Excerpts from Psychopathia Sexualis: with especial reference to the antipathic sexual instinct, a Medico-Forensic Study

Title

Excerpts from Psychopathia Sexualis: with especial reference to the antipathic sexual instinct, a Medico-Forensic Study

Creator

Richard Von Krafft-Ebing, Trans. F.J. Rebman

Source

English Adaptation of the Twelfth German Edition

Publisher

Rebman Company, New York

Date

1906

Text

If man were deprived of sexual distinction and the nobler enjoyments arising therefrom, all poetry and probably all moral tendency would be eliminated from his life.

Sexual life no doubt is the one mighty factor in the individual and social relations of man which disclose his powers of activity, of acquiring property, of establishing a homo, of awakening altruistic sentiments towards a person of the opposite sex, and towards his own issue as well as towards the whole human race.

Sexual feeling is really the root of all ethics, and no doubt of cestheticism and religion. The sublimest virtues, even the sacrifice of self, may spring from sexual life, which, however, on account of its sensual power, may easily degenerate into the lowest passion and basest vice. Love unbridled is a volcano that burns down and lays waste all around it; it is an abyss that devours all honour, substance and health. It is of great psychological interest to follow up the gradual development of civilisation and the influence exerted by sexual life upon habits and morality.

The gratification of the sexual instinct seems to be the primary motive in man as well as in beast. Sexual intercourse is done openly, and man and woman are not ashamed of their nakedness. The savage races, e.g., Australasians, Polynesians, Malays of the Philippines are still in this stage (vide Ploss). Woman is the common property of man, the spoil of the strongest and mightiest, who chooses the most winsome for his own, a sort of instinctive sexual selection of the fittest.

Woman is a "chattel," an article of commerce, exchange or gift, a vessel for sensual gratification, an implement for toil. The presence of shame in the manifestations and exercise of the sexual functions, and of modesty in the mutual relations between the sexes are the foundations of morality. Thence arises the desire to cover the nakedness ("and they saw that they were naked") and to perform the act in private. The development of this grade of civilisation is furthered by the conditions of frigid climes which necessitate the protection of the whole body against the cold. It is an anthropological fact that modesty can be traced to much earlier periods among northern races.

Another element which tends to promote the refined development of sexual life is the fact that woman ceases to be a "chattel". She becomes an individual being, and, although socially still far below man, she gradually acquires rights, independence of action, and the privilege to bestow her favours where she inclines. She is wooed by man. Traces of ethical sentiments pervade the rude sensual appetite, idealisation begins and community of woman ceases. The sexes are drawn to each other by mental and physical merits and exchange favours of preference. In this stage woman is conscious of the fact that her charms belong only to the man of her choice. She seeks to hide them from others. This forms the foundation of modesty, chastity and sexual fidelity so long as love endures.

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Citation

Richard Von Krafft-Ebing, Trans. F.J. Rebman, “Excerpts from Psychopathia Sexualis: with especial reference to the antipathic sexual instinct, a Medico-Forensic Study,” Victorian Queer Archive, accessed March 29, 2024, https://victorianqueerarchive.omeka.net/items/show/78.