[65] Havelock Ellis, op. cit. p. 1.
[66] Jochelson, op. cit. p. 52 sq.
[67] Holder, quoted by Havelock Ellis, op. cit. p. 9 sq.
[68] Baumann, in Verhandl. Berliner Gesellsch. Anthrop. 1899, p. 668 sq.
[69] Féré, L’instinct sexuel, quoted by Havelock Ellis, op. cit. p. 41.
[70] James, Principles of Psychology, ii. 439. See also Ives, op. cit. p. 56 sqq.
[71] Dr. Dessoir (‘Zur Psychologie der Vita sexualis,’ in Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie, l. 942) even goes so far as to conclude that “an undifferentiated sexual feeling is normal, on the average, during the first years of puberty.” But this is certainly an exaggeration (cf. Havelock Ellis, op. cit. p. 47 sq.).
A very important cause of homosexual practices is absence of the other sex. There are many instances of this among the lower animals.[72] Buffon long ago observed that, if male or female birds of various species were shut up together, they would soon begin to have sexual relations among themselves, the males sooner than the females.[73] The West Australian boy-marriage is a substitute for ordinary marriage in cases when women are not obtainable. Among the Bororó of Brazil homosexual intercourse is said to occur in their men-houses only when the scarcity of accessible girls is unusually great.[74] Its prevalence in Tahiti may perhaps be connected with the fact that there was only one woman to four or five men, owing to the habit of female infanticide.[75] Among the Chinese in certain regions, for instance Java, the lack of accessible women is the principal cause of homosexual practices.[76] According to some writers such practices are the results of polygamy.[77] In Muhammedan countries they are no doubt largely due to the seclusion of women, preventing free intercourse between the sexes and compelling the unmarried people to associate almost exclusively with members of their own sex. Among the mountaineers of Northern Morocco the excessive indulgence in pederasty thus goes hand in hand with great isolation of the women and a very high standard of female chastity, whereas among the Arabs of the plains, who are little addicted to boy-love, the unmarried girls enjoy considerable freedom. Both in Asia[78] and Europe[79] the obligatory celibacy of the monks and priests has been a cause of homosexual practices, though it must not be forgotten that a profession which imposes abstinence from marriage is likely to attract a comparatively large number of congenital inverts. The temporary separation of the sexes involved in a military mode of life no doubt accounts for the extreme prevalence of homosexual love among warlike races,[80] like the Sikhs, Afghans, Dorians, and Normans.[81] In Persia[82] and Morocco it is particularly common among soldiers. In Japan it was an incident of knighthood, in New Caledonia and North America of brotherhood in arms. At least in some of the North American tribes men who were dressed as women accompanied the other men as servants in war and the chase.[83] Among the Banaka and Bapuku in the Cameroons pederasty is practised especially by men who are long absent from their wives.[84] In Morocco I have heard it advocated on account of the convenience it affords to persons who are travelling.
[72] Karsch, in Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen, ii. 126 sqq. Havelock Ellis, op. cit. p. 2 sq.
[73] Havelock Ellis, op. cit. p. 2.