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)
"Male Greek statuary and the _Phoedrus_ of Plato have had a
great, though only confirmatory, influence on my feelings. My
ideal is that of Theocritus XIII, wherein Hercules was bringing
Hylas to the perfect measure of a man. My first thought is the
good of my friend, but, except for the good subjective influence
of passion, I have failed utterly.
"I am very tall, dark, rather strong, fond of games, though I do
not excel, owing to short sight. I am English, though I have
French blood, which may account for an unreservedly passionate
disposition. Though unlike other people, I am not in the least
feminine, nor has anyone thought so to my knowledge. I can
whistle easily and well. I am so masculine that I cannot even
conceive of passive sexual pleasure in women, much less in men.
(That is one of the difficulties in boy-love.) My affections are
inextricably bound up in the ideals of protection of one weaker
than myself. In the earlier days, when sexuality was less
conscious, this was a great source of romantic feeling, the
glamour of which is rather departing. I cannot understand love of
adult males, much less if they are of lower class, and the idea
of prostitution is nauseous to me.
"I think I may say that I have the esthetic and moral sense very
strongly ingrained. Indeed, they are largely synonymous with me.
I have no dramatic aptitude, and, though I flatter myself that my
taste is good in music, I have no knowledge of music. If I have a
favorite color, it is a dark crimson or blue, of the nature of
old stained glass. I derive great pleasure from all literary and
pictorial art and architecture; indeed, art of all kinds. I have
facility in writing personal lyrical verse; it affords me relief.
"I think my inversion must be congenital, as the desire of
contact with those boys I loved began before masturbation and has
lasted through private and public resorts and into university
life. The other sex does not attract me, but I am very fond of
children, girls as well as boys. (If there is sexuality in this,
which I trust there is not, it is latent)."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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