Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5: Erotic Symbolism; The Mechanism of Detumescence; The Psychic State in PregnancyEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5: Erotic Symbolism; The Mechanism of Detumescence; The Psychic State in Pregnancy
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
We thus see that it is quite justifiable to admit a type of person who
possesses a more than average aptitude for detumescence. Such persons are
more likely to be short than tall; they will show a full development of
the secondary sexual characters; the voice will tend to be deep and the
eyes bright; the glandular activity of the skin will probably be marked,
the lips everted; there is a tendency to a more than average degree of
pigmentation, and there is frequently an abnormal prevalence of hair on
some parts of the body. While none of these signs, taken separately, can
be said to have any necessary connection with the sexual impulse, taken
altogether they indicate an organism that responds to the instinct of
detumescence with special aptitude or with marked energy. In these
respects observation, both scientific and popular, concords with the
probabilities suggested by the three standards in this matter which have
already been set forth.
No generalization, however, can here be set down in an absolute and
unqualified manner. There are definite reasons why this should be so.
There is, for instance, the highly important consideration that the sexual
impulse of the individual may be conspicuous in two quite distinct ways.
It may assume prominence because the individual possesses a highly
vigorous and well-nourished organism, or its prominence may be due to
mental irritation in a very morbid individual. In the latter
case--although occasionally the two sets of conditions are combined--most
of the signs we might expect in the former case may be absent. Indeed, the
sexual impulses which proceed from a morbid psychic irritability do not in
most cases indicate any special aptitude for detumescence at all; in that
largely lies their morbid character.
Again, just in the same way that the exaggerated impulse itself may either
be healthy or morbid, so the various characters which we have found to
possess some value as signs of the impulse may themselves either be
healthy or morbid. This is notably the case as regards an abnormal growth
of hair on the body, more especially when it appears on regions where
normally there is little or no hair. Such hypertrichosis is frequently
degenerative in character, though still often associated with the sexual
system. When, however, it is thus a degenerative character of sexual
nature, having its origin in some abnormal foetal condition or later
atrophy of the ovaries, it is no necessary indication of any aptitude for
detumescence.
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