Tiercel

“ Yet so it is that many of these high-born dames, and not a few tiercels also of noble birth, are so lost to a sense of their own dignity that they give way to this degrading weakness, and demean themselves to the level of a base-born short-wing. ”

“ By saying “every” he excepts nought of womanhood, just as he excepts nought of manhood either from not being covered; for just so he says, “Every man.” [11] As, then, in the masculine sex, under the name of “man” even the “youth” is forbidden to be veiled; so, too, in the feminine, under the name of “woman,” even the “virgin” is bidden to be veiled. Equally in each sex let the younger age follow the discipline of the elder; or else let the male “virgins,” [12] too, be veiled, if the female virgins withal are not veiled, because they are not mentioned by name. ”

“ Now, Reine is living, as one may say, alone and unprotected. It behooves me, therefore, as her pastor, to defend her against her own weakness. That is the reason why I have taken upon myself to beg you to be more circumspect, and not trifle with her reputation.”
“Her reputation?” repeated Julien, with irritation. “I do not understand you, Monsieur le Cure!”
“You don’t, hey! Why, I explain my meaning pretty clearly. Human beings are weak; it is easy to injure a girl’s reputation, when you try to make yourself agreeable, knowing you can not marry her.” ”

“ In dealing with Tardieu, Casper-Liman, and Tarnowsky, I have directed the reader to passages in the works of the three medical authorities who have spoken most decidedly upon this topic. After comparing their evidence, the case seems to me to stand thus. Both male and female prostitutes are exposed to considerable risks of physical deformation in the exercise of their illicit trade. But males and females, if they keep their vicious propensities within the bounds of temperance, offer no physical deformations to observation. ”

“ No doubt this was a part of the great sex mystery which historically surrounded the figure of the celibate priest as with an atmosphere. Women had always been prostrating themselves before it. Theron, watching his companion's full, pallid face in the lamp-light, tried to fancy himself in the priest's place, looking down upon these worshipping female forms. ”

“ Come along, then," and they went walking among an intricacy of streets and squares, he talking of "the Work," and of common subjects. After half an hour, she was saying:
"I often wish I was a man. A man can say and do what he likes; but with a girl it's different."
"There's you, now, Mr. Teeger, always out and about, having people listening to you, and that. I often wish I was only a man."
"Oh, well, it all depends how you look at it," he said. "And, look here, you may as well call me Walter and be done." ”

“ Coffignon, "La Corruption à Paris,” p. 327, divides active pederasts into "amateurs," "entreteneurs," and "souteneurs." The "amateurs" ("rivettes") are debauched persons, but also frequently congenitally perverse sexually, of position and fortune, who are forced to guard themselves against detection in the gratification of their homo-sexual desires. For this purpose they visit brothels, lodging-houses, or the private houses of female prostitutes, who are usually on good terms with male prostitutes. Thus they escape blackmail. ”

“ I repeat: the ideal of every person is to be able to concentrate all libido upon a single goal. That explains why the homosexual does not seek the typical male, except in the rarest instances. Freud has drawn our attention to this apparent contrast. Many homosexuals, particularly those who, themselves, possess strong virility, do not seek out the complete male for their ideal, but the womanly male. They prefer the female type of man, men in female clothes, or of female habitus,—a fact which has shaped a great deal the course of male prostitution. ”

“ Along with the impulse to give an additional shock to the prejudices he had already offended, Sterne felt impelled to vindicate what he considered the genuine moral worth underlying the indiscretions of the offender. What, then, could better suit him than to compose a novel in which he might give full play to his simious humour, startle more hideously than ever his straighter-laced neighbours, defiantly defend his own character, and caricature whatever eccentric figure in the society around him might offer the most tempting butt for ridicule? ”

“ The fighting peoples of the world, Kelts in ancient story, Normans, Turks, Afghans, Albanians, Tartars, have been distinguished by the frequency among them of what popular prejudice regards as an effeminate vice.
With regard to the dignity of man, is there, asks Ulrichs, anything more degrading to humanity in sexual acts performed between male and male than in similar acts performed between male and female. In a certain sense all sex has an element of grossness which inspires repugnance. ”

“ Thrale paused, and Gurney offered his solution.
“The sex instinct, fundamentally, isn’t it?” he said. “The desire—often subconscious, no doubt—to attract.”
“Well, if that is so,” said Thrale, “what terribly unintelligent fools women must be! If women really set out to attract men, they must realize that they are pandering to a sex instinct. Do you think any man is attracted by a litter of odds and ends? Doesn’t every woman sneer when they see some Frenchwoman, perhaps, who dresses to display her figure instead of hiding it? ”

“ On the same basis, desires to commit pederasty (active, of course) and other similar acts occur, though it is but seldom, and apparently only in cases of moral defect, and by reason of libido nimia in individuals especially passionate, that pederasty is indulged in. The sensual desire of mature urnings, in contradistinction from old and decrepit debauchees, who prefer boys (and indulge in pederasty by preference) , seems never to be directed to immature males. Only for want of better material, and in case of violent passion, does the urning become dangerous to boys. ”

“ It was also useful for society since men needed to be exorcised of aggression. After all, an excess of testosterone had kept the planet in a type of marginal nightmare. It certainly did not need to be plunged into it further by a lack of prostitutes. Before she ever worked again as a psychologist avowing the criminality of criminals or giving nice little labels on Lilys, she would go back to the bad girl group home. Before she returned to the click-of-the-heels logic of girls, she would become a janitor, a supermarket cashier, or a digger for bottles in trashcans. ”

“ Does the 'fairie' or 'fag' really exist? This question has been asked time and again. There is no doubt but that this type of degenerate is a reality. [Unprejudiced science has not yet decided the matter of the degeneracy of the androgyne in general, as I have already shown in detail. There exists as much evidence that the bisexual is a superman or genius as that he or she is a degenerate. The truth of the matter probably is that degenerates are no commoner per thousand among bisexuals than among the sexually full-fledged, but that geniuses occur far oftener.] ”

“ Thyrsis recollected vaguely some sensational headlines, about the clergyman and college professor who had done the shocking things his mother spoke of, and was now a social outcast, and a preacher of anarchy and revolution. He recalled also that there had been a woman, beautiful and richly-dressed, with Darrell at the meeting.
The boy was not disturbed by all this, for he had long ago made up his mind that every man had to work out his own sex-problems; in fact, his first impulse was to admire a man who had had the courage to face the world upon such an issue. ”

“ The masters, who were apt to take for granted that a pupil from the provinces must be badly taught, worried me like devils. They treated me as though I were either an idiot, or else a dangerous ne’er-do-weel. Far from being a favourite myself, I saw others being favoured. I once ventured to give my opinion on this point to our Latin professor, a dried-up little man with a badger’s face, who enjoyed nothing more than giving bad marks.
From that day onward school-life became a torture-chamber, with the masters as executioners. I became neurotic ”

“ The principal object of these "domestics" is to use their positions to obtain compromising knowledge, with which they later practice blackmail, and thus assure themselves ease in their old age.
The most horrible class of active pederasts is made up of the "aunts,"—i.e., the "souteneurs" of (male) prostitutes——who, though normal sexually, are morally depraved, and practice pederasty (passive) only for gain, or for the purpose of blackmail. ”

“ All our labour is performed by men who esteem each other, have consideration for each other, mutually aid each other, and know how to curb their selfishness for the general good. There is no place among us for the lusting beast of prey; and if you dare return to us, we will pitilessly beat you to death with clubs.’
And still more determined must the resistance be to the filth-loving herd of swine, the professional pornographists. These have no claim to the measure of pity which may still be extended to degenerates properly so called, as invalids ”

“ As Tardieu, Hofmann, Simon, and Taylor show, such individuals are not infrequently found in large cities. From numerous statements made to me by urnings, it is learned that actual prostitution and houses of prostitution for male-loving men exist in large cities. The arts of coquetry used by these male prostitutes are noteworthy,—ornament, perfumes, feminine styles of dress, etc., to attract pederasts and urnings. This imitation of feminine peculiarities is spontaneous and unconscious in congenital cases, and in many acquired cases of (abnormal) contrary sexual instinct. ”

“ One knows very well, theoretically, how average humanity fears and hates a nature superior to itself; but one has not often an opportunity of seeing it so well illustrated in practice. Tyrrell's attitude has especially amused me; his lungs begin to crow like chanticleer as often as the story comes up for discussion. He has a good deal of personal liking for Egremont, but to see 'the idealist' in the mud he finds altogether too delicious. ”

“ Yet, after all, to be sure, women don't choose men for their good looks or their wit. There is Tirtell of the 80th N.I., certainly not much to look at, and about as stupid a fellow as there is in the army, yet he found a pretty woman to fall in love with him, and one with ten times his brains. Look at Grumbull, too, our doctor; what little chance the climate leaves a fellow will be lost if he gets into his hands. ”

“ I want nothing of you: how dare you refuse me the privilege of a reasonable being, to live unmolested in poverty and innocence? What sort of a man do you show yourself, you that lay claim to the respect and applause of every one that knows you?"
The spirited reproaches of Emily had at first the effect to fill Mr. Tyrrel with astonishment, and make him feel abashed and overawed in the presence of this unprotected innocent. ”

“ But there are extremely few, dependent only on mental faculties, in which they have not attained the rank next to the highest. Is not this enough, and much more than enough, to make it a tyranny to them, and a detriment to society, that they should not be allowed to compete with men for the exercise of these functions? Is it not a mere truism to say, that such functions are often filled by men far less fit for them than numbers of women, and who would be beaten by women in any fair field of competition? ”

“ Tyrell. They were old men and young men and middle-aged men, mostly of the labouring class, dock labourers, draymen, factory hands, barmen; but some, neatly dressed, were of a station which was obviously superior, shop-assistants, clerks, and the like. Dr. Tyrell looked at these with suspicion. Sometimes they put on shabby clothes in order to pretend they were poor; but he had a keen eye to prevent what he regarded as fraud and sometimes refused to see people who, he thought, could well pay for medical attendance. Women were the worst offenders and they managed the thing more clumsily. ”

“ He explained how it was that his intended stay of but one day in the Geierthal had been prolonged. His sister, who lived at the Monastery [Pg 163] with him, had been ill, and did not like being left alone in that out-of-the-way spot.
“You as a bachelor, my dear Herr Tyrrell,” he said, “are perhaps scarcely in a position to realize the subtle influence which womenkind exercise on our movements. Had I to choose men for a dangerous, a critical enterprise, I would take care to reject all those about whom I might suspect any feminine tie or entanglement. ”

“ But Ansel was still pouring out the flood of his ill-temper.
“Whipsawed us, right and left,” he declared. “Beat us at every point as easy as taking candy from a baby. What are we doing in politics? We’re a lot of silly amateurs against——”
“We’re a lot of honest men against a gang of crooks. And in the long run we’ll win. We——”
“The long run, eh? Well, the run has begun, and they’ve got us on it. We’re beat!”
“Poor old Ansel,” laughed Clive, “how many times during the past fortnight have I heard you say that? And every time you pick yourself up again and go on with the fight. ”

“ Dreiser seems queer only because he has carried along his youthful attitude in unbroken continuity. He is fascinated with sex because youth is usually obsessed with sex. He puzzles about the universe because youth usually puzzles. He thrills to crudity and violence because sensitive youth usually recoils from the savagery of the industrial world. Imagine incorrigible, sensuous youth endowed with the brooding skepticism of the philosopher who feels the vanity of life, and you have the paradox of Mr. Dreiser. For these two attitudes in him support rather than oppose each other. ”