The commonest characteristic of the sexually inverted woman is a certain degree of masculinity or boyishness. As I have already pointed out, transvestism in either women or menby no means necessarily involves inversion. In the volume ofWomen Adventurers, edited by Mrs. Norman for the Adventure Series, there is no trace of inversion; in most of these cases, indeed, love for a man was precisely the motive for adopting male garments and manners. Again, Colley Cibber's daughter, Charlotte Charke, a boyish and vivacious woman, who spent much of her life in men's clothes, and ultimately wrote a lively volume of memoirs, appears never to have been attracted to women, though women were often attracted to her, believing her to be a man; it is, indeed, noteworthy that women seem, with special frequency, to fall in love with disguised persons of their own sex.[166]There is, however, a very pronounced tendency among sexually inverted women to adopt male attire when practicable. In such cases male garments are not usually regarded as desirable chiefly on account of practical convenience, nor even in order to make an impression on other women, but because the wearer feels more at home in them. Thus, Moll mentions the case of a young governess of 16 who, while still unconscious of her sexual perversion, used to find pleasure, when everyone was out of the house, in putting on the clothes of a youth belonging to the family.
Cases have been recorded of inverted women who spent the greater part of their lives in men's clothing and been generally regarded as men. I may cite the case of Lucy Ann Slater,aliasthe Rev. Joseph Lobdell, recorded by Wise (Alienist and Neurologist, 1883). She was masculine in character, features, and attire. In early life she married and had a child, but had no affection for her husband, who eventually left her. As usual in such cases, her masculine habits appeared in early childhood. She was expert with the rifle, lived the life of a trapper and hunter among the Indians, and was known as the "Female Hunter of Long Eddy." She published a book regarding those experiences. I have not been able to see it, but it is said to be quaint and well written. She regarded herself as practically a man, and became attached to a young woman of good education, who had also been deserted by her husband. The affection was strong and emotional, and, of course, without deception. It was interrupted by her recognition and imprisonment as a vagabond, but on the petition of her "wife" she was released. "I may be a woman in one sense," she said, "but I have peculiar organs which make me more a man than a woman." She alluded to an enlarged clitoris which she could erect, she said, as a turtle protrudes its head, but there was no question of its use in coitus. She was ultimately brought to the asylum with paroxysmal attacks of exaltation and erotomania (without self-abuse apparently) and corresponding periods of depression, and she died with progressive dementia. I may also mention the case (briefly recorded in theLancet, February 22, 1884) of a person called John Coulter, who was employed for twelve years as a laborer by the Belfast Harbor Commissioners. When death resulted from injuries caused in falling down stairs, it was found that this person was a woman. She was fifty years of age, and had apparently spent the greater part of her life as a man. When employed in early life as a manservant on a farm, she had married her mistress's daughter. The pair were married for twenty-nine years, but during the last six years lived apart, owing to the "husband's" dissipated habits. No one ever suspected her sex. She was of masculine appearance and good muscular development. The "wife" took charge of the body and buried it.A more recent case of the same kind is that of "Murray Hall," who died in New York in 1901. Her real name was Mary Anderson, and she was born at Govan, in Scotland. Early left an orphan, on the death of her only brother she put on his clothes and went to Edinburgh, working as a man. Her secret was discovered during an illness, and she finally went to America, where she lived as a man for thirty years, making money, and becoming somewhat notorious as a Tammany politician, a rather riotous "man about town." The secret was not discovered till her death, when it was a complete revelation, even to her adopted daughter.She married twice; the first marriage ended in separation, but the second marriage seemed to have been happy, for it lasted twenty years, when the "wife" died. She associated much with pretty girls, and was very jealous of them. She seems to have been slight and not very masculine in general build, with a squeaky voice, but her ways, attitude, and habits were all essentially masculine. She associated with politicians, drank somewhat to excess, though not heavily, swore a great deal, smoked and chewed tobacco, sang ribald songs; could run, dance, and fight like a man, and had divested herself of every trace of feminine daintiness. She wore clothes that were always rather too large in order to hide her form, baggy trousers, and an overcoat even in summer. She is said to have died of cancer of the breast. (I quote from an account, which appears to be reliable, contained in theWeekly Scotsman, February 9, 1901.)Another case, described in the London papers, is that of Catharine Coome, who for forty years successfully personated a man and adopted masculine habits generally. She married a lady's maid, with whom she lived for fourteen years. Having latterly adopted a life of fraud, her case gained publicity as that of the "man-woman."In 1901 the death on board ship was recorded of Miss Caroline Hall, of Boston, a water-color painter who had long resided in Milan. Three years previously she discarded female dress and lived as "husband" to a young Italian lady, also an artist, whom she had already known for seven years. She called herself "Mr. Hall" and appeared to be a thoroughly normal young man, able to shoot with a rifle and fond of manly sports. The officers of the ship stated that she smoked and drank heartily, joked with the other male passengers, and was hail-fellow-well-met with everyone. Death was due to advanced tuberculosis of the lungs, hastened by excessive drinking and smoking.Ellen Glenn,aliasEllis Glenn, a notorious swindler, who came prominently before the public in Chicago during 1905, was another "man-woman," of large and masculine type. She preferred to dress as a man and had many love escapades with women. "She can fiddle as well as anyone in the State," said a man who knew her, "can box like a pugilist, and can dance and play cards."In Seville, a few years ago, an elderly policeman, who had been in attendance on successive governors of that city for thirty years, was badly injured in a street accident. He was taken to the hospital and the doctor there discovered that the "policeman" was a woman. She went by the name of Fernando Mackenzie and during the whole of her long service no suspicion whatever was aroused as to her sex. She was French by birth, born in Paris in 1836, but her father was English and her mother Spanish. She assumed her male disguise whenshe was a girl and served her time in the French army, then emigrated to Spain, at the age of 35, and contrived to enter the Madrid police force disguised as a man. She married there and pretended that her wife's child was her own son. She removed to Seville, still serving as a policeman, and was engaged there as cook and orderly at the governor's palace. She served seven successive governors. In consequence of the discovery of her sex she has been discharged from the police without the pension due to her; her wife had died two years previously, and "Fernando" spent all she possessed on the woman's funeral. Mackenzie had a soft voice, a refined face with delicate features, and was neatly dressed in male attire. When asked how she escaped detection so long, she replied that she always lived quietly in her own house with her wife and did her duty by her employers so that no one meddled with her.In Chicago in 1906 much attention was attracted to the case of "Nicholai de Raylan," confidential secretary to the Russian Consul, who at death (of tuberculosis) at the age of 33 was found to be a woman. She was born in Russia and was in many respects very feminine, small and slight in build, but was regarded as a man, and even as very "manly," by both men and women who knew her intimately. She was always very neat in dress, fastidious in regard to shirts and ties, and wore a long-waisted coat to disguise the lines of her figure. She was married twice in America, being divorced by the first wife, after a union lasting ten years, on the ground of cruelty and misconduct with chorus girls. The second wife, a chorus girl who had been previously married and had a child, was devoted to her "husband." Both wives were firmly convinced that their husband was a man and ridiculed the idea that "he" could be a woman. I am informed that De Raylan wore a very elaborately constructed artificial penis. In her will she made careful arrangements to prevent detection of sex after death, but these were frustrated, as she died in a hospital.In St. Louis, in 1909, the case was brought forward of a young woman of 22, who had posed as a man for nine years. Her masculine career began at the age of 13 after the Galveston flood which swept away all her family. She was saved and left Texas dressed as a boy. She worked in livery stables, in a plough factory, and as a bill-poster. At one time she was the adopted son of the family in which she lived and had no difficulty in deceiving her sisters by adoption as to her sex. On coming to St. Louis in 1902 she made chairs and baskets at the American Rattan Works, associating with fellow-workmen on a footing of masculine equality. One day a workman noticed the extreme smallness and dexterity of her hands. "Gee, Bill, you should have been a girl." "How do you know I'm not?" she retorted. In suchways her ready wit and good humor always, disarmed suspicion as to her sex. She shunned no difficulties in her work or in her sports, we are told, and never avoided the severest tests. "She drank, she swore, she courted girls, she worked as hard as her fellows, she fished and camped; she told stories with the best of them, and she did not flinch when the talk grew strong. She even chewed tobacco." Girls began to fall in love with the good-looking boy at an early period, and she frequently boasted of her feminine conquests; with one girl who worshipped her there was a question of marriage. On account of lack of education she was restricted to manual labor, and she often chose hard work. At one time she became a boiler-maker's apprentice, wielding a hammer and driving in hot rivets. Here she was very popular and became local secretary of the International Brotherhood of Boiler-makers. In physical development she was now somewhat of an athlete. "She could outrun any of her friends on a sprint; she could kick higher, play baseball, and throw the ball overhand like a man, and she was fond of football. As a wrestler she could throw most of the club members." The physician who examined her for an insurance policy remarked: "You are a fine specimen of physical manhood, young fellow. Take good care of yourself." Finally, in a moment of weakness, she admitted her sex and returned to the garments of womanhood.In London, in 1912, a servant-girl of 23 was charged in the Acton Police Court with being "disorderly and masquerading," having assumed man's clothes and living with another girl, taller and more handsome than herself, as husband and wife. She had had slight brain trouble as a child, and was very intelligent, with a too active brain; in her spare time she had written stories for magazines. The two girls became attached through doing Christian social work together in their spare time, and resolved to live as husband and wife to prevent any young man from coming forward. The "husband" became a plumber's mate, and displayed some skill at fisticuffs when at length discovered by the "wife's" brother. Hence her appearance in the Police Court. Both girls were sent back to their friends, and situations found for them as day-servants. But as they remained devoted to each other arrangements were made for them to live together.Another case that may be mentioned is that of Cora Anderson, "the man-woman of Milwaukee," who posed for thirteen years as a man, and during that period lived with two women as her wives without her disguise being penetrated. (Her "Confessions" were published in theDay Bookof Chicago during May, 1914.)It would be easy to bring forward other cases. A few instances of marriage between women will be found in theAlienist and Neurologist,Nov., 1902, p. 497. In all such cases more or less fraud has been exercised. I know of one case, probably unique, in which the ceremony was gone through without any deception on any side: a congenitally inverted Englishwoman of distinguished intellectual ability, now dead, was attached to the wife of a clergyman, who, in full cognizance of all the facts of the case, privately married the two ladies in his own church.
Cases have been recorded of inverted women who spent the greater part of their lives in men's clothing and been generally regarded as men. I may cite the case of Lucy Ann Slater,aliasthe Rev. Joseph Lobdell, recorded by Wise (Alienist and Neurologist, 1883). She was masculine in character, features, and attire. In early life she married and had a child, but had no affection for her husband, who eventually left her. As usual in such cases, her masculine habits appeared in early childhood. She was expert with the rifle, lived the life of a trapper and hunter among the Indians, and was known as the "Female Hunter of Long Eddy." She published a book regarding those experiences. I have not been able to see it, but it is said to be quaint and well written. She regarded herself as practically a man, and became attached to a young woman of good education, who had also been deserted by her husband. The affection was strong and emotional, and, of course, without deception. It was interrupted by her recognition and imprisonment as a vagabond, but on the petition of her "wife" she was released. "I may be a woman in one sense," she said, "but I have peculiar organs which make me more a man than a woman." She alluded to an enlarged clitoris which she could erect, she said, as a turtle protrudes its head, but there was no question of its use in coitus. She was ultimately brought to the asylum with paroxysmal attacks of exaltation and erotomania (without self-abuse apparently) and corresponding periods of depression, and she died with progressive dementia. I may also mention the case (briefly recorded in theLancet, February 22, 1884) of a person called John Coulter, who was employed for twelve years as a laborer by the Belfast Harbor Commissioners. When death resulted from injuries caused in falling down stairs, it was found that this person was a woman. She was fifty years of age, and had apparently spent the greater part of her life as a man. When employed in early life as a manservant on a farm, she had married her mistress's daughter. The pair were married for twenty-nine years, but during the last six years lived apart, owing to the "husband's" dissipated habits. No one ever suspected her sex. She was of masculine appearance and good muscular development. The "wife" took charge of the body and buried it.
A more recent case of the same kind is that of "Murray Hall," who died in New York in 1901. Her real name was Mary Anderson, and she was born at Govan, in Scotland. Early left an orphan, on the death of her only brother she put on his clothes and went to Edinburgh, working as a man. Her secret was discovered during an illness, and she finally went to America, where she lived as a man for thirty years, making money, and becoming somewhat notorious as a Tammany politician, a rather riotous "man about town." The secret was not discovered till her death, when it was a complete revelation, even to her adopted daughter.She married twice; the first marriage ended in separation, but the second marriage seemed to have been happy, for it lasted twenty years, when the "wife" died. She associated much with pretty girls, and was very jealous of them. She seems to have been slight and not very masculine in general build, with a squeaky voice, but her ways, attitude, and habits were all essentially masculine. She associated with politicians, drank somewhat to excess, though not heavily, swore a great deal, smoked and chewed tobacco, sang ribald songs; could run, dance, and fight like a man, and had divested herself of every trace of feminine daintiness. She wore clothes that were always rather too large in order to hide her form, baggy trousers, and an overcoat even in summer. She is said to have died of cancer of the breast. (I quote from an account, which appears to be reliable, contained in theWeekly Scotsman, February 9, 1901.)
Another case, described in the London papers, is that of Catharine Coome, who for forty years successfully personated a man and adopted masculine habits generally. She married a lady's maid, with whom she lived for fourteen years. Having latterly adopted a life of fraud, her case gained publicity as that of the "man-woman."
In 1901 the death on board ship was recorded of Miss Caroline Hall, of Boston, a water-color painter who had long resided in Milan. Three years previously she discarded female dress and lived as "husband" to a young Italian lady, also an artist, whom she had already known for seven years. She called herself "Mr. Hall" and appeared to be a thoroughly normal young man, able to shoot with a rifle and fond of manly sports. The officers of the ship stated that she smoked and drank heartily, joked with the other male passengers, and was hail-fellow-well-met with everyone. Death was due to advanced tuberculosis of the lungs, hastened by excessive drinking and smoking.
Ellen Glenn,aliasEllis Glenn, a notorious swindler, who came prominently before the public in Chicago during 1905, was another "man-woman," of large and masculine type. She preferred to dress as a man and had many love escapades with women. "She can fiddle as well as anyone in the State," said a man who knew her, "can box like a pugilist, and can dance and play cards."
In Seville, a few years ago, an elderly policeman, who had been in attendance on successive governors of that city for thirty years, was badly injured in a street accident. He was taken to the hospital and the doctor there discovered that the "policeman" was a woman. She went by the name of Fernando Mackenzie and during the whole of her long service no suspicion whatever was aroused as to her sex. She was French by birth, born in Paris in 1836, but her father was English and her mother Spanish. She assumed her male disguise whenshe was a girl and served her time in the French army, then emigrated to Spain, at the age of 35, and contrived to enter the Madrid police force disguised as a man. She married there and pretended that her wife's child was her own son. She removed to Seville, still serving as a policeman, and was engaged there as cook and orderly at the governor's palace. She served seven successive governors. In consequence of the discovery of her sex she has been discharged from the police without the pension due to her; her wife had died two years previously, and "Fernando" spent all she possessed on the woman's funeral. Mackenzie had a soft voice, a refined face with delicate features, and was neatly dressed in male attire. When asked how she escaped detection so long, she replied that she always lived quietly in her own house with her wife and did her duty by her employers so that no one meddled with her.
In Chicago in 1906 much attention was attracted to the case of "Nicholai de Raylan," confidential secretary to the Russian Consul, who at death (of tuberculosis) at the age of 33 was found to be a woman. She was born in Russia and was in many respects very feminine, small and slight in build, but was regarded as a man, and even as very "manly," by both men and women who knew her intimately. She was always very neat in dress, fastidious in regard to shirts and ties, and wore a long-waisted coat to disguise the lines of her figure. She was married twice in America, being divorced by the first wife, after a union lasting ten years, on the ground of cruelty and misconduct with chorus girls. The second wife, a chorus girl who had been previously married and had a child, was devoted to her "husband." Both wives were firmly convinced that their husband was a man and ridiculed the idea that "he" could be a woman. I am informed that De Raylan wore a very elaborately constructed artificial penis. In her will she made careful arrangements to prevent detection of sex after death, but these were frustrated, as she died in a hospital.
In St. Louis, in 1909, the case was brought forward of a young woman of 22, who had posed as a man for nine years. Her masculine career began at the age of 13 after the Galveston flood which swept away all her family. She was saved and left Texas dressed as a boy. She worked in livery stables, in a plough factory, and as a bill-poster. At one time she was the adopted son of the family in which she lived and had no difficulty in deceiving her sisters by adoption as to her sex. On coming to St. Louis in 1902 she made chairs and baskets at the American Rattan Works, associating with fellow-workmen on a footing of masculine equality. One day a workman noticed the extreme smallness and dexterity of her hands. "Gee, Bill, you should have been a girl." "How do you know I'm not?" she retorted. In suchways her ready wit and good humor always, disarmed suspicion as to her sex. She shunned no difficulties in her work or in her sports, we are told, and never avoided the severest tests. "She drank, she swore, she courted girls, she worked as hard as her fellows, she fished and camped; she told stories with the best of them, and she did not flinch when the talk grew strong. She even chewed tobacco." Girls began to fall in love with the good-looking boy at an early period, and she frequently boasted of her feminine conquests; with one girl who worshipped her there was a question of marriage. On account of lack of education she was restricted to manual labor, and she often chose hard work. At one time she became a boiler-maker's apprentice, wielding a hammer and driving in hot rivets. Here she was very popular and became local secretary of the International Brotherhood of Boiler-makers. In physical development she was now somewhat of an athlete. "She could outrun any of her friends on a sprint; she could kick higher, play baseball, and throw the ball overhand like a man, and she was fond of football. As a wrestler she could throw most of the club members." The physician who examined her for an insurance policy remarked: "You are a fine specimen of physical manhood, young fellow. Take good care of yourself." Finally, in a moment of weakness, she admitted her sex and returned to the garments of womanhood.
In London, in 1912, a servant-girl of 23 was charged in the Acton Police Court with being "disorderly and masquerading," having assumed man's clothes and living with another girl, taller and more handsome than herself, as husband and wife. She had had slight brain trouble as a child, and was very intelligent, with a too active brain; in her spare time she had written stories for magazines. The two girls became attached through doing Christian social work together in their spare time, and resolved to live as husband and wife to prevent any young man from coming forward. The "husband" became a plumber's mate, and displayed some skill at fisticuffs when at length discovered by the "wife's" brother. Hence her appearance in the Police Court. Both girls were sent back to their friends, and situations found for them as day-servants. But as they remained devoted to each other arrangements were made for them to live together.
Another case that may be mentioned is that of Cora Anderson, "the man-woman of Milwaukee," who posed for thirteen years as a man, and during that period lived with two women as her wives without her disguise being penetrated. (Her "Confessions" were published in theDay Bookof Chicago during May, 1914.)
It would be easy to bring forward other cases. A few instances of marriage between women will be found in theAlienist and Neurologist,Nov., 1902, p. 497. In all such cases more or less fraud has been exercised. I know of one case, probably unique, in which the ceremony was gone through without any deception on any side: a congenitally inverted Englishwoman of distinguished intellectual ability, now dead, was attached to the wife of a clergyman, who, in full cognizance of all the facts of the case, privately married the two ladies in his own church.
When they still retain female garments, these usually show some traits of masculine simplicity, and there is nearly always a disdain for the petty feminine artifices of the toilet. Even when this is not obvious, there are all sorts of instinctive gestures and habits which may suggest to female acquaintances the remark that such a person "ought to have been a man." The brusque, energetic movements, the attitude of the arms, the direct speech, the inflexions of the voice, the masculine straightforwardness and sense of honor, and especially the attitude toward men, free from any suggestion either of shyness or audacity, will often suggest the underlying psychic abnormality to a keen observer.
In the habits not only is there frequently a pronounced taste for smoking cigarettes, often found in quite feminine women, but also a decided taste and toleration for cigars. There is also a dislike and sometimes incapacity for needlework and other domestic occupations, while there is often some capacity for athletics.
As regards the general bearing of the inverted woman, in its most marked and undisguised form, I may quote an admirable description by Prof. Zuccarelli, of Naples, of an unmarried middle-class woman of 35: "While retaining feminine garments, her bearing is as nearly as possible a man's. She wears her thin hair thrown carelessly backalla Umberto, and fastened in a simple knot at the back of her head. The breasts are little developed, and compressed beneath a high corset; her gown is narrow without the expansion demanded by fashion. Her straw hat with broad plaits is perhaps adorned by a feather, or she wears a small hat like a boy's. She does not carry an umbrella or sunshade, and walks out alone, refusing the company of men; or she is accompanied by a woman, as she prefers, offering her arm and carrying the other hand at her waist, with the air of a fine gentleman. In a carriage her bearing is peculiar and unlike that habitual with women. Seated in the middle of the doubleseat, her knees being crossed or else the legs well separated, with a virile air and careless easy movements she turns her head in every direction, finding an acquaintance here and there with her eye, saluting men and women with a large gesture of the hand as a business man would. In conversation her pose is similar; she gesticulates much, is vivacious in speech, with much power of mimicry, and while talking she arches the inner angles of her eyebrow, making vertical wrinkles at the center of her forehead. Her laugh is open and explosive and uncovers her white rows of teeth. With men she is on terms of careless equality." ("Inversione congenita dell'istinto sessuale in una donna,"L'Anomalo, February, 1889.)"The inverted woman," Hirschfeld truly remarks (Die Homosexualität, p. 158), "is more full of life, of enterprise, of practical energy, more aggressive, more heroic, more apt for adventure, than either the heterosexual woman or the homosexual man." Sometimes, he adds, her mannishness may approach reckless brutality, and her courage becomes rashness. This author observes, however, in another place (p. 272) that, in addition to this group of inverted women with masculine traits there is another group, "not less large," of equally inverted women who are outwardly as thoroughly feminine as are normal women. This is not an observation which I am able to confirm. It appears to me that the great majority of inverted women possess some masculine or boyish traits, even though only as slight as those which may occasionally be revealed by normal women. Extreme femininity, in my observation, is much more likely to be found in bisexual than in homosexual women, just as extreme masculinity is much more likely to be found in bisexual than in homosexual men.
As regards the general bearing of the inverted woman, in its most marked and undisguised form, I may quote an admirable description by Prof. Zuccarelli, of Naples, of an unmarried middle-class woman of 35: "While retaining feminine garments, her bearing is as nearly as possible a man's. She wears her thin hair thrown carelessly backalla Umberto, and fastened in a simple knot at the back of her head. The breasts are little developed, and compressed beneath a high corset; her gown is narrow without the expansion demanded by fashion. Her straw hat with broad plaits is perhaps adorned by a feather, or she wears a small hat like a boy's. She does not carry an umbrella or sunshade, and walks out alone, refusing the company of men; or she is accompanied by a woman, as she prefers, offering her arm and carrying the other hand at her waist, with the air of a fine gentleman. In a carriage her bearing is peculiar and unlike that habitual with women. Seated in the middle of the doubleseat, her knees being crossed or else the legs well separated, with a virile air and careless easy movements she turns her head in every direction, finding an acquaintance here and there with her eye, saluting men and women with a large gesture of the hand as a business man would. In conversation her pose is similar; she gesticulates much, is vivacious in speech, with much power of mimicry, and while talking she arches the inner angles of her eyebrow, making vertical wrinkles at the center of her forehead. Her laugh is open and explosive and uncovers her white rows of teeth. With men she is on terms of careless equality." ("Inversione congenita dell'istinto sessuale in una donna,"L'Anomalo, February, 1889.)
"The inverted woman," Hirschfeld truly remarks (Die Homosexualität, p. 158), "is more full of life, of enterprise, of practical energy, more aggressive, more heroic, more apt for adventure, than either the heterosexual woman or the homosexual man." Sometimes, he adds, her mannishness may approach reckless brutality, and her courage becomes rashness. This author observes, however, in another place (p. 272) that, in addition to this group of inverted women with masculine traits there is another group, "not less large," of equally inverted women who are outwardly as thoroughly feminine as are normal women. This is not an observation which I am able to confirm. It appears to me that the great majority of inverted women possess some masculine or boyish traits, even though only as slight as those which may occasionally be revealed by normal women. Extreme femininity, in my observation, is much more likely to be found in bisexual than in homosexual women, just as extreme masculinity is much more likely to be found in bisexual than in homosexual men.
While inverted women frequently, though not always, convey an impression of mannishness or boyishness, there are no invariable anatomical characteristics associated with this impression. There is, for instance, no uniform tendency to a masculine distribution of hair. Nor must it be supposed that the presence of a beard in a woman indicates a homosexual tendency. "Bearded women," as Hirschfeld remarks, are scarcely ever inverted, and it would seem that the strongest reversals of secondary sexual characters less often accompany homosexuality than slighter modifications of these characters.[167]A faint moustache and other slight manifestations of hypertrichosis alsoby no means necessarily indicate homosexuality. To some extent it is a matter of race; thus in the Pera district of Constantinople, Weissenberg, among nearly seven hundred women between about 18 and 50 years of age, noted that 10 per cent, showed hair on the upper lip; they were most often Armenians, the Greeks coming next.[168]
There has been some dispute as to whether, apart from homosexuality, hypertrichosis in a woman can be regarded as an indication of a general masculinity. This is denied by Max Bartels (in his elaborate study, "Ueber abnorme Behaarung beim Menschen,"Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1876, p. 127; 1881, p. 219) and, as regards insanity, by L. Harris-Liston ("Cases of Bearded Women,"British Medical Journal, June 2, 1894). On the other hand, J. H. Claiborne ("Hypertrichosis in Women,"New York Medical Journal, June 13, 1914) believes that hair on the face and body in a woman is a sign of masculinity; "women with hypertrichosis possess masculine traits."There seems to be very little doubt that fully developed "bearded women" are in most, possibly not all, cases decidedly feminine in all other respects. A typical instance is furnished by Annie Jones, the "Esau Lady" of Virginia. She belonged to a large and entirely normal family, but herself possessed a full beard with thick whiskers and moustache of an entirely masculine type; she also showed short, dark hair on arms and hands resembling a man. Apart from this heterogeny, she was entirely normal and feminine. At the age of 26, when examined in Berlin, the hair of the head was very long, the expression of the face entirely feminine, the voice also feminine, the figure elegant, the hands and feet entirely of feminine type, the external and internal genitalia altogether feminine. Annie Jones was married. Max Bartels, who studied Annie Jones and published her portrait (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1891, Heft 3, p. 243), remarks that in these respects Annie Jones resembles other "bearded women"; they marry, have children, and are able to suckle them. A beard in women seems, as Dupré and Duflos believe (Revue Neurologique, Aug. 30, 1901), to be more closely correlated with neuropathy than with masculinity; comparing a thousand sane women with a thousand insane women in Paris, they found unusual degree of hair or down on the face in 23 per cent. of the former and 50 per cent. of the latter; but even the sane bearded women frequently belonged to neuropathic families.A tendency to slight widely diffused hypertrichosis of the body generally, not localized or highly developed on the face, seems muchmore likely than a beard to be associated with masculinity, even when it occurs in little girls. Thus Virchow once presented to the Berlin Anthropological Society a little girl of 5 of this type who also possessed a deep and rough voice (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1891, Heft 4, p. 469). A typical example of slight hypertrichosis in a woman associated with general masculine traits is furnished by a description and figure of the body of a woman of 56 in an anatomical institute, furnished by C. Strauch (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1901, Heft 6, p. 534). In this case there was a growth of hair around both nipples and a line of hair extended from the pubes to the navel; both these two dispositions of hair are very rare in women. (In Vienna among nearly 700 women Coe only found a tendency to hair distribution toward the navel in about 1 per cent.). While the hair in this subject was otherwise fairly normal, there were many approximations to the masculine type in other respects: the muscles were strongly developed, the bones massive, the limbs long, the joints powerful, the hands and feet large, the thorax well developed, the lower jaw massive; there was an absence of feminine curves on the body and the breasts were scarcely perceptible. At the same time the genital organs were normal and there had been childbirth. It was further notable that this woman had committed suicide by self-strangulation, a rare method which requires great resolution and strength of will, as at any moment of the process the pressure can be removed.
There has been some dispute as to whether, apart from homosexuality, hypertrichosis in a woman can be regarded as an indication of a general masculinity. This is denied by Max Bartels (in his elaborate study, "Ueber abnorme Behaarung beim Menschen,"Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1876, p. 127; 1881, p. 219) and, as regards insanity, by L. Harris-Liston ("Cases of Bearded Women,"British Medical Journal, June 2, 1894). On the other hand, J. H. Claiborne ("Hypertrichosis in Women,"New York Medical Journal, June 13, 1914) believes that hair on the face and body in a woman is a sign of masculinity; "women with hypertrichosis possess masculine traits."
There seems to be very little doubt that fully developed "bearded women" are in most, possibly not all, cases decidedly feminine in all other respects. A typical instance is furnished by Annie Jones, the "Esau Lady" of Virginia. She belonged to a large and entirely normal family, but herself possessed a full beard with thick whiskers and moustache of an entirely masculine type; she also showed short, dark hair on arms and hands resembling a man. Apart from this heterogeny, she was entirely normal and feminine. At the age of 26, when examined in Berlin, the hair of the head was very long, the expression of the face entirely feminine, the voice also feminine, the figure elegant, the hands and feet entirely of feminine type, the external and internal genitalia altogether feminine. Annie Jones was married. Max Bartels, who studied Annie Jones and published her portrait (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1891, Heft 3, p. 243), remarks that in these respects Annie Jones resembles other "bearded women"; they marry, have children, and are able to suckle them. A beard in women seems, as Dupré and Duflos believe (Revue Neurologique, Aug. 30, 1901), to be more closely correlated with neuropathy than with masculinity; comparing a thousand sane women with a thousand insane women in Paris, they found unusual degree of hair or down on the face in 23 per cent. of the former and 50 per cent. of the latter; but even the sane bearded women frequently belonged to neuropathic families.
A tendency to slight widely diffused hypertrichosis of the body generally, not localized or highly developed on the face, seems muchmore likely than a beard to be associated with masculinity, even when it occurs in little girls. Thus Virchow once presented to the Berlin Anthropological Society a little girl of 5 of this type who also possessed a deep and rough voice (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1891, Heft 4, p. 469). A typical example of slight hypertrichosis in a woman associated with general masculine traits is furnished by a description and figure of the body of a woman of 56 in an anatomical institute, furnished by C. Strauch (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1901, Heft 6, p. 534). In this case there was a growth of hair around both nipples and a line of hair extended from the pubes to the navel; both these two dispositions of hair are very rare in women. (In Vienna among nearly 700 women Coe only found a tendency to hair distribution toward the navel in about 1 per cent.). While the hair in this subject was otherwise fairly normal, there were many approximations to the masculine type in other respects: the muscles were strongly developed, the bones massive, the limbs long, the joints powerful, the hands and feet large, the thorax well developed, the lower jaw massive; there was an absence of feminine curves on the body and the breasts were scarcely perceptible. At the same time the genital organs were normal and there had been childbirth. It was further notable that this woman had committed suicide by self-strangulation, a rare method which requires great resolution and strength of will, as at any moment of the process the pressure can be removed.
There seems little doubt that inverted women frequently tend to show minor anomalies of the piliferous system, and especially slight hypertrichosis and a masculine distribution of hair. Thus in a very typical case of inversion in an Italian girl of 19 who dressed as a man and ran away from home, the down on the arms and legs was marked to an unusual extent, and there was very abundant hair in the armpits and on the pubes, with a tendency to the masculine distribution.[169]Of the three cases described in this chapter which I am best acquainted with, one possesses an unusually small amount of hair on the pubes and in the axillæ (oligotrichosis terminalis), approximating to the infantile type, while another presents a complex and very rare piliferous heterogeny. There is marked dark down on the upperlip; the pubic hair is thick, and there is hair on toes and feet and legs to umbilicus; there are also a few hairs around the nipples. A woman physician in the United States who knows many female inverts similarly tells me that she has observed the tendency to growth of hair on the legs. If, as is not improbable, inversion is associated with some abnormal balance in the internal secretions, it is not difficult to understand this tendency to piliferous anomalies; and we know that the thyroid secretion, for instance, and much more the testicular and ovarian secretions, have a powerful influence on the hair.
Ballantyne, some years ago, in discussing congenital hypertrichosis (Manual of Antenatal Pathology, 1902, pp. 321-6) concluded that the theory of arrested development is best supported by the facts; persistence of lanugo is such an arrest, and hypertrichosis may largely be considered a persistence of lanugo. Such a conclusion is still tenable,—though it encounters some difficulties and inconsistencies,—and it largely agrees with what we know of the condition as associated with inversion in women. But we are now beginning to see that this arrested development may be definitely associated with anomalies in the internal secretions, and even with special chemical defects in these secretions. Virile strength has always been associated with hair, as the story of Samson bears witness. Ammon found among Baden conscripts (L'Anthropologie, 1896, p. 285) that when the men were divided into classes according to the amount of hair on body, the first class, with least hair, have the smallest circumference of testicle, the fewest number of men with glans penis uncovered, the largest number of infantile voices, the largest proportion of blue eyes and fair hair, the smallest average height, weight, and chest circumference, while in all these respects the men with hairy bodies were at the other extreme. It has been known from antiquity that in men early castration affects the growth of hair. It is now known that in women the presence or absence of the ovary and, other glands affects the hair, as well as sexual development. Thus Hegar (Beiträge zur Geburtshülfe und Gynäkologie, vol. i, p. 111, 1898) described a girl with pelvis of infantile type and uterine malformation who had been unusually hairy on face and body from infancy, with masculine arrangement of hair on pubes and abdomen; menstruation was scanty, breasts atrophic; the hair was of lanugo type; we see here how in women infantile and masculine characteristics are associated with, and both probably dependent on, defects in the sexual glands. Plant (Centralblatt für Gynäkologie, No. 9, 1896) described another girl with very small ovaries,rudimentary uterus, small vagina, and prominent nymphæ, in whom menstruation was absent, hair on head long and strong, but hair absent in armpits and scanty on mons veneris. These two cases seem inconsistent as regards hair, and we should now wish to know the condition of the other internal glands. The thyroid, for instance, it is now known, controls the hair, as well as do the sexual glands; and the thyroid, as Gautier has shown (Académie de Médecine, July 24, 1900) elaborates arsenic and iodine, which nourish the skin and hair; he found that the administration of sodium cacodylate to young women produced abundant growth of hair on head. Again, the kidneys, and especially the adrenal glands, influence the hair. It has long been known that in girls with congenital renal tumors there is an abnormally early growth of axillary and pubic hair; Goldschwend (Präger medizinische Wochenschrift, Nos. 37 and 38, 1910) has described the case of a woman of 39, with small ovaries and adrenal tumor, in whom hair began to grow on chin and cheeks. (See also C. T. Ewart,Lancet, May 19, 1915.) Once more, the glans hypophysis also affects hair growth and it has been found by Lévi (quoted inArchives d'Anthropologie Criminelle, August-September, 1912, p. 711) that the administration of hypophysis extract to an infantile, hairless woman of 27, without sexual feeling, produced a general tendency to growth of hair. Such facts not only help to explain the anomalies of hair development, but also indicate the direction in which we may find an explanation of the anomalies of the sexual impulse.
Ballantyne, some years ago, in discussing congenital hypertrichosis (Manual of Antenatal Pathology, 1902, pp. 321-6) concluded that the theory of arrested development is best supported by the facts; persistence of lanugo is such an arrest, and hypertrichosis may largely be considered a persistence of lanugo. Such a conclusion is still tenable,—though it encounters some difficulties and inconsistencies,—and it largely agrees with what we know of the condition as associated with inversion in women. But we are now beginning to see that this arrested development may be definitely associated with anomalies in the internal secretions, and even with special chemical defects in these secretions. Virile strength has always been associated with hair, as the story of Samson bears witness. Ammon found among Baden conscripts (L'Anthropologie, 1896, p. 285) that when the men were divided into classes according to the amount of hair on body, the first class, with least hair, have the smallest circumference of testicle, the fewest number of men with glans penis uncovered, the largest number of infantile voices, the largest proportion of blue eyes and fair hair, the smallest average height, weight, and chest circumference, while in all these respects the men with hairy bodies were at the other extreme. It has been known from antiquity that in men early castration affects the growth of hair. It is now known that in women the presence or absence of the ovary and, other glands affects the hair, as well as sexual development. Thus Hegar (Beiträge zur Geburtshülfe und Gynäkologie, vol. i, p. 111, 1898) described a girl with pelvis of infantile type and uterine malformation who had been unusually hairy on face and body from infancy, with masculine arrangement of hair on pubes and abdomen; menstruation was scanty, breasts atrophic; the hair was of lanugo type; we see here how in women infantile and masculine characteristics are associated with, and both probably dependent on, defects in the sexual glands. Plant (Centralblatt für Gynäkologie, No. 9, 1896) described another girl with very small ovaries,rudimentary uterus, small vagina, and prominent nymphæ, in whom menstruation was absent, hair on head long and strong, but hair absent in armpits and scanty on mons veneris. These two cases seem inconsistent as regards hair, and we should now wish to know the condition of the other internal glands. The thyroid, for instance, it is now known, controls the hair, as well as do the sexual glands; and the thyroid, as Gautier has shown (Académie de Médecine, July 24, 1900) elaborates arsenic and iodine, which nourish the skin and hair; he found that the administration of sodium cacodylate to young women produced abundant growth of hair on head. Again, the kidneys, and especially the adrenal glands, influence the hair. It has long been known that in girls with congenital renal tumors there is an abnormally early growth of axillary and pubic hair; Goldschwend (Präger medizinische Wochenschrift, Nos. 37 and 38, 1910) has described the case of a woman of 39, with small ovaries and adrenal tumor, in whom hair began to grow on chin and cheeks. (See also C. T. Ewart,Lancet, May 19, 1915.) Once more, the glans hypophysis also affects hair growth and it has been found by Lévi (quoted inArchives d'Anthropologie Criminelle, August-September, 1912, p. 711) that the administration of hypophysis extract to an infantile, hairless woman of 27, without sexual feeling, produced a general tendency to growth of hair. Such facts not only help to explain the anomalies of hair development, but also indicate the direction in which we may find an explanation of the anomalies of the sexual impulse.
Apart from the complicated problem presented by the hair, there are genuine approximations to the masculine type. The muscles tend to be everywhere firm, with a comparative absence of soft connective tissue; so that an inverted woman may give an unfeminine impression to the sense of touch. A certain tonicity of the muscles has indeed often been observed in homosexual women. Hirschfeld found that two-thirds of inverted women are more muscular than normal women, while, on the other hand, he found that among inverted men the musculature was often weak.
Not only is the tone of the voice often different, but there is reason to suppose that this rests on a basis, of anatomical modification. At Moll's suggestion, Flatau examined the larynx in a large number of inverted women, and found in several a very decidedly masculine type of larynx, or an approach to it, especiallyin cases of distinctly congenital origin. Hirschfeld has confirmed Flatau's observations on this point. It may be added that inverted women are very often good whistlers; Hirschfeld even knows two who are public performers in whistling. It is scarcely necessary to remark that while the old proverb associates whistling in a woman with crowing in a hen, whistling in a woman is no evidence of any general physical or psychic inversion.
As regards the sexual organs it seems possible, so far as my observations go, to speak more definitely of inverted women than of inverted men. In all three of the cases concerning whom I have precise information, among those whose histories are recorded in the present chapter, there is more or less arrested development and infantilism. In one a somewhat small vagina and prominent nymphæ, with local sensitiveness, are associated with oligotrichosis. In another the sexual parts are in some respects rather small, while there is no trace of ovary on one side. In the third case, together with hypertrichosis, the nates are small, the nymphæ large, the clitoris deeply hooded, the hymen thick, and the vagina probably small. These observations, though few, are significant, and they accord with those of other observers.[170]Krafft-Ebing well described a case which I should be inclined to regard as typical of many: sexual organs feminine in character, but remaining at the infantile stage of a girl of 10; small clitoris, prominent cockscomb-like nymphæ, small vagina scarcely permitting normal intercourse and very sensitive. Hirschfeld agrees in finding common an approach to the type described by Krafft-Ebing; atrophic anomalies he regards as more common than hypertrophic, and he refers to thickness of hymen and a tendency to notably small uterus and ovaries. The clitoris is more usually small than large; women with a large clitoris (as Parent-Duchâtelet long since remarked) seem rarely to be of masculine type.
Notwithstanding these tendencies, however, sexual inversion in a woman is, as a rule, not more obvious than in a man. At the same time, the inverted woman is not usually attractive to men. She herself generally feels the greatest indifference to men, and often, cannot understand why a woman should love a man, though she easily understands why a man should love a woman. She shows, therefore, nothing of that sexual shyness and engaging air of weakness and dependence which are an invitation to men. The man who is passionately attracted to an inverted woman is usually of rather a feminine type. For instance, in one case present to my mind he was of somewhat neurotic heredity, of slight physical development, not sexually attractive to women, and very domesticated in his manner of living; in short, a man who might easily have been passionately attracted to his own sex.
While the inverted woman is cold, or, at most, comradely in her bearing toward men, she may become shy and confused in the presence of attractive persons of her own sex, even unable to undress in their presence, and full of tender ardor for the woman whom she loves.[171]
Homosexual passion in women finds more or less complete expression in kissing, sleeping together, and close embraces, as in what is sometimes called "lying spoons," when one woman lies on her side with her back turned to her friend and embraces her from behind, fitting her thighs into the bend of her companion's legs, so that her mons veneris is in dose contact with the other's buttocks, and slight movement then produces mild erethism. One may also lie on the other's body, or there may be mutual masturbation. Mutual contact and friction of the sexual parts seem to be comparatively rare, but it seems to have been common in antiquity, for we owe to it the term "tribadism" which is sometimes used as a synonym of feminine homosexuality, and this method is said to be practised today bythe southern Slav women of the Balkans.[172]The extreme gratification iscunnilinctus, or oral stimulation of the feminine sexual organs, not usually mutual, but practised by the more active and masculine partner; this act is sometimes termed, by no means satisfactorily, "Sapphism," and "Lesbianism."[173]
An enlarged clitoris is but rarely found in inversion and plays a very small part in the gratification of feminine homosexuality. Kiernan refers; to a case, occurring in America, in which an inverted woman, married and a mother, possessed a clitoris which measured 2½ inches when erect. Casanova described an inverted Swiss, woman, otherwise feminine in development, whose clitoris in excitement was longer than his little finger, and capable of penetration.[174]The older literature contains many similar cases. In most such cases, however, we are probably concerned with some form of pseudohermaphroditism, and the "clitoris" may more properly be regarded as a penis; there is thus no inversion involved.[175]
While the use of the clitoris is rare in homosexuality, the use of an artificial penis is by no means uncommon and very widespread. In several of the modern cases in which inverted women have married women (such as those of Sarolta Vay and De Raylan) the belief of the wife in the masculinity of the "husband" has been due to an appliance of this kind used in intercourse. The artificial penis (the olisbos, or baubon) was well known to the Greeks and is described by Herondas. Its invention was ascribed by Suidas to the Milesian women, and Miletus, according to Aristophanes in theLysistrata, was thechief place of its manufacture.[176]It was still known in medieval times, and in the twelfth century Bishop Burchard, of Worms, speaks of its use as a thing "which some women are accustomed to do." In the early eighteenth century, Margaretha Lincken, again in Germany, married another woman with the aid of an artificial male organ.[177]The artificial penis is also used by homosexual women in various parts of the world. Thus we find it mentioned in legends of the North American Indians and it is employed in Zanzibar and Madagascar.[178]
The various phenomena of sadism, masochism, and fetichism which are liable to arise, spontaneously or by suggestion, in the relationships of normal lovers, as well as of male inverts, may also arise in the same way among inverted women, though, probably, not often in a very pronounced form. Moll, however, narrates a case (Konträre Sexualempfindung, 1899, pp. 565-70) in which various minor but very definite perversions were combined with inversion. A young lady of 26, of good heredity, from the age of 6 had only been attracted to her own sex, and even in childhood had practised mutualcunnilinctus. She was extremely intelligent, and of generous and good-natured disposition, with various masculine tastes, but, on the whole, of feminine build and with completely feminine larynx. During seven years she lived exclusively with one woman. She found complete satisfactionin activecunnilinctus. During the course of this relationship various other methods of excitement and gratification arose—it seems, for the most part, spontaneously. She found much pleasure in urolagnic and coprolagnic practices. In addition to these and similar perversions, the subject liked being bitten, especially in the lobule of the ear, and she was highly excited when whipped by her friend, who should, if possible, be naked at the time; only the nates must be whipped and only a birch rod be used, or the effect would not be obtained. These practices would not be possible to her in the absence of extreme intimacy and mutual understanding, and they only took place with the one friend. In this case the perverse phenomena were masochistic rather than sadistic. Many homosexual women, however, display sadistic tendencies in a more or less degree. Thus Dr. Kiernan tells me of an American case, with which he was professionally concerned with Dr. Moyer (see also paper by Kiernan and Moyer inAlienist and Neurologist, May, 1907), of a sadistic inverted woman in a small Illinois city, married and with two young children. She was of undoubted neuropathic stock and there was a history of pre-marital masturbation and bestiality with a dog. She was a prominent club woman in her city and a leader in religious and social matters; as is often the case with sadists she was pruriently prudish, and there was strong testimony to her chaste and modest character by clergymen, club women, and local magnates. The victim of her sadistic passion was a girl she had adopted from a Home, but whom she half starved. On this girl she inflicted over three hundred wounds. Many of these wounds were stabs with forks and scissors which merely penetrated the skin. This was especially the case with those inflicted on the breasts, labia, and clitoris. During the infliction of these she experienced intense excitement, but this excitement was under control, and when she heard anyone approaching she instantly desisted. She was found sane and responsible at the time of these actions, but the jury also found that she had since become insane and she was sent to an Insane Hospital, after recovery to serve a sentence of two years in prison. The alleged insanity, Dr. Kiernan adds, was of the dubious manic and depressive variety, and perhaps chiefly due to wounded pride.
The various phenomena of sadism, masochism, and fetichism which are liable to arise, spontaneously or by suggestion, in the relationships of normal lovers, as well as of male inverts, may also arise in the same way among inverted women, though, probably, not often in a very pronounced form. Moll, however, narrates a case (Konträre Sexualempfindung, 1899, pp. 565-70) in which various minor but very definite perversions were combined with inversion. A young lady of 26, of good heredity, from the age of 6 had only been attracted to her own sex, and even in childhood had practised mutualcunnilinctus. She was extremely intelligent, and of generous and good-natured disposition, with various masculine tastes, but, on the whole, of feminine build and with completely feminine larynx. During seven years she lived exclusively with one woman. She found complete satisfactionin activecunnilinctus. During the course of this relationship various other methods of excitement and gratification arose—it seems, for the most part, spontaneously. She found much pleasure in urolagnic and coprolagnic practices. In addition to these and similar perversions, the subject liked being bitten, especially in the lobule of the ear, and she was highly excited when whipped by her friend, who should, if possible, be naked at the time; only the nates must be whipped and only a birch rod be used, or the effect would not be obtained. These practices would not be possible to her in the absence of extreme intimacy and mutual understanding, and they only took place with the one friend. In this case the perverse phenomena were masochistic rather than sadistic. Many homosexual women, however, display sadistic tendencies in a more or less degree. Thus Dr. Kiernan tells me of an American case, with which he was professionally concerned with Dr. Moyer (see also paper by Kiernan and Moyer inAlienist and Neurologist, May, 1907), of a sadistic inverted woman in a small Illinois city, married and with two young children. She was of undoubted neuropathic stock and there was a history of pre-marital masturbation and bestiality with a dog. She was a prominent club woman in her city and a leader in religious and social matters; as is often the case with sadists she was pruriently prudish, and there was strong testimony to her chaste and modest character by clergymen, club women, and local magnates. The victim of her sadistic passion was a girl she had adopted from a Home, but whom she half starved. On this girl she inflicted over three hundred wounds. Many of these wounds were stabs with forks and scissors which merely penetrated the skin. This was especially the case with those inflicted on the breasts, labia, and clitoris. During the infliction of these she experienced intense excitement, but this excitement was under control, and when she heard anyone approaching she instantly desisted. She was found sane and responsible at the time of these actions, but the jury also found that she had since become insane and she was sent to an Insane Hospital, after recovery to serve a sentence of two years in prison. The alleged insanity, Dr. Kiernan adds, was of the dubious manic and depressive variety, and perhaps chiefly due to wounded pride.
The inverted woman is an enthusiastic admirer of feminine beauty, especially of the statuesque beauty of the body, unlike, in this, the normal woman, whose sexual emotion is but faintly tinged by esthetic feeling. In her sexual habits we perhaps less often find the degree of promiscuity which is not uncommonamong inverted men, and we may perhaps agree with Moll that homosexual women are more often apt to love faithfully and lastingly than homosexual men. Hirschfeld remarks that inverted women are not usually attracted in girlhood by the autoerotic and homosexual vices of school-life,[179]and nearly all the women whose histories I have recorded in this chapter felt a pronounced repugnance to such manifestations and cherished lofty ideals of love.
Inverted women are not rarely married. Moll, from various confidences which he has received, believes that inverted women have not the same horror of normal coitus as inverted, men; this is probably due to the fact that the woman under such circumstances can retain a certain passivity. In other cases there is some degree of bisexuality, although, as among inverted men, the homosexual instinct seems usually to give the greater relief and gratification.
It has been stated by many observers—in America, in France, in Germany, and in England—that homosexuality is increasing among women.[180]There are many influences in our civilization today which encourage such manifestations.[181]Themodern movement of emancipation—the movement to obtain the same rights and duties as men, the same freedom and responsibility, the same education and the same work—must be regarded as, on the whole, a wholesome and inevitable movement. But it carries with it certain disadvantages.[182]Women are, very justly, coming to look upon knowledge and experience generally as their right as much as their brothers' right. But when this doctrine is applied to the sexual sphere it finds certain limitations. Intimacies of any kind between young men and young women are as much discouraged socially now as ever they were; as regards higher education, the mere association of the sexes in the lecture-room or the laboratory or the hospital is discouraged in England and in America. While men are allowed freedom, the sexual field of women is becoming restricted to trivial flirtation with the opposite sex, and to intimacy with their own sex; having been taught independence of men and disdain for the old theory which placed women in the moated grange of the home to sigh for a man who never comes, a tendency develops for women to carry this independence still farther and to find love where they find work. These unquestionable influences of modern movements cannot directly cause sexual inversion, but they develop the germs of it, and they probably cause a spurious imitation. This spurious imitation is due to the fact that the congenital anomaly occurs with special frequency in women of high intelligence who, voluntarily or involuntarily, influence others.
Kurella, Bloch, and others believe that the woman movement has helped to develop homosexuality (see,e.g., I. Bloch,Beiträge zur Ætiologie der Psychopathia Sexualis, 1902, vol. i, p. 248). Various "feminine Strindbergs of the woman movement," as they have been termed, displayed marked hostility to men. Anna Rüling claims thatmany leaders of the movement, from the outset until today, have been inverted. Hirschfeld, however (Die Homosexualität, p. 500), after giving special attention to the matter, concludes that, alike among English suffragettes and in the German Verein für Frauenstimmrecht, the percentage of inverts is less than 10 per cent.
Kurella, Bloch, and others believe that the woman movement has helped to develop homosexuality (see,e.g., I. Bloch,Beiträge zur Ætiologie der Psychopathia Sexualis, 1902, vol. i, p. 248). Various "feminine Strindbergs of the woman movement," as they have been termed, displayed marked hostility to men. Anna Rüling claims thatmany leaders of the movement, from the outset until today, have been inverted. Hirschfeld, however (Die Homosexualität, p. 500), after giving special attention to the matter, concludes that, alike among English suffragettes and in the German Verein für Frauenstimmrecht, the percentage of inverts is less than 10 per cent.
[137]Catharina Margaretha Lincken, who married another woman, somewhat after the manner of the Hungarian Countess Sarolta Vay (i.e., with the aid of an artificial male organ), was condemned to death for sodomy, and executed in 1721 at the age of 27 (F. C. Müller, "Ein weiterer Fall von conträrer Sexualempfindung,"Friedrich's Blätter für Gerichtliche Medizin, Heft 4, 1891). The most fully investigated case of sexual inversion in a woman in modern times is that of Countess Sarolta Vay (Friedrich's Blätter, Heft, 1, 1891; also Krafft-Ebing,Psychopathia Sexualis, Eng. trans. of 10th. ed., 416-427; also summarized in Appendix E of earlier editions of the present Study). Sarolta always dressed as a man, and went through a pseudo-marriage with a girl who was ignorant of the real sex of her "husband." She was acquitted and allowed to return home and continue dressing as a man.
[137]Catharina Margaretha Lincken, who married another woman, somewhat after the manner of the Hungarian Countess Sarolta Vay (i.e., with the aid of an artificial male organ), was condemned to death for sodomy, and executed in 1721 at the age of 27 (F. C. Müller, "Ein weiterer Fall von conträrer Sexualempfindung,"Friedrich's Blätter für Gerichtliche Medizin, Heft 4, 1891). The most fully investigated case of sexual inversion in a woman in modern times is that of Countess Sarolta Vay (Friedrich's Blätter, Heft, 1, 1891; also Krafft-Ebing,Psychopathia Sexualis, Eng. trans. of 10th. ed., 416-427; also summarized in Appendix E of earlier editions of the present Study). Sarolta always dressed as a man, and went through a pseudo-marriage with a girl who was ignorant of the real sex of her "husband." She was acquitted and allowed to return home and continue dressing as a man.
[138]Anna Rüling has some remarks on this point,Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen, vol. vii, 1905, p. 141et seq.
[138]Anna Rüling has some remarks on this point,Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen, vol. vii, 1905, p. 141et seq.
[139]This, of course, by no means necessarily indicates the existence of sexual inversion, any more than the presence of feminine traits in distinguished men. I have elsewhere pointed out (e.g.,Man and Woman, 5th ed., 1915, p. 488) that genius in either sex frequently involves the coexistence of masculine, feminine, and infantile traits.
[139]This, of course, by no means necessarily indicates the existence of sexual inversion, any more than the presence of feminine traits in distinguished men. I have elsewhere pointed out (e.g.,Man and Woman, 5th ed., 1915, p. 488) that genius in either sex frequently involves the coexistence of masculine, feminine, and infantile traits.
[140]Various references to Queen Hatschepsu are given by Hirschfeld (Die Homosexualität, p. 739). Hirschfeld's not severely critical list of distinguished homosexual persons includes 18 women. It would not be difficult to add others.
[140]Various references to Queen Hatschepsu are given by Hirschfeld (Die Homosexualität, p. 739). Hirschfeld's not severely critical list of distinguished homosexual persons includes 18 women. It would not be difficult to add others.
[141]Sophie Hochstetter, in a study of Queen Christina in theJahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen(vol. ix, 1908, p. 168et seq.), regards her as bisexual, while H. J. Schouten (Monatsschrift für Kriminalanthropologie, 1912, Heft 6) concludes that she was homosexual, and believes that it was Monaldeschi's knowledge on this point which led her to instigate his murder.
[141]Sophie Hochstetter, in a study of Queen Christina in theJahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen(vol. ix, 1908, p. 168et seq.), regards her as bisexual, while H. J. Schouten (Monatsschrift für Kriminalanthropologie, 1912, Heft 6) concludes that she was homosexual, and believes that it was Monaldeschi's knowledge on this point which led her to instigate his murder.
[142]Cf.Hans Freimark,Helena Petrovna Blavatsky; Levetzow, "Louise Michel,"Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen, vol. vii, 1905, p. 307et seq.
[142]Cf.Hans Freimark,Helena Petrovna Blavatsky; Levetzow, "Louise Michel,"Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen, vol. vii, 1905, p. 307et seq.
[143]Rosa Bonheur, the painter, is a specially conspicuous example of pronounced masculinity in, a woman of genius. She frequently dressed as a man, and when dressed as a woman her masculine air occasionally attracted the attention of the police. See Theodore Stanton's biography.
[143]Rosa Bonheur, the painter, is a specially conspicuous example of pronounced masculinity in, a woman of genius. She frequently dressed as a man, and when dressed as a woman her masculine air occasionally attracted the attention of the police. See Theodore Stanton's biography.