Psychopathia sexualis: With especial reference to contrary sexual instinct: A medico-legal studyKrafft-Ebing, R. von (Richard)
Science
Psychopathia sexualis: With especial reference to contrary sexual instinct: A medico-legal study
Krafft-Ebing, R. von (Richard)
Paraphilias
Case 93. In July, 1891, Alfred Bachmann, aged 25, locksmith, was
brought before Judge I., in the second term of the criminal court, in
Berlin. In April, 1891, the police had had numerous complaints,
according to which some evil hand had cut women’s dresses with a very
sharp instrument. On April 25, they were successful in arresting the
perpetrator in the person of the accused. A policeman noticed how the
accused pressed, in a remarkable manner, against a lady in the company
of a gentleman, while they were going through a passage. The officer
requested the lady to examine her dress, while he held the man under
suspicion. It was ascertained that the dress had received quite a long
slit. The accused was taken to the station, where he was examined.
Besides a sharp knife, which he confessed he used for cutting dresses,
two silk sashes, such as ladies wear on their dresses, were found on
him; he also confessed that he had taken these from dresses in crowds.
Finally, the examination of his person brought to light a lady’s silk
neck-cloth. The accused said he had found this. Since his statement in
this case could not be refuted, complaint was therefore made to rest
on the result of the search; in two instances in which complaint was
made by the injured parties his acts were designated as injury to
property, and in two other instances as theft. The accused, a man who
had been often punished before, with a pale, expressionless face,
before the judge, gave a strange explanation of his enigmatical
action. A major’s cook had once thrown him down-stairs when he was
begging of her, and since that time he had entertained great hatred of
the whole female sex. There was a doubt about his responsibility, and
he was therefore examined by a physician. The medical expert gave the
opinion, at the final trial, that there was no reason to regard the
accused as insane, though he was of low intelligence. The culprit
defended himself in a peculiar manner. An irresistible impulse forced
him to approach women wearing silk dresses. _The touch of silk
material gave him a feeling of delight_, and this went so far that,
while in prison for examination, he had been excited if a silk thread
happened to pass through his fingers while raveling rags. Judge Müller
considered the accused to be simply a dangerous, vicious man, who
should be made harmless for a long time. He advised imprisonment for
one year. The court sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment, with
loss of honor for a year.
The following case was communicated to me by a physician:—
In a brothel a certain man was known by the name of “Velvet.” He
dressed a puella pleasing to him in a black velvet dress, and excited
and satisfied his sexual appetite simply by stroking his face with a
part of the velvet skirt, touching the woman in no other way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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