Psychopathia sexualis: With especial reference to contrary sexual instinct / A medico-legal study

by R. von Krafft-Ebing

The patient is a large, powerful man, of ruddy appearance. In general he is of a quiet temperament, but may become very violent on occasion; he says himself that he is quarrelsome and inclined to assert himself. L. is of a kindly disposition and generous; easily made to weep. At school he passed for a talented pupil, with good powers of comprehension. The patient at times has congestion of the head, but is otherwise healthy, except that he is much depressed and melancholic as a result of his sexual perversion, here to be described.

But little can be learned of any hereditary taint.

The following facts concerning the development of his sexual life are gathered from the patient’s own statements:—

In very early youth—in fact, when he was eight or nine years old—L. had the desire to lick his teacher’s boots like a dog. L. thinks it possible that this thought was excited in him by his once seeing a dog actually do this, but he cannot state this with certainty; and it seems much more certain to the patient that the first ideas of this kind came in a waking state, not in dreams.

From his tenth to his fourteenth year he constantly sought to touch the shoes of his fellow-pupils, and also those of little girls; but for this purpose he always chose boys who had wealthy and prominent parents. One of these, the son of a rich landed proprietor, had riding-boots; in the boy’s absence L. took these in his hands, struck himself with them, and pressed them against his face. L. did the same thing with the elegant boots of an officer of dragoons.

After the beginning of puberty the desire was transferred exclusively to the boots of females. Thus, while skating, the patient’s attention was entirely occupied with putting on and taking off skates for ladies; but he always chose only such women as were rich and prominent socially, wearing elegant boots. In the street and everywhere L. constantly looked for elegant boots. His love for them went so far that he often put in his purse, and even in his mouth, the sand and mud that bore their imprints. As a boy of fourteen L. visited brothels; and he often visited a café chantant solely to excite himself with the sight of elegant boots (low shoes were less attractive). In his school-books and on the walls of closets, L. drew boots. In the theatre he saw nothing but the shoes of the ladies. For hours at a time, in the street and on board steam-boats, L. would run after ladies wearing elegant boots; and he thought with delight of how he might get a chance to touch the boots. This peculiar love for boots remains unchanged. The thought to have himself trod upon by ladies in their boots, or to kiss the boots, gives L. the most intense sensual delight. Before shoe-stores he will stand and stand, merely to look at the boots. He is particularly excited by their elegance.

The patient prefers high-buttoned or laced boots with high heels; but less elegant boots, even with low heels, also excite him, if their wearer is a wealthy, distinguished, and proud lady.

At the age of twenty L. attempted coitus; but, “in spite of the greatest efforts,” as he believes, he was not successful. During the attempt the patient had no thought of shoes; on the contrary, he had first sought to excite himself sexually with shoes, and he asserts that too great excitement was to blame for his want of success in coitus. Up to this time, being thirty-one years old, he has attempted coitus only four or five times, and always in vain.

On one occasion the patient, already much to be pitied on account of his disease, had the misfortune to contract syphilis. In reply to the question as to what he regarded as the most lustful act, the patient said: “It is my greatest delight to lie naked on the floor and have myself trod upon by girls wearing elegant boots; but, of course, this is possible only in brothels.” Moreover, according to the patient’s statements, these sexual perversions of men are well known in many houses of prostitution,—a proof that these are not so very infrequent. The prostitutes call these men “boot-lovers.” But the patient has only very infrequently had the lustful act actually performed, notwithstanding the fact that it is most beautiful and pleasant to him. The patient has no thoughts that impel to intercourse; at least, not in the sense of immissio penis in vagina,—an act that affords him no pleasure whatever. Indeed, he has gradually developed a fear of coitus, which may be sufficiently explained by his numerous unsuccessful attempts; for the patient says himself that his inability to complete coitus embarrassed him exceedingly. The patient has never practiced real onanism. With the exception of a few occasions on which the patient satisfied his sexual desire by onanism with boots or in a similar way, he is innocent of such satisfaction; for, in the excitement with boots, there is scarcely ever anything more than erection; at most, only a slight discharge of fluid takes place slowly, which the patient takes to be semen.

Simply a shoe, worn by no one, excites him when he sees it, but not nearly as intensely as when it is worn by a woman. New shoes that have not been worn excite him much less than those that have been used; but they must be free from wear and look as new as possible. Shoes of this kind excite him the most. As has been said, ladies’ boots excite him when they are not on the feet. Under such circumstances, in fancy, L. creates a lady for them; he presses them to his lips and on his penis. He would “die with delight” if a proud, respectable lady were to tread upon him with her shoes.