“In a similar way to that which you describe, flagellantism was unfortunately awakened in me in early youth. This was first developed in me by the fact that my parents allowed the maidservants to exercise a far-reaching right of chastisement. When I was fourteen years old, I still received whippings from the servants, with my father’s knowledge and consent; and these whippings, since my father had forbidden any other kind of chastisement as harmful to health, took place on the buttocks, and were always effected after this region of the body had been bared. I still remember most vividly that when I was at the age mentioned a maidservant who was hardly two years older than myself switched me in this region with especial zeal. I remember also that when I was in my ninth year, owing to the free use which the maidservants commonly made of their privilege, I had entirely ceased to dread this chastisement; indeed from that time I often intentionally incurred a whipping by the maids, which was not difficult; and from the age of fourteen years I personally gave the maidservants my permission to chastise me in the above manner without the knowledge of my parents, and was always thrown by it into a state of sexual excitement. Such excitement was also produced in me by merely witnessing the chastisement of my two sisters, who were somewhat younger thanmyself, both of whom were still beaten with a switch when they were fifteen years of age. As regards my two sisters, this did not lead to desire on their part that this procedure, which was always disagreeable to them, should be frequently repeated, but they were always glad to see me whipped; and, as a matter of fact, my own sensation of pleasure was greatly increased by their being present, and moreover, especially in later years, I always enjoyed it more if the maidservant whipped me in the presence of her friends or if one of them let me hold her hand during the process. I especially preferred being struck with the bare hands, although occasionally I endured severe whippings with the stick or with the dog-whip at my own special request.”
“In a similar way to that which you describe, flagellantism was unfortunately awakened in me in early youth. This was first developed in me by the fact that my parents allowed the maidservants to exercise a far-reaching right of chastisement. When I was fourteen years old, I still received whippings from the servants, with my father’s knowledge and consent; and these whippings, since my father had forbidden any other kind of chastisement as harmful to health, took place on the buttocks, and were always effected after this region of the body had been bared. I still remember most vividly that when I was at the age mentioned a maidservant who was hardly two years older than myself switched me in this region with especial zeal. I remember also that when I was in my ninth year, owing to the free use which the maidservants commonly made of their privilege, I had entirely ceased to dread this chastisement; indeed from that time I often intentionally incurred a whipping by the maids, which was not difficult; and from the age of fourteen years I personally gave the maidservants my permission to chastise me in the above manner without the knowledge of my parents, and was always thrown by it into a state of sexual excitement. Such excitement was also produced in me by merely witnessing the chastisement of my two sisters, who were somewhat younger thanmyself, both of whom were still beaten with a switch when they were fifteen years of age. As regards my two sisters, this did not lead to desire on their part that this procedure, which was always disagreeable to them, should be frequently repeated, but they were always glad to see me whipped; and, as a matter of fact, my own sensation of pleasure was greatly increased by their being present, and moreover, especially in later years, I always enjoyed it more if the maidservant whipped me in the presence of her friends or if one of them let me hold her hand during the process. I especially preferred being struck with the bare hands, although occasionally I endured severe whippings with the stick or with the dog-whip at my own special request.”
In a second case which came under my own observation, the person affected being a lawyer, then twenty-eight years of age, the cause of the development of his flagellomania was different and more indirect.
At the age of eleven or twelve years he was lying on the top of a dog-kennel and masturbating, and he had tied his feet to the top of the kennel, lest, when in a state of sexual excitement, he might fall off. Since then he had always felt an impulse to have himself tied, which he sought to satisfy in boyish games (robbers, police, etc.); this always induced in him agreeable sexual feelings, which were further increased by onanistic friction. At the age of fifteen there became associated with this desire to be tied a further need to be whipped while he was tied up. This patient has a disinclination to normal coitus and to the female genital organs, but he desires to receive flagellation only from women. Two successive attempts at normal sexual intercourse were unsuccessful. The patient induced in a maidservant the inclination to passive and active flagellation, and this woman, although she resisted at first, was subsequently, six months later, a passionate flagellant. In other respects the patient is thoroughly healthy, and has been through his one-year term of military service in the cavalry.
At the age of eleven or twelve years he was lying on the top of a dog-kennel and masturbating, and he had tied his feet to the top of the kennel, lest, when in a state of sexual excitement, he might fall off. Since then he had always felt an impulse to have himself tied, which he sought to satisfy in boyish games (robbers, police, etc.); this always induced in him agreeable sexual feelings, which were further increased by onanistic friction. At the age of fifteen there became associated with this desire to be tied a further need to be whipped while he was tied up. This patient has a disinclination to normal coitus and to the female genital organs, but he desires to receive flagellation only from women. Two successive attempts at normal sexual intercourse were unsuccessful. The patient induced in a maidservant the inclination to passive and active flagellation, and this woman, although she resisted at first, was subsequently, six months later, a passionate flagellant. In other respects the patient is thoroughly healthy, and has been through his one-year term of military service in the cavalry.
With regard to the origin of “schoolmaster’s sadism,” which is, unfortunately, very widely diffused, the well-known case of the schoolmaster Dippold recently gave a horribleexample.[608]
The teacher or schoolmaster may, at the commencement of his activity, be entirely free from any flagellantic tendency. This tendency makes its appearance in the course of the customary exercise of his duties of physical chastisement. This gradually induces in him a sense of sexual pleasure. As long as these chastisements are kept within normal bounds, and only occasionally undertaken, we have to do merely with a tendency, with an aberration of sexual gratification, such as occurs in numerous healthy individuals, even when they are not teachers or schoolmasters,persons who seek and find an opportunity for the exercise of these tendencies in the brothel or with “masseuses.” When, however, a systematic flagellomania develops, and the person affected no longer merely chastises, but maltreats and tortures, and does this habitually and with bestial cruelty, as in Dippold’s case, we certainly have always to do with sadism developed in the soil of a morbid predisposition. The following cases appear to be of this nature:
1. A case which reminds us of that of Dippold recently appeared before the Second Criminal Chamber in Hamburg. The accused was a man belonging to the cultured classes, who had had a University education, had become a reserve officer, and had filled many other positions, finally that of the editor of a journal published by an advertising firm. The accused lived in Berlin in the years 1900 to 1903. There he formed an intimacy with a woman, whom he induced to entrust him with her son, for the continuance of his education. Going himself to live in Hamburg in July, 1903, the boy was sent to him in that town in January, 1904, and was placed in a boarding school. “In order not to be disturbed in his teaching,” the man also rented a room in the neighbourhood of the school. When engaging this room he asked the landlady if there were curtains to cover the windows. On the first day on which she visited the room the landlady noticed that the accused flogged the boy, and as she did not wish to allow this in her dwelling, she reported the matter to the police. After some time the woman learned by questioning the boy certain remarkable facts, especially with regard to the “educational methods” which the accused had carried out in Berlin, and in her report to the police she added certain details, which led to the arrest of the accused. The accused admitted that he had caned the boy severely, and he declared that he had done this only for educational reasons, as the boy was of a bad character. In this respect the statement of the accused was confuted by the evidence of the boy’s teacher in Berlin, that of his teacher in Hamburg, and that of the inmates of the pension in which he lived; all of these gave him a very good character. With respect to the mode of chastisement, the details of which were heardin camera, the court held that there was no doubt that the accused had chastised the boy, not for educational reasons, but on account of perverse tendencies of his own, and condemned him to imprisonment for one year and loss of civil rights for two years. It is a noteworthy fact that the accused, during the latter part of this period of association with the boy, had lived in a happy marriage with a young woman.2. A disciple of Dippold. The following remarkable case was published in theBerliner Tageblatt, No. 629, December 11, 1903: A furniture-polisher of this town accosted boys whom he met in the street, gave them some trifling commission, and so arranged matters with them that they must ultimately return to him at his room. Here he gave himself out to be a detective officer, showed the boy a token which he pretended was his official commission, and then gave the boy a severe lecture. “He regretted,” he said in conclusion, that, owing to the misconduct of the lad, it would be necessary to fine hisparents, unless the offences were condoned by the immediate chastisement of the boy. The “detective” easily persuaded his victims that it would be better to accept the immediate flogging. After he had stretched his victim across his knees and beaten him with a stick, he looked to see that the blows had not made too obvious marks, and sent the lad away with a further brief admonition. In most instances the boys who had been whipped concealed what had happened from their parents; but still the matter came to light, and this new Dippold is to be tried for causing grievous bodily harm, and for the false pretence that he occupied an official position. The accused is a young man, twenty-five years of age, and, with his small and slender figure and with a blonde moustache, he makes rather the impression of a young man of eighteen.
1. A case which reminds us of that of Dippold recently appeared before the Second Criminal Chamber in Hamburg. The accused was a man belonging to the cultured classes, who had had a University education, had become a reserve officer, and had filled many other positions, finally that of the editor of a journal published by an advertising firm. The accused lived in Berlin in the years 1900 to 1903. There he formed an intimacy with a woman, whom he induced to entrust him with her son, for the continuance of his education. Going himself to live in Hamburg in July, 1903, the boy was sent to him in that town in January, 1904, and was placed in a boarding school. “In order not to be disturbed in his teaching,” the man also rented a room in the neighbourhood of the school. When engaging this room he asked the landlady if there were curtains to cover the windows. On the first day on which she visited the room the landlady noticed that the accused flogged the boy, and as she did not wish to allow this in her dwelling, she reported the matter to the police. After some time the woman learned by questioning the boy certain remarkable facts, especially with regard to the “educational methods” which the accused had carried out in Berlin, and in her report to the police she added certain details, which led to the arrest of the accused. The accused admitted that he had caned the boy severely, and he declared that he had done this only for educational reasons, as the boy was of a bad character. In this respect the statement of the accused was confuted by the evidence of the boy’s teacher in Berlin, that of his teacher in Hamburg, and that of the inmates of the pension in which he lived; all of these gave him a very good character. With respect to the mode of chastisement, the details of which were heardin camera, the court held that there was no doubt that the accused had chastised the boy, not for educational reasons, but on account of perverse tendencies of his own, and condemned him to imprisonment for one year and loss of civil rights for two years. It is a noteworthy fact that the accused, during the latter part of this period of association with the boy, had lived in a happy marriage with a young woman.
2. A disciple of Dippold. The following remarkable case was published in theBerliner Tageblatt, No. 629, December 11, 1903: A furniture-polisher of this town accosted boys whom he met in the street, gave them some trifling commission, and so arranged matters with them that they must ultimately return to him at his room. Here he gave himself out to be a detective officer, showed the boy a token which he pretended was his official commission, and then gave the boy a severe lecture. “He regretted,” he said in conclusion, that, owing to the misconduct of the lad, it would be necessary to fine hisparents, unless the offences were condoned by the immediate chastisement of the boy. The “detective” easily persuaded his victims that it would be better to accept the immediate flogging. After he had stretched his victim across his knees and beaten him with a stick, he looked to see that the blows had not made too obvious marks, and sent the lad away with a further brief admonition. In most instances the boys who had been whipped concealed what had happened from their parents; but still the matter came to light, and this new Dippold is to be tried for causing grievous bodily harm, and for the false pretence that he occupied an official position. The accused is a young man, twenty-five years of age, and, with his small and slender figure and with a blonde moustache, he makes rather the impression of a young man of eighteen.
Very frequently the tendency to flagellation is at first artificially evoked in brothels. Hogarth, in his “A Harlot’s Progress,” has rightly depicted the switch as a necessary requisite of the interior of a brothel, and this simple instrument of flagellation is rarely absent from a prostitute’s dwelling. It appears to be England alone, the classical country of flagellomania, in which actual “flagellation brothels” haveexisted.[609]A historical example is that of the celebrated establishment of Theresa Berkley, the inventor of an especial apparatus for the whipping of men, the so-called “Berkley-Horse.” It appears that in England the female sex has a taste for active and passive flagellation; and we find that a Germanauthor[610]attributes to woman a greater inclination towards flagellomania than that exhibited by man. This tendency is encouraged by certain male flagellants, who obtain sexual gratification by the flagellation of women. Guénolé (op. cit., pp. 151, 152) reports the existence of secret places in Paris where young women and girls combine to form a kind of “school,” in which male sadists carry out “instruction” with the switch!
In connexion with flagellation we must consider the peculiar tendency to thefetteringof the individual to be flogged, who desires to be rendereddefenceless. For this purpose various apparatus exist of the same kind as the “fettering-chair” invented in the eighteenth century by the Duke ofFronsac.[611]Of the same nature also is the impulse to wear very tight shoes and glovesand very small corsets, the so-called “corset discipline,” in which the person affected, who may be of either sex, is laced up very tightly in a very small corset. This is met with chiefly in England, especially in association with sexual flagellation.
In comparatively rare cases flagellomania is a morbid condition by which responsibility is entirely abrogated; but from the medico-legal point of view responsibility is impaired or suspended in the majority of cases of well-marked sadism, which we have now to describe. To this category belong:
1.Sadistic Bodily Injuries and “Lust-Murder.”—The main types of this category are the “girl-stabbers” and the “lust-murderers,” who simply for the purpose of producing sexual excitement, or when already under the influence of such excitement, inflict on women more or less severe injuries with a knife or other murderous instrument. The actual intention tokillis present only in very rare cases. The lust-murder is, as a rule, only a murder as asequelof a sexual act committed by force, the murder being done from fear of discovery, etc.; thus the murder has not in these cases anything directly to do with the sexual act. In other cases we have what appears to be a lust-murder in which death has resulted, contrary to the wish of the offender, from a sadistic bodily injury. Killing from a purely sexual motive is a very rare occurrence, of which, however, some very widely known cases are on record—like those of Andreas Bickel, Menesclou, Alton, Gruyo,Verzeni,[612]and “Jack the Ripper,” the Whitechapel murderer. [Regarding the Whitechapel murders, see E. C. Spitza, “The Whitechapel Murders: their Medico-Legal and Historical Aspects,” published in theJournal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, December, 1888. Great attention and alarm was aroused in Paris in the years 1818-1819 by a girl-stabber (piqueur). In numerous caricatures, popular songs, and vaudevilles these assaults were “celebrated,” of which a very rare pamphlet, “La Piqure à la Mode” (Paris, 1819), gives evidence.Cf.J. Grand-Carteret in “Les Images Galantes” (1907, No. 7). Much alarm was caused in July, 1902, by the crimes of a new “Jack the Ripper” in New York, and by the horrible child-murders committed in Berlin by an obviously insane sadist, not yet arrested. In a single day he ripped up the abdomens of several small children with a pair of scissors.] Many “murder epidemics” (manie homicide), such as the murders recently committed in Sweden by Nordlund, who, though indubitablyinsane, was executed for them, are certainly connected with sexuality. The two following cases from German experience relate to typical “girl-stabbers”:
Ludwigshafen am Rhein, March 26, 1901.—After the manner of the Whitechapel murderer, an unknown criminal had for several weeks made the parts of the town lying in the direction of the suburb of Mundenheim unsafe. Not less than eleven girls were seriously injured after nightfall by stabs in the abdomen. To-night the police succeeded in arresting the criminal, who is a drover, Wilhelm Damian by name, twenty-eight years of age. Five years ago he was suspected of having committed a lust-murder on a servant-girl; he was arrested at this time, but was discharged owing to the lack of sufficient proof. Now the suspicion is aroused that Damian is responsible also for the lust-murder committed two years ago near Mundenheim on a little girl seven years of age, because the circumstances of that case suggested that the murderer was a butcher by occupation, and this applies to Damian.Kiel, November 29, 1901.—It is not yet possible to arrest the stabber who, during the last week, has been active in the poorest quarter of the town. At first he limited himself to the northern districts, and there wounded only women and girls; but in the last day or two he appeared, not only in the central parts of the town, but also in the southern quarter, where, the day before yesterday, in the evening, he wounded a girl by two stabs, one in the neck and one in the hip. Since then a man has been stabbed, apparently by this same evil-doer, but was not seriously hurt. This happened in one of the busiest streets of the town, so that the escape of the criminal is very remarkable.
Ludwigshafen am Rhein, March 26, 1901.—After the manner of the Whitechapel murderer, an unknown criminal had for several weeks made the parts of the town lying in the direction of the suburb of Mundenheim unsafe. Not less than eleven girls were seriously injured after nightfall by stabs in the abdomen. To-night the police succeeded in arresting the criminal, who is a drover, Wilhelm Damian by name, twenty-eight years of age. Five years ago he was suspected of having committed a lust-murder on a servant-girl; he was arrested at this time, but was discharged owing to the lack of sufficient proof. Now the suspicion is aroused that Damian is responsible also for the lust-murder committed two years ago near Mundenheim on a little girl seven years of age, because the circumstances of that case suggested that the murderer was a butcher by occupation, and this applies to Damian.
Kiel, November 29, 1901.—It is not yet possible to arrest the stabber who, during the last week, has been active in the poorest quarter of the town. At first he limited himself to the northern districts, and there wounded only women and girls; but in the last day or two he appeared, not only in the central parts of the town, but also in the southern quarter, where, the day before yesterday, in the evening, he wounded a girl by two stabs, one in the neck and one in the hip. Since then a man has been stabbed, apparently by this same evil-doer, but was not seriously hurt. This happened in one of the busiest streets of the town, so that the escape of the criminal is very remarkable.
Other peculiar sadistic injuries sometimes occur. Thus, in the year 1902 a printer, twenty-two years of age, was condemned by the criminal court of Breslau, because inthirteencases he had thrownoil of vitriolat young ladies! Here also we have probably to do with a sadistic tendency. In the end of October, 1906, in Berlin, a case came under notice in which a young girl took another girl to the dentist (!) and (after previous anæsthetization) had two teeth drawn unnecessarily; but whether this case was or was not of a sadistic nature remains undetermined. But we certainly have to do with sadism in those cases in which men or women inflict slight injuries on their love-partner for the purpose of sucking blood, which gives them sexual gratification (sexual vampirism). Manymurders by poison(women murderers commonly prefer the use of poison to that of any other instrument) also arise from sadistic tendencies. At any rate, the majority of professional female prisoners, such as Jegado, Brinvilliers, Ursinus, Gottfried (the celebrated poisoner of Bremen), and others, were unquestionably women given to sexual excesses or sexually very excitable, so that here voluptuousnessand the lust for murder appear to have an intimate causal connexion.
The following remarkable case of sadistic deprivation of freedom is reported by Kiernan (“A Remarkable Case of Fetishism,” published inThe Alienist and Neurologist, 1906, p. 462):
“Two citizens of good position, of Wladikaukas, in Russia, had repeatedly carried off girls of good family, and had treated them in an extraordinary way. On account of senile dementia they were acquitted of criminality, and were sent to an asylum. The last victim was a young heiress, who was kept prisoner by them for an entire year. Two masked elderly men fell upon her by night, gagged her, put a bandage over her eyes, and drove away with her in a carriage. When the bandage was taken off, she was in a well-furnished drawing-room. The two old men, without saying a word, gave her a scanty dress of feathers, and shut her up in a great gilded cage, which stood in the drawing-room. One of them—she never saw the other again—came in silence to visit her every morning, looked at her through the bars of the cage, often threw her lumps of sugar, and every morning brought her a can of hot water, which he emptied into a vessel inside the cage, saying, ‘Take a bath, little bird.’ These were the only words which she heard. After a year had passed, the man let her out of the cage, put a bandage over her eyes, and drove her in a carriage to a place near her house. No similar case is known to me in medical literature. Everything was conducted Platonically; there was no coitus, no exhibitionism or masturbation, either before or after looking at this peculiar bird. Certainly there must have been some kind of abortive sexual gratification, of a sadistic character, and with the limitation that only young girls of good family, dressed as birds and kept in a cage, could excite libido. But why must they have the appearance of a bird? Possibly in the subconsciousness the idea of the bird as a lascivious animal played a certain part. But why did one only come and see the ‘bird’ every day? That they must be young girls is natural in the case of old men: extremes meet; but that they must be of good family suggests a sadistic element, and still more is this suggested by the imprisonment.”
“Two citizens of good position, of Wladikaukas, in Russia, had repeatedly carried off girls of good family, and had treated them in an extraordinary way. On account of senile dementia they were acquitted of criminality, and were sent to an asylum. The last victim was a young heiress, who was kept prisoner by them for an entire year. Two masked elderly men fell upon her by night, gagged her, put a bandage over her eyes, and drove away with her in a carriage. When the bandage was taken off, she was in a well-furnished drawing-room. The two old men, without saying a word, gave her a scanty dress of feathers, and shut her up in a great gilded cage, which stood in the drawing-room. One of them—she never saw the other again—came in silence to visit her every morning, looked at her through the bars of the cage, often threw her lumps of sugar, and every morning brought her a can of hot water, which he emptied into a vessel inside the cage, saying, ‘Take a bath, little bird.’ These were the only words which she heard. After a year had passed, the man let her out of the cage, put a bandage over her eyes, and drove her in a carriage to a place near her house. No similar case is known to me in medical literature. Everything was conducted Platonically; there was no coitus, no exhibitionism or masturbation, either before or after looking at this peculiar bird. Certainly there must have been some kind of abortive sexual gratification, of a sadistic character, and with the limitation that only young girls of good family, dressed as birds and kept in a cage, could excite libido. But why must they have the appearance of a bird? Possibly in the subconsciousness the idea of the bird as a lascivious animal played a certain part. But why did one only come and see the ‘bird’ every day? That they must be young girls is natural in the case of old men: extremes meet; but that they must be of good family suggests a sadistic element, and still more is this suggested by the imprisonment.”
2.Offences against Property committed from Sadistic Motives.—To this class belong all sadistic injuries not of the person, but of property. For example, pouring vitriol over the clothing, of which the following case (Vossische Zeitung, No. 574, December 7, 1905) is an example:
At the present time an unknown man is making the south-eastern districts of Berlin unsafe by the use of oil of vitriol. This dangerous criminal pours the liquid upon women’s clothing, selecting by preference light-coloured fabrics. Yesterday evening he almost completely ruined the new light-coloured dress of a young lady who was passing along the Hermannstrasse. The offender, who apparently derives pleasure from injuring women’s clothing, is of middle height, about twenty-five years of age, has fair hair, and wears a fashionable overcoat.
At the present time an unknown man is making the south-eastern districts of Berlin unsafe by the use of oil of vitriol. This dangerous criminal pours the liquid upon women’s clothing, selecting by preference light-coloured fabrics. Yesterday evening he almost completely ruined the new light-coloured dress of a young lady who was passing along the Hermannstrasse. The offender, who apparently derives pleasure from injuring women’s clothing, is of middle height, about twenty-five years of age, has fair hair, and wears a fashionable overcoat.
To the same category belongsarsonfrom sexual motives, which wasformerly[613]attributed to a “passion for fire” (pyromania); but when sexual motives play a part, it is unquestionably of a purely sadisticnature.[614]
Of the same character issexual kleptomania—theft from sexual motives. Lichtenberg was familiar with this, for he says “the sexual impulse very frequently leads to thefts,” and he alludes to the proposal which has been made in England to castratethieves.[615]
The organic causation of the kleptomania so often seen at the present day in large shops is very frequently of a sexual nature, dependent upon puberty, the climacteric, menstrual anomalies, etc. Cases of this character have been reported by Worbe, Gönner, Schmidtlein, Unzer, Häussler, Lombroso, and Ferrero. The suspicion of sexual sadistic grounds for kleptomania may always be justifiably entertained when rich ladies repeatedly steal articles of small value of which they have no need.
A typical case of sexual kleptomania is reported by H. Zingerle (“Contributions to the Psychological Genesis of Sexual Perversities,” published in theAnnual for Psychiatry and Neurology, 1900):
A woman, twenty-one years of age, who from childhood had been psychopathic, had from her school-days onwards had a definite desire to appropriate certain objects, especially such as were made of brown leather (brown shoes), umbrellas, money. Only the act of stealing gave her any gratification, not the keeping of the stolen objects, which she usually destroyed or gave away.During the act of theft she had a well-developed sense of voluptuousness, accompanied by a discharge of secretion from the genital organs.She performed these thefts as the result of an irresistible impulse, and after them she felt remorse. She preferred large objects such as were difficult to hide, and it wasprecisely when there were great hindrances to be overcome and dangers to be run, and when in the pursuit of her aim she wassubjected to emotional disturbances, that the accompanyingvoluptuous sensations were most prominent. The psychopathic basis of this condition is unquestionable.
A woman, twenty-one years of age, who from childhood had been psychopathic, had from her school-days onwards had a definite desire to appropriate certain objects, especially such as were made of brown leather (brown shoes), umbrellas, money. Only the act of stealing gave her any gratification, not the keeping of the stolen objects, which she usually destroyed or gave away.During the act of theft she had a well-developed sense of voluptuousness, accompanied by a discharge of secretion from the genital organs.She performed these thefts as the result of an irresistible impulse, and after them she felt remorse. She preferred large objects such as were difficult to hide, and it wasprecisely when there were great hindrances to be overcome and dangers to be run, and when in the pursuit of her aim she wassubjected to emotional disturbances, that the accompanyingvoluptuous sensations were most prominent. The psychopathic basis of this condition is unquestionable.
In addition to these two categories of sadism, which for the most part depend upon morbid conditions, we meet also with asymbolicform of sadism, where this manifests itself rather in idea than in reality, and where the person thus affected luxuriatesin all possiblefantasiesof the infliction of pain and ofabasement.[616]This mitigated sadism is certainly to some extent connected with physiological sadism. Thus the so-calledverbal sadismis nothing more than an increase in, an emphatic instance of, the physiological voluptuous sighing and cryingin coitu, whose influence in verbal sadism is increased, and exercises a stronger stimulus, by the accentuation of theanimal, thebrutal, thecoarse, and theobscene. Verbal sadism is not a peculiar refinement of modern debauchees, but a phenomenon belonging to folk-lore and ethnology, an extraordinarily widely diffused mode of expression of the primitive sadistic instinct of the genus homo. In the popular speech of all countries we find thatabusive termsandcursesare intermingled with extraordinary frequency with sexual matters and ideas. The naïveté of this sexual depravity and cursing, with its thousandfold variations, shows its origin from the purely instinctive sources of the popular soul, as the celebrated brothers Grimm recognized when they devoted a careful, critical investigation in their well-known dictionary to the obscene verbal treasury of the Germans. A rich material for the study of the sources of verbal sadism is offered by thevocabularia eroticaof Hesychios; also by thecollectionsof local and provincialriddlesandproverbs.[617]A typically developed verbal sadism is found among the Hindus, especially the women. The Indian erotist Vātsyāyana rightly deduces it from the various sounds which are uttered in normal coitus. In European brothels the verbal sadists and verbal masochists are well-known phenomena—men who find sexual enjoyment in the expression of the coarsest, commonest, obscene words, curses, and abusive language; in some cases by doing this themselves (verbal sadism), in other cases by listening to it when done by others (verbal masochism). Such verbal sadists, also, are the individuals described by A. Eulenburg (“Sexual Neuropathy,” p. 104) as “verbal exhibitionists,” people who gladly indulge in lascivious conversation in the presence of women, or who whisper obscene words in women’s ears. Many men visitprostitutes, not for the purpose of having sexual intercourse with them, but merely for the opportunity of such lecherous conversation. The following case, complicated by bisexual or masochistic features, is characteristic of this:
A leading merchant of middle age visits a cocotte from time to time, and puts on the girl’s silken clothing, whilst she must put on man’s dress; they then go out walking arm-in-arm in dark, unfrequented streets, and converse meanwhile in an extremely obscene, indecent manner; this alone suffices him for sexual gratification. During the whole time he does not touch the girl.
A leading merchant of middle age visits a cocotte from time to time, and puts on the girl’s silken clothing, whilst she must put on man’s dress; they then go out walking arm-in-arm in dark, unfrequented streets, and converse meanwhile in an extremely obscene, indecent manner; this alone suffices him for sexual gratification. During the whole time he does not touch the girl.
This sexual depravity and obscene language can also be conducted by correspondence. Thus we have a kind of “epistolary sadism” and “epistolary masochism.” The former, especially, is frequently employed in the circles of the “masseuses” and “strict governesses,” in relation to their masochisticclientèle, whilst the answers belong to the second category.
A remarkable symbolic form of sadism or masochism is represented byinunctionandlathering, for the purpose of sexual gratification. Lathering with soap more especially is a phenomenon with which those who have to do with brothels are especially familiar. Either the man finds sexual pleasure in lathering the prostitute or he experiences gratification in the passive attitude when she lathers him. Some time ago, in a trial in which a man belonging to one of our leading mercantile houses was accused, I referred in my evidence to analogous occurrences in brothels and among prostitutes. This testimony was disputed by another physician, who stated that this “lathering” for the purpose of inducing sexual excitement was “unknown” to him. It is, however, a well-known phenomenon whose existence has been confirmed to me by colleagues in Berlin, and more especially in Hamburg. According as it is active or passive, it is respectively sadistic or masochistic. Whether, in such cases, a defilement of the woman’s person is effected, as in a case reported by von Krafft-Ebing, in which a man blackened his mistress with charcoal, is indifferent. The larval sadism consists in theact of manipulation, in the inunction or lathering.
As a last form of symbolic sadism may be mentionedblasphemybased onsexual motives, the so-called “satanism,” which played a great part more especially in the middle ages, and as the “black mass” constituted a peculiar cult, in which the Christian Mass was profaned by sexual practices, and was insulted to the uttermost. According to Schwaeblé, these obscene masses are still celebrated at the present day in two places in Paris. Hegives a detailed description of such a black mass which was celebrated in a house in the Rue deVaugirard.[618]
Passive algolagnia,masochism, the desire to endurepainanddegradationandabasementof every kind, for the purpose of inducing sexual excitement, is perhaps to-day more widely diffused even than itsconverse.[619]The cause of this, which is to be found in the conventionality of our time, is a matter to which I have previously more than once alluded (vide supra,pp. 322-324,467-469). This view is supported also by the remarkable fact that, above all,lawyers, leading State officials, and judges, constitute a disproportionately large contingent of masochists—that is to say, persons whose professional life gives them a certain unusual exercise of power, and whose profession imposes on them a strict official demeanour. Precisely these conditions, perhaps, arouse masochistic tendencies to activity, as a kind of liberation from conventional pressure and the professional mask.
The connexion between love, voluptuousness, and the suffering of pain, has already been discussed. In masochism there also comes into play the important element of abasement, a complete self-surrender of body and soul, self-sacrifice. The union of these perceptions and their voluptuous tinge has been beautifully described by Alfred deMusset:[620]
“My passion for my mistress had become extremely unruly, and my whole life had assumed a kind of monastic savagery. I will give only one example of this: She had given me her miniature likeness in a medallion. I wear it on my heart—many men do this. But one day in the shop of a second-hand dealer I found an iron scourge on the end of which was a small plate covered with little spines. I had the medallion fastened on to the plate and wore it in this way. The spines, which at every movement pierced the skin of my breast, produced in me the most peculiar ecstasy, so that I sometimes pressed my hand on the place in order to drive them deeper. I am well aware that this was folly; but love makes us commit many such follies.”
“My passion for my mistress had become extremely unruly, and my whole life had assumed a kind of monastic savagery. I will give only one example of this: She had given me her miniature likeness in a medallion. I wear it on my heart—many men do this. But one day in the shop of a second-hand dealer I found an iron scourge on the end of which was a small plate covered with little spines. I had the medallion fastened on to the plate and wore it in this way. The spines, which at every movement pierced the skin of my breast, produced in me the most peculiar ecstasy, so that I sometimes pressed my hand on the place in order to drive them deeper. I am well aware that this was folly; but love makes us commit many such follies.”
In masochism physical pain plays an important part. The “mistresses” have at their disposal an extensive instrumentarium for producing such pain, for masochists often have themost peculiar ideas regarding the mode in which their pain should be caused. Probably unique in their kind are the two following authentic cases, which my colleague, Dr.D——,in Hamburg, was so good as to report to me:
1. A rich Hamburg merchant, known among the prostitutes by the name of “Nail William,” had sexual intercourse only with certain prostitutes, who had to allow their nails to grow quite long and pointed. They had to scratch him on the scrotal raphe and on the penis until the blood flowed in streams. One day he consulted a physician on account of extensive œdema of the scrotum and the penis.2. Another man had his scrotum sewn to the sofa-cushion with thick sail-maker’s needles. He sat for a while in this “fettered” condition, after which the strings were cut!
1. A rich Hamburg merchant, known among the prostitutes by the name of “Nail William,” had sexual intercourse only with certain prostitutes, who had to allow their nails to grow quite long and pointed. They had to scratch him on the scrotal raphe and on the penis until the blood flowed in streams. One day he consulted a physician on account of extensive œdema of the scrotum and the penis.
2. Another man had his scrotum sewn to the sofa-cushion with thick sail-maker’s needles. He sat for a while in this “fettered” condition, after which the strings were cut!
All possible cutting and stabbing instruments and burning substances are used for the gratification of the masochist’s lascivious love of pain; they have themselves scratched, bitten, pinched, burned, their hair torn out; they are trodden upon, whipped with switches or ox-whips; they have themselves “put to the question” in every possible way in special “torture chambers” or “punishment rooms.” Such a genuine torture chamber, in the house of a Hamburg prostitute, was recently described by the public prosecutor, Dr. Ertel, inHamburg.[621]Of the dwelling of this prostitute the following account is given in the testimony of the examining judge:
To the side of the flat towards the bath-room is the door of entrance to the so-called “black room.”The walls of this room, lighted by one window only, were covered with a coal-black material of the nature of calico, and the plaster of the ceiling was similarly covered; to the middle of the ceiling, proceeding from the centre of a black rosette, was attached a pulley, consisting of the usual rollers and blocks, made in this instance of metal, and furnished with a strong twisted cord.In the dark corner between the window and the wall there stood a peculiar scaffold, made of roughly hewn planks, consisting of two similar parts placed side by side; the back of this scaffold was placed against the wall beside the window.The purpose of this scaffold was not immediately apparent. Seen sideways, the form of this wooden structure was somewhat like that of a heavy, coarsely-made armchair; the upper parts of the arms were about the height of a man’s shoulders. To the framework along the upper edge there were attached five fairly strong iron rings, which were screwed into the wood. The framework ran on rollers, so that it could be moved about.On the wall was hung on a nail a leather girdle with buckles; there was also a rope about the thickness of the finger, ending in a loop; there were also two dog-collars, part of a sword-stick, leather reins, and fetters for wrists and ankles, the former being heavy iron handcuffs.The window in the wall separating the “black room” from the bathroom, the glass of which was frosted, was covered with special hangings. The inner side of the door of the room was also hung with black.In respect to this “black room” A. testified:“Z. insisted that one room should be entirely draped with black, as the ‘hall of judgment.’ He sent me pulleys from Cologne, by which he was to be drawn up andhanged.[622]This excited him, his face got quite blue, and it made him ‘ready’ for intercourse. I was afraid that it might kill him, and I only allowed him to have it done once.“To the wooden framework in the ‘black room,’ Z. was securely fastened, so that he had the illusion that he was on the scaffold.”
To the side of the flat towards the bath-room is the door of entrance to the so-called “black room.”
The walls of this room, lighted by one window only, were covered with a coal-black material of the nature of calico, and the plaster of the ceiling was similarly covered; to the middle of the ceiling, proceeding from the centre of a black rosette, was attached a pulley, consisting of the usual rollers and blocks, made in this instance of metal, and furnished with a strong twisted cord.
In the dark corner between the window and the wall there stood a peculiar scaffold, made of roughly hewn planks, consisting of two similar parts placed side by side; the back of this scaffold was placed against the wall beside the window.
The purpose of this scaffold was not immediately apparent. Seen sideways, the form of this wooden structure was somewhat like that of a heavy, coarsely-made armchair; the upper parts of the arms were about the height of a man’s shoulders. To the framework along the upper edge there were attached five fairly strong iron rings, which were screwed into the wood. The framework ran on rollers, so that it could be moved about.
On the wall was hung on a nail a leather girdle with buckles; there was also a rope about the thickness of the finger, ending in a loop; there were also two dog-collars, part of a sword-stick, leather reins, and fetters for wrists and ankles, the former being heavy iron handcuffs.
The window in the wall separating the “black room” from the bathroom, the glass of which was frosted, was covered with special hangings. The inner side of the door of the room was also hung with black.
In respect to this “black room” A. testified:
“Z. insisted that one room should be entirely draped with black, as the ‘hall of judgment.’ He sent me pulleys from Cologne, by which he was to be drawn up andhanged.[622]This excited him, his face got quite blue, and it made him ‘ready’ for intercourse. I was afraid that it might kill him, and I only allowed him to have it done once.
“To the wooden framework in the ‘black room,’ Z. was securely fastened, so that he had the illusion that he was on the scaffold.”
In all large towns widely diffusedmasochistic prostitutionsubserves the desires of male masochists, and frequently also those of female masochists. These priestesses ofVenus flagellatrixhide themselves commonly under the cloak of a“masseuse”[623]an “educationalist,” or “governess,” adding to this professional title the expressive adjective “severe” or “energetic.” “Wanda” is also a favourite pseudonym, which corresponds to the masochistic nickname of “Severin” (the principal character of Sacher-Masoch’s “Venus im Pelz”).
These women, the “mistresses,” treat their masochistic clients as “slaves” or “dogs,” and maintain this fiction not only in personal association, but also in correspondence—masochists are all passionate correspondents. The relationship also of the “lady” to her “page” is a favourite one (the so-called “pagism”). The nature of the relationship is clearly shown in the following original letter of such a masochist:
“Berlin,“June 7, 1902.“Gracious Lady,—“Firstof all I must sincerely ask your pardon for daring, most honoured lady, to write to you. I saw recently a lady with a glorious figure and magnificent hips enter your house, and I suspect that you are this lady. If you, gracious lady, desire a servant and a slave, who will blindly obey all your commands, and upon your order, as a slave, without any will but your own, will perform the basest anddirtiest services, I should be happy if you would be so gracious as to make me that slave, if I might visit you from time to time in order to serve you, my strict mistress and commander. If at any time I should fail to obey you absolutely, you can treat me most cruelly and chastise me most severely.“Will you, gracious lady, deign to answer me, your basest servant, and to make use of the enclosed envelope to tell me if you, this evening, will go for a walk, and how, and where, in what café you may chance to spend the evening, and if you will be my strict mistress, and if I may venture to be your slave. Perhaps, most honoured lady, you could be at the Oranienburger Tor at eight o’clock precisely onFridayevening, with a rose in your hand. Full of subjection and abasement, obedient to your strict commands, and slavishly kissing your feet and hands, I am your most abject servant and your basest slave.”
“Berlin,“June 7, 1902.
“Gracious Lady,—
“Firstof all I must sincerely ask your pardon for daring, most honoured lady, to write to you. I saw recently a lady with a glorious figure and magnificent hips enter your house, and I suspect that you are this lady. If you, gracious lady, desire a servant and a slave, who will blindly obey all your commands, and upon your order, as a slave, without any will but your own, will perform the basest anddirtiest services, I should be happy if you would be so gracious as to make me that slave, if I might visit you from time to time in order to serve you, my strict mistress and commander. If at any time I should fail to obey you absolutely, you can treat me most cruelly and chastise me most severely.
“Will you, gracious lady, deign to answer me, your basest servant, and to make use of the enclosed envelope to tell me if you, this evening, will go for a walk, and how, and where, in what café you may chance to spend the evening, and if you will be my strict mistress, and if I may venture to be your slave. Perhaps, most honoured lady, you could be at the Oranienburger Tor at eight o’clock precisely onFridayevening, with a rose in your hand. Full of subjection and abasement, obedient to your strict commands, and slavishly kissing your feet and hands, I am your most abject servant and your basest slave.”
Such a slave luxuriates voluptuously in the lowest services, in the most loathsome abasements, such as are indicated sufficiently in the names “coprolagnia” and “urolagnia.” I have in my possession a series of letters by masochists full of such things, described with the utmost particularity, some even in a poetic form (!), which I cannot print on account of their loathsome contents. A sufficient idea of the slavery of the masochist is given in the above-mentioned report of the public prosecutor, Dr. Ertel, in which a “mistress” states:
“When I took my meals he lay either under the table, or in a corner of the room; I threw him bones, and gave him the remains of my own food. He often barked, and usually had a dog-collar round his neck, with a chain attached to it. He had given himself the name of Nero, so this is what I called him. When anyone wished to come near me without permission, he bit him in the leg; this was the first step in a slave’s duty. He swept out my room, boiled potatoes, roasted meat for me, and did other work of the house. He also wanted to be my horse; I had to ride on him; he carried me in this way from one room to theother.[624]When he disobeyed me in any way, I had to use the whip. He related to me that formerly he had corresponded with a music-hall comedian who played woman’s parts, and subsequently had associated with him, but he got weary of this, and disappeared for a long time to get free from the man. He told me also that he was accustomed to make appointments in the Schaarhof (a street in Hamburg in which the prostitutes visited by the lowest classes of the population live). On Sunday evenings these women have many visitors, when the workmen have got their week’s money.“Often I had to shut him up in a wardrobe, with a chain round his neck, fastened to the wall of the wardrobe, so short that he could hardly move; the door of the wardrobe was shut upon him.“In my flat I had to give him a slave’s dress to wear, in order that he might feel himself to be fully a slave. I took away all his money, all the keys of his house, of his office, and of his safe, and returned them to him only after a night and two days. Z. only does this occasionally, when he is utterly beside himself; often he is quite reasonable. He does not associate with any decent people; the society in which he feels happiest is that of whores and other obscure persons; he has himself said this to me. Even the people who make use of him avoid him in the street.“He would also learn to dress hair, and how to paint the face, if I ordered him. Painted faces stimulate him.“Once he said to me that I might have another slave; this I did. First of all I had to bind Z. hand and foot, and to wrap up his head in cotton-wool, in order to give the new slave the idea that he had been very badly treated, and had been sent to the hospital. When, later, the new slave came, and I explained everything to him as Z. had told me to, and led him in to see Z., the new man was very much surprised to see Z. tied up in this way, became frightened, and soon went home.”
“When I took my meals he lay either under the table, or in a corner of the room; I threw him bones, and gave him the remains of my own food. He often barked, and usually had a dog-collar round his neck, with a chain attached to it. He had given himself the name of Nero, so this is what I called him. When anyone wished to come near me without permission, he bit him in the leg; this was the first step in a slave’s duty. He swept out my room, boiled potatoes, roasted meat for me, and did other work of the house. He also wanted to be my horse; I had to ride on him; he carried me in this way from one room to theother.[624]When he disobeyed me in any way, I had to use the whip. He related to me that formerly he had corresponded with a music-hall comedian who played woman’s parts, and subsequently had associated with him, but he got weary of this, and disappeared for a long time to get free from the man. He told me also that he was accustomed to make appointments in the Schaarhof (a street in Hamburg in which the prostitutes visited by the lowest classes of the population live). On Sunday evenings these women have many visitors, when the workmen have got their week’s money.
“Often I had to shut him up in a wardrobe, with a chain round his neck, fastened to the wall of the wardrobe, so short that he could hardly move; the door of the wardrobe was shut upon him.
“In my flat I had to give him a slave’s dress to wear, in order that he might feel himself to be fully a slave. I took away all his money, all the keys of his house, of his office, and of his safe, and returned them to him only after a night and two days. Z. only does this occasionally, when he is utterly beside himself; often he is quite reasonable. He does not associate with any decent people; the society in which he feels happiest is that of whores and other obscure persons; he has himself said this to me. Even the people who make use of him avoid him in the street.
“He would also learn to dress hair, and how to paint the face, if I ordered him. Painted faces stimulate him.
“Once he said to me that I might have another slave; this I did. First of all I had to bind Z. hand and foot, and to wrap up his head in cotton-wool, in order to give the new slave the idea that he had been very badly treated, and had been sent to the hospital. When, later, the new slave came, and I explained everything to him as Z. had told me to, and led him in to see Z., the new man was very much surprised to see Z. tied up in this way, became frightened, and soon went home.”
Another prostitute reports:
“I made the acquaintance of Z. in No. 8, Schwiegerstrasse. He has three or four times had intercourse with me. He had himself whipped by me. Z. once asked me to fetch a man, which I did. This man got into bed with me, and satisfied himself manually, without having intercourse with me. Z. on this occasion lay under the bed: he wished to do so; I believe he had arranged this in order to obtain sexual excitement in this way. Z. and the other man did not see one another.“When the other man had gone away, Z. did the most disgusting things.“When Z. had himself whipped, he first had his hands fastened with iron handcuffs.”
“I made the acquaintance of Z. in No. 8, Schwiegerstrasse. He has three or four times had intercourse with me. He had himself whipped by me. Z. once asked me to fetch a man, which I did. This man got into bed with me, and satisfied himself manually, without having intercourse with me. Z. on this occasion lay under the bed: he wished to do so; I believe he had arranged this in order to obtain sexual excitement in this way. Z. and the other man did not see one another.
“When the other man had gone away, Z. did the most disgusting things.
“When Z. had himself whipped, he first had his hands fastened with iron handcuffs.”
It would be quite erroneous to assume that in the case of these masochistic “slaves,” whose human worth has been lowered to the depths, who seem completely to discard their humanity and to sink below the level of animals, that we always have to do with effeminate, degenerated weaklings. No; much more frequently they arehealthy, powerful men, of an imposing appearance and distinguished demeanour, who find pleasure in playing such tragic rôles, and who obviously obtain sexual gratification by this complete reversal of their nature. The “slave” just described was “by nature tall and stately. His features wereenergeticand sympathetic, and he had a large beard. His eyes wereclear and bright. In actions and appearance he was a thoroughly masculinebeing.”[625]In Berlin there exist masochists in high official positions, in appearance and in profession true manlynatures—“supermen”—who only become “slaves” in relation to their “mistresses.” According to Sacher-Masoch, Germans and Russians especially are inclined to masochism; but, as a matter of fact, this tendency is also widely diffused in France and England. Zola describes such a type in “Nana.”
The slave type is not always completely developed; more commonly masochism manifests itself in a less marked degree. There are many and various shades: sometimes there is only a spiritual abasement, exhibited in apparently trifling procedures and practices (symbolic masochism). A few authentic cases will serve to illustrate this—they sound incredible, but are in fact true:
1. A handsome and fine-looking officer, married to a beautiful wife, continually associates with an elderly, robust washerwoman, with whom he also has sexual intercourse. Since he refuses to leave this woman, his wife has separated from him.2. A State official of high position, fifty years of age, visits a prostitute from time to time, and puts on her clothing, with corset and stockings, while she wears man’s clothing. Then for two hours they play cards. At eleven o’clock he lays himself, still clothed, in her bed, whilst she must lie down naked upon the bed covering. Nothing else happens. He does not make the least attempt to touch her; and after a time he goes away, first paying her fifty marks.3. An active Minister of State (!), now deceased, used often to visit a cocotte, who had to sit upon him, and thenin corpus totum ei minxit. This was sufficient to give him sexual gratification (urolagnia).4. An engineer meets a prostitute (who has been previously instructed what to do) in the street, and asks her if he may go home with her for twenty marks (shillings). Having reached the home of the girl, he suddenly declares with tears that he has only five marks with him. The prostitute overwhelms him with abuse, takes the five marks from him, and then carefully searches his clothing, until somewhere or other she finds a hundred-mark piece! The moment of the discovery of this piece of money is precisely the moment when the man has the sexual orgasm. In answer to his prayers and whining, to his pitiful request that she shall at least give him back half the money, he only receives scornful abuse. Finally, she presses one mark into his hand, and gives him hiscongé. This procedure is repeated regularly every fortnight—an expensive amusement for a man who is by no means wealthy. But he is unable to give up this peculiar passion, which for him is the only way of obtaining sexual gratification.5. A man of the upper classes, thirty years of age, frequents only prostitutes with artificial teeth. They must take these teeth out, and he puts them in his mouth and sucks them. He then stretches himself upon the covering of the bed, and the prostitute must lay one of her dirty chemises upon his face, whilst he at the same time holds one of her shoes in each hand. This is for him the critical moment. Tothe girl herself during the whole procedure he does not direct a single glance; for him there exist only the teeth, the chemise, and the shoes. Thus we have to do with a case of masochism with mental fetishistic associations. The previously described medieval “cure by disgust” (the exhibition of a dirty chemise) would in this man have had the opposite effect to that intended.
1. A handsome and fine-looking officer, married to a beautiful wife, continually associates with an elderly, robust washerwoman, with whom he also has sexual intercourse. Since he refuses to leave this woman, his wife has separated from him.
2. A State official of high position, fifty years of age, visits a prostitute from time to time, and puts on her clothing, with corset and stockings, while she wears man’s clothing. Then for two hours they play cards. At eleven o’clock he lays himself, still clothed, in her bed, whilst she must lie down naked upon the bed covering. Nothing else happens. He does not make the least attempt to touch her; and after a time he goes away, first paying her fifty marks.
3. An active Minister of State (!), now deceased, used often to visit a cocotte, who had to sit upon him, and thenin corpus totum ei minxit. This was sufficient to give him sexual gratification (urolagnia).
4. An engineer meets a prostitute (who has been previously instructed what to do) in the street, and asks her if he may go home with her for twenty marks (shillings). Having reached the home of the girl, he suddenly declares with tears that he has only five marks with him. The prostitute overwhelms him with abuse, takes the five marks from him, and then carefully searches his clothing, until somewhere or other she finds a hundred-mark piece! The moment of the discovery of this piece of money is precisely the moment when the man has the sexual orgasm. In answer to his prayers and whining, to his pitiful request that she shall at least give him back half the money, he only receives scornful abuse. Finally, she presses one mark into his hand, and gives him hiscongé. This procedure is repeated regularly every fortnight—an expensive amusement for a man who is by no means wealthy. But he is unable to give up this peculiar passion, which for him is the only way of obtaining sexual gratification.
5. A man of the upper classes, thirty years of age, frequents only prostitutes with artificial teeth. They must take these teeth out, and he puts them in his mouth and sucks them. He then stretches himself upon the covering of the bed, and the prostitute must lay one of her dirty chemises upon his face, whilst he at the same time holds one of her shoes in each hand. This is for him the critical moment. Tothe girl herself during the whole procedure he does not direct a single glance; for him there exist only the teeth, the chemise, and the shoes. Thus we have to do with a case of masochism with mental fetishistic associations. The previously described medieval “cure by disgust” (the exhibition of a dirty chemise) would in this man have had the opposite effect to that intended.
Masochism is much commoner in men than in women, because the latter have more command over their sexual impulse, and are not so readily subordinated and enslaved thereby as are men. The physiological masochism of woman is of a more spiritual nature. Still, in women who are very excitable sexually a similar “sexual obedience” may appear to that which we encounter in men. Shakespeare, in the “Midsummer-Night’s Dream,” when he makes Helena feel herself to be Demetrius’ little dog, gives her definite masochistic characteristics.
Masochistically inclined, also, are women of good position who play the part of prostitutes, either in brothels or in the streets, such as have recently been described by d’Estoc in “Paris-Eros”; we may regard the celebrated Messalina as their prototype. Similarly disposed are women of good position who have enduring sexual relationships with men of the lower classes, such as workmen, coachmen, etc., and who even seek sexual enjoyment with any casual member of the rabble they may meet in the streets—a practice of which Lombroso has collected examples. Passive algolagnia also occurs in women, as is proved by the following letter of a typical masochist: