He eventually married a young girl, well educated but extremely prudish. One can imagine the revelations which followed! The wife, who had a strong desire for children, soon perceived the sexual blindness of her husband. She became very unhappy and bitterly reproached him. The husband then became aware that there should be something in marriage which he had not taken into account; but the explanations of coitus by the medical man were useless, and hypnotic suggestion was incapable of producing the least sexual sensation.
In spite of all this, the husband was full of respect and affection for his wife, but was incapable of simulating the least sexual appetite. As regards the wife, what she required was not coitus, which was simply a means to an end, but children. However, her prudery made her prefer this state of things to a divorce, which would create scandal. We may notice that in such cases erections are only produced mechanically during sleep, which renders coitus impossible.
(2). A timid but vain young man of retiring habits, sexually cold, had occasional nocturnal emissions sometimes accompanied by slightly erotic dreams. Although better informed than the preceding case on sexual relations, his sexual appetite was almost entirely absent, and he regarded marriage as a purely intellectual alliance. He married an intelligent and passionate young girl whose sexual appetite was strongly developed, and at once began to treat her with great coldness, as a kind of domestic servant.
The wife's family were in favor of divorce, but having pity on the husband, sent him to me for advice. I explained the matter to him, made him understand that the fault was entirely on his side, and that his first duty was to show affection for his wife, or if not, to accept divorce. The effect was purely psychical, and from this moment he became amiable and affectionate toward his wife. This was sufficient to cause the wife to give up the idea of divorce. I then told her that, on account of her husband's timidity and anomaly, the only thing to do was to reverse their roles, and for her to make the sexual advances. I have not heard anything more from this singular couple.
(3). A young man who had never had sexual connection before marriage, in spite of a strong sexual appetite, made the acquaintance of an intelligent young girl of excellent character. Marriage followed, and the wife was loyal to her husband, but remained sexually cold. She was insensible to coitus and only regarded it as a disagreeable complement of love. In spite of this she was fond of caresses, devoted to her husband, and had several children.
(4). An intelligent and cultured man, normal from the sexual point of view, who had frequented prostitutes in his youth, but not excessively, married a rather nervous but apparently very amorous young woman. The marriage night produced on her the effect of a cold douche, and coitus offended and horrified her. The husband in his discomfiture took patience; but his love, which was never very strong, became shattered. To avoid all scandal each of the conjoints practiced dissimulation and adapted themselves more or less to each other. The wife allowed coitus, the husband tolerated her coldness. Several children were born, but the family was unhappy, and after a few years divorce put an end to it.
SEXUAL HYPERÆSTHESIA, OR EXAGGERATION OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE
This anomaly may be congenital, for example, in the sexual paradoxy of children. Every one knows the Don Juans and Messalinas with their insatiable appetites. These types of sexual hyperæsthesia are certainly less frequent and more abnormal in women than in men, but the intensity is as great or greater.
Sexual hyperæsthesia manifests itself by desires excited by every sensorial perception relating to the opposite sex, or simply by objects which recall it to the imagination; so that fetichism plays a great part in this condition. The feeling of satiety is hardly experienced at all, or only for a short time after each orgasm. Nymphomaniacs and satyrs are possessed by an insatiable sexual desire, often associated with certain sensations of anguish. This hyperæsthesia, even when it is not hereditary, may be developed up to a certain point by continued or repeated artificial excitations.
In women it is during or after menstruation that the sexual appetite and consequently sexual hyperæsthesia are generally strongest, but there are many individual variations in this respect, and sometimes the opposite occurs.