikoff”
Page 40: “Michael Angelo, Leonardi da Vinci” to “Michael Angelo, Leonardo
da Vinci”
Page 45: “which is character of paranoics” to “which is characteristic
of paranoiacs”
Page 46: “The preverse craving” to “The perverse craving”
Page 47: “movements of the skeletal appartus” to “movements of the
skeletal apparatus”
Page 50: “exaggered and exalted” to “exaggerated and exalted”
Page 56: “thought not an infallible” to “though not an infallible”
Page 60: “it was a well-night” to “it was a well-nigh”
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