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)
This statement is of interest because it may well lead us to
suppose that the writer, who is of balanced mind and sound
judgment, possesses a confirmed homosexual outlook on life.
While, however, it is the rule for the permanent direction of the
sexual impulse to be decided by the age of 20, that age is too
early to permit us to speak positively, especially in a youth
whose adolescent undifferentiated or homosexual impulses are
fostered by university life. This proved to be! the case with
T.D., who, though doubtless possessing a psychically anomalous
strain, is yet predominantly masculine. On leaving the university
his heterosexuality asserted itself normally. About six years
after the earlier statement, he wrote that he had fallen in love.
"I am on the eve of marrying a girl of nearly my own age. She has
sympathy as well as knowledge in my fields of study; it was thus
easier for me to explain my past, and I found that she could not
understand the moral objections to homosexual practices. My own
opinion always was that the moral objections were very
considerable, but might in some cases be overcome. In any case I
have entirely lost my sexual attraction toward boys; though I am
glad to say that the appreciation of their charm and grace
remains. My instincts, therefore, have undergone a considerable
change, but the change is not entirely in the direction of
normality. The instinct for sodomy in the proper sense of the
word used to be unintelligible to me; since the object of
attraction has become a woman this instinct is mixed with the
normal in my desire. Further, an element which much troubled me,
as being most foreign to my ideal feelings, has not quite left
me--the indecent and often scatologic curiosity about immature
girls. I can only hope that the realization of the normal in
marriage may finally kill these painful aberrations. I should add
that the practice of masturbation has been abandoned."
HISTORY XII.--Aged 24. Father and mother both living; the latter
is of a better social standing than the father. He is much
attached to his mother, and she gives him some sympathy. He has a
brother who is normally attracted to women. He himself has never
been attracted to women, and takes no interest in them nor in
their society.
At the age of 4 he first became conscious of an attraction for
older males. From the ages of 11 and 19, at a large
grammar-school, he had relationships with about one hundred boys.
Needless to add, he considers homosexuality extremely common in
schools. It was, however, the Oscar Wilde case which first opened
his eyes to the wide prevalence of homosexuality, and he
considers that the publicity of that case has done much, if not
to increase homosexuality, at all events to make it more
conspicuous and outspoken.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account