"In very early childhood my imagination began to exercise itself pleasurably in the pictured contemplation of the bodies of naked girls. I can also remember distinctly that my dreams were chiefly concerned with images of this character. In the later years of childhood (nine to twelve years) I masturbated to great excess, often five to ten times daily, sometimes actually while in class at school. Seminal emission had already begun—I remember this quite distinctly at the age of ten, and perhaps even at the age of nine years—but the quantity of semen was very small. I found several schoolmates with similar inclinations to my own, and with these I practised mutual masturbation. When I was eleven years old I became acquainted with a boy somewhat younger than myself, and in this case the proposal for mutual masturbation came from his side. At that time the thought that there was anything wrong in the practice had never entered my mind; on the contrary, I was always on the lookout for boys who would join with me in mutual masturbation. Such were my sexual habits, until as a boy of thirteen I for the first time had complete sexual intercourse with a woman, a prostitute. Thenceforward, for a time, I had intercourse at intervals of from four to six weeks, continuing in the meanwhile daily masturbation. Subsequently I sought and found opportunities for intercourse with women, married and unmarried, about once a week, for money. These almost daily venereal excesses appeared to have no bad effects on my physical health; my diet was at the time abundant, if not superabundant. On the other hand, I lacked effective will-power to make a successful stand against the promptings of my bodily lusts; nor was I able, though not devoid of talent, to perform any arduous or enduring mental work. There ensued also at this early stage a great infirmity of purpose, from which I still suffer to this day. I would take up now one thing, now another, at first with fiery zeal, soon to cast it aside in favour of some new undertaking, to be abandoned with the like precipitation.
"Having command of abundant means, I now, at the age of fifteen, became enabled to gratify my sexual desires without restraint with dependents of the other sex; nor did any untoward physical consequences arise to impose limitations. After a time, ordinary sexual intercourse ceased to furnish adequate gratification; and I began to excite myself sexually by contact with special parts of the body, most often the breasts. But the woman must not, as had formerly been my desire, strip herself completely nude; for I found the most powerful sexual stimulus was now exerted by her white drawers. The display, intentional or unintentional, of this article of feminine attire sufficed to arouse in me sexual feelings. For this reason I now came to frequent the skating rink, in order to obtain a sexual stimulus from the glimpse of a woman's drawers when putting on her skates. But even when a girl was physically beautiful and elegantly dressed, if her drawers were not white but coloured, she produced in me no sexual appetite whatever.
"As a result of long-continued excesses, attempts at ordinary intercourse no longer evoked an adequate sexual stimulus, so that I now began the practice of cunnilinctus. It was when the woman herself became excited through the cunnilinctus, that I experienced the highest sexual gratification. In the intervals, when I had no opportunity for sexual intercourse, I would endeavour to secure sexual gratification by exposing my genital organs in the presence of females, or when passing them in the street—especially female children. I also sought every possible opportunity of watching female dependents engaged in the act of urination. This gave me especially great gratification if, when they were urinating, I could see their white underlinen. I also procured pornographic literature, and masturbated frequently while reading it."
The next period in this patient's history now begins. But I shall not recount his case further, since the subsequent episodes have no bearing on the questions with which we are especially concerned. It will suffice to remark that Z. now exhibits numerous neuropathic and psychopathic characteristics. But the various psychopathic symptoms, some of which are very severe, lie altogether outside our chosen field of study.
Paradoxical sexual impulse is observed also in the lower animals. Weston reports the case of a colt which when only six weeks old attempted to serve its mother; when three months old this animal became so troublesome, owing to its attempts to cover other foals and even calves, that castration was necessary.[56] The same author describes a case of masturbation in a foal only two months old; the animal masturbated by arching the back to an extreme degree, and pushing the hind feet forward along the surface of the belly on either side of the penis.
Several allusions have been made in passing to the subject of sexual perversions. A detailed consideration of these manifestations is now necessary, owing to the fact that perversions exhibit peculiar relationships to the sexual life of the child, such relationships being of two distinct kinds. In the first place, perverse modes of sexual sensibility are very common during childhood; and since erroneous views on the subject are widely prevalent, the true significance of such perversions demands very careful study. In the second place, it is maintained that certain influences affecting the sexual life during childhood are competent to give rise to permanent sexual perversions. We will discuss these two questions in the order here stated.
Adult sexual perverts frequently declare that their first experience of perverse sexual sensibility dates from the eighth year, or even earlier. Thus, by homosexuals we are told that the homosexual inclination was felt in very early childhood, in one case directed towards a school-fellow, in another towards some near relative, or towards a resident tutor—- or in the case of female homosexuals, towards a girl-companion or a governess. Moreover, homosexuals often assure us that the homosexual inclination has been persistent, and that it has never been interrupted by any manifestation of heterosexual desire. The assumption that in homosexuals the sexual impulse becomes active earlier in life than is normal, was one of several considerations by which von Krafft-Ebing was led to regard homosexuality as a degenerative phenomenon, consequent upon neuropathic or psychopathic hereditary taint; and this author held the same view regarding other sexual perversions—sadism, for instance. In opposition to this opinion, attention may be drawn to the fact, which was fully considered in the last chapter, that very commonly indeed the activity of the normal sexual life can also be traced back into the early days of childhood. This fact has hitherto to a large extent been overlooked simply for the reason that recent investigations dealing with the sexual impulse have in most cases dealt exclusively with morbid manifestations; whilst the psychologists by profession, whose province it was to study the normal sexual life, have with few exceptions (Max Dessoir, Binet, Jodl, and Ribot) completely ignored this field of inquiry. For this reason many phenomena, e.g., early activity of the sexual impulse, and hyperæsthesia of that impulse, have been assumed to be characteristic of the perverse modes of sexual sensibility, whereas the like phenomena may readily be observed in association with a qualitatively normal mode of sexual sensibility.
The theory of the congenital nature of homosexuality was based for the most part on the common assumption that the condition is primary and premature in its occurrence, and that it is exclusive of the opposite mode of sexual sensibility. But for several reasons the inference is not justified. For, first of all, for many cases it is incorrect to assume that the homosexual inclinations are thus exclusive in their character; as I have previously explained, the adult homosexual's belief that from early childhood he has never experienced any other than homosexual inclinations, depends in many instances on an illusion of memory. Owing to the fact that in consequence of the fuller development of homosexuality he is no longer interested in the heterosexual, he is apt to forget any early heterosexual inclinations. Secondly, the primary appearance of homosexual inclinations does not prove that these inclinations are congenital; for in homosexuals, as in heterosexuals, the specialised mode of sexual sensibility is preceded by a period in which the sexual impulse is undifferentiated; and, in homosexuals and heterosexuals alike, chance plays a great part in determining which mode of sexual sensibility first manifests itself. The congenital nature of heterosexuality is not disproved by the fact that one who in adult life possesses a normal mode of sexual sensibility, may as a schoolboy have first experienced sexual desire towards a school-fellow; just as little, then, does a similar early history in one who in adult life is homosexual in his inclinations, prove that his homosexuality is congenital. In the animal world also, before the occurrence of sexual maturity, the love-games occasionally display a similar confusion of rôles, so that the sexually immature female animal may attempt to cover the youthful male. The congenital nature of homosexuality is displayed, not by the primary appearance of this mode of sensibility, but by the fact that when the puberal development takes place, the homosexual sentiments persist, and are not replaced by heterosexuality.
The congenital nature of homosexuality has been assumed more particularly in those cases which are described respectively as effemination and viraginity. The former name is given by von Krafft-Ebing to cases in which in homosexual men the entire system of feelings and inclinations is influenced by the abnormal mode of sexual sensibility. Such a male homosexual has a strong dislike for smoking and drinking, and for all masculine sports; on the other hand, he delights in self-adornment, in art and belles-lettres and even in literary affectations. The corresponding condition in women was by von Krafft-Ebing termed viraginity. Such female homosexuals do not merely experience sexual attraction towards members of their own sex, but they also exhibit other peculiarities usually characteristic of the male, such as dislike of ordinary feminine occupations, a neglect of the arts of the toilet, and a rough and masculine mode of behaviour. They exhibit inclinations for science rather than for art. They sometimes attempt to drink and smoke in a masculine manner. Von Krafft-Ebing and many other writers have assumed that the characteristics of effemination and of viraginity are displayed in early childhood. We are told that a boy with these tendencies prefers the society of little girls to that of boys, that he likes to play with dolls, and to help his mother in her housework. He takes naturally to cooking, sewing, and darning; and becomes clever in the selection of feminine dress, so that he can help his sisters in the choice of their clothes. Contrariwise, the girl who is destined in later life to display the characteristics of viraginity will be found frequenting the playground of the boys. Such a girl will have nothing to do with dolls, but exhibits a passion for the rocking horse and for playing at soldiers and robbers. It is indisputable that these descriptions apply to many cases. But it is necessary here to repeat my previous warning against over-ready generalisation; for we find that there is quite a number of boys and girls who exhibit during childhood such contrary sexual qualities and inclinations, and yet subsequently undergo a perfectly normal, or at any rate a non-homosexual, development of the sexual life. During the period of the puberal development, the normal heterosexual characteristics come to predominate. The non-differentiated character of the sexual life during childhood forbids us, from the mere existence at this period of life of such contrary sexual tendencies, to infer that these tendencies will necessarily persist, and that the subsequent sexual development will also be of an inverted character. We must point out, in addition, that from childhood onwards many women and many men fail to exhibit the psychical tendencies appropriate to average members of their respective sexes, without this justifying the conclusion that we have to do with homosexuality. There are heterosexual men who are fond of needlework; and there are heterosexual women in whom housework and the care of children, and even in many cases the details of their own toilet, arouse no interest whatever. Because we observe, in any individual, certain contrary sexual tendencies of this character, to draw the inference that in such a case we necessarily have to do with homosexuality, would be a most disastrous error.
Apart from these considerations, we have, when there is a history of such tendencies in childhood, to take into account the possibility of illusions of memory just as much as we have in the cases in which adult homosexuals assure us that in childhood they never experienced any other than homosexual inclinations—a matter discussed in the first chapter (see pp. [5] and [6]). A homosexual man, recalling his memories of childhood, lays especial stress on all that appears to be connected with homosexuality; he is apt to remember those instances only in which his conduct exhibited girlish characteristics, and to forget all instances of an opposite kind. Finally, we have to take into consideration the various interpretations which are tenable of occurrences during childhood. An adult homosexual who as a child once did some needlework for a joke, sees in this later a characteristic of effemination. A girl who, for lack of companions of her own sex, was accustomed to join in her brother's sports, comes to believe, when subsequently she has developed into a homosexual woman, that her conduct in childhood resulted from congenital perversion, whereas in reality this conduct was the purely accidental result of her childish environment. On the other hand, the withdrawal during childhood from the companionship of members of the same sex is explicable in a converse fashion. Homosexual adults often tell us that even in boyhood they shunned the company of other boys, and sought girl companions, to join in the games of these latter—and they endeavour to explain this conduct on their part as determined by contrary sexual inclinations in early childhood. Yet, in many cases, boys avoid those of their own sex, and seek the companionship of girls, not for the reason just alleged, but solely because these boys thus early experience erotic stimulation when associating with girls. In any case, we must carefully avoid over-estimating the importance of what may appear to be contrary sexual phenomena during childhood, and we must not be too ready to accept the occurrence of such phenomena as a proof that sexual perversion had manifested itself already during childhood. The general possibility of this occurrence is, of course, not disputed; but the far too common exaggerations of the matter cannot be too decisively rejected.