Bisexuality manifests itself more especially at the period of puberty, during the time of obscure yearnings and impulses—the so-called indifferent period which precedes the awakening of the sexual impulse. Physical bisexuality, therefore, often enough corresponds to psychical bisexuality. In the boy there is a trace of girlishness, in the girl a trace of boyishness; we have the two types of the dreamy youth and of the tomboy. Then there readily arise delicate inclinations between individuals of like sexes, especially as the result of continuous companionship, so that an obscure impulse of transient homosexual perception manifests itself between two boys, or between two girls, of the same age; or, again, this transient homosexuality may take the form of a worshipful admiration of an older person of the same sex. Gutzkow distinguished these two forms of pseudo-homosexuality, of which he had had experience in his own person. In his “Secular Pictures,” vol. i., pp. 50, 51 (Frankfort, 1856), he remarks:
“The feeling of love originates in most feminine natures, not from the quiet consideration of the secrets of love, but from a magnetic attraction towards other individuals, whom they regard as being better and more beautiful than themselves. Commonly the love for a man is preceded by an often illimitable love for a woman. Young girls fall in love with older girls—a phenomenon which often occurs also in boys, as I myself experienced when a boy, feeling the most ardent passion for one of my comrades, who now is extremely disagreeable to me.”
A similar explanation suffices for the transient tender love exhibited by Grillparzer towards Altmüller (cf. Grillparzer’s “Diary,” edition of Glossy and Sauer, pp. 24-26; Stuttgart). In boarding-schools, barracks, and training-schools we often find these pseudo-homosexual liaisons. The prison is said by Parent-Duchatelet to be a high-school of tribadism. He and other French authors report the epidemic diffusion of homosexual practices in prisons for women. Whenever homosexuality appears suddenly in an epidemic manner, affecting large numbers of individuals, we have to do, not with genuine original uranism, but with pseudo-homosexuality. As regards boarding-schools, which exhibit a lascivious environment extremely open to manifestations of this kind, Hans von Kahlenberg, in his “Nixchen,” p. 41 (Vienna, 1904), has vividly described the matter.
Youthful bisexuality is to be found in slighter forms in almost every human being, but it is a typical phenomenon of puberty, and disappears with the passing of this epoch, to make room for the completely developed heterosexuality of the adult. There occurs also in homosexuals, in whom homosexual sensibility first makes itself definitely manifest after puberty, a quite analogous inclination to the other sex before and during puberty. Thus, a typical homosexual twenty-three years of age, who now exhibits horror feminæ, related to me that at the age of sixteen or seventeen years he was very fond of girls, and pursued them a great deal, but without definite sexual desire. This transient obscure attraction of homosexuals towards the other sex is a kind of “pseudo-heterosexuality.”
Sometimes bisexuality will continue after the period of puberty, and in exceptional cases will persist throughout life. According to Hirschfeld, this occurs especially in men of genius, and in those inclined to become priests or schoolmasters. But in most cases even then one or other impulsive tendency—the heterosexual or the homosexual—is predominant. These individuals have been called “psychical hermaphrodites” (von Krafft-Ebing). These bisexual varieties may manifest themselves in very various ways, in most cases gynandry or androgyny is purely spiritual, and finds expression only in association with particular tendencies, especially fetichistic tendencies. The two following very remarkable cases throw a clear light on this peculiar form of bisexuality. We may as well accept for the more or less specific form of bisexuality described in these cases the suggested name of “junores.”
1.The case of a psychical hermaphrodite:
N. N., an American journalist, thirty-three years of age, writes: “From earliest youth I had an impulse to appear dressed in women’s clothing, and whenever I had an opportunity I had elegant body linen made for me, silken chemises, and whatever was the fashion. Even as a boy I used to borrow my sister’s clothing and wear it secretly. Only later, after my mother’s death, was I able to give free rein to my wishes, and I came into the possession of a wardrobe resembling that of the most elegant lady of fashion. Although compelled in the daytime to appear as a man, still I wear, under these clothes, a complete outfit of women’s underclothing—stays, open-work stockings, and everything proper to a woman, a bracelet also, and patent-leather women’s boots, with elegant high heels. When the evening comes, I breathe more freely. Then I can throw off the burdensome mask, and feel wholly woman. Wrapped in a tea-gown of an elegant cut, and wearing the finest underclothing, I am able to occupy myself in my favourite employments, among which may be mentioned the study of the primitive history of mankind, or I give myself up to some routine duties. A feeling of repose takes possession of me, such as is impossible during the day, when I have to wear men’s clothing. Although fully woman, I do not feel any need to give myself to a man. I feel flattered, certainly, if, when appearing in women’s dress, I please others, but I have no definite sexual desire towards my own sex. It may be that I have not yet discovered my alter ego. Notwithstanding all my well-developed feminine customs, I married, and am the father of a powerful, beautiful girl, who exhibits no tendencies whatever resembling mine. My wife, an energetic, cultured lady, was fully aware of my passion, but hoped in the course of time to wean me from it. In this, however, she was not successful. I performed my marital duties, but I gave myself up all the more to my customs. My wife obtained a separation, and at the time at which I now write she is intimate with another man, and is pregnant. My physique is thoroughly masculine, with the exception of the pelvis and of the calves of the legs, which are feminine in form. Summary: Outward appearance masculine. When wearing women’s dress I have completely the corresponding figure—waist, 20 inches; chest measurement, 34 inches; height, 176 centimetres (5 feet 9 inches); weight 125 pounds. Hands long and narrow, sensibility feminine. When wearing men’s clothing I feel a certain uneasiness. When I see an elegant lady or actress, I think how well I should appear in her dress. I have an abundance of earrings, pearls, lace scarves, and similar articles of adornment, and at a dance I give myself up to the idea of how delightful it would be to appear in women’s dress. If it were possible, I should completely abandon men’s clothing.”
2. “At about the age of fifteen and a half years I began to take an interest in women’s dress. I felt an inward impulse, which drove me to the windows of the shops displaying articles of women’s dress—corsets, etc. In shoemakers’ windows it was the women’s boots and shoes which attracted my attention rather than the men’s. The same was the case with dress fabrics, among which self-coloured materials for women’s dress pleased me best. Beautiful blue stuffs (satin) especially attracted me; also, I had an ardent love for blue velvet. As time passed, I felt a desire to possess such things, and to wear them. But since at home I had no means to spend in this way, whilst the desire sometimes was so violent as to give me no rest, I endeavoured to resist it with all the religious and rational grounds I could call to mind; yet this was of little help to me, for whenever I met a woman clothed to my taste, the longing was immediately reawakened. If I met a woman whose appearance aroused this desire (which henceforth I will call my ‘costume-stimulus’), I looked round, in order to overcome this costume-stimulus, to try to find a woman who displeased me. Within me there raged a conflict (which at that time was obscure even to myself) between the masculine nature and the feminine. One day the feminine in me gained the victory, as it impelled me (when my parents were absent from the house) to try on some of my sisters’ clothes; but as soon as I had put on the corset I had an erection, immediately followed by an ejaculation of semen. This gave me no gratification; on the contrary, I was very angry that putting on the corset should have given rise to an ejaculation of semen. At varying intervals I repeated this attempt to dress myself as a woman, and in doing so always endeavoured to avoid anything that could give rise to an erection. Gradually I succeeded in this matter of dressing; but I was now consumed also with the desire for caressing a feminine being, and therefore the dressing alone failed to satisfy me. Moreover, this dressing-up also failed to give me real pleasure, because I did not possess any costume which really suited me; but still, apart from sexual excitement, it produced a feeling of well-being. After I had dressed up as a woman, my imagination always busied itself with the idea of how beautiful it would be if I had a beloved before whom I might display myself unrestrainedly, just as I then was. In these fancies I always pictured to myself a girl of my own age, with long hair and well-developed breasts and hips. This imagination generally resulted in a pollution, which I sometimes endeavoured to prevent by taking off the articles of clothing as rapidly as possible.
“By a colleague I was initiated into the practice of masturbation. He explained to me that if I had no woman who would give herself to me, I was in a position to satisfy myself. The first time I resisted the impulse; but the costume-stimulus tormented me, and I had discovered that after a seminal emission I was at peace for a time; moreover, when dressing up, I was always exposed to the danger of being discovered, and so I began the practice of self-abuse. Masturbation did not give me proper gratification, and therefore, after practising it, I always experienced a great feeling of regret and also a feeling of exhaustion; moreover, it did not produce the feeling of well-being which resulted from dressing up as a woman.
“I was shy, and was very readily embarrassed in the presence of the female sex; I therefore avoided seeing much of women; I avoided it, also, on account of my costume-stimulus. It would have been preferable to me if, physically, Nature had made me a woman, so that I could have gone about freely among girls of my own age. For the reasons already given I did not learn to dance; moreover, the turning round made me very giddy, and from the age of seventeen and a half to nineteen years I suffered from attacks of syncope. At about the age of twenty-two years I fell in love with my present wife, who attracted me on account of her grace, her figure, and her character. My wife was even more bashful than myself. My inclination drew me towards her, but on account of my costume-stimulus, I avoided being alone with her. From now onwards I began to consider what I could possibly do in order to explain to my betrothed my true nature, but all the attempts which I made were failures. After six months’ engagement, I left the place where my betrothed was living. The engagement lasted seven years before we were married. The principal reason for the delay was that we were both impecunious. When I was alone with my betrothed, I was always thinking of my costume-stimulus. Shortly before we were married I told my betrothed in a letter of my peculiar tendency, for I felt it was my duty to do so. She could not understand how I could find pleasure in dressing myself up as a woman. At first she was indifferent regarding my costume-stimulus; later she thought it was morbid, an impulse bordering on the insane. I often had to call my imagination to my help in order to produce an erection. My marriage became more unhappy year by year. My wife, on account of my morbid tendency, suspected me of all possible perversities, and was of opinion that an individual predisposed as I was could not be capable of true, upright love for a woman. How I was to get woman’s clothing to my taste I did not know. In my marriage I was no better off as regards the costume-stimulus, but rather worse. I had more sleepless nights on account of this costume-stimulus than I had had before I married. As time passed, I became continually more ill-humoured, and was occasionally cross to my wife, which afterwards made me very sorry. In the sleepless nights I puzzled how I could possibly manage that my wife should not concern herself any more about the costume-stimulus, and how I could possibly fulfil my wishes in this respect. Gradually I succeeded in winning my wife to my side to this extent, that she agreed to make a costume for me, but I must not have many such.