Sex variant women in literature : $b A historical and quantitative survey — John Shaqi
Sex variant women in literature : $b A historical and quantitative surveyFoster, Jeannette H. (Jeannette Howard)
General
Sex variant women in literature : $b A historical and quantitative survey
Foster, Jeannette H. (Jeannette Howard)
Lesbians in literature; Sex in literature; Women in literature
Since new viewpoints and methods of study are constantly altering our
sex vocabulary, some preliminary definitions seem advisable. First, what
is meant by _sex variant_? The term was selected because it is not as
yet rigidly defined nor charged with controversial overtones.
Intrinsically, _variant_ means no more than differing from a chosen
standard, and in the field of sex experience the standard generally
accepted is adequate heterosexual adjustment. But even this phrase lacks
precision. Lawyer, clergyman, physician, psychoanalyst, biologist,
sociologist, each will interpret it from his particular viewpoint. The
meaning a layman meets oftenest in the literature of our western
Christian culture is happy marriage and parenthood, but this is nearer
to the churchman’s and sociologist’s ideal than to the working
compromise by which average citizens worry along. Perhaps the highest
practical common denominator is a heterosexual union agreeable to both
its parties and not detrimental to them, to the society in which they
live, or to the continuance of the race.
Possible deviations from this standard are many, but the present study
will stay within the limits set by a work of 1941 entitled _Sex
Variants_,[1] which was devoted to persons having emotional experience
with others of their own sex. Under this head the author included
homosexuals, a term which he confined to those having only such
experience; bisexuals, capable of enjoying relations with both sexes;
and narcissists, attracted to both but able to achieve satisfaction with
neither. The author of this work, Dr. G. W. Henry, was, as his
terminology indicates, a psychiatrist. His case histories provided very
complete personal data, his volumes dealt with both men and women, and
he included only those who had engaged in overt sexual activity. By
contrast, the present study is not strictly oriented to any professional
school of thought. It is limited to relations between women, and
“relations” is substituted for “experience” by intent. Because of the
comparative sex reticence prevailing in our culture, few details of
sexual action are reported in nonscientific writing, and in the
peculiarly discredited field of sex variance authors often avoid even
implying action. For this reason scientists tend to disparage studies
based on literature, but where women are concerned a lack of specific
detail is not too serious. Current scientific work, notably that of Dr.
A. C. Kinsey,[2] has established the fact that women as a whole engage
in much less sex activity than men. But in spite of, or perhaps because
of, this relative infrequency of “outlet,” passionate emotion more often
plays a dominant role in their lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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