The sexual question : $b A scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological studyForel, Auguste
Science
The sexual question : $b A scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study
Forel, Auguste
Sex
Intellectual occupations are facilitated by a happy love, while they
are usually hindered by the sorrows of love. Even men of science, so
proud of their calmness, are often more influenced than one would
think in their scientific opinions by their emotional sentiments.
Without a man being aware of it, his sentiments insinuate themselves
into the opinions which he believes to be of a purely intellectual
nature, and direct them unconsciously with much more power than he
generally imagines. Such influences act chiefly on individuals
disposed to sentimentality. In love, these individuals resemble
two-edged swords; the intensity of their emotional reactions and
sentiments drives them from one extreme to another, from foolish
happiness to despair or fury. The situation becomes still more grave
when such storms burst among impulsive persons of weak will and
limited intelligence. Under such circumstances ill-assorted alliances
are formed which lead to violent quarrels, and sometimes even to
crime. When jealousy comes on the scene the man often kills the woman
and commits suicide.
It would seem that such crime can only arise from egoism; this is
often the case, but not always. Despair may often lead to such acts,
without any motive of vengeance, or even of jealousy. The storm of
passion drives weak-minded persons to impulsive actions, the motives
of which are very difficult to analyze. After these tragedies of
murder preceding suicide, when the murderer survives, he often
expresses himself as follows: "I was in such a state of despair and
excitement that I saw no other issue than death for both of us."
=Prudery. Modesty.=--The sentiment of modesty originates in the fear
of everything which is novel and unusual, and is complicated by
natural timidity. This sentiment is especially strong in children. The
sentiment of sexual modesty in man thus rests on timidity and on the
fear of not doing as others do. It betrays itself toward women by
awkwardness and bashfulness behind which eroticism is often ill
concealed. The timid and bashful man carefully endeavors to hide his
sexual feelings from others. The object of modesty is in itself
immaterial to the psychology of this sentiment, and shame is sometimes
inspired not only by very different things but even by opposite
things. One youth is ashamed of appearing erotic, another of appearing
too little erotic, according to the opinion of his neighbors.
Modesty depends on the custom of covering or exposing certain parts of
the body, and people who live in a state of nature are as much ashamed
of clothes as we are ashamed of nudity. Moreover, man soon becomes
accustomed to fashion, and the same English girl who blushes at the
sight of a few inches of bare skin in her own country, finds it quite
natural to see naked negroes in the tropics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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