Gerichtliche Psychiatrie: Ein Leitfaden für Juristen und Mediziner.
Second, enlarged, and improved edition with special consideration of
the Civil Code for the German Reich. Jena: Gustav Fischer Verlag, 1900.
Chapter 24. The Perverse Sexual Drive.
In this last chapter, the perverse sexual drive will be briefly discussed.
These phenomena have been dealt with rather intensively in recent times, and a large number of valuable observations have been brought to light in the process; unfortunately, however, the doctrine of the perverse sexual drive has also been spread far too wide in lay circles, so that, instead of the strict scientific discussion of these conditions in expert circles, sometimes the lay person knows more about it, or rather thinks he knows more about it, than the physician.
There always lies the danger herein that the lay person, if he is disturbed in some way in his sexual performance capacity (or thinks he is disturbed), as a result of his reading, which he has only half understood, may arrive by way of self-suggestion at all sorts of morbid ideas about his sexual life that completely control him.
We are interested only in the forensic-psychiatric side of these conditions, we have only to investigate what aspects in individual cases allow us to distinguish whether an illness is present or not. For a whole series of conspicuous acts of a sexually tinged nature that deviate from usual sexual intercourse are punishable under the Criminal Code. For example, § 175 provides:
"Unnatural sexual offense committed between persons of the male sex or by human beings with animals shall be punished with imprisonment; loss of civil rights can also be imposed." As unnatural sexual offense are to be understood "acts similar to coitus."
Therefore, if § 51 is to be applied in the case of such an offense, the proof of illness is required. The latter is certainly not provided, however, by a sexually conspicuous act per se, even if it occurs several times.
This is affirmed by historical experience and the observation of non-European peoples. If one can ignore the disgusting sexual excesses committed by many of the Roman emperors, because those who committed them were mentally ill, it nonetheless cannot be denied that even quite healthy individuals and men of major intellectual significance in classical antiquity habitually practiced all manner of sodomy and pederasty, without anything pathological having been found in it or able to be found in it. We observe the same thing even today among non-European peoples. Of course, here with us, where these kinds of occurrences are relatively rare, that sort of act will always be conspicuous and will cause us, particularly if it happens frequently, to investigate the respective individual very closely.
According to the latest research, we may distinguish between the following forms of the perverse sexual drive:
1) contrary sexual feeling,
Contrary sexual feeling has been recognized for quite a while. Casper, Westphal, and then v. Krafft-Ebing, Tarnowsky, Moll, and others have provided us with precise knowledge of these conditions. In pure cases it involves mostly hereditarily handicapped individuals in whom from the time of youth there has existed an aversion to the opposite sex and an inclination toward their own sex. After the completion of puberty, in the images accompanying the nighttime pollutions and lustful dreams it is always the same sex, never the other sex that appears. "Intimate love relationships" are entered into with persons of the same sex, and mutual masturbation, coitus intra nates [between the buttocks], and finally even pederasty occur. On occasion, this contrary sexual drive allegedly alternates with normal sexual gratifications (v. Krafft-Ebing), and it is observed, not rarely, that such contrary-sexually handicapped persons have sexual intercourse with the other sex; however, this is possible only when they imagine a "beloved person" of the same sex while so doing.
In one case that I observed myself, a 32-year-old man was only able to perform coitus if he brought a pimp along with to a prostitute and either looked at or touched his penis during coitus.
These homosexual individuals are supposed to be extraordinarily numerous and to number in the thousands in large cities. There is no statistic that could be deemed remotely exact. Like Hoche, I consider the numbers found in the literature to be entirely arbitrary and certainly too high; if Uranians - as the homosexuals or contrary-sexuals call themselves - were that numerous, then their almost constant complaints about being lonely and misunderstood would be incomprehensible.
Contrary sexual feeling is also called homosexuality or contrary-sexual handicap. The latter type of designation is to be avoided in general usage, because that prejudges that the inclination to the same sex is already present from the beginning.
Nonetheless, the theory has been put forth (Magnan, v. Krafft-Ebing, et al.) that basically comes down to saying that these male individuals are born with a female brain, so as to furnish the expression contrary-sexual handicap with an anatomical background; but this theory must be deemed untenable.1
If we delve deeper into the theory of contrary sexual feeling as put forth by the Vienna school, it is said that already in earliest youth there exists among the contrary-sexuals an inclination toward the same sex. This phenomenon is not at all remarkable to us; for it is well known that even little boys consider it far beneath their dignity to play with a girl. Sexual aspects certainly play no role in this; the sexual apparatus is not even operational, and the corresponding ideas are also absent, and "the boy tearing himself proudly away from the girl" may have its explanation precisely therein.
That the intimate friendships that develop at the start of, during and after puberty, I might go so far as to call them love relationships, also occur with individuals who are not handicapped and degenerate and who later develop totally normally even in sexual respects, has been proven for the male sex in excellent fashion by Hoche.2 Hoche had the opportunity during a year-long stay at a monastery school to observe the rise and development of a large number of love relationships between Primaner [19 to 21-year-olds?] as lovers and Tertianer [15 to 17-year-olds?] as beloveds. The beloveds were generally pretty boys, of a more feminine type. These "love relationships" all exhibited the characteristics of Primanerliebe [school-boy romance]: effusions of romantic poetry, walks by moonlight, glowing love letters, passionate hugs and kisses, occasional rendezvous in bed, but only in the rarest cases mutual masturbation, certainly never pederasty, while otherwise in the boarding-schools masturbation was practiced no more or no less than elsewhere. The relationship ended when the Primaner left the school to develop further as a completely normal human being sexually speaking. It is very noteworthy that the beloved Tertianer, as he becomes older and moves up, finally becomes a lover himself as a Primaner. One can hardly presume that in the latter the female center of the brain recedes and the male center starts up. Physicians who underwent a similar education had the same experience as Hoche. I think it cannot be demonstrated any more clearly that a homosexual condition, behavior that precisely corresponds to what is expected of a Uranian, occurs among totally normal people. If these Primaner had not been so strictly secluded, as in a boarding-school, then certainly the object of their adoration would have been some teenage girl, as is the case with regular high-school students.
Similar things also occur with grown adults. For example, the late director of Stephansfeld in Alsace, Privy Councilor Stark, told me in person that he had the greatest difficulty finding accommodation for mental patients from the foreign legion because they were all inclined toward pederasty. This inclination is not a common trait of the psychosis of these patients, but rather a vice that was acquired because months and years of living together in a tent at the edge of the desert without any female contact led to this type of sexual gratification. Inquiries that I occasionally made with military officers confirmed these statements. In the spaces in which the captured Turkos and other African soldiers were housed in 1870/71, pederasty was not rare.
I will offer a few more examples further on that acts occur with grown adults under quite normal conditions that are equivalent to the homosexual intercourse of the Uranians.
With the female sex, as well, we observe similar love relationships to those described by Hoche, namely in female boarding schools. The love of the other sex also one day emerges victoriously among these, destroys the relationship and makes of them cheerful women and healthy mothers, who live in totally happy marriages with their husbands.
The preceding arguments show us that the basis from which the theory of contrary sexual feeling proceeds, namely the thesis that inclination toward the same sex is innate and present from the time of youth and therefore must be pathological, is definitely not generally applicable, because in fact such inclinations occur, and not rarely, among individuals who later prove to be entirely normal sexually speaking.
So what is the case of homosexual inclinations among adults?
It is known that homosexual inclinations and acts occur among mental patients, thus as a result of morbid causes. It is weak-minded or idiotic mental patients who exhibit such phenomena. Paranoiacs become homosexual due to some insane ideas or hypochondriac notions. Paralytics and alcoholics, in their diminished capacity for judgment, allow themselves to be led to mutual masturbation and pederasty, and epileptics with far advanced psychological degeneration or in a state of transitory loss of consciousness submit to homosexual desires. v. Krafft-Ebing offers the medical case of a mayor who was repeated apprehended in attempts at pederasty while in a state of transitory loss of consciousness. I myself evaluated a criminal, convicted repeatedly for rape, whose epilepsy, that had existed since childhood, was discovered only during observation at a hospital. This epileptic, while serving a prison sentence after his second conviction for rape, committed against a female, was convicted once again for practicing pederasty with an inmate (see p. 187). Such observations relating to mental patients are known to every mental specialist.
It also occurs occasionally that "compulsions" take a homosexual direction. The clinical symptoms of these compulsions (obsession, fear, urge toward action, increase of fear, shaking, outbreak of sweat, relief and relaxation after completion of the action) are so well known thanks to the popular literature about degeneration, that in such cases, before assuming a compulsion caused by illness, one must now attempt a close observation so that one observes such a compulsive state with one's own eyes. If one knows how to recognize attacks of compulsion, one will not be deceived.
This completes the series of conditions in which a morbid disturbance of mental activity within the meaning of § 51 of the Criminal Code must be considered.
While a large segment of the people with homosexual inclinations are mentally ill, another segment is to a certain degree neurotic.
Where does it come from that with people with a homosexual mental orientation we so often observe serious or less serious nervous conditions? In even fewer cases this is linked to a severe handicap. I say expressly "in even fewer cases" because most of those kinds of individuals, when they have homosexual inclinations, also exhibit abnormal psychological traits, that is, symptoms of mental illness.
The remainder of the neurotic homosexuals fall into two groups: 1. masturbators and 2. libertines. It is easy to comprehend how these two groups arrive at homosexual intercourse.
As regards the masturbators, first of all, these are naturally those who not only carry on masturbation during puberty but continue it further. Such masturbators are usually scared of regular sexual intercourse and, because masturbation ultimately no longer satisfies them, they finally arrive at all manner of perverse undertakings to satisfy their sexual drive, in accordance with the hunger for stimulations (Hoche) that resides in every human being. Usually they also acquire all kinds of hypochondriac notions due to reading those books on self-abuse and the like, that are a menace to society. Thus it occurs not rarely that they resort to children because, conscious of their own insufficiency, they dare not approach grown-ups. I have already evaluated eight 25 to 30-year-old schoolteachers for such offenses. None of them had an abnormal vita sexualis as defined by v. Krafft-Ebing. It arose in one of them, however, when I presented my report to the criminal court in the presence of the accused. At least, he wrote to me from prison 14 days later in which he admitted to me all those things that he had previously not known how to answer. It requires no explanation that such a masturbator, given the chance, for example if he ends up sharing a room or a bed with a similar mate, will easily arrive at a homosexual gratification of the sexual drive. The masturbator who reflects a great deal about his condition reads everything that relates to it. With the great circulation of "sexually perverse" literature, he easily acquires such reading material. I need not state the effect it has on him, that is shown to us already by the great success that "self-abuse literature" enjoys among masturbators, as Hoehe [sic] also emphasizes. Suddenly everything becomes clear to him; he thinks back on his youth, and arrives unconsciously, if I may use the modern terminology, by way of auto-suggestion at the conviction that he was sexually abnormal by nature from his youth. Recently, I came across a case in which the "neurologist" had handed the patient the corresponding literature himself so that he would understand his condition.
Regarding the libertines, I may be brief. After they have already tasted everything, the female no longer has any attraction for them. Here too it is hunger for stimulus, the demand for new variations (Hoche), that pushes them toward homosexual intercourse. It is easily understood that these types of, often quite debased, individuals attempt to simulate Krafft-Ebing's theory and are easily able to accomplish it if one relies solely on that symptomatology.
Thus we see that imagination can play a great role in the origin of contrary sexual feeling.
In recent times the question has been raised whether it wouldn't be
useful to modify § 175 in such a way that only homosexual intercourse
with minors would be punished. That cannot happen for purely medical reasons,
because occasionally even a person who cannot be designated as sick commits
such acts. On the other hand, I must say, to the extent that I as a non-jurist
can oversee the matter, that considering that sexual intercourse between
persons of the female sex is not penalized, and many even more disgusting
immoralities are not subjected to punishment, and that most such cases
are dragged before the public even more so, and moreover a revolting arrogance
is promoted and that the corresponding offenses are mostly committed by
mental patients and less robust individuals, § 175 should best be
amended in the manner indicated.
Sadism is understood as the phenomenon in which the respective persons subject the person with whom they are having sexual intercourse to all sorts of more or less cruel tortures either to increase the pleasure of the sexual act or finally as a substitute for the sexual act. The latter category also includes the so-called "girl-stabbers" who get a lustful feeling when they cause slight or more severe injuries to young girls using suitable knives or daggers. Still others who belong in this category achieve their sexual gratification by torturing animals in a cruel manner. It is only a single step from here to the lust murderer. The latter gets his sexual gratification by torturing his victims to death in the most disgusting manner, and achieves erection and ejaculation either from the shudders and the bleeding of his victim or when he eats parts of him or performs coitus in the wounds that he causes to him.3
Necrophiliacs also belong in this category, as Kräpelin emphasizes; the example of the French sergeant Bertrand is so well known that I do not wish to go into it further.
Masochism is understood as the phenomenon in which a person feels sexual gratification in sexual intercourse only if he is more or less tortured, disgracefully handled or even dirtied. It can go so far that this aid to coitus by itself calls forth sexual satisfaction.
Fetishism is the phenomenon in which sexual gratification is no longer caused by the coitus itself but by all kinds of aspects that are more or less closely related to the other sex. Cases are known in which the person achieves sexual gratification only when some item from the female wardrobe, like women's lingerie, is accessible to him. Specific cases have even led to indictments for theft. I will not go into the other variations of fetishism which understandably may be legion, because they are for the most part rare occurrences. I also avoid giving examples for the reasons mentioned at the start of this chapter.
Finally, sodomy is understood as sexual intercourse with animals.
Acts that fall under the categories of sadism, fetishism, or sodomy may certainly be deemed, in a forensic-psychiatric sense, as not necessarily morbid.
They may only be characterized as acts caused by pathology if a morbid cause for the act can be detected. Many of these cases concern epileptics, incipient paralytics, persons afflicted with senility, or alcoholics. In other rarer cases, other forms of psychological disturbance or pathological compulsions are involved.
If symptoms of the mentioned psychological disturbances can be demonstrated, then it is beyond doubt that the sexually conspicuous act is abnormally and pathologically caused. If no sort of symptom of a psychological modification can be demonstrated, if all traces of epileptic or epileptoid symptoms are lacking or if not even minor, so-called neurotic, disturbances are noted, then the expert may only conclude that no appeal can be made to conditions such as are demanded by § 51 of the Criminal Code, even if the accused has committed one of the acts in question many times. But one must never resolve to make such a declaration if one has observed the accused only occasionally or even a couple of times in prison. Such a declaration is possible only after precise and lengthy observation in a hospital and in conjunction with accurate research information about the past history of the accused.
In general perverse acts are rare among psychologically wholly intact persons. Usually, they are neurotic, easily excitable individuals. Although proof of a more or less pronounced neurosis or neurasthenia cannot be deemed equivalent to a morbid disturbance of mental activity within the meaning of § 51, nonetheless the emphatic nature of these neurotic conditions and the associated reduced ability to resist all sorts of suddenly arising drives and lusts will always cause the judge to lower the penalty as far as possible. I consider it superfluous to provide examples in which sexually perverse acts were brought on by morbid causes, since enough of them are provided by the corresponding literature,4 which, as I mentioned, enjoys far too great a circulation. Rather, I will briefly describe a few observations in which it was definitively possible to rule out a morbid cause.
The supervisor Mr. U. was arrested during the night before December
1, 1893 at the train station in Z., because he had surprise attacked the
tailor Mr. P. in the toilet. To that end Mr. U. had climbed over the two-meter
partition from a latrine in the adjacent stall, and had grabbed Mr. P.
by the throat (who was drunk and had fallen asleep on the latrine), and
told him that if he yelled he would be dead and would be stuffed into the
latrine; immediately thereafter, Mr. U. had placed his right arm firmly
around Mr. P.'s neck, pressed his face against his lower body and tried
to stick his penis into Mr. P.'s mouth. Mr. P. cried for help. In response
to his cry, a policeman soon appeared who took Mr. P. and Mr. U. into custody
and confirmed that they were both somewhat drunk. It was also discovered
that Mr. U. had stolen Mr. P.'s watch and chain.
Mr. U. comes from healthy parents, suffered from typhus once at the age of 14, but had otherwise always been healthy. He was a security guard in a large number of institutions and hospitals, conducted himself well sometimes, other times not so well, and usually had to leave his job because he occasionally came home drunk. Later he earned his keep as a private security guard and by modeling. He is said to have occasionally gotten into bed with patients and embraced them, but in addition to have maintained a lengthy interaction with the female sex. Before he committed the crime, Mr. U. was seen by the doctors at our hospital many times without anything out of the ordinary having been noticed. A more lengthy period of observation at the hospital revealed no symptoms of either alcoholism or neurosis, nor any epileptic or epileptoid symptoms, in short not the slightest trace of mental alteration. Mr. U. slept well, had a completely normal vita sexualis5, and himself described his act as a "schweinerei" [nasty trick] such as one is liable to do while drunk. He claims to have only a vague remembrance of the occurrence itself. He says he has had lots of intercourse with women and enjoys it. Thus, in the existing material there is no basis for assuming that morbid causes led Mr. U. to commit the acts with which he is charged.
Second example: The father of the laborer Mr. Y., as well as his mother, have been punished several times for theft. About Mr. Y.'s youth and education is known only that he enjoyed sufficient school and religious instruction at the village school. He has had many prior convictions, the first time in 1877 for battery, in 1881 for fraud, and in 1883 for 14 counts of property damage. He had cut up the outer garments of a number of women during a large public gathering. In the winter of 1885/86 he was once again convicted for property damage because he had damaged the wardrobe of a number of women and also of two male individuals by spraying them from behind with sulfuric acid. In other cases, he cut up table coverings and the like. Later, at a dance festival in 1890, he poured a foul-smelling liquid on the clothes of various girls, and also broke into a wardrobe, cut up the clothes and poured a foul-smelling liquid on them. He repeatedly undertook similar property damage and thefts. Finally he was arrested on suspicion of having surprise attacked a child and attempted to commit a lust murder. The files show that Mr. Y. usually conducted himself well at his various jobs and cannot particularly be called a drinker. Accordingly, no symptoms of alcoholism were detected in the hospital, as in general all traces of a psychological or neurotic illness were completely lacking. Mr. Y. for the most part claims to know nothing of the crimes with which he is charged, saying either that he was drunk or that he was not the perpetrator at all and had been convicted in error. He likewise claims to know nothing of the latest criminal act with which he is charged, and declares that he is disgusted that somebody could even do something of the kind. His vita sexualis is completely normal, and he has had lots of intercourse with the other sex and enjoys it. In this case as well it was not possible with the existing material to assume one of the conditions mentioned in § 51 of the Criminal Code, because there was no psychopathological symptom and also the acts with which the accused is charged are not as homogeneous as is often found when pathological aspects have played a role. It is noteworthy in particular that he occasionally cut up the clothes of men.
The following observation may serve to indicate how careful one must be, when interviewing a person who commits sexually perverse things, in order to arrive at the correct result.
The person in question is a 37-year-old non-handicapped government employee
Mr. L., who was always healthy and even during a six-week hospital observation
showed no symptoms of mental illness, although a few symptoms of slight
He had been denounced by two individuals of foul reputation, who said he had carried out acts similar to coitus with them.
I will present first of all the statements that Mr. L. made to the first expert.
"He began masturbation at about the age of 18; he had been seduced by
a journeyman in his parents' house who finally had come to his bed almost
every morning where they performed mutual masturbation. Since then, he
had had intercourse in this manner with many young people in his acquaintance.
Finally, pollutions occurred, and in fact so violently that he was in quite
bad physical shape; he suffered headache, dizziness, heart palpitations,
easy excitability, and weak memory, which had caused him to write for advice
to a specialist in Berlin in 1890, both for those reasons and because of
an unfortunate inclination toward the male sex, which he himself saw as
an aberration but which he was unable to resist. He had had to break off
the correspondence however because of the high fee.
His sexual excitability had now become worse and worse, and he was namely excited by the sight of naked men swimming and even by the mere sight of the exposed, bulging muscles of young, strong men, for example at the circus. After visiting a circus, where he was interested only in the male performers, the men whom he had liked best there stayed on his mind for days afterward; then he had imagined these men naked in his fantasy, which led to erection and ejaculation, often several times in succession. He struggled against it, recognizing the morbidity in it, but his sexual arousal was more powerful than his will. This sexual arousal also occurred periodically; then the mere touch of an agreeable man was enough to cause ejaculation. But if he did not have such a man, he would run around like crazy in such a period, would have panic attacks, would not know what he was doing, would have an irresistible urge to gratify himself, and would only come to himself again after ejaculation had occurred by means of a lustful fantasy or masturbation. In such fantasies, he felt as a woman and to satisfy himself he had to imagine young, strong, naked men. Afterwards he always felt shame and disgust about his actions and blamed himself; but the next time he always succumbed once more to the irresistible urge for gratification.
He had in fact performed coitus with females, but it did not satisfy him. About 4 or 5 years ago he had been engaged, but the engagement was broken off by the bride, because in her opinion he did not pay enough attention to her."
Now, in question and answer form, I will give a portion of the conversation that I conducted with him during his stay in the hospital:
"First intercourse with females, when? I can't say exactly, in any case
a long time ago."
How old at the time? Beginning of my twenties.
What sort of female? It was a prostitute in U.
How old now? 36.
Returned to women how often later? On Sundays when I had time to go over.
Did you arrange that in the evening? At night, but only for a short time, then I left.
Did you always have the same one? No.
Did you sometimes often have coitus several times in succession? Not that I know of.
But you had a steady relationship? Yes.
What kind of female was that? A middle class girl. Oh you mean - oh. I was only engaged.
Why relationship dissolved? It was dissolved by her.
Why? The actual reason was that I was stationed in K. and could not travel home as often as she wanted. Second, there were other things that I blamed her for. So she dissolved the relationship. (So he was apparently jealous.)
When you had a pollution at night, were you dreaming of men or prostitutes? Females or males, depending.
Also dreamed of males? Yes, sir.
At the moment of ejaculation, did you dream of men or women? It varied a lot. Depending. When I dreamed of women it was as if I was with the women, and when I dreamed of men, it was as if I was lying with them.
Slept with a woman when the last time? Summer of last year.
Were the women satisfied? I cannot say that.
How long before ejaculation? Very quick.
Did you have a condom? No (smiles).
Have you ever been to a variety theater? Yes.
Did you enjoy it? Yes, God, depending on the company.
You are charged with unnatural sexual offense! Yes, sir, but that is not true.
Why not? Because I didn't do anything, I am not aware of anything to do with it.
You are not aware of anything to do with it? I am being accused of facts that I know nothing about.
But you have had sexual intercourse many times with men? Not that I know of.
But you have touched men's genitals? That may be true, but that happens a lot in the pool.
Why did you touch a man's genitals? I cannot account for it.
How often did you masturbate in a week? In later years very rarely, in earlier years more often.
Do you believe that the guy lied? Yes.
But there are 3 men! But it is not true. Guys are capable of anything, even if they are punished. If I had known that it was punishable, I would not have done it, I would have blamed myself.
So you have touched people's genitals after all? Yes, it's possible.
Have you read Krafft-Ebing's book on the perverse sexual drive? No, I don't know that book.
Moll, Tarnowsky, Magnan? No.
Why did you touch men's members? I cannot account for that.
Are you trying to play a game with me or something? I cannot explain the feeling, maybe I had lusty thoughts.
When you had coitus with females, did you insert your penis in the vagina? Yes, sir.
Long enough to ejaculate? Yes, sir.
Did the females touch your member? Yes.
Did you experience feelings of lust at that time too? Yes! Of course!
Were you on top or bottom? On top.
Did you do anything else with the females? No.
Have you inserted your penis in anyone's anus? I don't know anything about that.
Have you read Retau's book on self-abuse? No.
Did you get treated by a sex doctor in Berlin? Yes, sir.
Why did you have yourself treated? I was suffering from pollutions.
How often did you have pollutions? It varied a lot, several times a week.
What did the doctor do with you? Treated me only by mail.
Do you have the letters here? Burned it all.
What did he recommend for you? Cold rub-downs, cooling of the sexual organs, an expensive medication for which he sent a prescription right away. He demanded 120 marks, or at least an advance of 30 marks, and the entire amount if treatment was continued, at which point I broke off the correspondence.
How did you arrive at starting something with the men? I am no longer conscious of anything having to do with that; I can no longer imagine what that was about.
Didn't you ever masturbate with others in your youth? I don't think so!
When you go the circus now and you see a gentleman and a lady doing gymnastics, whom do you like better? I cannot explain it, but I do become sexually aroused!
Which of the two arouses you sexually? Both of them!
Do you prefer to see naked male or female bodies? Both!
Out of sensuality or for aesthetic reasons? Both!
But the man cannot have a sensual effect on you? I don't know, I have always been frightfully aroused in general!"
If we compare the result of these two conversations, we see that L. told me practically the opposite of what he told the first expert. According to the information provided to the first expert, everything agreed with the assumption of a perverse sexual drive in the sense of a contrary-sexual handicap. The result of the conversation held with me proves that that is impossible.
The following case may prove that homosexual acts and inclinations can appear under normal conditions:
In the year 1894 a 40-year-old building contractor from the vicinity of Göttingen was sentenced to 6 months prison and 3 years loss of civil rights for unnatural sexual offense committed with the same sex. I got to know this person recently in order to assess his capacity to give evidence, and I read the files. This man is not hereditarily handicapped in any way, was always healthy, is happily married, has two healthy children aged 12 and 19, and lives comfortably. In 1894 on repeated occasions he got young men who frequented his bar drunk with schnapps, and then when they had fallen asleep in bed, he laid himself on top of them and made motions similar to coitus with his exposed member. Actual pederasty did not occur. How did the building contractor arrive at these acts? As he himself says, he was always healthy, he began to have intercourse with the female sex at the normal time in the normal fashion and with gratification. His wife is definitely very capable of performing sexually; she had an illegitimate child already before her first marriage; then she had two children with her first husband in a short marriage, and now 2 children with her second husband, the building contractor. The building contractor himself is a strong, healthy man who even in the most precise examination showed no kinds of abnormalities or symptoms of degeneration. He denies having any particularly lustful dreams. He offers the following in explanation of his homosexual acts and inclinations: "I will tell you straight out. When I did that, my wife was sick; it wasn't happening like usual. When I got aroused, I thought I maybe could try it that way, and that is how it happened." In the intervening years, he has practiced coitus with his wife again in the normal fashion. I would like to add that all traces of mental or neurotic disturbance can definitely be completely ruled out in this building contractor. In his village he enjoys great respect in spite of his conviction, as the statements and reports of the policemen revealed; he is sought out for advice and people like to spend time with him; proof of what the uneducated segment of the population thinks about such offenses.
Closely related with the area of the perverse sexual drive are immoral attacks against children, which we usually observe with mentally weak individuals or those unsure of their potency. We have seen, namely, that it is idiots, senile persons, and paralytics who commit these offenses. Often alcohol plays a role, as in all crimes against morality.
Speaking quite generally, alcohol is laming, and reduces the ability to resist. This harmful influence is expressed much more intensively with mentally weak individuals, who are already easily excited and inclined to give free reign to all their drives and lusts, than with health, robust individuals.
We often find, and have also seen in the observations furnished by me,
that heavy or light consumption of alcohol precedes these offenses.
1 See Siemerling, Kasuistische Beiträge zur forensischen Psychiatrie. Sittlichkeitsverbrechen und Geistesstörung. S.-A. from the Festschrift für die Provinzial-Irren-Anstalten Nietleben. Leipzig, 1896 from Pries, see also the literature ibid. A. Cramer, Die konträre Sexualempfindung in ihren Beziehungen zum § 175 des Strafgesetzbuchs. Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, 1897, No. 43.
2 Hoche, Zur Frage der forensischen Beurteilung sexueller Vergehen, Neurologisches Centralblatt 1897, p. 37.
3 See also: Leppmann, Der Lustmord in anthropologischer und soziologischer Beziehung, Verhandl. d. Ges. deutscher Naturforscher u. Aertze, 1898, Leipzig, p. 371.
4 Westphal, Arch. f. Psych. II. 1. v. Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia sexualis. 9th edition, 1895. Tarnowsky, Die krankhaften Erscheinungen des Geschlechtssinnes, 1886. Moll, Die konträre Sexualempfindung, 1891. v. Schrenck-Notzing, Die Suggestionstherapie bei krankhaften Erscheinungen des Geschlechtssinnes, 1892. v. Schrenck-Notzing, Beiträge zur forensischen Beurteilung von Sittlichkeitsvergehen mit bes. Berücksichtigung d. Pathagnose psychosexueller Anomalien. Arch. f. Kriminal-Anthropologie. Kriminalstatistik. Bd. I. 1898. Schäfer, Ueber die forensische Bedeutung der konträren Sexualempfindung. Vierteljahressschrift für gerichtl. Med. 3. Folge. XVII. 2 etc.
5 Among 10 cases of sexually perverse acts that I had to evaluate, I have only once found an abnormal vita sexualis in the sense of Krafft-Ebing. But this one accused was familiar with all of the corresponding literature.