Studies on the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5 by Havelock Ellis. - HTML preview

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obvious preliminary would seem to be a study of the castrated. If we know

the special peculiarities of those who by removal of the sexual glands at

a very early age have been deprived of all ability to present the

manifestations of detumescence, we shall probably be in possession of a

type which is the reverse of that which we may expect in persons of a

vigorously erotic temperament.

The most general characteristics of eunuchs would appear to be an unusual

tendency to put on fat, a notably greater length of the legs, absence of

hair in the sexual and secondary sexual regions, a less degree of

pigmentation, as noted both in the castrated negro and the white man, a

puerile larynx and puerile voice. In character they are usually described

as gentle, conciliatory, and charitable.

There can be little doubt that castration in man tends to lead to

lengthening of the legs (tibia and fibula) at puberty, from

delayed ossification of the epiphyses. The hands and feet are

also frequently longer and sometimes the forearms.

At the same

time the bones are more slender. The pelvis also is narrower. The

eunuchs of Cairo are said to be easily seen in a crowd from their

tall stature. (Collineau, quoting Lortet, _Revue Mensuelle de

l'Ecole d'Anthropologie_, May, 1896.) The castrated Skoptzy show

increased stature, and, it seems, large ears, with decreased

chest and head (L. Pittard, _Revue Scientifique_, June 20, 1903.)

Féré shows that in most of these respects the eunuch resembles

beardless and infantile subjects. ("Les Proportions des Membres

et les Caractères Sexuels," _Journal de l'Anatomie et de la

Physiologie_, November-December, 1897.) Similar phenomena are

found in animals generally. Sellheim, carefully investigating

castrated horses, swine, oxen and fowls, found retardation of

ossification, long and slender extremities, long, broad, but low

skull, relatively smaller pelvis and small thorax.

("Zur Lehre

von den Sekundären Geschlechtscharakteren,"

_Beiträge zur

Geburtshülfe und Gynäkologie_, 1898, summarized in _Centralblatt

für Anthropologie_, 1900, Heft IV.)

As regards the mental qualities and moral character of the

castrated, Griffiths considers that there is an undue prejudice

against eunuchs, and refers to Narses, who was not only one of

the first generals of the Roman Empire, but a man of highly

estimable character. (_Lancet_, March 30, 1895.) Matignon, who

has carefully studied Chinese eunuchs, points out that they

occupy positions of much responsibility, and, though regarded in

many respects as social outcasts, possess very excellent and

amiable moral qualities (_Archives Cliniques de Bordeaux_, May,

1896.) In America Everett Flood finds that epileptics and

feeble-minded boys are mentally and morally benefited by

castration. ("Notes on the Castration of Idiot Children,"

_American Journal of Psychology_, January, 1899.) It is often

forgotten that the physical and psychic qualities associated with

and largely dependent on the ability to experience the impulse of

detumescence, while essential to the perfect man, involve many

egoistic, aggressive and acquisitive characteristics which are of

little intellectual value, and at the same time inimical to many

moral virtues.

We have a further standard--positive this time rather than negative--to

aid us in determining the erotic temperament: the phenomena of puberty.

The efflorescence of puberty is essentially the manifestation of the

ability to experience detumescence. It is therefore reasonable to suppose

that the individuals in whom the special phenomena of puberty develop most

markedly are those in whom detumescence is likely to be most vigorous. If

such is the case we should expect to find the erotic temperament marked by

developed larynx and deep voice, a considerable degree of pigmentary

development in hair and skin, and a marked tendency to hairiness; while

in women there should be a pronounced growth of the breasts and

pelvis.[144]

There is yet another standard by which we may measure the individual's

aptitude for detumescence: the presence of those activities which are most

prominently brought into play during the process of detumescence. The

individual, that is to say, who is organically most apt to manifest the

physiological activities which mainly make up the process of detumescence,

is most likely to be of pronounced erotic temperament.

"Erotic persons are of motor type," remark Vaschide and Vurpas, "and we

may say generally that nearly all persons of motor type are erotic." The

state of detumescence is one of motor and muscular energy and of great

vascular activity, so that habitual energy of motor response and an active

circulation may reasonably be taken to indicate an aptitude for the

manifestation of detumescence.

These three types may be said, therefore, to furnish us valuable though

somewhat general indications. The individual who is farthest removed from

the castrated type, who presents in fullest degree the characters which

begin to emerge at the period of puberty, and who reveals a physiological

aptitude for the vigorous manifestation of those activities which are

called into action during detumescence, is most likely to be of erotic

temperament. The most cautious description of the characteristics of this

temperament given by modern scientific writers, unlike the more detailed

and hazardous descriptions of the early physiognomists, will be found to

be fairly true to the standards thus presented to us.

The man of sexual type, according to Biérent (_La Puberté_, p.

148), is hairy, dark and deep-voiced.

"The men most liable to satyriasis," Bouchereau states (art.

"Satyriasis," _Dictionnaire Encyclopédique des Sciences

Médicales_), "are those with vigorous nervous system, developed

muscles, abundant hair on body, dark complexion, and white

teeth."

Mantegazza, in his _Fisiologia del Piacere_, thus describes the

sexual temperament: "Individuals of nervous temperament, those

with fine and brown skins, rounded forms, large lips and very

prominent larynx enjoy in general much more than those with

opposite characteristics. A universal tradition," he adds,

"describes as lascivious humpbacks, dwarfs, and in general

persons of short stature and with long noses."

In a case of nymphomania in a young woman, described by Alibert

(and quoted by Laycock, _Nervous Diseases of Women_, p. 28) the

hips, thighs and legs were remarkably plump, while the chest and

arms were completely emaciated. In a somewhat similar case

described by Marc in his _De la Folie_ a peasant woman, who from

an early age had experienced sexual hyperæsthesia, so that she

felt spasmodic voluptuous feelings at the sight of a man, and was

thus the victim of solitary excesses and of spasmodic movements

which she could not repress, the upper part of the body was very

thin, the hips, legs and thighs highly developed.

In his work on _Uterine and Ovarian Inflammation_

(1862, p. 37)

Tilt observes: "The restless, bashful eye, and changing

complexion, in presence of a person of the opposite sex, and a

nervous restlessness of body, ever on the move, turning and

twisting on sofa or chair, are the best indications of sexual

temperament."

An extremely sensual little girl of 8, who was constantly

masturbating when not watched, although brought up by nuns, was

described by Busdraghi (_Archivio di Psichiatria_, fas. i, 1888,

p. 53) as having chestnut hair, bright black eyes, an elevated

nose, small mouth, pleasant round face, full colored cheeks, and

plump and healthy aspect.

A highly intelligent young Italian woman with strong and somewhat

perverted sexual impulses is described as of attractive

appearance, with olive complexion, small black almond-shaped

eyes, dilated pupils, oblique thin eyebrows, very thick black

hair, rather prominent cheek-bones, largely developed jaw, and

with abundant down on lower part of cheeks and on upper lip.

(_Archivio di Psichiatria_, 1899, fasc. v-vi.) As the type of the sensual woman in word and act, led by her

passions to commit various sexual offenses, Ottolenghi describes

(_Archivio di Psichiatria_, vol. xii, fasc. v-vi, p.

496) a woman

of 32 who attempted to kill her lover. The daughter of parents

who were neurotic and themselves very erotic, she was a highly

intelligent and vivacious woman, with a pleasing and open face,

very thick dark chestnut hair, large cheek-bones, adipose

buttocks almost resembling those of a Hottentot, and very thick

pubic hair. She was very fond of salt things. Sexual inclination

began at the age of 7.

Adler and Moll remark, very truly, that, so far at least as women are

concerned, sexual anæsthesia or sexual proclivity cannot be unfailingly

read on the features. Every woman desires to please, and coquetry is the

sign of a cold, rather than of an erotic temperament.[145] It may be added

that a considerable degree of congenital sexual anæsthesia by no means

prevents a woman from being beautiful and attractive, though it must

probably still always be said that, as Roubaud points out,[146] the woman

of cold and intellectual temperament, the "femme de tête," however

beautiful and skillful she may be, cannot compete in the struggle for love

with the woman whose qualities are of the heart and of the emotions. But

it seems sufficiently clear that the practical observations of skilled and

experienced observers agree in attributing to persons of erotic type

certain general characteristics which accord with those negative and

positive standards we may frame on the basis of castration, of puberty,

and of detumescence. It may be worth while to note a few of these

characteristics briefly.

The abnormal lengthening of the long bones at the age of puberty in the

castrated is, as we have seen, very pronounced. There is little tendency

to associate length of limb with an erotic temperament, and a certain

amount of data as well as of more vague opinion points in the opposite

direction. The Arabs would appear to believe that it is short rather than

tall people in whom the sexual instinct is strongly developed, and we read

in the _Perfumed Garden_: "Under all circumstances little women love

coitus more and evince a stronger affection for the virile member than

women of a large size." In his elaborate investigation of criminals Marro

found that prostitutes and women guilty of sexual offenses, as also male

sexual offenders, tend to be short and thick set.[147]

In European

folk-lore the thick, bull neck is regarded as a sign of strong

sexuality.[148] Mantegazza refers to a strong sexual temperament as being

associated with arrest or disorder of bony development, and Marro suggests

that the proverbial salacity of rachitic individuals may be due to an

increased activity of the sexual organs.[149] It may be added that

acromegaly, with its excessive bony growths, tends to be associated with

premature sexual involution.

A further point which is frequently mentioned in the case of women is the

development of the chief secondary sexual regions: the pelvis and the

breasts. It is, indeed, almost inevitable that there should be some degree

of correlation between the aptitude for bearing children and the aptitude

for experiencing detumescence. The reality of such a connection is not

only evidenced by medical observations, but receives further testimony in

popular beliefs. In Italy women with large buttocks are considered wanton,

and among the South Slavs they are regarded as especially fruitful.[150]

Blumenbach asserted that precocious venery will enlarge the breasts, and

believed that he had found evidence of this among young London

prostitutes.[151]

The association of the aptitude for detumescence with a tendency to a deep

rather than to a high voice, both in men and women, has frequently been

noted and has seldom been denied. The onset of puberty always affects the

voice; in general, Biérent states, the more bass the voice is the more

marked is the development of the sexual apparatus; "a very robust man,

with very developed sexual organs, and very dark and abundant hairy

system, a man of strong puberty in a word, is nearly always a bass."[152]

The influence of sexual excitement in deepening the voice is shown by the

rules of sexual hygiene prescribed to tenors, while a bass has less need

to observe similar precautions. In women every phase of sexual

life--puberty, menstruation, coitus, pregnancy--tends to affect the voice

and always by giving it a deeper character. The deepening of the voice by

sexual intercourse was an ancient Greek observation, and Martial refers to

a woman's good or bad singing as an index to her recent sexual habits.

Prostitutes tend to have a deep voice. Venturi points out that married

women preserve a fresh voice to a more advanced age than spinsters, this

being due to the precocious senility in the latter of an unused function.

Such a phenomenon indicates that the relationship of detumescence to the

deepening of the voice is not quite simple. This is further indicated by

the fact that in robust men abstinence still further deepens the voice

(the monk of melodrama always has a bass voice), while excessive or

precocious sexual indulgence tends to be associated with the same kind of

puerile voice as is found in those persons in whom pubertal development

has not been carried very far, or who are of what Griffiths terms

eunuchoid type. Idiot boys, who are often sexually undeveloped, tend to

have a high voice, while idiot girls (who often manifest marked sexual

proclivities) not infrequently have a deep voice.[153]

Bright dilated eyes are among the phenomena of detumescence, and are very

frequently noted in persons of a pronounced erotic temperament. This is,

indeed, an ancient observation, and Burton says of people with a black,

lively, and sparkling eye, "without question they are most amorous,"

drawing his illustrations mostly from classic literature.[154] Tardieu

described the erotic woman as having bright eyes, and Heywood Smith states

that the eyes of lascivious women resemble, though in a less degree, those

of the insane.[155] Sexual excitement is one among many causes--intellectual excitement, pain, a loud noise, even any sensory

irritation--which produce dilatation of the pupils and enlargement of the

palpebral fissure, with some protrusion of the eyeball.

The influence of

the sexual system upon the eye appears to be far less potent in men than

in women.[156] Sexual desire is, however, by no means the only irritant

within the sexual sphere which may thus influence the eye; morbid

irritations may produce the same effect. Milner Fothergill, in his book on

_Indigestion_, vividly describes the appearance of the eyes sometimes

seen in ovarian disorder: "The glittering flash which glances out from

some female irides is the external indication of ovarian irritation, and

'the ovarian gleam' has features quite its own. The most marked instance

which ever came under my notice was due to irritation in the ovaries,

which had been forced down in front of the uterus and been fixed there by

adhesions. Here there was little sexual proclivity, but the eyes were very

remarkable. They flashed and glittered unceasingly, and at times perfect

lightning bolts shot from them. Usually there is a bright glittering sheen

in them which contrasts with the dead look in the irides of sexual excess

or profuse uterine discharges."

The activity of the glandular secretions, and especially those of the

skin, during detumescence, would lead us to expect that such secretory

activity is an index to an aptitude for detumescence. As a matter of fact

it is occasionally, though not frequently, noted by medical observers. It

is stated that the erotic temperament is characterized by a special

odor.[157] The activity of the sweat-glands is seldom referred to by

medical observers in describing persons of erotic temperament, although

the descriptions of novelists not infrequently contain allusions to this

point, and the literature of an earlier age shows that the tendency to

perspiration, especially the moist hand, was regarded as a sure sign of a

sensual temperament. "The moist-handed Madonna Imperia, a most rare and

divine creature," remarks Lazarillo in Middleton's comedy _Blurt,

Master-Constable_, to quote one of many allusions to this point in the

Elizabethan drama.

The lips are sometimes noted as red and everted, perhaps thick[158];

Tardieu remarked that the typically erotic woman has thick red lips. This

corresponds with the characteristic type of the satyr in classic statues

as in later paintings; his lips are always thick and everted. Fullness,

redness, and eversion of the lips are correlated with good breathing, the

absence of anæmia, laughter, a well-fleshed face.

This kind of mouth indicates, perhaps, not so much a congenitally

erotic temperament, as an abandonment to impulse.

The opposite

type of mouth--with inverted, thin, and retracted lips--would

appear to be found with especial frequency in persons who

habitually repress their impulses on moral grounds.

Any kind of

effort to restrain involuntary muscular action may lead to

retraction of the lips: the effort to overcome anger or fear, or

even the resistance to a strong desire to urinate or defecate. In

religious young men, however, it becomes habitual and fixed. I

recall a small band of medical students, gathered together from a

large medical school, who were accustomed to meet together for

prayer and Bible-reading; the majority showed this type of mouth

to a very marked degree: pale faces, with drawn, retracted lips.

It may be termed the Christian or pious _facies_. It is much less

frequently seen in religious women (unless of masculine type),

doubtless because religion for women is in a much less degree

than for men a moral discipline.

It may be added that an interesting form of this contraction of

the lips, and one that is not purely repressive, is that which

indicates the state of muscular tension associated with the

impulse to guard and protect. In this form the contracted mouth

is the index of tenderness, and is characteristic of the mother

who is watching over the infant she is suckling at her breast. I

have observed precisely the same expression in the face of a boy

of 14 with a large congenital scrotal hernia; when the tumor was

being examined his lower lip became retracted, well marked lines

appearing from the angles downwards, though the upper lip

retained its normal expression It was precisely the tender look

we may see in the faces of mothers who are watching anxiously

over their offspring, and the emotion is evidently the same in

both cases: solicitude for a sensitive and tenderly guarded

object.

The degree of pigmentation is clearly correlated with sexual vigor. "In

general," Heusinger laid down, in 1823, "the quantity of pigment is

proportional to the functional effectiveness of the genital organs." This

connection is so profound that it may be traced very widely throughout the

organic world.

The connection between pigmentation and sexual activity is very ancient.

Even leaving out of account the wedding apparel of animals, nearly always

gorgeous in scales and plumage and hair, the sexual orifice shows a more

or less marked tendency to pigmentation during the breeding season from

fishes upward, while in mammals the darker pigmentation of this region is

a constant phenomenon in sexually mature individuals.[159]

In the human species both the negative standard of castration and the

positive standard of puberty alike indicate a correlation of this kind.

Those individuals in whom puberty never fully develops and who are

consequently said to be affected by infantilism, reveal a relative absence

of pigment in the sexual centers which are normally pigmented to a high

degree.[160] Among those Asiatic races who extirpate the ovaries in young

girls the skin remains white in the perineum, round the anus, and in the

armpits.[161] Even in mature women who undergo ovariotomy, as Kepler

found, the pigmentation of the nipples and areola disappears, as well as

of the perineum and anus, the skin taking on a remarkable whiteness.

Normally the sexual centers, and in a high degree the genital orifice,

represent the maximum of pigmentation, and under some circumstances this

is clearly visible even in infancy. Thus babies of mixed black and white

blood may show no traces of negro ancestry at birth, but there will always

be increased pigmentation about the external genitalia.[162] The linea

fusca, which reaches from the pubes to the navel and occasionally to the

ensiform cartilage, is a line of sexual pigmentation sometimes regarded as

characteristic of pregnancy, but as Andersen, of Copenhagen, has found by

the examination of several hundred children of both sexes, it exists in a

slight form in about 75 per cent. of young girls, and in almost as large a

proportion of boys. But there is no doubt that it tends to increase with

age as well as to become marked at pregnancy. At puberty there is a

general tendency to changes in pigmentation; thus Godin found that in 28

per cent, adolescent changes occurred in the eyes and hair at this period,

the hair becoming darker, though the eyes sometimes become lighter. Ammon,

in his investigation of conscripts at the age of 20

(_post_, p. 196),

discovered the significant fact that the eyes and hair darken _pari passu_

with sexual development. In women, during menstruation, there is a general

tendency to pigmentation; this is especially obvious around the eyes, and

in some cases black rings of true pigment form in this position. Even the

skin of the negro women of Loango sometimes becomes a few shades darker

during menstruation.[163] During pregnancy this tendency to pigmentation

reaches its climax. Pregnancy constantly gives rise to pigmentation of the

face, the neck, the nipples, the abdomen, and this is especially marked in

brunettes.

This association of pigmentation and sexual aptitudes has been recognized

in the popular lore of some peoples. Thus the Sicilians, who admire brown

skin and have no liking either for a fair skin or light hair, believe that

a white woman is incapable of responding to love. It is the brown woman

who feels love; as it is said in Sicilian dialect:

"Fimmina scura, fimmina

amurusa."[164]

The dependence of pigmentation upon the sexual system is shown by

the fact that irritation of the genital organs by disease will

frequently suffice to produce a high degree of pigmentation. This

may the neck, the trunk, the hands. Simpson long since noted that

uterine irritation apart from pregnancy may produce pigmentation

of the areolæ of the nipples (_Obstetric Works_, vol. i, p. 345).

Engelmann discussed the subject and gave cases, "The Hystero-Neuroses," pp. 124-139, in _Gynæcological Transactions_,

vol. xii, 1887; and a summary of a memoir by Fouquet on this

subject in _La Gynécologie_, February, 1903, will be found in