Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-ErotismEllis, Havelock
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Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
I need not point out that the analysis of modesty offered above robs this
venerable saying of any sting it may have possessed as a slur upon women.
In such a case, modesty is largely a doubt as to the spectator's attitude,
and necessarily disappears when that doubt is satisfactorily resolved. As
we have seen, the Central Australian maidens were very modest with regard
to the removal of their single garment, but when that removal was
accomplished and accepted, they were fearless.
[34] The same result occurs more markedly under the deadening influence of
insanity. Grimaldi (_Il Manicomio Moderno_, 1888) found that modesty is
lacking in 50 per cent, of the insane.
[35] For some facts bearing on this point, see Houssay, _Industries of
Animals_, Chapter VII. "The Defence and Sanitation of Dwellings;" also P.
Ballion, _De l'Instinct de Propreté chez les Animaux_.
[36] Thus, Stevens mentions (_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, p. 182, 1897)
that the Dyaks of Malacca always wash the sexual organs, even after
urination, and are careful to use the left hand in doing so. The left hand
is also reserved for such uses among the Jekris of the Niger coast
(_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, p. 122, 1898).
[37] Lombroso and Ferrero--who adopt the derivation of _pudor_ from
_putere_; i.e., from the repugnance caused by the decomposition of the
vaginal secretions--consider that the fear of causing disgust to men is
the sole origin of modesty among savage women, as also it remains the sole
form of modesty among some prostitutes to-day. (_La Donna Delinquente_, p.
540.) Important as this factor is in the constitution of the emotion of
modesty, I need scarcely add that I regard so exclusive a theory as
altogether untenable.
[38] _Das Weib_, Ch. VI.
[39] For references as to a similar feeling among other savages, see
Westermarck, _History of Human Marriage_, p. 152.
[40] See e.g., Bourke, _Scatologic Rites_, pp. 141, 145, etc.
[41] Crawley, op. cit., Ch. VII.
[42] S, Reinach, _Cultes, Mythes et Religions_, p. 172.
[43] Tertullian, _De Virginibus Velandis_, cap. 17. Hottentot women, also
(Fritsch, _Eingeborene Südafrika's_, p. 311), cover their head with a
cloth, and will not be persuaded to remove it.
[44] Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidentums_, p. 196. The same custom is
found among Tuareg men though it is not imperative for the women
(Duveyrier, _Les Touaregs du Nord_, p. 291).
[45] Quoted in _Zentralblatt für Anthropologie_, 1906, Heft I, p. 21.
[46] Or rather, perhaps, because the sight of their nakedness might lead
the angels into sin. See W.G. Sumner, _Folkways_, p. 431.
[47] In Moruland, Emin Bey remarked that women are mostly naked, but some
wear a girdle, with a few leaves hanging behind. The women of some negro
tribes, who thus cover themselves behind, if deprived of this sole
covering, immediately throw themselves on the ground on their backs, in
order to hide their nakedness.
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