Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2: Sexual InversionEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2: Sexual Inversion
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
He is short (five feet five inches), but well built, with strong
chest and a powerful voice. His arms are weak and flabby
(feminine, he thinks), but the legs muscular. As a boy of 14 he
could walk forty miles with ease, and he played football till
near the age of 45. He is considered manly in character and
tastes, but is easily moved to tears under strong excitement.
There is no information as to the type of man to whom he is
attracted. I may observe, however, that the analytical chemist
who first evoked S.W.'s admiration was well known to me some
thirty years later, as he was my own teacher in chemistry. At
that time he was an elderly man of attractive appearance and
character, sympathetic and winning in manner to an almost
feminine extent.
S.W. has never felt the slightest sexual attraction toward the
opposite sex. The first indications of inverted feeling were at
the age of 6 or 7. Watching his father's pupils, boys of 13 or
14, from the windows, he speculated on what their organs of
generation were like. "In connection with a girl," he writes, "I
should no more have thought of such a thing than in the case of a
block of marble." About this time, indeed, he at times slept with
a sister of 10, who induced him to go through the form of sexual
connection, saying that it felt "so funny;" but he merely did
this to please her, and without the slightest interest or feeling
on his own part. This attitude became more marked with increased
knowledge, until he fell ardently in love at the age of 12.
Throughout life he has practised masturbation to a certain
extent, and is prepared to defend the practice in his own case.
His erotic dreams have been of only the vaguest and most shadowy
character. He is able to whistle. He takes a warm interest in
politics and in philanthropic work. But his chief love is for
music and he has published many musical compositions. On the
whole, and notwithstanding the persecution he has endured, he
does not regard his life as unhappy. At the same time he is
keenly conscious of the atmosphere of "Pariahdom" which surrounds
inverts, and in his own case this has never been alleviated by
any sense of companionship in misery. The facility with which
some inverts are said to recognize others of their own kind is
quite incomprehensible to him; he has never to his knowledge met
one.
HISTORY VI.--E.S., physician, aged 50.
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