The Sexual Life Of The Child Part 5

In conclusion, however, it is necessary to point out that there are a certain number of children in whom up to the fourteenth year of life, and even later, manifestations of the s.e.xual life are hardly discernible; but we have to remember that the results of castration prove, as has been shown above, that even when, in early life, the occurrence of s.e.xual processes cannot be demonstrated, such processes are nevertheless going on. We meet with individuals in whom, even during the first years of youth, the development of the s.e.xual life is extremely backward. There are boys of fifteen or sixteen who from time to time have an involuntary seminal emission, but who exhibit no other indications whatever of an active s.e.xual life--neither masturbation, nor any discernible psychos.e.xual processes. Nevertheless, in most cases of this kind, more careful observation will bring to light much, besides the occurrence of the involuntary seminal emissions, which points to an awakening of s.e.xuality. Still, in some individuals, it is remarkable how long entire s.e.xual innocence may persist. This is doubtless due in such cases, not to any specially rigorous natural virtue, but simply to the fact that in these cases s.e.xual development is much slower than the average. Those concerned are thus devoid of all understanding of the s.e.xual, just in the same way as persons born blind lack all understanding of colour. In most of the cases in which such r.e.t.a.r.dation occurs, the s.e.xual life subsequently becomes entirely normal, showing that the only abnormality was the exceptional delay in the occurrence of the various processes. I have myself seen a number of cases in which the development of the s.e.xual life was delayed to such an extent that e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n during coitus was not effected until towards the end of the third decade of life, although erections, and even occasional nocturnal emissions, had occurred long before. I believe that cases of this kind are to a small extent only, if at all, the result of educational influences, and they are in no way dependent upon the so-called s.e.xual neurasthenia; we are concerned simply with a r.e.t.a.r.dation of development, dependent upon congenital predisposition.

CHAPTER V

PATHOLOGY

In the previous chapters I have from time to time mentioned some phenomenon of comparatively rare occurrence; but for the most part I have described those processes only which are regularly met with, which cannot be regarded as exceptional peculiarities, and therefore must not be considered to be pathological manifestations. It is true that much that has been described comes within the province of the pathological; for example, many of the active manifestations of the s.e.xual impulse occurring during the first period of childhood, such as the case quoted from Fere on page 81. For practical reasons, however, such cases as this cannot always be dealt with as members of a distinct pathological group.

On the other hand, it is necessary to give a separate consideration to the pathological aspect of our subject. Many of the cases which must be grouped as pathological occur in girls. Thus, we meet with cases in which menstruation becomes established at the age of eight, five, two, or even earlier.[53] Carus reports the case of a woman whose medical history showed that she had begun to menstruate at the age of two years, and that she became pregnant for the first time when eight years old. In girls from ten to twelve years of age, pregnancy has many times been observed. A French physician had under observation a girl who when only three mouths old had well-developed b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and in whom only a little later the pubic and axillary hair grew and menstruation began. When twenty-seven months old, the child was again seen by the same physician, and at this time menstruation was proceeding regularly; the features had now lost the infantile type, and the body as a whole exhibited all the signs of premature development. A collection of cases made by Gebhard[54] contains one case in which menstruation was established at birth; in quite a number of the cases menstruation began during the first year of life.

A case was reported from New Orleans in which menstruation began at the age of three months and continued regularly thereafter. This was a case of premature general growth; at the age of four years the girl was over 4 feet high, and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were the size of a large orange. As a general rule, in these cases of premature development of the reproductive organs in girls, the great size of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s attracts especial attention. According to Kisch (_op. cit._, p. 78), these girls with precocious menstruation and premature s.e.xual development very commonly exhibit also a comparatively high body-weight, great development of fat, and early dent.i.tion; they look older than their years, and their genital organs also develop very early, with hair on the p.u.b.es and in the axillae; the l.a.b.i.a majora and the b.r.e.a.s.t.s resemble those of full-grown women, and the pelvis also has the adult form.

Commonly also the s.e.xual impulse develops early, whilst in other respects the mental development lags behind the physical.

In the post-mortem room, corresponding conditions are occasionally found in the ovaries; and some writers express the opinion that such premature s.e.xual development is commoner than would appear from the comparative rarity of reports on the subject. Unquestionably, examination of the ovaries of young girls not infrequently leads to the discovery of ripe ovarian follicles; in one case this happened in the body of a female infant born prematurely. In a girl five years of age, fifteen follicles were counted in the ovaries. Liegeois,[55] in post-mortem examinations, twice found mature ova in girls two years of age.

Similar cases of premature s.e.xual development are occasionally seen also in boys. For example, Breschet, in the year 1820, reported the case of a boy three years of age who exhibited all the signs of p.u.b.erty. His voice resembled that of a young man of sixteen to eighteen. The length of the flaccid p.e.n.i.s was 9.6 cm. (3-3/4 inches), its diameter at the root was 7.2 cm. (2-3/4 inches); the length of the organ when erect was 13.5 cm.

(5-1/4 inches). In the presence of girls or women the boy's p.e.n.i.s became erect, his whole manner became more vivacious, and his hands were directed towards the genital organs of these females. Masturbation was never observed. The boy showed many additional signs of premature development. For instance, the central incisors of the upper jaw were cut at the age of three months. Breschet also quotes a case published by Mead, in which a boy had undergone the p.u.b.eral development before the end of the first year of his life; when five years of age, he died of pulmonary consumption, attended with all the signs of old age. The same writer records another case, that of a boy five years of age, whose genital organs were fully developed, who had a well-grown beard, and exhibited, in short, all the (physical) characteristics of complete s.e.xual maturity. In accordance with the theoretical views of that day, more especially as a result of the wide acceptance of the phrenological doctrines of Gall, it was generally believed that an exceptional development of the cerebellum (which was supposed by Gall to be the seat of the s.e.xual impulse) was the determining cause of such premature awakening of the s.e.xual impulse.

Contrasted with the cases just described, are those in which there is a r.e.t.a.r.dation of the whole course of s.e.xual development, so that the signs of s.e.xual maturity are not manifested until an age greatly exceeding the average "age of p.u.b.erty." In respect of one symptom or several, many individuals may remain throughout life in an infantile condition. This is occasionally seen, for example, in dwarfs. It would be of great interest, from this point of view, to make a careful study of the s.e.xual behaviour of dwarfs. In this respect, dwarfs appear to vary greatly.

These differences depend, in part, at least, upon the fact that many persons are cla.s.sified as dwarfs who do not, strictly speaking, belong to this category. This statement applies more especially to those whose growth has been impaired by rickets; for, properly speaking, those only should be designated dwarfs who are, though small, generally well-proportioned; and the term should not be applied to those in whom the defective stature is consequent on rachitis or some similar disease.

It appears doubtful, however, if the confusion of terms just mentioned explains all the observed differences in the s.e.xuality of those commonly spoken of as "dwarfs." From data communicated to me concerning a fairly large community of dwarfs, living in a single place, and in whom the dwarfing appears to have no connexion with rickets, it would seem that in the case of true dwarfs there is considerable variation in s.e.xual behaviour. This particular group of dwarfs const.i.tute a society of persons living and working together. Although they are all living in close a.s.sociation, there seems to be a striking lack of warmth in their s.e.xual relationships. Notwithstanding the fact that they have been living together for ten years, they still address one another formally as "Mr." and "Miss." In the case of the male dwarfs, with one exception all had fully developed genital organs; the exceptional instance was that of a member of the community then thirty years of age, in whom the genitals were rudimentary. All were endowed with normal s.e.xual impulse, but this was directed towards persons of normal stature. In one of these dwarfs, an Italian, the genital organs remained undeveloped and hairless until he attained the age of twenty-eight; then these organs underwent the normal degree of growth, and at the same time pubic hair appeared.

As already mentioned, the s.e.xual inclinations of dwarfs appear as a rule to be directed towards fully grown persons, and I knew one dwarf twenty years of age who never missed an opportunity of pressing up against a certain very pretty young lady. These observations of my own regarding the s.e.xual inclinations in dwarfs are confirmed by other cases recorded in the literature of the subject, although in isolated instances s.e.xual attraction between a male and a female dwarf has been observed to eventuate in the birth of a child.

This is the place in which to refer to those cases of which a brief mention was made in the first chapter, to which von Krafft-Ebing has given the name of _s.e.xual paradoxy_. Activity of the s.e.xual impulse is sometimes observed at an age at which this impulse is normally quiescent. The term applies alike to cases in which the s.e.xual impulse becomes active in early childhood, and to cases in which the impulse persists to an advanced age. Whilst the cases in which the phenomena of contrectation alone occurred have commonly been overlooked, considerable attention has been paid to those cases in which the s.e.xual impulse manifests itself by peripheral changes, more especially by premature impulse towards masturbation or towards actual s.e.xual congress with one of the other s.e.x. It was shown, however, in the last chapter, that active manifestations of the s.e.xual impulse during childhood are not always paradoxical. If we examine cases which have been published as coming under this latter category (I limit myself here to cases occurring in childhood, and am not speaking of s.e.xual paradoxy in old age), we find that they are characterised more particularly by the strength with which the peripheral s.e.xual impulse manifests itself.

There is, in fact, a marked distinction between cases, according as we have to do with an occasional general sensation in the genital organs, or with masturbation to excess and with s.e.xual a.s.saults upon others. But we must not describe as s.e.xual paradoxy all manifestations of the s.e.xual life occurring in early childhood. A reference to the last chapter will show that the cases of s.e.xual paradoxy, when accurately studied, differ from the normal rather quant.i.tatively than qualitatively. During the first period of childhood, and more especially during the first few years of life, a case in which s.e.xual activity in a child threatens the well-being of members of that child's social environment is so sharply differentiated from the normal that there can hardly arise even momentary hesitation regarding the paradoxical nature of the manifestation. On the other hand, we shall do well to follow von Krafft-Ebing in excluding from the category of s.e.xual paradoxy those cases in which s.e.xual excitement is caused solely by peripheral inflammatory stimuli, balanitis (inflammation of the glans p.e.n.i.s), threadworms, and the like. These are not instances of s.e.xual paradoxy, because the essential characteristic of the latter is that it originates centrally, even though its manifestations take a peripheral form.

I will now recount three cases which I regard as pathological in nature, and as examples of a paradoxical s.e.xual impulse.

CASE 7.--The girl X., six years of age, stated by the mother to be free from all morbid inheritance, produces the general impression of being a nervous subject. She is affected with facial muscular spasms, especially affecting the corners of the mouth, the eyelids, and the neck. Her mental development, as far as can be judged from my own observations and from the account given by the parents, is perfectly normal; but attention is at once attracted by the appearance of premature development. The mother states that in the second year of life, owing to the carelessness of a nursemaid, the child fell out of her cradle, without, however, sustaining any manifest injury. The mother does not think there is any reason to suppose that the child has ever been led astray in s.e.xual matters. For the past two years or more, the mother has noticed that the child likes to press up against articles of furniture in such a way that her genital organs come into contact with narrow edges or corners; for example, the back of a chair, and especially a small portfolio-stand in the room. At first the child did this very often. Then the mother forbade it, and the father whipped her several times for doing it; since then it has been done more furtively, but the mother has none the less often seen it done. When the child is in bed she plays with the genital organs with her fingers. A definite o.r.g.a.s.m occurs: there are spastic twitchings of the whole body, the eyes brighten, the respiratory rhythm changes; all these changes, occurring as they do in a.s.sociation with the artificial stimulation of the genital organs, combine to prove that we have not to do here with a simple spasmodic neurosis, but with the artificial induction of the s.e.xual o.r.g.a.s.m. The process is, moreover, confined to peripheral manifestations.

The most careful observation failed to show the existence, in a.s.sociation with the s.e.xual excitement, of any especially tender sentiments towards other individuals.

CASE 8.--The boy Y. was brought to see me when he was eight and a half years of age. From the second year of life he had been noticed to be subject to masturbatory impulses, attended from the first with erection of the p.e.n.i.s. The practice of masturbation increased to such a degree that before the boy was four years of age it was found necessary to keep him separate, as far as possible, from his brothers and sisters to save these latter from being corrupted by him. But notwithstanding this precaution, by the time he was five years old he had begun to make s.e.xual attacks on a sister one year older than himself. He was cunning enough to arrange matters in such a way that he was alone with his sister, at times when the usual safeguards to keep him separate from the other children were suspended--for example, when his parents were away, and when his governess (who had been made fully acquainted with the circ.u.mstances) was keeping some a.s.signation of her own. (All this was fully elucidated at a later date. The distressed parents were foolish enough to imagine that a child with inherited morbid predispositions of this character could be adequately safeguarded by means of hired help; they were painfully disillusioned when it appeared that the hired a.s.sistant, instead of watching the child, was pursuing her own pleasures--a point in which she merely imitated the parents, themselves earnest pleasure-seekers, deluding themselves with the belief that everything possible was being done for their child.) Although the parents had known all about the boy's habit of masturbation for many years past, it was only through a fortunate accident, and after the s.e.xual malpractices with the sister had been going on for a long time, that these at length came to light. It appears that the boy had from time to time made s.e.xual advances to other girls than his sister. One day, while playing with the little daughter belonging to a neighbouring family, he endeavoured to lead this child s.e.xually astray. The little girl told her parents what had happened, and these latter consequently refused to allow her to play with Y. any more. This prohibition led Y.'s parents to inquire into the whole matter with great care. It was then discovered that for years past Y. had been engaged in s.e.xual misconduct with his sister, his usual method being to play with her genital organs with his hands. In the girl, the frequent repet.i.tion of this act had given rise to abrasions and local inflammations.

The following case, the leading features of which are the early age at which seminal e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n occurred, and the marked hyperaesthesia of the s.e.xual impulse, may also be regarded as an example of s.e.xual paradoxy.

This patient exhibits a number of different perverse modes of s.e.xual sensibility, some of which have persisted to the present day.

CASE 9.--Z., now thirty years of age, admits prolonged s.e.xual excesses, and divides his s.e.xual history into two periods: the first period extends from the age of seven to the age of twelve, before he had learned the use of alcohol; during the second period, from the age of thirteen to the age of thirty-years, his s.e.xual excesses occurred under the influence of alcohol. He gives his own history in the following terms:--

"In very early childhood my imagination began to exercise itself pleasurably in the pictured contemplation of the bodies of naked girls.

I can also remember distinctly that my dreams were chiefly concerned with images of this character. In the later years of childhood (nine to twelve years) I m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed to great excess, often five to ten times daily, sometimes actually while in cla.s.s at school. Seminal emission had already begun--I remember this quite distinctly at the age of ten, and perhaps even at the age of nine years--but the quant.i.ty of s.e.m.e.n was very small. I found several schoolmates with similar inclinations to my own, and with these I practised mutual masturbation. When I was eleven years old I became acquainted with a boy somewhat younger than myself, and in this case the proposal for mutual masturbation came from his side. At that time the thought that there was anything wrong in the practice had never entered my mind; on the contrary, I was always on the lookout for boys who would join with me in mutual masturbation. Such were my s.e.xual habits, until as a boy of thirteen I for the first time had complete s.e.xual intercourse with a woman, a prost.i.tute.

Thenceforward, for a time, I had intercourse at intervals of from four to six weeks, continuing in the meanwhile daily masturbation.

Subsequently I sought and found opportunities for intercourse with women, married and unmarried, about once a week, for money. These almost daily venereal excesses appeared to have no bad effects on my physical health; my diet was at the time abundant, if not superabundant. On the other hand, I lacked effective will-power to make a successful stand against the promptings of my bodily l.u.s.ts; nor was I able, though not devoid of talent, to perform any arduous or enduring mental work. There ensued also at this early stage a great infirmity of purpose, from which I still suffer to this day. I would take up now one thing, now another, at first with fiery zeal, soon to cast it aside in favour of some new undertaking, to be abandoned with the like precipitation.

"Having command of abundant means, I now, at the age of fifteen, became enabled to gratify my s.e.xual desires without restraint with dependents of the other s.e.x; nor did any untoward physical consequences arise to impose limitations. After a time, ordinary s.e.xual intercourse ceased to furnish adequate gratification; and I began to excite myself s.e.xually by contact with special parts of the body, most often the b.r.e.a.s.t.s. But the woman must not, as had formerly been my desire, strip herself completely nude; for I found the most powerful s.e.xual stimulus was now exerted by her white drawers. The display, intentional or unintentional, of this article of feminine attire sufficed to arouse in me s.e.xual feelings. For this reason I now came to frequent the skating rink, in order to obtain a s.e.xual stimulus from the glimpse of a woman's drawers when putting on her skates. But even when a girl was physically beautiful and elegantly dressed, if her drawers were not white but coloured, she produced in me no s.e.xual appet.i.te whatever.

"As a result of long-continued excesses, attempts at ordinary intercourse no longer evoked an adequate s.e.xual stimulus, so that I now began the practice of cunnilinctus. It was when the woman herself became excited through the cunnilinctus, that I experienced the highest s.e.xual gratification. In the intervals, when I had no opportunity for s.e.xual intercourse, I would endeavour to secure s.e.xual gratification by exposing my genital organs in the presence of females, or when pa.s.sing them in the street--especially female children. I also sought every possible opportunity of watching female dependents engaged in the act of urination. This gave me especially great gratification if, when they were urinating, I could see their white underlinen. I also procured p.o.r.nographic literature, and m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed frequently while reading it."

The next period in this patient's history now begins. But I shall not recount his case further, since the subsequent episodes have no bearing on the questions with which we are especially concerned. It will suffice to remark that Z. now exhibits numerous neuropathic and psychopathic characteristics. But the various psychopathic symptoms, some of which are very severe, lie altogether outside our chosen field of study.

Paradoxical s.e.xual impulse is observed also in the lower animals. Weston reports the case of a colt which when only six weeks old attempted to serve its mother; when three months old this animal became so troublesome, owing to its attempts to cover other foals and even calves, that castration was necessary.[56] The same author describes a case of masturbation in a foal only two months old; the animal m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed by arching the back to an extreme degree, and pushing the hind feet forward along the surface of the belly on either side of the p.e.n.i.s.

Several allusions have been made in pa.s.sing to the subject of s.e.xual perversions. A detailed consideration of these manifestations is now necessary, owing to the fact that perversions exhibit peculiar relationships to the s.e.xual life of the child, such relationships being of two distinct kinds. In the first place, perverse modes of s.e.xual sensibility are very common during childhood; and since erroneous views on the subject are widely prevalent, the true significance of such perversions demands very careful study. In the second place, it is maintained that certain influences affecting the s.e.xual life during childhood are competent to give rise to permanent s.e.xual perversions. We will discuss these two questions in the order here stated.

Adult s.e.xual perverts frequently declare that their first experience of perverse s.e.xual sensibility dates from the eighth year, or even earlier.

Thus, by h.o.m.os.e.xuals we are told that the h.o.m.os.e.xual inclination was felt in very early childhood, in one case directed towards a school-fellow, in another towards some near relative, or towards a resident tutor--- or in the case of female h.o.m.os.e.xuals, towards a girl-companion or a governess. Moreover, h.o.m.os.e.xuals often a.s.sure us that the h.o.m.os.e.xual inclination has been persistent, and that it has never been interrupted by any manifestation of heteros.e.xual desire. The a.s.sumption that in h.o.m.os.e.xuals the s.e.xual impulse becomes active earlier in life than is normal, was one of several considerations by which von Krafft-Ebing was led to regard h.o.m.os.e.xuality as a degenerative phenomenon, consequent upon neuropathic or psychopathic hereditary taint; and this author held the same view regarding other s.e.xual perversions--sadism, for instance. In opposition to this opinion, attention may be drawn to the fact, which was fully considered in the last chapter, that very commonly indeed the activity of the normal s.e.xual life can also be traced back into the early days of childhood.

This fact has. .h.i.therto to a large extent been overlooked simply for the reason that recent investigations dealing with the s.e.xual impulse have in most cases dealt exclusively with morbid manifestations; whilst the psychologists by profession, whose province it was to study the normal s.e.xual life, have with few exceptions (Max Dessoir, Binet, Jodl, and Ribot) completely ignored this field of inquiry. For this reason many phenomena, _e.g._, early activity of the s.e.xual impulse, and hyperaesthesia of that impulse, have been a.s.sumed to be characteristic of the perverse modes of s.e.xual sensibility, whereas the like phenomena may readily be observed in a.s.sociation with a qualitatively normal mode of s.e.xual sensibility.

The theory of the congenital nature of h.o.m.os.e.xuality was based for the most part on the common a.s.sumption that the condition is primary and premature in its occurrence, and that it is exclusive of the opposite mode of s.e.xual sensibility. But for several reasons the inference is not justified. For, first of all, for many cases it is incorrect to a.s.sume that the h.o.m.os.e.xual inclinations are thus exclusive in their character; as I have previously explained, the adult h.o.m.os.e.xual's belief that from early childhood he has never experienced any other than h.o.m.os.e.xual inclinations, depends in many instances on an illusion of memory. Owing to the fact that in consequence of the fuller development of h.o.m.os.e.xuality he is no longer interested in the heteros.e.xual, he is apt to forget any early heteros.e.xual inclinations. Secondly, the primary appearance of h.o.m.os.e.xual inclinations does not prove that these inclinations are congenital; for in h.o.m.os.e.xuals, as in heteros.e.xuals, the specialised mode of s.e.xual sensibility is preceded by a period in which the s.e.xual impulse is undifferentiated; and, in h.o.m.os.e.xuals and heteros.e.xuals alike, chance plays a great part in determining which mode of s.e.xual sensibility first manifests itself. The congenital nature of heteros.e.xuality is not disproved by the fact that one who in adult life possesses a normal mode of s.e.xual sensibility, may as a schoolboy have first experienced s.e.xual desire towards a school-fellow; just as little, then, does a similar early history in one who in adult life is h.o.m.os.e.xual in his inclinations, prove that his h.o.m.os.e.xuality is congenital. In the animal world also, before the occurrence of s.e.xual maturity, the love-games occasionally display a similar confusion of roles, so that the s.e.xually immature female animal may attempt to cover the youthful male. The congenital nature of h.o.m.os.e.xuality is displayed, not by the primary appearance of this mode of sensibility, but by the fact that when the p.u.b.eral development takes place, the h.o.m.os.e.xual sentiments persist, and are not replaced by heteros.e.xuality.

The congenital nature of h.o.m.os.e.xuality has been a.s.sumed more particularly in those cases which are described respectively as _effemination_ and _viraginity_. The former name is given by von Krafft-Ebing to cases in which in h.o.m.os.e.xual men the entire system of feelings and inclinations is influenced by the abnormal mode of s.e.xual sensibility. Such a male h.o.m.os.e.xual has a strong dislike for smoking and drinking, and for all masculine sports; on the other hand, he delights in self-adornment, in art and belles-lettres and even in literary affectations. The corresponding condition in women was by von Krafft-Ebing termed viraginity. Such female h.o.m.os.e.xuals do not merely experience s.e.xual attraction towards members of their own s.e.x, but they also exhibit other peculiarities usually characteristic of the male, such as dislike of ordinary feminine occupations, a neglect of the arts of the toilet, and a rough and masculine mode of behaviour. They exhibit inclinations for science rather than for art. They sometimes attempt to drink and smoke in a masculine manner. Von Krafft-Ebing and many other writers have a.s.sumed that the characteristics of effemination and of viraginity are displayed in early childhood. We are told that a boy with these tendencies prefers the society of little girls to that of boys, that he likes to play with dolls, and to help his mother in her housework. He takes naturally to cooking, sewing, and darning; and becomes clever in the selection of feminine dress, so that he can help his sisters in the choice of their clothes. Contrariwise, the girl who is destined in later life to display the characteristics of viraginity will be found frequenting the playground of the boys. Such a girl will have nothing to do with dolls, but exhibits a pa.s.sion for the rocking horse and for playing at soldiers and robbers. It is indisputable that these descriptions apply to many cases. But it is necessary here to repeat my previous warning against over-ready generalisation; for we find that there is quite a number of boys and girls who exhibit during childhood such contrary s.e.xual qualities and inclinations, and yet subsequently undergo a perfectly normal, or at any rate a non-h.o.m.os.e.xual, development of the s.e.xual life. During the period of the p.u.b.eral development, the normal heteros.e.xual characteristics come to predominate. The non-differentiated character of the s.e.xual life during childhood forbids us, from the mere existence at this period of life of such contrary s.e.xual tendencies, to infer that these tendencies will necessarily persist, and that the subsequent s.e.xual development will also be of an inverted character. We must point out, in addition, that from childhood onwards many women and many men fail to exhibit the psychical tendencies appropriate to _average_ members of their respective s.e.xes, without this justifying the conclusion that we have to do with h.o.m.os.e.xuality. There are heteros.e.xual men who are fond of needlework; and there are heteros.e.xual women in whom housework and the care of children, and even in many cases the details of their own toilet, arouse no interest whatever. Because we observe, in any individual, certain contrary s.e.xual tendencies of this character, to draw the inference that in such a case we necessarily have to do with h.o.m.os.e.xuality, would be a most disastrous error.

Apart from these considerations, we have, when there is a history of such tendencies in childhood, to take into account the possibility of illusions of memory just as much as we have in the cases in which adult h.o.m.os.e.xuals a.s.sure us that in childhood they never experienced any other than h.o.m.os.e.xual inclinations--a matter discussed in the first chapter (see pp. 5 and 6). A h.o.m.os.e.xual man, recalling his memories of childhood, lays especial stress on all that appears to be connected with h.o.m.os.e.xuality; he is apt to remember those instances only in which his conduct exhibited girlish characteristics, and to forget all instances of an opposite kind. Finally, we have to take into consideration the various interpretations which are tenable of occurrences during childhood. An adult h.o.m.os.e.xual who as a child once did some needlework for a joke, sees in this later a characteristic of effemination. A girl who, for lack of companions of her own s.e.x, was accustomed to join in her brother's sports, comes to believe, when subsequently she has developed into a h.o.m.os.e.xual woman, that her conduct in childhood resulted from congenital perversion, whereas in reality this conduct was the purely accidental result of her childish environment. On the other hand, the withdrawal during childhood from the companionship of members of the same s.e.x is explicable in a converse fashion. h.o.m.os.e.xual adults often tell us that even in boyhood they shunned the company of other boys, and sought girl companions, to join in the games of these latter--and they endeavour to explain this conduct on their part as determined by contrary s.e.xual inclinations in early childhood. Yet, in many cases, boys avoid those of their own s.e.x, and seek the companionship of girls, not for the reason just alleged, but solely because these boys thus early experience erotic stimulation when a.s.sociating with girls. In any case, we must carefully avoid over-estimating the importance of what may appear to be contrary s.e.xual phenomena during childhood, and we must not be too ready to accept the occurrence of such phenomena as a proof that s.e.xual perversion had manifested itself already during childhood. The general possibility of this occurrence is, of course, not disputed; but the far too common exaggerations of the matter cannot be too decisively rejected.

The case I have now to describe is that of a woman whose characteristics during childhood were thoroughly boyish, and who at this time experienced h.o.m.os.e.xual inclinations; during the period of the p.u.b.eral development, however, the h.o.m.os.e.xual tendencies disappeared, never to return.

CASE 10.--Mrs. X., twenty-six years of age, happily married for five years past, enjoys excellent health, with the exception of pains during menstruation, has normal intercourse with her husband, experiencing s.e.xual impulse of full intensity, and a normal voluptuous sensation. The family history is healthy on the whole; some of the mother's relatives are described as "nervous"; but in so large a family, otherwise healthy, this is of trifling significance. Most of her blood-relations are, so far as inheritable morbid conditions are concerned, thoroughly healthy.

As a girl, X. (whose statements, in so far as I was able to inquire, were in all important respects substantiated by her mother) was at first accustomed to seek the companionship of boys only. She was continually playing with her brothers and their friends, and was always the leader in their wildest games including war-games, and playing at Indians.

During childhood she was almost always regarded as "the baby," although she had a sister two years younger than herself, this sister being altogether girlish in her ways. Very seldom did X. play with anyone but the boys; when she did on rare occasions seek other companionship, it was always that of the sister of one of her boy friends. The two girls had obviously great sympathy each for the other, manifested when they were as yet only nine years of age, and increasing as the years went on.

The closer her a.s.sociation became with this girl, the more did X.

withdraw from the companionship of the boys, to devote herself to her girl friend. The a.s.sociation became more and more intimate; and when they were both thirteen years old their endearments pa.s.sed from kisses and embraces to manipulation of the genital organs. In these latter, X.

always played a pa.s.sive part, not herself touching her own genital organs nor those of her friend. Occasionally X. would feel drawn towards some other girl, but such errant inclinations never lasted long. At about the time when her fondness for the other girl began, that is to say, during her tenth year, X., who was then accustomed to compa.s.sionate herself for not having been born a boy, began to a.s.sume a more definitely boyish behaviour. Under the pretence of "dressing up," she used to wear her brother's clothes; occasionally she smoked, although in her home, and in the circle to which her family belonged, smoking was disapproved of even in grown women. At the age of fourteen, X. began to menstruate. The friendship between the two girls continued until the seventeenth year of life. Then X. gradually "came out," her h.o.m.os.e.xual tendencies disappeared, and at the same time her feminine nature became apparent. The desire to dress up as a man and the desire to smoke pa.s.sed away, and have never returned, although X. now moves in circles in which many women smoke. And, most important fact of all, the h.o.m.os.e.xual relations were now completely broken off. The two girls remained on friendly terms; but alike in X. and in her friend the h.o.m.os.e.xual inclinations disappeared, and the improper s.e.xual practices were entirely discontinued. X. began to flirt, now with one man, now with another, until when nineteen years old she fell in love with her present husband, and married him after a two years' engagement.

This case shows that neither the existence of h.o.m.os.e.xual inclinations during childhood, nor the simultaneous exhibition of other contrary s.e.xual mental qualities, necessarily foreshadows the development of permanent h.o.m.os.e.xuality. On the other hand, we must not from the subsequent appearance of heteros.e.xuality draw the conclusion that this was first acquired _intra vitam_, for it very often happens that congenital heteros.e.xuality first manifests itself during the period of the p.u.b.eral development. In an a.n.a.logous case, in which the h.o.m.os.e.xual and other contrary s.e.xual tendencies and inclinations of childhood have persisted during the adult s.e.xual life, it would be equally erroneous in the absence of further evidence to conclude that the h.o.m.os.e.xuality was congenital. I recognise the existence of congenital h.o.m.os.e.xuality, but I consider that the reality of this condition is established by other grounds than those just mentioned. This question has been fully discussed by me elsewhere,[57] and cannot here be further considered.

Many investigators regard h.o.m.os.e.xuality as an acquired manifestation. In cases in which the existence of h.o.m.os.e.xuality can be traced back into childhood, they explain this on the ground that at a time when the individual concerned was in a state of s.e.xual excitement, some other person of the same s.e.x must have made a marked impression upon his imagination. In this way, they suggest, is effected an a.s.sociation whose influence endures throughout life. I will here say no more than this, that this a.s.sociation theory does not suffice to account for the facts.

The deficiencies of the a.s.sociation theory will to some extent become apparent from the account I am about to give of the other s.e.xual perversions.

For the dispute to what extent s.e.xual perversions are congenital and to what extent they are acquired, prevails not only concerning h.o.m.os.e.xuality, but also concerning sadism, masochism, s.e.xual fetichism, &c. In the case also of these latter perversions, some maintain that in those instances in which the perversion began in childhood, some early a.s.sociation was the originating cause; whilst others, from the very fact that the perversion appeared very early in life and was apparently primary, infer that it must be of a congenital character. For instance, a man experiences s.e.xual excitement whenever he sees a cook or other woman kill a fowl; and when revived in memory, the corresponding ideas exercise a similar exciting influence. On inquiry, we learn that when he was eight years old he by chance saw a fowl killed, and then immediately felt strong s.e.xual excitement. Similarly, many m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.ts and s.a.d.i.s.ts a.s.sure us that their first experience of their peculiarly tinged s.e.xual excitement occurred during childhood; _e.g._, in the case of the m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t, when being punished with a whipping, and so on.

Beyond question, the impressions of childhood may result in the formation of enduring a.s.sociations. From experiences during childhood may originate terrors and feelings of disgust which are never subsequently overcome. A child who for any reason has several times felt a strong loathing towards some particular article of food, will retain throughout life a dislike to this same substance. Felix Platter relates his own experience as follows. When a child, he once saw his sister slicing rings of "boiled gorge" (_see note_, below.), and sticking these rings on her finger. The sight was so unpleasant to him that he had to go away. The disagreeable memory has been so persistent, that ever since he has been unable to bear the sight, not merely of such "rings of flesh," but rings of gold, silver, or any other material. A child who has once been frightened by a dog, may ever after be terrified of all dogs. An individual may also, by a kind of moral contagion, be affected by the experiences of others. A child who has seen another child frightened by a cat, may for this reason acquire an antipathy to cats lasting for the whole of life. It is upon the undoubted fact of such experiences as these, that those build their case who maintain that s.e.xual perversions originate in chance impressions during childhood or early youth. But weighty reasons can be alleged against any such generalisation.

_Note on the expression "Boiled Gorge."_--This is a literal translation of the German _gesottne Gurgeln_, an apparently forgotten article of diet. Finding no account of it in any German dictionary, I applied to Dr. Moll, who writes as follows:--"_Gurgel_ denotes a particular part of the neck, in human beings the front part, comprising the hyoid bone, the larynx and trachea, the pharynx and the upper part of the oesophagus, the thyroid body, and the adjoining muscles. As far as I am aware, this part of the animal body is not now used for food.

Presumably it was so used in Felix Platter's time, but I cannot say if the 'rings' of which he speaks were cut from the trachea, the oesophagus, or perhaps the great blood-vessels."--TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

To return to the instance of the man who is s.e.xually excited by the sight of fowls being killed, it is true that on superficial consideration the case may appear to support the theory that we have here to do with an acquired perversion. We cannot a.s.sume that in this child the complicated image of the killing of a fowl was inborn, and the first inference will therefore be that his perversion is purely an acquired one. But on closer examination we perceive that the matter is less simple than appeared at first sight. First of all we have to inquire why it is that in this particular instance the sight of the killing of a fowl induced such a perversion, when in hundreds of other cases no such result follows the same stimulus. The a.s.sumption that in the particular case there chanced to occur s.e.xual excitement simultaneously with the sight of the fowl-killing, is altogether inadequate as an explanation. For, first, this a.s.sumption of the simultaneous occurrence of s.e.xual excitement is in most cases a pure supposition, quite unsupported by proof. Secondly, even when the two processes, the sight of the killing, and the s.e.xual excitement, do occur simultaneously, it is still open to question whether the latter may not have been determined by the former; that is to say, it may be that the perverse mode of s.e.xual sensibility previously existed, at least as a predisposition, and that the connexion between the phenomena is the reverse of what is supposed. Thirdly, moreover, the chance view of some occurrence in a.s.sociation with s.e.xual excitement does not suffice to explain the enduring a.s.sociation of s.e.xual excitement with such an occurrence throughout the whole of life. Think of persons who have m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed during childhood. When they were masturbating, their eyes have rested on various indifferent objects: underlinen, articles of furniture, pictures, books, &c.; but this does not induce the a.s.sociation throughout life of s.e.xual excitement with the sight of any of these articles.

Apart from these considerations, the fact that some external process, such as the killing of a fowl, has important relationships with the content of a subsequent perversion, does not prove that this perversion is an acquired one. We may rather suppose that in the case of one endowed with a congenital predisposition to the excitement of the s.e.xual impulse by the sight of cruelty, the particular cruel act which will prove the determinant in a particular case, must depend upon the chance circ.u.mstances of the individual's life. On this view, if, in the case under consideration, the fowl-killing had not happened, at the appropriate time, to awaken the s.e.xual impulse, it must be a.s.sumed that some other but similar process would have been competent to effect this.

In any case, the a.s.sociation theory alone will not suffice to account for these cases; and the possibility cannot be excluded that in cases of sadism there is a specific abnormal disposition of the s.e.xual impulse, and that the experiences during childhood influence the matter only in so far as they may determine the special manner in which the s.a.d.i.s.tic tendency will subsequently manifest itself. It is, in fact, very remarkable how often some particular act of cruelty will, in a certain individual, exercise throughout life a s.e.xually exciting influence: in one person the desire to strike may be a.s.sociated with s.e.xual excitement; in another it may be the desire to stab or to cut; in one individual s.e.xual excitement results from the sight of a fowl being killed; in another, when the victim is a fish, and so on. Although we encounter some in whom the particular cruel act a.s.sociated with s.e.xual excitement changes many times during life; yet, on the other hand, we find that there are many persons in whom s.e.xual excitement is aroused by some special s.a.d.i.s.tic practice, and by that alone; and on careful inquiry we ascertain that even in childhood such an act was a.s.sociated with voluptuous excitement.

I will take this opportunity of explaining very briefly that there is still another possible way of explaining these enduring a.s.sociations as being based upon impressions received during childhood, without the supposition that these impressions of childhood are the exclusive determinants; this is the a.s.sumption that there exists a congenital weakness of the rudiment of the normal s.e.xual impulse, and that it is owing to this primary defect that the paths of nervous conduction involved in the activity of the normal s.e.xual impulse so readily become impa.s.sable.

No further discussion of such disputed problems of the s.e.xual life can now be attempted. What has been said should suffice, on the one hand, to prove that the experiences of childhood have important relationships to the occurrence of s.e.xual perversions; and, on the other, to put the reader on his guard against numerous exaggerations. I will merely add that whilst the examples I have given concern only h.o.m.os.e.xuality and sadism, similar considerations will be found to apply, _mutatis mutandis_, to other s.e.xual perversions.

Notes of a few cases will now be given in which more or less perverse tendencies can be traced back into the days of childhood, at least in so far as the memories of those concerned can be regarded as trustworthy.

CASE 11.--X., thirty-one years of age, is a foot-fetichist. He believes that his preference for feet dates from the age of six years, when he began to regard with extraordinary interest the feet of a servant girl in his father's house when she was engaged in washing the floor. From the age of six to the age of eleven years, X.'s memories are somewhat confused. Thenceforward, however, in the matter of his fondness for feet, his memories are distinct enough. When he was twelve years old he saw in his parents' house a young girl standing bare-footed before the kitchen fire; he seized the opportunity of crouching down on the ground quite close to the girl's feet, giving as his excuse that he wanted to bask in the heat of the fire. While doing this, he yearned to touch or to kiss the girl's feet. Between the ages of thirteen and sixteen he was crazy about the naked feet of girls and women. He took every opportunity of seeing the servants' feet when they were scrubbing the floors, and this sight sufficed to induce in him erection of the p.e.n.i.s. This foot fetichism has persisted, directed sometimes towards the feet of women, sometimes towards the feet of men. Since he grew up, X. has from time to time had normal heteros.e.xual intercourse.