The immediate reawakening of desire after normal satisfaction and the excitation of libido by the sight of persons and things which in themselves should have but indifferent or no sexual effects, are decidedly abnormal.
If the increase of the impulse is only moderate, so that increased frequency of conjugal embrace is able to appease somewhat the increased desire, the anomaly generally finds expression in a desire for female respectively male society, in the reading of erotic or obscene literature, in dancing, flirting, etc. But if the increase of the sexual desire has reached the degree of true satyriasis in men or nymphomania in women, the anomaly is characterized by an irresistible exaltation and an insatiable appetite for sexual gratification. At the mere sight of a woman satyriasis gets into such a state of excitement, as to experience real orgasm.
Satyriasis is not seldom confounded with priapism. But the latter is in no respect a psycho-sexual anomaly at all. It is a nervous trouble of one of the genital organs and has nothing in common with satyriasis. On the contrary, in priapism the potencies of voluptas as well as that of experiencing libido are generally decreased, as Tarnowsky’s case shows (L’instinct sexuel, p. 150).
Benj. Tarnowsky observed a case of priapism in a soldier which had lasted for over two years and had prevented the patient from absolving his active military service. The complete erection of the organ continually existed in a chronic state and never ceased for a moment. The organ did not wilt even after several coitions, which, in the beginning of his sickness, were tried by the patient in order to free himself from the annoying state of affairs. In the course of his sickness, coition, and especially ejaculation, caused him such violent pains that commixtio was never tried again. Voluptuous thoughts and sexual desire had entirely disappeared. Even the thought of coition caused the patient disagreeable sensations.
Priapism, therefore, if it were at all a disease of a sexual nature, would more properly belong among the anomalies of sexual anaesthesia. Satyriasis, on the other hand, is a psycho-sexual anomaly of increased sexual desire. Scarcely has the desire been appeased, when it returns with the same force and vigor as before. The following case may serve as an illustration of such class of cases.
Mr. X., a soldier, twenty-three years of age, in prostibulum meretricem visit, qua concubit, pretium usitatum resolvit et relinquit. Scarcely did he reach the door of her room, cum voluptas resurgeret. Itaque revenit, iterum eam comprimit, resolvit et relinquit. This time he managed to descend half the stairs, cum voluptas experrecta esset. Qua re redit, actionem repetit, resolvit et relinquit. But he had no time to come down the stairs, cum concitatus esset. Quo modo sexies ad puellam reveniebat, until he had no more money for her services and had to leave her, but not yet entirely satisfied.
Such a case represents a true sexual neurosis of insatiable lust. In the pronounced cases of satyriasis, the individual is the personification of sexuality. In his proximity everything turns upon sex. Nothing is suffered to prevail but sexual emotions. Every glance, motion or word of his has a sex coloring. He is nothing but a demoniac sex-creature. Every word he utters has an obscene emotional tone. His exclamations of surprise, fear, anger, etc., are all borrowed from the realm of sex. He is a screaming vortex of lubescent lubricity. A continual lustful scent exudes from him. He is perennially in quest for sexual gratification. He tries to excite every woman he comes in contact with and is himself excited by her. Moral consideration is an unknown quantity for him. The inhibitions, normally emanating from the cerebral centre, are destroyed in him. He is continually bent on new sensations.
This picture of the evil spirit of satyriasis is still surpassed by nymphomania. The woman suffering from nymphomania is more excessive in her demands than the man afflicted with satyriasis.
The border-line between the normal and pathological increase of libido in women is also somewhat blotted. A considerable piece of sexuality dwells in the feminine soul of every woman. It is only covered by inhibitory counter-emotions. But we recognize her true sexuality by its pathological exaggeration. Never is there uncovered in insane men such an abundance and monstrosity of the sexual imagery as in insane women. In dreams and in the dusky twilight of insanity men and women abandon themselves to their true impulses and desires without the restraining influences of conventionality. The normal woman has learned by education to hide her true sexual feelings and was forced by tradition to produce in a quite extraordinary way the impression that she herself is nearly non-sexual, and her sexuality is only a concession to the man. But judging from her sexual emotions in abnormal states, the intensity of woman’s sexuality is of a higher degree than that of the man’s, and herein lies woman’s superior morality. Morality is the arrest of the instincts by the intellect. The intensity of her desires being greater, her higher chastity is more laudable. In certain periods, such as pregnancy and lactation, when woman is really more or less non-sexual, her chastity has no merit. But in the other states of her life when woman’s desires possess a higher degree of intensity, her chastity is of a superior kind.
Thus the determination, when the normal increase of woman’s sexual desire ceases and the abnormal state begins, is wrought with great difficulty. Sexual inclination is normally increased immediately before and after the menses. Still it may be laid down as a rule that an overweening sexual desire in a woman, considering her natural modesty and coyness, should arouse suspicion of its pathological significance.