Sexual perversion

“ In this way prostitution becomes the high-school for all the refinements of sexual perversion. It not only offers special objects required by individuals tainted by heredity with various perversions, but it artificially develops perverse habits in the normal man. The manipulations of sadism or masochism are even utilized to revive a sexual appetite weakened by abuse. Individuals who have become impotent often try to excite themselves by observing the coitus of others. ”

“ What tends yet further to develop the senile form of pederasty is early sexual en- joyment, excessive sexual intercourse in rich families, leading to satiety of the senses. Again the great disparity of age between an old man and a young woman serving him as slave is a powerful agent for producing degen- eracy in the descendants, and by that means to sexual perversion. ”

“ But corporal punishment entails other dangers, in addition to the risk of the origination or the awakening of a sexual perversion. Certain children, having experienced sexual stimulation as a result of such punishment, will endeavour to secure its repetition. I have known cases in which sexual perverts have deliberately misconducted themselves in school, in order to be punished, and thus to enjoy voluptuous sensations. ”

“ The increase of sexual offences during recent years and the disgust felt by all normally disposed people when contemplating cases of sexual perversion and assault upon young children have created a strong public opinion in favour of dealing with these offences as radically as circumstances will permit. ”

“ Thus it comes that so often, side by side with a rapid progress of civilization, an increase of sexual aberration may be observed. Depravity, which formerly was almost exclu- sively adduced to account for sexual perversion, now combines with the rapid growth of culture, and for the same reasons, and on account of the rapid progress of intellectual development, unavoidably brings along with
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it an increase of mental and nervous disease. ”

“ The following is another example of a further degree of development of sexual perversion in the same direction :
A young man, 24 years of age, entices a little girl, 12 years old, into a wood, where he first violates and then murders her, drinks her blood, cuts out her sexual parts and her heart, which last he devours. ”

“ It is only real vice, the acquired sexual perversion of a healthy man, particularly the vice which is represented by prostitute pede- rasts, that can justly deserve punishment. And here it may be asked in the name of Justice, if the same degree of penalty is to
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be meted out to a weak-minded, simple country lad, accidentally led astray as to thoroughly depraved and utterly demoralized mercenary habitual Cynedes ? ”

“ PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION In the present work I sketch in broad outline those facts and observations which inspired me with the idea of making enquiry into the causes of sexual perversion, and this not merely under the influence of depravity and licentious excess ”

“ So, also, must the bold, swaggering, assertive, compelling bearing of youth be interpreted. The shy or modish, dandified, lackadaisical cane-carrying youth is naturally disliked as a sexual perversion. ”

“ In such instances we must, indeed, bear in mind the possibility of sexual perversion, especially in view of the fact that sexually perverse adults are often able to trace back into childhood the memory of sexual dreams characteristic of their peculiar type of perversion. Occasionally the feelings of anxiety of which we have spoken above may, even in dreams, lead to the occurrence of involuntary ejaculations. ”

“ It is easy to understand how the further degrees of degeneracy, besides distinctly deter- mined psychical and physical abnormities, may also present still more degraded forms of sexual perversion, for instance the impulse to martyrize his victims, to wound them, to see their blood flow, or the desire to violate little children. At the same time the lust finds complete satiety only in murdering, or disfiguring the victim, in swallowing morsels of the victim's flesh, or in accomplishing the genesic act upon the corpse. ”

“ The sexual history of boys often demonstrates that their initiation into the sexual life was first at the instance of women older than themselves, often servants, but not rarely sexual “purists” or persons whose ostentatious religiosity covered a sexual perversity. In the healthy association of the sexes there is very little danger, but in such morbid association there is great danger, the more that the morbid conceals itself under religiosity and the allied phases of sexual perversion. ”

“ It may here be remarked that the more easily the subject learns to overcome by force of will his instinctive predilection for men, the more does his aversion to woman diminish, and in many cases of young men with congenital sexual perversion, observed by us, we found that at the age of from 25 to 30 years they became capable of having intercourse with women, of marrying and of having children. ”

“ Yet, in many cases, boys avoid those of their own sex, and seek the companionship of girls, not for the reason just alleged, but solely because these boys thus early experience erotic stimulation when associating with girls. In any case, we must carefully avoid over-estimating the importance of what may appear to be contrary sexual phenomena during childhood, and we must not be too ready to accept the occurrence of such phenomena as a proof that sexual perversion had manifested itself already during childhood. ”

“ Individuals of feeble, cynical, egoistic or abnormal natures, whose number is legion in the corrupt centers of modern civilization, yield to their perversion and often come before the tribunals, or else become objects of public contempt. As it is this class which generally become known, it is assumed by too hasty generalization that sexual perverts are necessarily cynical, vicious or weak-minded individuals ”

“ It is also urged that the system acts as a safeguard against sexual perversion by providing an outlet for the unrestricted appetites of men; that in its absence clandestine prostitution increases, and innocent girls are more likely to be led astray or become the victims of sexual violence. ”

“ Rather, we recognize more and more clearly that the essential nature of perversion does not consist in overstepping the sexual aim, nor in a substitution for the genitals, not even in the variety of objects, but simply in the exclusiveness with which these deviations are carried out and by means of which the sexual act that serves reproduction is pushed aside. When the perverse activities serve to prepare or heighten the normal sexual act, they are really no longer perversions. To be sure, the chasm between normal and perverse sexuality is practically bridged by such facts. ”

“ Nurses sometimes stroke or tickle a child's genitals in order to put an end to a screaming fit. But in some cases--and these are more numerous than is commonly supposed--nursemaids do this under the impulse of their own lustful feelings. Such actions are not necessarily the outcome of a perverse sexual impulse, although they may be due to such an impulse in the form of paedophilia, as I shall have to explain in detail when I come to describe that perversion. Frequently the offenders are not in the least aware of the danger of what they are doing, and do it merely in sport. ”

“ The unfortunate people who suffer from these perversions are treated unjustly and, for the most part, far too harshly. Perverse instincts which injure no one when carried into practice (fetishism, for example) , are ethically indifferent and harmless, in that their possessors, generally speaking, do not multiply. It is, however, immoral for such persons to marry. Any one who suffers from an hereditary perversion of the sex instinct should avoid marriage and all procreation of children. ”

“ In the case also of these latter perversions, some maintain that in those instances in which the perversion began in childhood, some early association 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 sexual excitement whenever he sees a cook or other woman kill a fowl ”

“ Not the deed, but only an anthropological and clinical judgment of the perpetrator can permit a decision as to whether we have to do with a perversity deserving punishment, or with an abnormal perversion of the mental and sexual life, which, under certain circumstances, excludes punishment. The next legal question to settle is whether the contrary sexual feeling is congenital or acquired ”

“ Sexual Perversions.—When we pass, on to sexual perversions, the inconsequences and mysticism of our present penal law become still more apparent. This code often prosecutes and punishes sexual actions which do no harm to any one, or which two persons practice of their own accord. ”

“ Whereas an increasing number of sexual offences has been the subject of frequent and serious judicial comment, especially in cases where young children were the victims, or the very serious nature of the charge connoted a perversion dangerous to the moral well-being of society ”

“ Perverted sexual habits often arise from [57] a craving for variety, or as makeshifts adopted when the opportunity for normal sex intercourse is denied. Our efforts must be directed towards removing these causes by raising the general standard of social morals.
Religious morality has been the cause of untold mischief in this matter of sexual perversions by representing as great sins and crimes actions which are in reality the result of a diseased mental state.
The habit of self-abuse is also extremely variable in its origin. ”

“ It were a curious inquiry how it comes that sexual perversions are so 'scientific' a study, while the brutalities of the thieves' kitchen or the wiles of other pests of society lie in comparative neglect. ”

“ It appears to be because the sexual perversions are subject to a peculiar ban that extends even into theory, and stands in the way of their scientific appreciation. It seems as if no one could forget that they are not only revolting, but even unnatural, dangerous ”

“ The same thing must be assumed in the case of the so-called voyeurs, [4] —i.e., men who are so cynical that they seek to get sight of coitus, in order to assist their virility; or who seek to have orgasm and ejaculation at the sight of an excited woman. Concerning this moral aberration, which, for various reasons, cannot be further described here, it will suffice to refer to Coffignon's book, "La Corruption à Paris." The revelations, in the domain of sexual perversity, and also perversion, which this book makes, are horrible.
2. Rape and Lust-Murder. ”

“ On this side the Geschichte der Lustseuche is of the highest importance, supplying as it does innumerable instances of those very phaenomena of morbid sexual perversions that constitute the subject matter of this rapidly progressive branch of Science, one likely in the near future to prove of infinite benefit to afflicted humanity. ”

“ Often they manifest an apparent interest in religious services, thinking it may lead to some preferment, but not for any moral reason. They are notoriously untruthful, unreliable and exhibit a low cunning which often deceives those not familiar with handling individuals of that type. Curiously enough they are exceedingly critical of others and quick to notice their shortcomings. Sexual perversions and immoral conduct [183] are only too common. Prostitution, as has already been shown, is one of the most common failings of the female delinquent. ”

“ As far as we can ascertain, the majority of sexual perversions, of which we shall speak in Chapter VIII, are a sad pathological acquisition of the human race. We observe, however, especially in the higher mammals, acts of pederasty between males when the female is wanting. ”

“ The great advantage of such discoveries is that children affected with sexual perversions can be put under special supervision, and above all things kept away from boarding schools, where they are subject to great temptations. ”

“ Bodily fatigue and satiety come sooner than moral satisfaction. The harmony and com- pleteness of the climax of excitation which characterize the normal sexual act are wanting. Perfect satisfaction becomes a matter of chance, and the subject, who is gradually losing his sexual power, while endeavouring to rouse the excitation, seeks to discover new means or obtains them from morbidly affected subjects who are afflicted with perverted sexual instinct. In this case imitation becomes one of the most powerful agents for propagating depravity. ”

“ By violation of sexually immature individuals, the jurist understands all the possible immoral acts with persons under fourteen years of age that are not comprehended in the term rape. The term violation, in the legal sense of the word, comprehends the most horrible perversions and acts, which are possible only to a man who is controlled by lust and morally weak, and, as is usually the case, lacking in sexual power. ”

“ In the sexual inclination of adults towards children, we find a source of serious danger; but the risks are greatly enhanced by the fact that the paedophile tendency is often complicated by other sexual perversions. Exhibitionism in the male is exhibited not only towards adult females, but also towards children, commonly towards girls, but in exceptional instances towards boys. It appears that in these cases the stimulus of innocence plays the chief part. In many cases, the exhibitionist is satisfied with exposing his genital organs ”

“ This is the manner in which society has made the way easy for woman's sexual error. Reflecting upon this, I confess to admiration for a sex which in the face of these difficulties has ever maintained such a well-deserved reputation for purity, and shown us that mankind turns instinctively to good rather than evil. Punishment is part of the crime, with society. To women for a sexual offense it measures out a punishment relentless and life-long. ”