Chapter 29

“A homosexual who was not distinguishable physically and mentally from the complete man is a being I have not yet encountered among fifteen hundred cases, and I am therefore unable to believe in the existence of such until I personally encounter one.”

More especially after removing any beard or moustache that may be present, we sometimes see much more clearly the feminine expression of face in a male homosexual, whilst before the hair was removed they appeared quite man-like. Still more important for the determination of a feminine habitus are direct physical characteristics. Among these there must be mentioned aconsiderable deposit of fat, by which the resemblance to the feminine type is produced, the contours of the body being more rounded than in the case of the normal male. In correspondence with this themuscular systemis less powerfully developed than it is in heterosexual men, the skin is delicate and soft, and the complexionis much clearer than is usual in men. Last winter I attended an urnings’ ball, and I was much impressed, when looking at thedécolletémen, with the remarkable whiteness of their skin on the shoulders, neck, and back—also in those who had not applied powder—and by the fact that the little acne spots almost always present in normal men were absent in these. The peculiar rounding of the shoulders was also remarkable, from its resemblance to what one sees in women.

According to Hirschfeld, the skin of the urning almost always feels warmer than his environment. He refers the expression commonly used among the people (in Germany), “warm brothers,” to this circumstance, and derives the Latinhomo mollis(“soft man”) from the softness of the skin and of the muscular system (though in my opinion this term is applied rather to theentireeffeminate, soft nature of the urning). Of great interest is the relationbetween the breadth of the shoulders and the width of the pelvisin homosexual men. Whilst the breadth of the shoulders of heterosexual men is several centimetres in excess of the width of the pelvis, and in women the width of the pelvis is greater than the breadth of the shoulders, according to Hirschfeld in the urning there is little or no difference between these two measurements. This, in respect of the bodily structure, would completely justify the expression “intermediate stage,” and would give the homosexual man a position between the heterosexual man and the heterosexual woman. Still, there are, without doubt, numerous virile homosexual men in whom this great width of the pelvis is not present. Investigations regarding the corresponding relationships among homosexual women have not to my knowledge hitherto been made. Very striking is theoften luxuriant growth of hair, especially in the effeminate types, whereas the virile homosexuals are in this respect more approximate to normal men, baldness being common among them.

Our attention having been recently directed by the investigation of H. Swoboda to the existence ofequivalents of menstruationin men, the occurrence of such equivalents among urnings is of interest. Hirschfeld reports the case of an effeminate homosexual who since the age of fourteen had suffered at intervals of twenty-eight days from migraine, associated with severe pains in the back and loins, so that his stepmother said to him: “It is with you just as it is with us.”

Thegaitand themovementsof effeminate urnings also have a somewhat womanly appearance, and attract the attention even ofone who is not in the secret. Short, tripping paces and elegant movements are characteristic of the effeminate.

In an earlier chapter we came to the conclusion that the fully adult normal woman was approximate in physical characteristics rather to the child and to the youthful human being than to the adult man; and in this connexion it is of interest that we must describe as a distinctivelyfemininecharacteristic the peculiarity of many male homosexuals, which enables themfor a long time to preserve a youthful appearance and demeanour.

Very remarkable is the behaviour of the voice. The change in the voice may not occur at all, or does not occur till very late. The capacity for singing soprano or falsetto is also long preserved. Others, in whom the change of voice had failed to occur, were able to lower the pitch considerably by practice. A typical and well-known example is that of the baritone singer Willibald von Sadler-Grün, whom I had the opportunity of hearing recently, when, under the name of “Urany Verde,” he made a professional journey through Germany, and sang his songs dressed as a woman. He said of himself: “My voice has never cracked in a definite way. At twenty-three years of age I could sing soprano, and can still do so to-day, at the age of thirty. The deeper tones for speech and singing I acquired only by instruction and practice” (Hirschfeld, “Urnings,” p. 65). In this typical effeminate, the breasts also had a completely feminine character, as, according to Hirschfeld, is by no means rare in boy urnings, who at puberty experience swelling of the breasts, associated with painfulsensations.[509]I must, however, maintain, in opposition to Hirschfeld, that abnormally marked development of the breasts is by no means rare in perfectly normal heterosexual men. For the diagnosis of homosexuality, the imperfect development of the larynx, and the failure of the voice to crack, are more important than the marked development of the breasts. I remember distinctly that in the case of a fellow-student of mine years ago his high voice used greatly to strike me. To-day I am able to understand how this factwas associated with his complete disinclination to sexual intercourse with women and his insensibility to feminine charms in general; and I am able in his case to diagnose homosexuality with absolute certainty.

In the case ofvirilehomosexuals, all the above-mentioned physical peculiarities are far less noticeable. In their outward appearance they much more nearly resemble heterosexual men, but still they always havecomparativelymore of the feminine in their nature than the latter. Such a typically virile homosexual, in whose appearance the impression of femininity was entirely absent, I was able recently to recognize during a railway journey, in the course of which he confided to me misogynous opinions against other fellow-travellers, and also said that in the whole of his life—he was a man of a little over thirty—he had not had intercourse with women more than three or four times. During the long wait of the train at a station I took the opportunity, having mentioned that I was a physician by profession, to ask him if he was not homosexual, a fact which he at once admitted. Already in very early childhood he had felt himself distinctly drawn only towards masculine beings, and hadneverexperienced the least inclination towards women. In this case also any kind of outward influence was excluded, because he had grown up at home and chiefly in afeminineenvironment. As I have already said, in appearance he was masculine, and he himself stated that he had no physical characteristics which suggested a feminine impression. That this is the case in numerous virile homosexuals is proved by the distinctive fact that many of them areprofessional soldiers, especially officers, in respect of whose appearance virility is very strongly insisted on.

Thementalqualities of male homosexuals correspond fully to the physical, and occupy a middle region between the psyche of the heterosexual man and that of woman. But everyemotional elementis in them more prominent than energetic will-power and clear-sighted reason. Something soft and pliable is characteristic of the majority of urnings. This adaptability manifests itself in good-humouredness, in inclination to self-sacrifice, but, above all, in a most astonishingmobility of the imaginative life, which seems to be something characteristic of the homosexual, and to explain his frequent artistic capacity, above all his talents formusic, for which vocation, indeed, his less fixed and more sketchy nature especially fits him, but also for poetry, painting, acting, and sculpture. “For all the fine arts,” says Hirschfeld, “from cooking and artistic needlework to sculpture,we find that urnings have exceptional talent.” The inclination to intellectual occupation is distinctly greater among homosexuals than the inclination to bodily work. Associated with this is the ambition to distinguish themselves mentally above those by whom they are surrounded. Hirschfeld’s assertion that homosexuals belonging to the lower classes exhibit intellectual predominance over their environment, I am able emphatically to confirm, after frequent conversations with homosexual workmen and menservants. The peculiarity of their congenital tendencies has here early given rise to a certain intellectual profundity, has early taught these men toreflectabout the world and about human existence. Every homosexual is a philosopher for himself. Most heterosexuals, especially those of the lower classes, never arrive at thinking so much about themselves and about their relations to the external world, as is a matter of course among homosexuals. Theimaginative, thedreamy, is much more predominant in the homosexual than a crude sense of reality. This expresses itself particularly in his love, which far less frequently and exclusively than among the heterosexual takes the form of a gross and material sensuality. On the contrary, it permits us to recognize the inward need for tenderness and delicacy, for a peculiar ideal colouring. Goethe has contrasted this latter with the more sensual heterosexual love; he speaks of the

“remarkable phenomenon of the love of men for each other. Let it be admitted that this love is seldom pushed to the highest degree of sensuality, but rather occupies the intermediate region between inclination and passion. I am able to say that I have seen with my own eyes the most beautiful manifestations of this love, such as we have handed down to us from the days of Greek antiquity; and as an observant student of human nature I was able to observe the intellectual and moral elements of thislove.”[510]

The ideal conception of Platonic—that is, of homosexual—love was a non-sensual, assexual love. The psychical element also plays an important part in modern uranism—a part overlooked or underestimated, whereas the sensual side is exaggerated.

Homosexuality as an anthropological phenomenon is diffused throughout all classes of the population. We find it among workmen just as much as among aristocrats, princely personalities, and intellectual heroes. Physicians, lawyers, theologians, philosophers, merchants, artists, etc., all contribute their contingents to uranism. If the extraordinarily frequent occurrenceof homosexuality in the highest classes of society, especially in the leaders of the aristocracy, may possibly be brought into relationship with the processes of “degeneration,” still, on the other hand, numerous homosexuals are derived from healthy families, such as have not transmitted hereditary taint through a long series of ancestors. Recently G.Merzbach[511]has studied the relationship between homosexuality and the choice of a profession, and has proved that this choice is usually a consequence of the natural tendency. Thus we find an especially large number of homosexuals engaged in the production of ready-made clothing and in other manufacturing trades; others become music-hall comedians playing women’s parts, actors, dancers. Actors and singers appearing on the stage as women are to a large extent originalhomosexuals.[512]Among hairdressers and waiters we find also a relatively large number of urnings.

As regards thediffusionof homosexuality, the data obtainable up to the most recent times have been extremely contradictory. The first exact information is to be found in the work of a physician, published under the name of M.Kertbeny,[513]on “§ 143 of the Prussian Criminal Code of April 14, 1851, and its Continuance as § 152 in the Proposal for a Criminal Code for the North German Bund” (Leipzig, 1869). The author enumerates in Berlin 10,000 homosexuals among 700,000 inhabitants (equal to 1·425 %). A patient of von Krafft-Ebing, living in a town of 13,000 inhabitants, was acquainted with 14 urnings; and in another town of 60,000 he knew of at least 80. Many other equally uncertain estimates are recorded by Magnus Hirschfeld. They vary between 2 % and 0·1 %—vary, that is to say, within very wide limits. In view, therefore, of the importance of the exact determination of the number of homosexuals, which I myself had earlier declared to be desirable, we owe great thanks to Magnus Hirschfeld for having made anattempt[514]to obtain some exact data regarding this matter. He deduces from a compilation of thirty test investigations (reports regarding homosexuals in various classes of the population), and by means of an inquiry made with sealed letters, that the proportion of male homosexualsto the populationis about1·5 %. That is a very muchgreaterpercentage than has hitherto been assumed to exist. Formerly I doubted the accuracy of this figure, but since numerous respected, honourable, well-behaved persons, of whom I had not suspected it, have assured me that they have been homosexual since childhood, I have no longer any doubt regarding the approximate accuracy of Hirschfeld’s statistics. The enquiry made by Dr. von Römer in Amsterdam gave similar results, for he found the proportion of homosexuals to be 1·9 %. A third enquiry made by Hirschfeld among the metal-workers of Berlin gave a proportion of 1·1 %.

Normal heterosexuallove was reported in about 94 to 96 % of the three inquiries.

“An imposing recognition of the love of man for woman, a powerful manifestation of the provision for the preservation of the species, and a contradiction to the fear that the uranian element in the population could ever seriously impair the well-being of the great majority” (Hirschfeld).

As “bisexual”—that is, as exhibiting tendencies towards both sexes—the average of the three enquiries reported 3·9 %, of whom, however, 0·8 % were mainly homosexual.

The total number of the purely and mainly homosexual was thus 2·2 %. Hence, according to the results of the last census of 1900, in the total population of the German Empire, numbering 56,367,178, there would be about 1,200,000homosexuals; whilst of the population of Berlin, numbering 2,500,000, 56,000 would be homosexual.

In the interest of the scientific and social study of homosexuality, it is urgently necessary that these statistical investigations should be pursued, for if it should appear that the above estimates really apply to the whole Empire—which I do not feel justified in assuming without further evidence, since it is naturally possible that Berlin might contain a relatively greater number of homosexuals—uranism would, in fact, have a greater social importance than it has hitherto been assumed to possess. In any case, the number of urnings is large enough to make them appear a remarkable anthropological variety of our race.

The truth of this assertion is supported by the fact of the ubiquitous diffusion of uranism in time and space. In addition to homosexuality as a popular custom, genuine homosexuality also played a part in antiquity; and F.Karsch[515]has proved inan admirable book its occurrence among all savage races, although unquestionably numerous cases of non-genuine homosexuality must have been included. That homosexuality is in no way a sign of “degeneration” is proved also by the fact that it is more widely diffused among the still thoroughly vigorous Germans and Anglo-Saxons than it is among the Latin peoples. It is especially frequent in the German Ostsee provinces. It existed among the ancientScandinavians.[516]Recently F. Karsch has announced the publication of ethnological researches on homosexuality, the first volume of which has already been issued, under the title “Homosexual Life among the Inhabitants of Eastern Asia: the Chinese, the Japanese, and theKoreans”[517](Munich, 1906). In the preface he states expressly that he treats not only of original homosexuality, but also of artificially produced or acquired homosexuality—that which I call “pseudo-homosexuality.”

My earlier view, that true homosexuality is rare among theJews, I find it necessary to revise, for recently I have made the acquaintance of numerous Jewish homosexuals.

For theearlier history and literature of homosexualitythe most important, and, in fact, nearly exhaustive, sources are the article “Pæderasty,” by Meier, in Ersch and Gruber’s “General Encyclopædia,” section iii., part 9, pp. 149-189 (Leipzig, 1837); Rosenbaum’s “History of Syphilis in Antiquity,” pp.119-227[518](Halle, 1893); and, finally, the writings of the earliest German student of homosexuality, containing numerous interesting data, the Hanoverian official Karl HeinrichUlrichs,[519]who, under the pseudonym “Numa Numantius,” published numerous works devoted to the emancipation of homosexuals, and to the proof of the congenital nature of homosexuality. The general title of these works is “Anthropological Studies on the Sexual Love of Man for Man.” They were published under various peculiar separate titles, such as: “Vindex” (Leipzig, 1864); “Inclusa” (Leipzig, 1864); “Vindicta” (Leipzig, 1865);“Formatrix” (Leipzig, 1865); “Ara Spei” (Leipzig, 1865); “Gladius Furens” (Kassel, 1868); “Memnon” (Schleiz, 1868); “Incubus” (Leipzig, 1869); “Argonauticus” (Leipzig, 1869); “Araxes” (Schleiz, 1870); “Uranus” (Leipzig, 1870); “Kritische Pfeile” (Stuttgart, 1879). In addition, Ulrichs, whose lifetime extended from 1825 to 1895, published uranian poetry under the title of “Auf Bienchens Flügeln” (“On the Wings of the Bee”); Leipzig, 1875. These writings, most of which are very rare in their original editions (although many were reprinted in the year 1898), contained a number of new points of view for the consideration of homosexuality, which have been recognized as sound by recent investigators.

Important contributions to the knowledge of homosexuality are afforded us by the studies of the life and works of celebrated and intellectually distinguished urnings. As unquestionably homosexual we may mention the poetPlaten,[520]MichaelAngelo,[521]HeinrichHössli,[522]HeinrichBulthaupt,[523]Johannes von Müller (thehistorian),[524]King Henry III. ofFrance,[525]the musician Franz vonHolstein,[526]PeterTschaikowsky,[527]the authors Count Emmerich von Stadion and Emil MarioVacano,[528]Duke August vonGotha,[529]GeorgeEekhoud,[530]and the Belgian sculptor Jérôme Duquesnoy(1602-1654).[531]The following celebrated persons have also been regarded as urnings, but, as it appears to me, oninsufficient proofs: Frederick the Great; J. J. Winkelmann, who at most was bisexual, since we know of passionate letters written by him to a woman; and Alexander vonSternberg,[532]of whom the same is true; the reformersBeza[533]andCalvin,[534]who have unquestionably been wrongfully accused; and finally Byron andGrillparzer,[535]without troubling to enumerate hypotheses utterly without foundation. It is unquestionably a fact that a large number of intellectually prominent men were genuine homosexuals, and that their abnormal congenital tendencies did not prevent their doing important work in other spheres of activity. But this happenednotwithstanding, andnot, as many talented apologists wish to prove,because oftheir uranism.

When we pass to consider theactivityof homosexual love, we find that homosexuals may, and actually do, love either other homosexual or heterosexual individuals. According to the account given by Meisner (“Uranism,” pp. 19, 20), the amatory ideal of most homosexual men is a heterosexual man, and intercourse between two urnings is, properly speaking, only a matter of necessity. But by several homosexuals with whom I discussed the matter this view was declared to be erroneous; in the majority of cases the attraction between two homosexuals plays the principal rôle. Ulrichs endeavoured to provide a theoretical justification for the sexual relationship between two homosexuals, and maintained (cf., for example, “Inclusa,” pp. 64, 65) that Nature destined the heterosexual, or “dioning,” as he calls them, by no means for woman alone, but also for the urning, for the “fulfilment of the sexual purposes of Nature, not directed towards reproduction.” According to Hirschfeld (“Urnings,” pp. 22, 23), it is unquestionable that, whilst many homosexuals greatly prefer to associate with those who also feel in a uranian manner, and whilst to many also it is a matter of indifference whether or not those with whom they have sexual relations are themselves endowed with contrary sexuality, quite a number of urnings feel attractedexclusivelyto normal, sexually powerful natures. As a rule, it is not difficult for homosexuals to gratify their inclinations in intercourse with heterosexual individuals. A middle-aged urning informed me that youngheterosexual menalmost alwaysacceded in this matter to the expressed wish of homosexuals—in the first place from simple curiosity, and in the second place by no means rarely from sexual excitement. Indeed, according to this authority, effeminate homosexual men often produce in powerfully sensual heterosexual men the impression of femininity, and are seduced by the latter to mutual masturbation, especially in a state of alcoholic intoxication. Not infrequently does it happen—a striking example having come to my knowledge—that a young heterosexual has a love intimacy with a girl, and yet occasionally, when he is for any reason unable to have sexual intercourse with her, hevery willinglytransfers his affections to a homosexual man. Male prostitutes are also, to a large extent, heterosexual men who give themselves to homosexuals for pecuniary reward. Occasionally, moreover, heterosexual men mistake very effeminate urnings going about in women’s clothing for genuine women, and have intercourse with them in this belief—a belief which these latter are clever enough to keep up until the last possible moment.

Passing now to the consideration of the special circumstances of sexual attraction, we find that the true love ofboys,[536]or rather the love of children (pædophilia), is rare in homosexuals. The age chiefly preferred is that between seventeen and twenty-five years, alike by mature homosexual men and by old men. On the other hand, itis by no means an exceptional phenomenonfor youths, or even mature men, to feel attracted exclusively by elderly men (the so-called “gerontophilia”). There exists also a heterosexual “gerontophilia”—that is to say, abnormal love exhibited by young men for old women, or by young women for old men. Thus Féré reports (“Note sur une Anomalie de l’Instinct Sexuel: Gerontophilie,” published in theJournal de Neurologie, 1905) the case of a man twenty-seven years of age who was sexually attracted only by white-haired, elderly women. He referred this to an impression received in very early youth. When four years old he slept in the same bed with an elderly lady, a family friend, who was visiting the house, and he then for the first time experienced sexual excitement. He had a dislike to young girls and young married women. A white-haired elderly woman whom he loved dyed her hair light brown, whereupon he ceased to care for her. Further, effeminate urnings prefer virile homosexuals; whereas many of these latter have a great disliketo effeminates and to men in women’s clothing—to those male “women” who adopt by preference feminine nicknames, such as Louisa instead of Louis, Georgina instead of George, and who speak to one another as “sister,” just as the Roman Emperor Heliogabalus wished to be addressed as “mistress” instead of “lord.” Many urnings love beardless men; others love men with a moustache or a full beard; many homosexuals are fascinated by bright-coloured cloth, just as women are. Moreover, every possible individual detail may here have an attractive force, just as is the case with heterosexual love (the hair, the stature, the gait, the eyes, the intelligence, and the character).

Ideal love and the gratification of the grossest sensuality are also the two poles between which theamatory manifestationsof male homosexuals oscillate. Many confine themselves to simple contacts, caresses, kisses and embraces. Most frequently sexual gratification is obtained by mutual masturbation. The idea that the non-homosexual especially associates with the word “pæderasty” is“pædication”[537]—that is,immissio membri in anum. This sexual act is, however, far less frequent than it is commonly assumed to be by heterosexuals. According to Magnus Hirschfeld, it occurs only in 8 %, according to G. Merzbach only in 6 %, of all cases of intercourse between male homosexuals. In an essay on pædication which I possess, written by a homosexual, it is represented as much commoner, and as “the most natural and least harmful means of gratification.” According to a verbal communication made to me, the author of this essay knew of one hundred cases of pædication in which no harm had resulted. Frequentlycoitus inter femoratakes the place of pædication; still more frequently “fellation,” orcoitus in os, and the widely diffused “tonguekiss.”[538]Other perverse manifestations of the homosexual impulse also occur, such as anilinctus, fetichism, masochism, sadism, exhibitionism, etc., just as they occur in heterosexual individuals.

With regard to the relations of true homosexuals to women, generally speaking theyloathe sexual intercoursewith woman, but they do not dislike woman herself. Women, on the contrary, are greatly liked by most homosexuals; effeminate urnings more especially gladly seek their society, in order to gossip with themabout all kinds of feminine belongings.Marriagesare often contracted by homosexuals who are really ignorant as to their own condition, or who hope to conceal it from the world, or simply for pecuniary considerations. They result most unhappily if the wife has need of love, and understands the real nature of the case; or, again, if she becomes jealous of her husband’s male lovers; but when the wife is frigid, they may turn out quite happily. They are, however, always very unnatural.Hirschfeld[539]has thoroughly discussed the question of the marriage of homosexuals, and has also alluded to the occasional marriages between homosexual men and homosexual women. The fact proved by him that among homosexuals the impulse towards the preservation of the species is almost entirely wanting—not more than 3 % have the wish to possess children—shows how little fitted they are for the purposes of marriage.

The above-described sexual relationships may be illustrated by a few original reports taken from the autobiographies of homosexuals. For example, a homosexual man, twenty-seven years of age, writes:

“When I was young, from four to six years of age, I loved to look at the male generative organs, without knowing why they attracted me. I liked to look at sculpture and pictures representing male nudity. I detest woman’s work and the fashions of the day: a simple costume suffices for me. I learned the ‘great secret of the world’ when I was twelve years old, but woman had no interest for me, and I was always asking little boys of from ten to fourteen years of age to show me their private parts. I commenced to have carnal intercourse with boys (aged eighteen to twenty-four) when I was myself twenty-four. Onlycoitus inter femora, face to face, never from behind. I always assume the active rôle. A young man from eighteen to twenty-four years of age is to me like a woman. A woman is to me a thing (!), not so a man. Perhaps it is original, odd for our time; but what is to be done? Woman is a machine for producing children, and nothing more. I am not married, and never shall marry.”

Another homosexual writes:

“I was about five years old when, walking with a nursemaid in the pleasure gardens, I saw a man masturbating. Although I did not know what he was doing, the picture busied my imagination for many years. In my dreams, up to the age of fourteen years, the thought of living together with a companion of the same age as myself played the principal part. At the age of thirteen I fell in love with a schoolfellow, who was, however, but little inclined towards me. What perhaps especially interested me in him was that he brought sexual enlightenment to our class. Through moving to another townI lost sight of him. Although at that time I knew nothing of the real sexual life, still I sought for objects which excited my sensuality.“An unknown man of about thirty-five years of age seduced me, and practised pæderasty with me on the first occasion that he met me. I felt that there was something altogether wrong about this practice, but was too weak to withdraw myself from his influence. After about three months he disappeared. Now also I knew what masturbation was, for in the school this practice was common.“At the age of eighteen I left the school, and as in my comrades the impulse towards women now showed itself, I, for my part, felt all the more how everything directed me towards man. I often endeavoured, in obedience to the urging of my friends, to form relationships with women of the half-world, but this always filled me with the greatest horror and repugnance. To me it is a dreadful feeling when I notice that a woman is interested in me. All the more, on the other hand, did the male sex interest me. When I love a man I do not think (only) of sexual union, but I try to read in him what I am myself prepared to give: a sole interest, faithfulness, unselfish surrender. If I love a man, anyone else is nothing to me.“Every man of standing of twenty to forty years of age is interesting to me—every one who is not positively repulsive—but most of all anyone who possesses a distinguished psyche. In isolated cases sympathy has also led me to love.“The kiss is of the highest importance to me, and precisely because I regard love as created only for a holy purpose, so that human beings may be mutually ennobled and morally advanced by this passion, it has always been repulsive to me to observe how men flirt with one another, just as is the case with heterosexuals. For this reason I am disinclined to visit places of general resort—such as, for example, the Casino of Dresden, where all kinds of people come together. I have met hardly any other urning who shares my sentiments in this respect.”

“An unknown man of about thirty-five years of age seduced me, and practised pæderasty with me on the first occasion that he met me. I felt that there was something altogether wrong about this practice, but was too weak to withdraw myself from his influence. After about three months he disappeared. Now also I knew what masturbation was, for in the school this practice was common.

“At the age of eighteen I left the school, and as in my comrades the impulse towards women now showed itself, I, for my part, felt all the more how everything directed me towards man. I often endeavoured, in obedience to the urging of my friends, to form relationships with women of the half-world, but this always filled me with the greatest horror and repugnance. To me it is a dreadful feeling when I notice that a woman is interested in me. All the more, on the other hand, did the male sex interest me. When I love a man I do not think (only) of sexual union, but I try to read in him what I am myself prepared to give: a sole interest, faithfulness, unselfish surrender. If I love a man, anyone else is nothing to me.

“Every man of standing of twenty to forty years of age is interesting to me—every one who is not positively repulsive—but most of all anyone who possesses a distinguished psyche. In isolated cases sympathy has also led me to love.

“The kiss is of the highest importance to me, and precisely because I regard love as created only for a holy purpose, so that human beings may be mutually ennobled and morally advanced by this passion, it has always been repulsive to me to observe how men flirt with one another, just as is the case with heterosexuals. For this reason I am disinclined to visit places of general resort—such as, for example, the Casino of Dresden, where all kinds of people come together. I have met hardly any other urning who shares my sentiments in this respect.”

A homosexual physician, thirty-two years of age, gives the following account of his sexuality:

“I cannot tell you at what age sexual inclinations first appeared in me. My sexual impulse is directed towards males. Before and during the time of puberty the impulse was quite indeterminate. I believe that at this time I even cherished the idea of some day carrying out intercourse with a girl. But this was not love; it was a purely physical desire. The spiritual side of the impulse was at this time completely wanting. The sexual impulse now extends only towards young men. I have hitherto had sexual intercourse neither with males nor with females, but I believe that I should be competent for the normal sexual act. This act, however, would give me no pleasure; it would be nothing more than masturbation. I feel complete indifference towards the female sex, but I do not feel hatred or disgust. Sexualdreams[540]relate always to persons of the same sex. On the stage, inthe circus, it is always the men who interest me more than the women. In addition, I admire celebrated actresses and female singers, but my interest in them is purely artistic. From this standpoint also I am fully able to do justice to the beauty of young women, and have often wished to paint a girl, but this interest is always that of a painter—the colour of the hair, the complexion, interesting features. Social intercourse with persons of the other sex is quite unrestrained. The sense of shame I feel more in regard to women, but still I have also a strong sense of shame with regard to men. I always have a great difficulty to overcome when I have to take off my clothes in the presence of other men, and it is also very difficult to me to urinate when other men are present.“My love exists only towards youths from the ages of seventeen to twenty-four, or, to speak more strictly, towards youths at the time of puberty. One of these of whom I am fond is sixteen years of age, but sexually he is completely mature, so that every one imagines him to be twenty.“The direction of my sexual impulse has first become perfectly clear to me since reading theAnnual for Sexual Intermediate Stages. I was already fully aware of the fact that young men were especially interesting to me, but had not previously understood that this interest was of a sexual nature. I had, indeed, heard of pæderasty—the case of Krupp and others—but I imagined that these individuals had developed such a tendency in consequence of satiety. ‘You,’ I said to myself, ‘are purer and nobler in sentiment. Pæderasty is loathsome to you; no human being will ever understand you.’“Every young man at the age of puberty awakens in me a certain sexual interest. This is especially the case when they are slender and wiry in build, not fat, with well-developed, but not excessively powerful, muscles, with gentle and modest character. Roughness always suffices to destroy completely the commencement of inclination. Sturdy, plump youths, and those with an excessive development of fat under the skin, or with a wide, feminine aspect of the buttocks, leave me comparatively cold. The youthful forms embodied in Grecian sculpture are my ideal type. It is indispensable that they should be beardless, or at most have the merest beginnings of a beard. A youth with a heavy moustache leaves me cold; he is too masculine for me. Intellectual culture plays no part in the attraction; modesty and gentleness are necessary to render an intimate relationship possible. I find no preference for any particular profession. I have, indeed, pedagogic inclinations, but these appear to me to play no part in producing attraction, but come into action only later. One whom one loves is one in whom one would be glad to produce spiritual perfection. The attraction depends, in the first place, upon beauty of the body; beauty of the face is only of secondary importance. Smell has no influence upon the attraction.”

“My love exists only towards youths from the ages of seventeen to twenty-four, or, to speak more strictly, towards youths at the time of puberty. One of these of whom I am fond is sixteen years of age, but sexually he is completely mature, so that every one imagines him to be twenty.

“The direction of my sexual impulse has first become perfectly clear to me since reading theAnnual for Sexual Intermediate Stages. I was already fully aware of the fact that young men were especially interesting to me, but had not previously understood that this interest was of a sexual nature. I had, indeed, heard of pæderasty—the case of Krupp and others—but I imagined that these individuals had developed such a tendency in consequence of satiety. ‘You,’ I said to myself, ‘are purer and nobler in sentiment. Pæderasty is loathsome to you; no human being will ever understand you.’

“Every young man at the age of puberty awakens in me a certain sexual interest. This is especially the case when they are slender and wiry in build, not fat, with well-developed, but not excessively powerful, muscles, with gentle and modest character. Roughness always suffices to destroy completely the commencement of inclination. Sturdy, plump youths, and those with an excessive development of fat under the skin, or with a wide, feminine aspect of the buttocks, leave me comparatively cold. The youthful forms embodied in Grecian sculpture are my ideal type. It is indispensable that they should be beardless, or at most have the merest beginnings of a beard. A youth with a heavy moustache leaves me cold; he is too masculine for me. Intellectual culture plays no part in the attraction; modesty and gentleness are necessary to render an intimate relationship possible. I find no preference for any particular profession. I have, indeed, pedagogic inclinations, but these appear to me to play no part in producing attraction, but come into action only later. One whom one loves is one in whom one would be glad to produce spiritual perfection. The attraction depends, in the first place, upon beauty of the body; beauty of the face is only of secondary importance. Smell has no influence upon the attraction.”

It will be noted that this writer, now thirty-two years of age, has hitherto had no experience of sexual intercourse, eitherheterosexual or homosexual. This is characteristic. Homosexuals in general, in contrast to heterosexuals, often proceedat a comparatively late ageto actual experience of their sexual impulse in action. He goes on to describe the first beginnings of his love for a beautiful youth, eighteen years of age. He writes:

“My eyes watched every movement of the body, which continually displayed new beauties. I should have loved to fall upon his neck and kiss him. For sexual intercourse he appeared to me too pure, too noble; I should rather have lain before him in the dust and prayed to his beauty. I felt that I should have been a poet in order to be able to clothe in the right words this delicate and holy sentiment. And I must shut this all up within myself, must remain outwardly cold. It was enough to drive me to madness! Have compassion on us, and allow us at least an embrace, a kiss. That certainly can do no one any harm, and for me it would be a good action. The distressing tension which tortures us to death would be for the time relaxed. I always have a feeling that the process of sexual attraction must be of an electrical nature. I seem to myself to be charged with electricity, the tension increasing up to the highest point when the beloved is near me, and a prolonged contact or a stroking with the hand already suffices to bring about a certain calming of the nerves. The tension is to some degree diminished. The various components of sexual enjoyment appear to be developed in human beings with very different strength. In this way it is explicable that in one person the odour of the loved one, in another the changing tones of the voice, in a third the taste of the kiss (the tongue kiss), is most stimulating. It is, indeed, even conceivable that there exists a purely mental sexual enjoyment, and that to some individuals merely to look at the beloved person, or to read a letter from him, suffices.“Sexual intercourse had hitherto never been practised, but I can asseverate that the mode of my desire is rather feminine. It would be my ideal if the loved one should feel sexual ardour for me; I should be a willing sacrifice. I should like to possess feminine sexual organs, in order to appear desirable to the loved one.“I have battled powerfully against my nature, and have felt very unhappy. I regard myself as physically and mentally healthy. I have received at birth a double nature (alas! two souls dwell within my breast). My body is that of a man, my soul rather that of a woman; hence the conflict, hence my sexual desires, considered outwardly and only from the physical point of view, are contrary to nature. Alas! my soul can be seen by no one.“Why do I only love a young man? Because he in ideal fashion enlarges my nature. My sexual sensibility is mainly feminine, and is directed, therefore, towards the masculine, and more especially towards the masculine in the time of youth, because the feminine sensibility in my nature is damped by a small masculine note. The effeminate urning probably loves the complete man as the best complement of his own nature. The slightly masculine note of my own sexual perception demands also in the man whom I love a slight feminine note, such as we find in the youth. He has, in fact, something femininein him—beardlessness, no immoderate strength of the muscular system, a gentle disposition, receptive emotions—and yet he is masculine and sexually mature. Sexual maturity is a necessary part of every love. The young man, therefore, is the ideal conception of my nature. My love is as great, as holy, and as pure, as heterosexual love; it is capable of self-sacrifice. Believe me, for a loved one who fully understood me in every respect, I would gladly go to my death.“Ah! how painful it is to us when we are regarded as debauchees or as sick persons!”

“Sexual intercourse had hitherto never been practised, but I can asseverate that the mode of my desire is rather feminine. It would be my ideal if the loved one should feel sexual ardour for me; I should be a willing sacrifice. I should like to possess feminine sexual organs, in order to appear desirable to the loved one.

“I have battled powerfully against my nature, and have felt very unhappy. I regard myself as physically and mentally healthy. I have received at birth a double nature (alas! two souls dwell within my breast). My body is that of a man, my soul rather that of a woman; hence the conflict, hence my sexual desires, considered outwardly and only from the physical point of view, are contrary to nature. Alas! my soul can be seen by no one.

“Why do I only love a young man? Because he in ideal fashion enlarges my nature. My sexual sensibility is mainly feminine, and is directed, therefore, towards the masculine, and more especially towards the masculine in the time of youth, because the feminine sensibility in my nature is damped by a small masculine note. The effeminate urning probably loves the complete man as the best complement of his own nature. The slightly masculine note of my own sexual perception demands also in the man whom I love a slight feminine note, such as we find in the youth. He has, in fact, something femininein him—beardlessness, no immoderate strength of the muscular system, a gentle disposition, receptive emotions—and yet he is masculine and sexually mature. Sexual maturity is a necessary part of every love. The young man, therefore, is the ideal conception of my nature. My love is as great, as holy, and as pure, as heterosexual love; it is capable of self-sacrifice. Believe me, for a loved one who fully understood me in every respect, I would gladly go to my death.

“Ah! how painful it is to us when we are regarded as debauchees or as sick persons!”

I must say that the above account, given to me by a much respected medical colleague, one whose nature is characterized alike by intellectual power and ideal sensibility, has made the deepest impression upon me, and has been an important influence in confirming my views regarding the nature of original homosexuality. Similar oral communications have been received by me from other physicians who have been homosexual from childhood onwards, one a neurologist and the other an alienist, and I attribute the greatest importance to the account given by this colleague of mine, who has atwofoldunderstanding of the matter in question—as physician and as homosexual. It is also important to note that uranian physicians declare the majority of homosexuals to be physically and mentally healthy, a fact which I myself had not previously doubted, and that they contest the general validity of the degeneration theory.

Whilst in the smaller provincial towns and in the country homosexuals are for the most part thrust back into themselves, compelled to conceal their nature, or at most able to communicate only with isolated individuals of like nature with themselves, in the larger towns from early days the homosexuals have been able to get into touch with one another. Certain meeting-places—places of rendezvous for urnings only—have been formed; in certainstreetsandsquaresthere have been formed urning-clubs, boarding-houses, and restaurants, and even urning-balls, while certain health resorts are to a degree monopolized by them. Moreover, the individual social groups of the homosexuals form unions. Thus, for example,Hirschfeld[541]reports the existence of an evening association consisting exclusively of homosexual princes, counts, and barons. Such pæderastic meeting-places and unions existed in the eighteenth century in Paris. From this time until about 1840 certain dark lateral alleys of the Champs Elysées, the thickets from the Place de la Concorde to the Allée des Veuves, between the Grand Avenue des Champs Elysées and the Cour de la Reine, served from the commencementof twilight for the rendezvous of homosexuals, not simply as a place of masculine prostitution, but as a meeting-place of urnings in general, who here in the dark sought and found love. The central point of this evening activity was the Allée des Veuves (now known as the Avenue Montaigne), the “Widow’s Alley”—“widow” was at that time the term used to denote the passive pæderast. This region of the Champs Elysées was to a certain extent monopolized by the homosexuals. They would not tolerate here the presence of any heterosexuals; they closed the entrances with cords, and placed guards at the openings of the alleys, who demanded a pass-word from every comer. Even the police did not venture into this dark region.

“Victor Hugo, who in the year 1831 lived in the Rue Jean Goujon in this neighbourhood, often accompanied his friends who had been visiting him part of the way home at a late hour of the night. They walked in groups, talking of literature and art as far as the Place de la Concorde. There the celebrated poet parted from his guests and returned alone homewards, composing new verses by the way. He often noticed individuals who, as he passed the entrance to the Rue des Veuves, watched him from afar off without speaking to him. He could not believe that these people were thieves, and asked himself what could be the cause of their always waiting in this lonely place; but notwithstanding the frequent occurrence of these scenes, he made no further inquiry into the matter. But once in the midst of his poetical reverie he was disturbed by a man who stepped forward from the darkness of a thicket, and with a polite greeting said to him: ‘Sir, we beg you not to wait any longer in this place. We know who you are, and we should not wish that any one of us who does not know you should cause you any uneasiness.’ ‘What are you doing there, then?’ answered Victor Hugo. ‘Every evening I see people walking about here, and disappearing among the trees.’ ‘Don’t concern yourself about it, sir,’ was the brisk answer; ‘we disturb no one and do no one any harm, but we shall not permit anyone to disturb us or to do us any harm;we are here in our own grounds.’ Victor Hugo understood, bowed, and pursued his way. As on another evening, walking with his friends, he wished to pass through another alley running parallel to the Allée des Veuves, he found that this was closed by a number of chairs, which were fastened together with cords. ‘There is no thoroughfare,’ called out a threatening voice; but another, speaking more quietly, added: ‘We beg Monsieur Victor Hugo on this occasion to pass along the other side of the Avenue des ChampsElysées.’”[542]

During the Second Empire the Allée des Veuves maintained its former position as a place of rendezvous for homosexuals. An urnings’ club, the members of which belonged to the highestclasses of society, being persons of the Imperial Court, senators, great financiers, etc., had their meeting-place in a beautifully furnished hotel in the Allée des Veuves, in which soldiers of the Empress’s bodyguard (Dragons de l’Impératrice) and of the Hundred Guard of the Emperor served, in return for valuable presents, as the beloved of the various distinguished urnings, for which function the term “faire l’Impératrice” came into use. In the hotel there also lived from time to time transient unknown persons, who were only admitted after showing a kind of medal bearing a secret inscription. When the police made an examination of the hotel, they found a number of women’s dresses and similar articles, such as those which the Empress Eugénie was accustomed to wear on festival occasions. Numerous letters were also discovered which had been exchanged by the members of the club and their favourites of the Hundred Guard or of the Empress’s guard. A report was made to the Emperor of the results of the examination of this house. When he saw that persons of the highest position, and bearing most celebrated names, were involved in the affair, he at once ordered that the matter should be dismissed, and said to the Procureur-General: “We must spare our people and our country from such a scandal, which would do no one any good, and would do a great deal of harm.” In fact, almost no details of this affair becamepublic.[543]Tardieu gave an account of another urnings’ club of the Second Empire, where there were concealed closets, on the walls of which erotic pictures were displayed. The manner in which the urnings made acquaintance with homosexuals is shown in a police report of July 16, 1864, in which the conduct of a literary homosexual, “un vieux monsieur fort bien et puissamment riche,” is described in the following terms:

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