The author of this autobiography also made me the following communication:—
“I always sought to find out whether the peculiar ideas that ruled me sexually were entertained by other men. Since the first stories about it accidentally came to my ears, I have sought everywhere to learn of it. Since it is really a process of inner consciousness, it is, of course, not easy to identify it, and it cannot always be done with certainty; but I assume the existence of masochism where I find perverse sexual acts that cannot be explained except by this dominating idea. I look upon this anomaly as wide-spread.
“I have heard numerous stories about it from prostitutes here in Berlin, and in Vienna; and I thus learned how numerous my fellow-sufferers are. I am always careful not to describe my own experiences, or ask whether they know of such; but I allow these persons to relate their experiences just as they will.
“Simple flagellation is so common that almost every prostitute is familiar with it; but cases of real masochism are very frequent. The men subject to this perversion submit themselves to the most refined cruelties. In this they always act the same farce with the instructed prostitutes,—humiliating subjection of the man, treading upon him, commands, threats, and scoldings that have been committed to memory; then flagellation, blows on various portions of the body, and all kinds of punishment, pricking with needles, etc. The scenes often end with coitus, but more frequently with ejaculation without it. Twice prostitutes have shown me heavy iron chains with handcuffs, which their patrons had made for them to put on them; and the dried peas, on which they kneeled; the seat set with needles, on which they sat at command; and many other similar things. Often the perverted man wishes the woman to tie his penis so tightly as to cause pain; to prick it with needles, make cuts in it with a knife, or beat it with a stick. Even the act of hanging is indulged in, it being cut short at just the right moment. Others have themselves scratched with a knife or dagger, but in the act the woman must threaten them with death. In all these things the symbolism of subjection is the most important factor. The woman is usually called ‘mistress’; the man, ‘slave.’
“A man of high social standing, dressed as a servant, sat on the box of a carriage and drove his mistress about. Here there may have been a conscious imitation of the ‘Venus in Furs.’ It seems to me that the writings of Sacher-Masoch have done much to develop this perversion in those predisposed. It is peculiar that the inexplicable enthusiasm for furs is so frequently combined with this perversion. It, as well as that for velvet, has been peculiar to me from my earliest youth.
“All these comedies with prostitutes are for masochists only troublesome substitutes. Whether there is such a thing as a realization of masochistic dreams in love relations or not, I do not know. If it occur, it is certainly very infrequent; for this taste in women (sadism in women, as described by Sacher-Masoch) is very difficult to find; and, too, the expression of sexual abnormalities finds greater obstacles in the modesty of women, etc., than in men. I myself have never noticed the slightest indications of anything of this kind, and have never been able to attempt an actual realization of my fancies. Once a man confidingly told me of his masochistic perversion, and said he had found his ideal.”
The two following cases are similar to the foregoing:—
Case 45. Mr. Z., aged 29, technicist, came for consultation because of a fear of tabes. Father was nervous and died tabetic. Father’s sister was insane. Several relatives are very nervous and peculiar. On closer examination the patient is found to have sexual, spinal, and cerebral asthenia. He presents no symptoms of tabes dorsalis, nor does he give a history of them. Questions concerning abuse of the sexual organs bring out a confession of masturbation practiced since youth. In the course of the examination the following interesting psycho-sexual anomalies came out: At the age of five the vita sexualis began with the impulse to whip himself, as well as with the desire to see others whipped. In this he never thought of individuals as of one sex or the other. Faute de mieux he practiced flagellation on himself and, in time, this induced ejaculation. Long before this he had begun to satisfy himself with masturbation, and always during the act reveled in imaginary scenes of whipping. After growing up he twice visited brothels to have himself flogged by prostitutes. For this purpose he chose the prettiest girl he could find; but he was disappointed, and did not even have an erection, to say nothing of ejaculation. He recognized that the flagellation was subsidiary, and that the idea of subjection to the woman’s will was the important thing. He realized this on the second trial. When he had the “thought of subjection,” he was perfectly successful. In time, by straining his imagination with masochistic ideas, he performed coitus without flagellation; but he found little satisfaction in it; so that he performed sexual intercourse in a masochistic way. He found pleasure in masochistic scenes, in the sense of his original desire for flagellation, only when he was flagellated ad podicem, or, at least, only when he called up such a situation in imagination. At times of great excitability it was even sufficient if a pretty girl told stories of such scenes. He would thus have an orgasm, and usually ejaculation.
A very effectual fetichistic idea was early associated with this. He noticed that he was attracted and satisfied only by women wearing high heels and short jackets (“Hungarian fashion”). He does not know how he arrived at this fetichistic idea. Boys’ legs with high heels also pleased him, but this charm was purely æsthetic, without any sensual coloring; and he said he had never noticed anything homo-sexual in himself. The patient referred his fetichism to his partiality for calves (legs). He is charmed by ladies’ calves only when elegant shoes are on the feet. Nude legs—feminine nudity in general—do not in the least affect him sexually. A subordinate fetichistic idea for the patient is the masculine ear. It is a lustful pleasure for him to pet the ears of handsome men, i.e., men having beautiful ears. With men this pleasure is slight, but with women it gives him great enjoyment.
He also has a weakness for cats. He thinks them simply beautiful; and their movements are very attractive to him. The sight of a cat can raise him from a feeling of the deepest depression. Cats seem to him sacred; he sees something divine in them! He does not know the reason for this idiosyncrasy.