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 103. A middle-aged woman in the asylum at Greifswald thought she
was a man, and acted out her belief. She cut her hair short, and
parted it on one side in the military fashion. A sharply-cut profile,
a nose somewhat large, and a certain heaviness of all the features
gave the face something characteristic, and, in combination with the
short hair combed smoothly over the ears, gave the whole head a
decidedly masculine appearance. She was tall and lean; her voice low
and rough; the larynx angularly prominent; her attitude erect; her
gait, like all her movements, heavy, but not awkward. She looked like
a man in female dress. Asked how she had come to think she was a man,
she would almost always cry excitedly: “Just look at me! Don’t I look
like a man? I feel like a man, too. I have always felt so, but I only
gradually came to understand it clearly. The man who should be my
husband is not a real man. I raised my children myself. I always felt
somewhat like this, but I came to understand later. Did I not always
work like a man? The man who passed for my husband only helped. He did
what I planned. From my youth I have been more masculine than
feminine. I have always had more liking for the garden and farm than
for work in the house and kitchen. But I never understood the reason.
Now I know I am a man, and I shall bear myself like one. It is a shame
to make me always wear women’s clothes.”
Case 104. X., aged 26, tall, and of handsome appearance. Since his
earliest youth he has loved to wear female attire. As he grew up, he
managed it so that, when he was a participant in theatricals, he
always had a female part. After an attack of mental excitement, he
imagined that he was actually a woman, and tried to convince others of
it.
He liked to undress himself, and dress his hair and put on female
clothing. In this state he wished to go out on the street. In other
respects he was perfectly reasonable. He would spend the whole day
arranging his hair and looking at himself in the glass, costuming
himself in a night-dress as much like a woman as possible. In walking
he imitated women. One day, when Esquirol acted as if about to lift up
his dress, he flew into a passion and upbraided him for his want of
modesty (Esquirol).
Case 105. Mrs. X., widow. Owing to the death of her husband and loss
of fortune, she had been greatly troubled in mind. She became
disturbed mentally, and was admitted to the Salpêtrière after
attempting suicide.
Mrs. X., lean, thin; constantly maniacal; she believes herself a man,
and flies angry if she is addressed as “madam.” Once, when male
clothing was placed at her disposal, she was beside herself with joy.
She died, in 1802, of a consumptive malady; and she expressed her
delusion of being a man until shortly before her death (Esquirol).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account