The Sexual Question Part 21

Another variety of s.e.xual excitation which is often subst.i.tuted for coitus among women, is the practice of mutual licking of the c.l.i.toris with the tongue (_c.u.n.n.i.l.i.n.g.u.s_). Although not so dangerous as has been maintained, these habits are aberrations of the s.e.xual appet.i.te, and it is needless to say that every human being should abstain from them out of self-respect.

The man who, for some reason or another, cannot obtain normal coitus should content himself with nocturnal emissions, and the woman with voluptuous dreams, and should both abstain from active and voluntary excitations. For my part, I consider prost.i.tution, or "love" which is bought, as a variety of compensatory masturbation, and not as normal copulation. Coitus with a prost.i.tute, generally infected with venereal disease, who receives new clients continually, has as little affinity with love as with the normal object of the s.e.xual appet.i.te--reproduction; and its moral value is certainly inferior to that of onanism.

A second form of masturbation occurs in very young children from accidental irritation; in boys from phimosis; in girls from itching due to worms (oxyuris) about the a.n.u.s and v.u.l.v.a. Innocent as regards its cause, this form of onanism may become dangerous by habit.

Attention should therefore be paid to phimosis and worms, and the former treated by circ.u.mcision and the latter by the usual remedies.

A third kind of masturbation is caused by example and imitation. This often occurs in schools and among children in general; and in this way very precocious s.e.xual excitation may develop and become a habit difficult to suppress. The onanism of young children is certainly worse than that which begins after p.u.b.erty; it not only renders the child idle and bashful, or increases these faults; but it also interferes with nutrition and digestion and develops a tendency to s.e.xual perversion and to impotence. It often ceases, however, after careful supervision, combined with physical exercise and fresh air, and direction of the attention to other things. On the whole, the danger of this form of onanism has also been exaggerated. In most cases it is cured, when it is not based on abnormal predispositions or on an indolent and feeble character. Love and normal s.e.xual intercourse are naturally the best remedies for masturbation due to seduction and habit, as soon as the subject has reached s.e.xual maturity.

We may include as a fourth form of masturbation the cases of paradoxy which we have mentioned previously. In this case onanism is produced spontaneously as the result of psycho-s.e.xual precocity or hereditary pathological satyriasis.

With the exception of the last paradoxical form which is based on incurable satyriasis, all the kinds of onanism which we have mentioned hitherto can only be successfully treated by kindness and confidence, combined with work and direction of the mind to wholesome and attractive subjects; not by threats or punishment. The new reformatory schools called _Landerziehungsheime_ (Vide Chapter XVII) are an excellent remedy for onanism, for they keep the child occupied from morning to night and hardly leave him any time for bad habits; when he goes to bed he is too tired to do anything but sleep. However, great prudence and active supervision is required in these cases.

The fifth cla.s.s is const.i.tuted by the onanism of s.e.xual inverts, and may be called _essential onanism_. This concerns men whose s.e.xual appet.i.te is directed toward their own s.e.x instead of the other. They are called _h.o.m.os.e.xual_, and mutual onanism is, so to speak, the normal satisfaction of their inverted appet.i.te. We shall refer to this again later on. While normal s.e.xual intercourse is the best and most rational remedy for compensatory masturbation, there is no question of it here. Marriage is the worst and most scandalous remedy in such cases. It is therefore of the greatest importance in order to judge of the nature of the masturbation, to inquire into the kind of erotic images with which it is a.s.sociated. If, in the case of a man, the images are those of women, it is simply a case of compensatory masturbation; but if the images are masculine, it is a case of s.e.xual inversion. If masturbation is not accompanied by any images, the question remains doubtful. In young children this is explained by the fact that the psycho-s.e.xual irradiations are not yet developed; but after p.u.b.erty the absence of images as an object of eroticism suggests a certain anomaly and sometimes depends on a latent tendency to inversion.

=Relation of Masturbation to Hypochondriasis.=--Some onanists become much distressed, and reproach themselves for having spoilt their lives by their bad habit. They give way to lamentations before their doctor and their acquaintances, wring their hands with despair, and beg every one to come to their aid. They look upon themselves as poor sinners whose lives have been ruined, either by their own fault or by others.

They have read Lamert's "Personal Preservation," or other sensational books which excite both the fear and the s.e.xual desire of weak characters, whom they are intended to exploit. These poor devils believe themselves lost, and are truly pitiable objects. These form the types which are paraded as terrible examples in books on onanism which make timid persons' hair stand on end.

When these unfortunate onanists are questioned on all the circ.u.mstances of the act of which they accuse themselves, we generally arrive at the following results:

We recognize that we have to deal with psychopathic or neurotic subjects more or less tainted by heredity, timid and shunning their fellows, easily impressed by imagination, possessed of unhealthy sentiments and ideas; in fact, hypochondriacs, predisposed to look upon every sensation or slight indisposition as a grave disorder threatening their health or life. They thus live in perpetual anxiety.

This mental anomaly has for a long time preceded the onanism, even if they have m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed, which is often even not the case.

Among the numerous patients of this kind that I have treated, there were many who had simply had nocturnal emissions since p.u.b.erty, but they regarded themselves as lost men through masturbation! Many others no doubt practice compensatory masturbation, generally because their timid nature prevents them from frequenting prost.i.tutes, or committing other s.e.xual excesses, while the way in which they a.n.a.lyze their sensations easily leads them to onanism. On the other hand, they are generally so afraid that they do not give way to excessive masturbation, perhaps only once or twice a week or even less often, so that the normal frequency of coitus, according to Luther, is often not attained and seldom exceeded. Among these persons we find few precocious or excessive onanists. I admit, however, that a hypochondriacal const.i.tution predisposes somewhat to onanism.

But, what I wish to lay stress upon, is that the onanists who are full of lamentation and self-reproach are neither the most numerous nor those who commit the greatest excess. The worst onanists, those who provoke several e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns daily, belong to the category of s.e.xual hyperaesthetics. These have not the cla.s.sical aspect attributed to them by tradition; they are not pale and terrified creatures, but rather lewd individuals who are early transformed into impudent Don Juans.

They may be as courageous, as clever and as strong as others and yet be disposed to all kinds of evil tricks and follies. It is, therefore, not true, as is so often said, that it is possible to recognize a masturbator by his face or manner.

These excessive onanists no doubt do themselves harm in various ways, but the great error of taking s.e.xual hypochondriasis for the type of onanists, is to confound cause with effect. s.e.xual hypochondriasis is in no way the effect of onanism, but precedes it, and onanism is rather its effect, or is simply a.s.sociated with it. It is obvious that onanism, by its depressing effect, aggravates a mind beset with hypochondriacal anxieties.

It results from these facts, first, that a s.e.xual hypochondriac should be treated as a hypochondriac and not as an onanist; secondly, that the worst slaves of masturbation are not to be looked for among pale and dejected individuals.

Among women, especially young girls, hypochondriasis is not common and cases of s.e.xual hypochondriacs who accuse themselves of masturbating are rare among them. Women who m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e generally keep their secret and are apparently very little affected by it. However, onanism does them nearly as much harm as men; it is true they have no loss of s.e.m.e.n, but the repet.i.tion and intensity of the nervous irritation are greater than in man, and it is this which causes most exhaustion. In spite of this, it is curious to observe that women who m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e are generally less ashamed than men, and are apparently less depressed by it. We must bear in mind that the loss of s.e.m.e.n by masturbation has in man a peculiarly depressing effect, for it lacks its object and represents an absolutely abnormal satisfaction of the s.e.xual appet.i.te.

It may be objected that this difference is due to another cause, that women who m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e have less moral tone and are especially depraved individuals. I agree that this is often the case, but far from always.

The intensity of the s.e.xual excitability in women has nothing in common with their character; it may be a.s.sociated with high intelligence, with high moral and aesthetic qualities, and even with a strong will. On the other hand, deficiency in moral sense and will may occur with s.e.xual frigidity, and, as we have already seen, may lead to s.e.xual excess without any voluptuous sensation, in accordance with the peculiarities of feminine sentiment. These facts show how complex are the causes of a given effect in the s.e.xual domain.

PERVERSIONS OF THE s.e.xUAL APPEt.i.tE OR PARaeSTHESIA OF THE s.e.xUAL SENSATION

We are here concerned with s.e.xual appet.i.te provoked by inadequate objects. Krafft-Ebing having made a profound study of this question we shall follow his subdivisions in the main.

=Perverted s.e.xual Appet.i.te Directed Toward the Opposite s.e.x.=--(A.) _Sadism_ (a.s.sociation of s.e.xual desire with cruelty and violence).

History shows us a number of celebrated persons who satisfied their s.e.xual desire by making martyrs of their victims, up to complete butchery. The most atrocious types of this kind are perhaps a.s.sa.s.sins such as "Jack the Ripper," who lie in wait for their victims like cats, pounce on them, revel in their terror, a.s.sa.s.sinate them by inches, and wallow voluptuously in their blood.

The term sadism is derived from the celebrated Marquis de Sade, a French author, whose obscene romances overflow with cruel voluptuousness. Certain reminiscences of sadism are common both in man and woman. At the moment of highest excitation in coitus it is not uncommon for one or other of the couple to bite or scratch in the ecstasy of their amorous embraces. Lombroso remarks on the brutal excesses of soldiers when excited after battle. This is so to speak an inversion of sadism as regards cause and effect. After the exaltation of combat, that of desire possesses the mind, as in the inverse direction exaltation of desire gives rise in certain cases to that of violence and thirst for blood.

Krafft-Ebing draws attention to the fact that love and anger are the two most violent effective conditions, and are at the same time the two powers which provoke the most motor discharges. This explains why they may be a.s.sociated in the delirium of unbridled pa.s.sions. To these facts is added an atavistic relic of the instinct of man's ancestors, the males of whom fought furiously to conquer the females by violence, which provoked desire in them, after the subjection of the object of their s.e.xual appet.i.te. True sadism can, however, only become effective by the combination of two causes: (1) by an exalted and absolutely pathological a.s.sociation of s.e.xual desire with a sanguinary instinct, and with the desire to illtreat and overcome a victim; (2) by an almost absolute absence of moral sense and sympathy, combined with a violent and egoistic s.e.xual pa.s.sion. It is evident that the slight more or less sadic impulses which may involuntarily occur in the performance of normal coitus, are quite exempt from the second of these causes.

Krafft-Ebing maintains that sadism is usually, if not always, congenital and hereditary. Sadism is for a long time restrained by fear, education or moral sentiments. It is only gradually, when normal coitus cannot procure for the perverted s.e.xual appet.i.te the satisfaction it requires, that the s.a.d.i.s.t gives way to his pa.s.sion; this gives the latter a false appearance of acquired vice.

The highest degree of sadism leads to a.s.sa.s.sination. In this way human tigers entice young girls into a wood and cut them to pieces. Some begin by forcing them to coitus, after frightening them, or half strangling them; others m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e in their ripped up entrails. But some others have no desire for coitus, nor anything resembling it, their desire being satisfied only by the sight of the terror, suffering and blood of their victim, whom they torture before killing.

Others again a.s.sociate desire with the rage of a wild beast to such a point that they swallow parts of their victim's body and drink the blood.

s.a.d.i.s.ts become experts in the art of a.s.sa.s.sination without discovery.

The cynicism with which some of them have described their sensations shows their cold indifference toward the tragic and the horrible.

Krafft-Ebing describes a series of atrocious types of this kind, and unfortunately the press and the criminal law courts continually give us fresh examples. Some s.a.d.i.s.ts a.s.sa.s.sinate children, others men, when their perversion is complicated with pederasty or s.e.xual inversion.

(The story of Bluebeard is probably based on the successive crimes of a sadic.)

s.a.d.i.s.ts do not always confine their attacks to living people; some of them are _necrophiles_, who violate dead bodies and cut them in pieces: others again kill animals, whose sufferings and blood serve to satisfy their desires.

Some s.a.d.i.s.ts satisfy themselves by flogging prost.i.tutes or p.r.i.c.king them till they bleed, while others prefer to martyrize their victims slowly, and thus procure the maximum of pleasure. Others again are contented with scenes symbolical of servitude, in which women are compelled to adore and supplicate them, etc. The humiliation of women takes part in the s.a.d.i.s.t appet.i.te of man and often degenerates into fetichism. Simple imagination in which he plays the part of a tyrant, and which are complicated with onanism or normal coitus, often suffice to satisfy the s.a.d.i.s.t. Some s.a.d.i.s.ts soil themselves with the excrements of the woman they "love!" When sadism a.s.sumes the character of a symbol or a fetich, seminal e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n and sensation generally occur without contact with the woman's body.

Sadism is more common in men, but occurs also in women. Messalina and Catherine de Medici are historical examples. The latter had her maids of honor flogged before her eyes, and said she was bathing in roses when she witnessed the ma.s.sacre of the Huguenots. Women in whom sadism takes a milder form are contented with biting a man till he bleeds, during coitus.

Sadism appears to be most often an effect of hereditary alcoholic blastophthoria.

(B). _Masochism_ (a.s.sociation of s.e.xual desire with submission to cruelty and violence). The term masochism is applied by Krafft-Ebing to a form of s.e.xual perversion described by Sacher-Masoch in several of his romances. Masochism is exactly the converse of sadism. The desire of the m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t is excited by humiliation, submission, and even blows; the pain he feels when he is flogged gives him intense pleasure. Like sadism, this perversion may be incomplete. When it is complete the m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t is affected with psychic impotence and is incapable of normal coitus. Ill-treatment and humiliation are alone capable of causing him erections, seminal e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns and pleasure.

However, comedies representing his humiliation, or corresponding efforts of his imagination may succeed in replacing the reality and procure the desired effect.

Like sadism, masochism is hereditary and congenital. When the first s.e.xual sensations are produced, the m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t child sighs for a dominating woman who will illtreat him and make him her slave. His imagination is transported by the idea of being on his knees, of being trodden under foot, or bound in chains by her, etc. The cruel heroine of his heart must ridicule and humiliate him as much as possible.

Corporal punishment with a beneficial object does not satisfy the true m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t. Rousseau, in his "Confessions," reveals the s.e.xual feelings of the m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t.

It is remarkable how far poetic conceptions are combined with the perversion of s.e.xual sensations in m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.ts, leading them to dream of an imperious and cruel woman to whom they devote a love as humble as it is exalted, while normal coitus causes them no pleasure, and can sometimes only be accomplished with the aid of m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic images.

These images may also be accompanied by onanism. It is very common for m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.ts to become flagellants, and to be flogged or trampled on by prost.i.tutes. But it often happens that they only feel pain instead of pleasure, when the comedy which they have started appears revealed in all its absurdity, showing them a woman paid to illtreat them, and not doing it for her own enjoyment. Some m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.ts take pleasure in imagining themselves a.s.sa.s.sinated by a woman, or even cut in pieces.

Others organize theatrical performances in which imperious women play the part of judges, before whom they appear naked and are flogged and condemned to death. Others again are contented with imagining these performances, combining them sometimes with coitus or masturbation.

Krafft-Ebing is no doubt right in considering the lucubrations of the poet Baudelaire, and his necrophile imagination of his own carrion hung on a gibbet and devoured by vultures, as a mixture of sadism and masochism. He sought out the most repulsive women of all races, Chinese, negresses, dwarfs, giants, or modern women as artificial as possible, to satisfy his pathological instinct. The following case quoted by Krafft-Ebing from Hammond, is typical:

A married man and father of several children was sometimes subject to attacks during which he visited a brothel, where he chose two or three of the fattest women. He stripped the upper part of his body, lay on the floor, crossed his hands, shut his eyes and ordered the women to tread with all their force on his chest, neck and face. Sometimes he required a still heavier woman or more cruel manipulations. After two or three hours he was satisfied, paid the women liberally and regaled them with wine, rubbed his bruises, dressed himself and returned to his office, to repeat this singular performance a week later.

Krafft-Ebing describes, as masked masochism, certain cases of fetichism in which the nature of the fetich which causes s.e.xual excitation and the manner in which it is used prove a desire for maltreatment and humiliation by a woman. This is especially the case with shoe and foot fetichism. Among those who are affected with this pathological specialty, voluptuous sensations are produced when they are trodden on by a woman's shoes or feet. They even dream of women's shoes and feet. Some of them put nails in their shoes, the pain of which gives them voluptuous sensations. Lastly, the shoes alone, especially when they touch the p.e.n.i.s, are sufficient to excite their s.e.xual desire. Other masked m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.ts are excited by the secretions or even excrements of women.

I have been consulted by a typical m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t, who, being very religious, was convinced that his perverted s.e.xual appet.i.te was a sin.

He therefore married, thinking that G.o.d and repentance would change him. But when married he naturally found himself absolutely impotent and incapable of coitus.

If masochism is common in men, it is produced in women rather as an exaggeration in the domain of her normal s.e.xual sensations, for it is to a great extent in harmony with her pa.s.sive s.e.xual role. Woman does not like the weak man who submits to her. She prefers a master on whom she can lean. In fact, normal women do not like their husbands to ask advice from them too often, nor to be wanting in decision and self-confidence. On the contrary they like them to be firm and even somewhat imperious, provided they are not unkind. It is notorious that many women like to be beaten by their husbands, and are not content unless this is done. This appears to be especially common in Russia.

Accentuated forms of pathological masochism are, however, rare in women.

Masochism presents a certain a.n.a.logy with the religious ecstasy of fakirs and flagellants who flog themselves. These individuals appear to become exalted in a kind of ecstatic convulsion with the idea of pleasing G.o.d or gaining Heaven by their martyrdom. We may add that, like sadism, masochism occurs in s.e.xual inverts, but always having the same s.e.x for its object. I know an old gentleman whose only pleasure consisted in receiving a shower of blows: as a boy, like Rousseau he tried by all kinds of ruses to obtain corporal punishment: when he grew up this became impossible and he devised tricks to urge schoolboys to fight each other, pretending to be angry and exciting their spirit of contradiction: the boys then pretended to fight him, and this sufficed for the rest of his life to excite erections and seminal e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. This gentleman was a lawyer and told me his history, hoping that suggestion might cure him.

The eroticism produced by submission to pain and humiliation is often blended with that produced by performing acts of cruelty. These mixtures of sadism and masochism have been investigated by Schrenk Notzing, who concludes that they are intimately related.

_Fetichism_ (production of voluptuous sensations by contact with or by the sight of certain portions of the body or clothes of woman). We have already mentioned this symptom and have seen the part it plays in some forms of masochism. A masked form of fetichism forms part of the normal s.e.xual appet.i.te, in the sense that certain parts of the body or clothes, certain odors, etc., especially excite the s.e.xual desire of many people by recalling the individual to whom they belong.

Therefore, parts of the body which normally excite s.e.xual desire--the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, s.e.xual organs, or other parts of the body usually covered--cannot be regarded as pathological fetiches.

The true fetichist is a very pathological being, whose entire s.e.xual appet.i.te, often with all its irradiations in the higher sphere of love, if we can speak of love in such cases, is limited to certain objects connected with woman. The most common fetiches are women's handkerchiefs, gloves, velvet or shoes; or their hair, hands or feet, etc. In these cases the fetich plays the essential part, and is in no way a.s.sociated with the image of a woman. The fetich is the sole object of "love." The sight or touch of the fetich, the pleasure of pressing it against the heart or the genital organs, are alone capable of producing erections and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. There are even fetichists whose s.e.xual desire is only excited by the sight of certain feminine deformities, such as clubfoot, squint, etc. Hairdressers, who m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e after dressing women's hair, are well-known examples of fetichism.

Certain feminine costumes may serve as fetiches, and these are kept in some brothels to satisfy certain customers. Shoe fetichism is more common than that of clothes or handkerchiefs. Krafft-Ebing mentions a typical case of the psychic irradiation of fetichism; the individual in question thought it immoral and scandalous that women's shoes should be exposed in shop windows. Others blush when they see such things in the windows. Fetichism is essentially a masculine perversion. I have been consulted by a fetichist who all his life had only felt erotic at the sight of shoes; later on he married, and his s.e.xual desire becoming more and more concentrated on pointed and fashionable shoes, especially women's, but also men's, he could only obtain pleasure with his wife when she put on the shoes he was in love with, or when he put them on himself. The sight of shoes in shop windows always made him blush, while the female body made no impression on him. He could not buy the shoes he desired most, owing to a sentiment of shame, and the sight of them was often sufficient to produce erection and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n.