I had under my care such a woman, belonging to the upper circles of society, who had been married sixteen years before, had lived a married life for six years (during which she remained barren), and had then separated from her husband. She was of a very masculine disposition, smoked, gamed, drank like a student, and preferred to wear men’s clothing, and she bestowed her affections on a female companion. Examination of the genital organs disclosed no abnormality beyond a slight vaginal catarrh. Menstruation was regular, and the general appearance showed no departure, with the exception of a slight moustache that shaded the upper lip, from that of a normal feminine beauty.
Mantegazza is of opinion that in the case of many unhappy marriages, in which the source of the unhappiness is obscure, the trouble is to be found in the homosexual inclination of the wife. Martineau and Moll report that married women who are homosexually inclined, indulge in sexual intercourse with other women behind their husbands’ back. Duhousset, at a meeting of the Anthropological Society at Paris in 1877, related the almost incredible case of a married homosexual woman who, in intercourse with another woman, transferred to the latter her husband’s semen, so as to induce pregnancy.
Many writers on forensic medicine, Tardieu, Pfaff, Schauenstein, Wald, and Mantegazza, for instance, have recorded that in numerous circles of European society women practice masturbation and tribadism (sodomy, so called) with dogs and monkeys; and Plutarch’s statement is well known regarding Egyptian women and the sacred goat, Mendes, that the women who were locked in with this animal practiced sodomy therewith; and again it is asserted that the serpents in the temple of Æsculapius and also in private houses were employed in the practice of sodomy.
Von Maschka records a case which came before the courts a few years ago in Prague, in which a woman forty-four years old confessed that “in consequence of the very ardent temperament she possessed, she had, perhaps, as often as six times indulged herself with her house dog, which jumped between her legs and licked her; that she took the animal between her bare legs, stroked its belly until its penis became erect; then, supporting herself on the back of a chair, she pressed the animal against herself, introduced its penis between her labia majora, and let it continue its movements until its semen had been ejaculated.” Examination of the genital organs of this woman disclosed no abnormality.
Schauenstein reports the case of a girl who carried out unchaste practices with a little dog to an utterly immoderate extent, so that after the lapse of some years she died in an asylum. In a case recorded by Wald, a maid servant was observed in lewd practices with a poodle; she supported herself on elbows and knees, while the dog copulated with her from behind.
A woman about thirty years of age, who had lived with her husband in sterile marriage for nine years, complained to me that she had not for a long time had sexual intercourse, since during copulation she not only experienced no sexual pleasure, but actually felt a loathing to the act; on the other hand, she was subject to an uncontrollable impulse to handle the genital organs of children, both of the male and of the female sex, and this performance gave her sexual gratification; during the menstrual period, this impulse overpowered her will. Local examination in this patient showed that the uterus was enlarged and retroflexed, and that there was anæsthesia of the vagina.
Anjel reports the following case of periodic psychopathia sexualis, associated with menstruation. A lady of quiet disposition, near the climacteric. Serious congenital predisposition. During youth suffered from attacks of minor epilepsy. Married, but childless. Several years ago, after violent emotional disturbance, she had a hystero-epileptic seizure, followed by post-epileptic mania lasting several weeks. Thereafter, insomnia for several months. As a sequel, continually recurrent menstrual insomnia, accompanied by an impulse to embrace boys under ten years of age, to kiss them, and to handle their genital organs. Impulse toward coitus, to close sexual contact with a grown man, non-existent at this time. The patient often speaks openly of her morbid impulse, and begs that she may be supervised, as she feels unable to answer for her own conduct. In the intervals, however, she carefully avoids all reference to the matter, is strictly decent in her conduct, and in no way sexually ardent.
Tribadism is frequently mentioned by the writers of classical antiquity, especially by those of Greece, where the cult of naked beauty encouraged sexual excitement of this character. This form of unchastity was common among the flute-playing girls of Greece, and at the secret festivals of such associates Aphrodite Peribasia was invoked. Lucian, in his dialogues of hetairai, depicts the intensely passionate nature of these homosexual unions between girls. Lombroso reproduces Juvenal’s description of such a love-feast. “When the flute calls to the dance, the mænads, inflamed with wine and beer, loosen their long tresses, they sigh languishingly and eagerly, and an ardent desire draws them one to another, the desire and the passion of the dance gives their voices an alluring sound; nothing now can serve to bridle their unrestrained desires. Lacasella swings her wreath, which she has won in the contest of lascivious gestures and movements, but even she must give way before Medullina with her ardent postures. About these games there is no trace of unreality, and the most rigid Spartan, hardened from the very cradle, even old Nestor himself, notwithstanding his hernia, could not fail to be stimulated by such an inflammatory spectacle.”
In the present day, also, the practice of tribadism is more widely diffused than people in general imagine. I have often encountered instances of it in ladies of good position, who were past their first youth, who would not or could not marry, and who undertook extensive and long-enduring journeys with a female “companion,” of similar age, or perhaps a little younger. Their erotic needs, which could not be gratified in normal fashion, led to this sexual perversion—a tendency observable especially in persons with neuropathic predisposition, or with a liability to hysteria or to epilepsy. Sometimes such girls, even before puberty, show an inclination to wear boys’ clothes, to avoid all feminine manual occupations, and to examine and to handle the genital organs of their playmates. Even after puberty, such tribadists like to make a parade of masculine attitudes, they have their hair cut short, wear clothes of a masculine cut, smoke a great deal, and show in their conversation, and still more in their letters, great exaltation of the passions. It not infrequently happens that an elderly lady who has lived well in her day, and from youth upward has had much intercourse with men, comes at last to lament her worthlessness to men, and from this proceeds to the idea of obtaining sexual enjoyment by means of tribadism. The tribadistic union sometimes lasts for several years, but in most cases the alliances are quickly and frequently changed.
According to Taxil, tribadism is fairly common among the married women of Paris, and in upper-class women is extremely prevalent. This author describes with what industry and perseverance many elderly tribadists endeavor to win for themselves and to seduce young girls, just as old women often work hard to gain money for the enjoyment of the favored person.