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)
"Up to the age of 14 I felt much perplexed and depressed by my
views on sexual desire, and was convinced that they were peculiar
to myself. This, combined with the solitary condition of my
life, and about four years' continued ill-treatment prior to my
mother's death (she had given way to drink for that period), had
a very injurious effect on my health, mental and bodily. Looking
back from my present point of view, I can understand and forgive
many things which appeared monstrous and unjust to me as a child.
My mother's life must have been a very unhappy one, and she was
bitterly disappointed in many ways, very likely in me as well. My
unfortunate, misunderstood temperament led me to be shy and
secretive, and I was often ailing, and my training was not
calculated to improve matters. At last, however, change and
freedom came, and I was sent to a boarding-school. Here, of
course, I soon met with attachments and gratifications with other
boys. I arrived at puberty, and my health improved under happier
surroundings. I was not long in discovering that my companions
viewed the pleasures that meant so much to me from an entirely
different standpoint. Their gratifications were usually
accompanied by conversation about, and a general direction of
thought toward, females. When I had turned 15, owing to monetary
difficulties I was obliged to leave school, and was soon not only
thrown on my own resources, but accountable to no one but myself
for my conduct. Of course, my next discovery was that my case, so
far from being peculiar, was a most common one, and I was quickly
initiated into all the mysteries of inversion, with its
freemasonry and 'argot.' Altogether my experience of inverts has
been a pretty wide and varied one, and I have always endeavored
to classify and compare cases which have come under my notice
with a view to arriving at some sort of conclusion or
explanation.
"I suppose it is due to female versatility or impressibility that
it is possible for me to experience mentally the emotions
attributable to either sex, according to the age and temperament
of my companion; for instance, with one older than myself,
possessing well-marked male characteristics, I am able to feel
all that surrender and dependence which is so essentially
feminine. On the other hand, if with a youth of feminine type and
behavior I can realize, with an equal amount of pleasure, the
tender, yet dominant, attitude of the male.
"I experience no particular 'horror' of women sexually. I should
imagine that my feeling toward them resembles very much what
normal people feel with regard to others of their own sex." M.N.
remarks that he cannot whistle, and that his favorite color is
green.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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