“But that person cannot possibly be a man? That waist, that bust, those classic arms, the whole air and person are markedly feminine!
“I am told that ‘Lottie’ was once a book-keeper. To-day she, or, rather, he, is exclusively ‘Lottie,’ and takes pleasure in deceiving men about his sex as long as possible. ‘Lottie’ is singing a song that would hardly do for a drawing-room, in a high voice, acquired by years of practice, which many a soprano might envy. ‘Lottie’ has also ‘worked’ as a female comedian. Now the quondam book-keeper has so entered into the female rôle that he appears on the street in female attire almost exclusively, and, as the people with whom he lodges state, uses an embroidered night-dress.
“On closer examination of the assembly, to my astonishment, I discover acquaintances on all hands: my shoemaker, whom I should have taken for anything but a woman-hater—he is a ‘troubadour,’ with sword and plume; and his ‘Leonora,’ in the costume of a bride, is accustomed to place my favorite brand of cigars before me in a certain cigar-store. ‘Leonora,’ who, during an intermission, removes her gloves, I recognize with certainty by her large, blue hands. Right! There is my haberdasher, also; he moves about in a questionable costume as Bacchus, and is the swain of a repugnantly bedecked Diana, who works as a waiter in a beer-restaurant. The real ‘ladies’ of the ball cannot be described here. They associate only with one another, and avoid the woman-hating men; and the latter are exclusive, and amuse themselves, absolutely ignoring the charms of the women.”
These facts deserve the careful attention of the police, who should be placed in a position to cope with male prostitution, as they now do with that of women.
Male prostitution is certainly much more dangerous to society than that of females; it is the darkest stain on the history of humanity.
From the statements of a high police official of Berlin, I learn that the police of Berlin are conversant with the male demi-monde of the German Capital, and do all they can to suppress blackmail among pederasts,—a practice which often does not stop short of murder.
The foregoing facts justify the wish that the law-maker of the future may, for reasons of utility, at least, abandon the prosecution of pederasty.
With reference to this point, it is worthy of note that the French Code does not punish it so long as it does not become an offense to public decency. Probably for politico-legal reasons, the new Italian Penal Code passes over the crime of unnatural abuse in silence, as do the statutes of Holland and, as far as I know, Belgium and Spain.
In how far such cultivated pederasts are to be regarded as mentally and morally sound may remain an open question. The majority of them suffer with genital neuroses. At least, in these cases, there are the stages of transition to acquired pathological contrary sexual instinct. The responsibility of these individuals, who are certainly much lower than the women who prostitute themselves, in general cannot be questioned.
The various categories of male-loving men, with respect of the manner of sexual indulgence, may be thus characterized in general:—