Bi-sexual love; the homosexual neurosisStekel, Wilhelm
Science
Bi-sexual love; the homosexual neurosis
Stekel, Wilhelm
Homosexuality; Neuroses
The flight away from homosexuality leads the individual to overstress
his heterosexuality (with the formulation of compromises and the
adoption of homosexual masks) but that seldom yields the satisfaction
craved by the individual. The sexual adventurer is always a person who
has failed to find proper gratification. He who has found complete
gratification becomes thereby master of his libido and knows the
meaning of satiety. When the gratification is only apparent the
craving leads soon again to new adventures. Just as the compulsory
acts of neurotics cannot be permanently removed, because such acts
are only symptomatic and stand for hidden cravings, the unsatisfied
homosexual longing which stands masked under an apparently excessive
heterosexuality cannot be completely gratified on that path. The sexual
instinct,—as _Freud_ has pointed out—is of complex character and is
seldom brought into play in its full form. Man’s unattainable ideal is
the whole instinct, undivided and unhampered in any of its component
parts; falling in love manifests the expectation of a gratification
previously unattained.
During man’s critical period—as well as woman’s—a number of
troublesome compulsion neuroses are likely to break forth and these
have been erroneously attributed to excitement, overwork, and other
secondary factors. Every compulsion neurosis appearing at this period
is a complicated riddle through which the subject aims to hide
before his own consciousness no less than before the world at large
the true significance of the psychic impulses which reassert their
supremacy at the time. Frequently back of the various symptomatic
acts it is possible to discern the clear mechanism of defence against
homosexuality.
* * * * *
The next case shows an interesting array of symbolisms and of symbolic
acts, which are easily understood if one has the key to the psychology
of such mental processes.
Mr. B. experiences the outbreak of an acute neurosis at 60 years of
age. Suddenly he becomes obsessed with the fear of tuberculosis. He is
firmly convinced that he is a victim of the disease and the reassurance
of famous specialists quiets him only for a few days. He reads all
popular works on tuberculosis as well as the scientific works of
Cornet, Koch, and other investigators. He has worked out for himself a
systematic method for the cure of tuberculosis. He holds, in the first
place, that cold air is the best, and takes long walks out of doors,
sleeps with all windows wide open, goes to Davos and generally prefers
winter sporting places. He is a confirmed believer in the theory
of infection through particles of sputum and therefore avoids the
proximity of ... men.
“Why be afraid specially of men? May not women also carry the
infection?”
“No; women do not expectorate so vigorously. Men spit all over, women
only close by!”
“How do you know these things?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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