# The Sexual Life of the Child/Chapter 8

We have now to consider a matter which bears but indirectly on the sexual life of the child, and yet may be of the greatest importance in relation to that life; we have to consider cases in which the child is the object of sexual practices by others. I have previously referred to instances in which one child loves another. But the child may also be an object of sexual desire to adults; for in certain men and women, sexual inclination is directed towards children. By von Krafft-Ebing this state is termed paedophilia erotica.
Not all the cases in which sexual acts are performed on children belong to the province of paedophilia. It is well known that in certain countries--Germany is one of them--a superstition prevails among certain strata of the population to the effect that venereal diseases may be cured by means of sexual intercourse with children. Where this is the motive of the sexual act, the case does not belong to the class of paedophilia; and many other sexual acts in which children play a part must also be excepted from this class. It sometimes happens that debauchees, after having practised all kinds of venereal excesses, finally take to misusing children; nursemaids, again, and other servants, will carry out all sorts of sexual acts on the children entrusted to their care, sometimes merely in order to quiet the children, sometimes "for fun." Von Krafft-Ebing refers to a special group of young men who do not feel sufficient confidence in their sexual potency to attempt intercourse with grown women, also to masturbators affected with psychical impotence; such persons are apt to seek an equivalent for coitus in improper contacts with little girls.
One very large group of cases belongs to the sphere of psychiatry. In quite a number of congenital and acquired states of mental defect or disorder, sexual acts performed on children appear as symptoms of moral and intellectual degeneration. In this connexion may be mentioned, congenital imbecility, progressive paralysis (paralytic dementia), senile dementia, chronic alcoholism, cerebral syphilis, and post-epileptic dementia; with or without these conditions, epileptic disturbances of consciousness may lead to sexual offences against children.
None of these cases have anything to do with paedophilia erotica. And there are yet other cases which it is desirable to distinguish from this class, especially those cases in which a marked hyperaesthesia was the determining cause of the sexual act. In such a case, it is to the person thus affected almost a matter of indifference with whom the sexual act is performed. Anything warm and alive will do, and inasmuch as a child is often most readily available, a child often serves as victim, whilst in other cases an animal is utilised.
Fritz Leppmann,[114] to whom we are indebted for a full and excellent study of cases of this kind, distinguishes the influences which are subjective to the offender from those which operate from without. Among the latter he refers especially to the Schlafbursch or night-lodger;[115] it may be a young man in his prime, sleeping in the same room or even in the same bed with little girls; also to unemployment, which very readily gives occasion for sexual excesses; to the practice of allowing little girls to run about without proper supervision; to premature sexual development in children, which renders these latter especially liable to be the subjects of sexual misconduct; to child-prostitution, often at the instigation of the parents; to the lack of proper sexual reserve; to obscenity, dances, and popular festivals, whereby the sexual impulse may be stimulated; to unhappy marriage; and, above all, to the effects of alcohol. Occupation and position have also to be considered, for, in the case of many males, an authoritative position (that of schoolmaster, priest, doctor, employer, stepfather, tutor) gives extraordinary facilities for committing sexual offences against children.
Although children of all ages, and even infants in arms, may be the victims of sexual misconduct, in the majority of such cases we have to do with children who are no longer quite young; and this is true, more especially, of most cases of paedophilia erotica. This latter passion may be directed against children of the same sex as the offender, but more commonly it is directed towards children of the opposite sex. Not infrequently, however, the impulse in such persons lacks sharp differentiation, the paedophile showing inclination, now for immature boys, now again for immature girls. Occasionally, paedophilia is the only form in which sexual inclination exhibits itself in the persons concerned; but in other cases the paedophilic impulse alternates with normal sexual feelings, or with some other perverse sexual manifestation. A homosexual man, for instance, may one day be sexually attracted by children, the next by adult males. Less widely known, although, as I think, far commoner than is usually believed, are the cases in which women are sexually attracted by immature boys. Some of those cases of which mention has previously been made, in which nursemaids and other female servants seduce boys to the practice of masturbation, belong to this category; but this does not exhaust cases of such a nature. It is not necessary, when we see a woman caressing a boy, to assume at once and in every case that a sexual motive is at work; but unprejudiced observation will show that many of these cases are sexually determined. An interesting case of this nature has been published by Magnan.[116] It was that of a lady twenty-nine years of age, with strongly marked hereditary taint, and suffering from very various mental abnormalities, with five nephews, the eldest of whom was thirteen years of age. At first, this eldest nephew was the object of her desires. "The sight of him caused in her intense sexual excitement; she experienced voluptuous sensations, which she was quite unable to repress, sighed, rolled her eyes, and became flushed; sometimes she had spasmus vaginae, with local secretion." When this boy grew older, the next brother took his place in her desires; and in succession these were transferred to the other three. At the time when Magnan saw the patient, her sexual inclinations were directed towards the youngest nephew, a boy three years of age.
In many cases, the sexual inclination towards children is primary, existing from the first appearance of the sexual impulse; or it way appear simultaneously with other inclinations without there having been, as far as can be learned, marked previous sexual excesses. There can be no doubt whatever that in such cases we have to a large extent to do with morbid personalities. No small part in these cases is played by a purely psychological factor, namely, the innocence of the child. We know that also in the case of the normal sexual inclination of the male, innocence on the part of the female exerts a notable stimulus, in which connexion the question whether we have to do here with a result of conventional opinions or with an inborn mental disposition, must naturally be left open.[117] But it is a fact that just as the knowledge of a woman's immoral past, or obscene remarks or gestures on her part, will in many men suffice to inhibit sexual desire; so, on the other hand, for many men, innocence in the woman heightens the stimulus. In many cases of desire for immature girls, the physical stimulus of the narrow vagina may also contribute to increase libido; but the part this plays is probably not considerable. Apart from the fact that in many cases in which men have sexual inclination towards such girls, immissio membri does not take place at all, this consideration would in no way explain those not very uncommon cases in which adult women experience sexual inclination for immature boys.
In connexion with this last point, it is of interest to recall the fact that in former days dwarfs, as well as fools, were kept at many courts. In view of the tender relationship which obtained between many ladies of position and such dwarfs, it has sometimes been inferred that the inclination was a sexual one, the small size and the undeveloped condition of the dwarf exercising a peculiar stimulus.
The depraver of children satisfies his desires in very various ways. It will readily be understood that the progressive paralytic (paralytic dement) will act in one way, and the true paedophile in another. I shall not, however, discuss these details here, but shall merely endeavour to give some general ideas on the subject. Often, and especially at first, the depraver of children merely seeks opportunities for seeing children; then he wants to touch the children with his hands, and often to handle their genital organs; and while attempting this, or while doing it, he has ejaculation. In other cases he presses the child more and more closely into contact with himself, and especially against his own genital organs. Finally, we may have more complete sexual acts; and, especially when the child is a girl, there may be attempts at intercourse, and even defloration; where the child is a boy, pseudo-coitus may take place. The depraver of children gains his opportunities by appeals to the child's peculiar weaknesses. He will, for instance, tempt the child by the offer of sweets, and in this way will obviously often gain his ends. Many such persons hang about in the neighbourhood of a school or a children's playground, simply with this end in view. Some years ago the police of a certain large town were informed that "child-lovers" haunted a particular place. It appears that here the children were in the habit of swinging on a chain suspended between two pillars, and that the watchers waited to catch a glimpse of the children's genital organs, or merely of their bare legs, when their petticoats flew up occasionally in the act of swinging. Many paedophiles become sexually excited at the mere sight of children sympathetic to them. In other cases, by no means rare, men experience sexual excitement whenever they see a little girl with short petticoats; these men will follow such little girls all over the place, without, as a rule, speaking to them or interfering with them in any way, being withheld from doing so either by the fear of punishment or by moral restraint. To many the mere sight of the child appears to afford sufficient sexual gratification; and to others the simple contact of their hands with the child suffices, and nothing more is attempted. But, in other cases, handling the child's genital organs plays the chief part, frequently because the offender can himself obtain sexual gratification only through inducing sexual excitement in the child and watching this excitement. Sometimes, however, the offender has no interest in the child's genital organs; far from being excited sexually by regarding or handling these organs, he may even find them repulsive; but in such cases the sight of general nakedness often induces sexual excitement. This is often associated with sadistic feelings, and this alike in men and in women. In other cases, a woman will make attempts at coitus with a little boy, having first induced erection of his penis by manipulating the organ, by tickling it, or in some other way. Finally, there are cases in which all kinds of other actions are performed. To the more complex perversions I shall return. Here I shall only point out that children may sometimes be utilised for the wildest orgies. A case was formerly published by Tardieu, in which servant-maids in conjunction with their lovers carried out with the children under their care all sorts of perverse acts: cunnilinctus, masturbation, the introduction of various objects into the vagina and the anus. Finally, it may be pointed out that in the lack of an object, the paedophile will naturally satisfy himself with the aid of imaginative ideas, masturbating the while, or he may be content with purely psychical onanism. We must not forget that the imagination usually suggests stimuli far stronger than those furnished by objective experience, and this applies in a most marked degree to paedophilia. Many paedophiles also satisfy themselves with the aid of erotic and obscene literature, containing descriptions of the acts in which they are interested, or with pictures of such acts. Among obscene pictures and photographs, not a few depict sexual acts performed with children; and there is no doubt that these are sometimes pictures taken from the life, children having actually been photographed in such obscene attitudes. The Latin countries appear to be the principal source of such pictures and photographs.
It will readily be understood that the performance upon children of sexual acts is a very serious matter for the children themselves, especially as affecting their sexual morality. It is true that in many instances paedophilia does not entail any consequences for the child, which completely fails to understand that it has been made use of for perverse purposes. The offender may know how to mask his actions, so that even a third person who is looking on may detect nothing more than tender caresses, and may remain altogether unaware of the existence of any sexual excitement. But in other cases the consequences for the children may be extremely grave. Not only is the child in this way prematurely introduced to sexual practices, but its moral corruption may result. The danger to the child is greater in view of the fact that the child depraver often fails to realise that he is trespassing against the child's rights. I remember a gentleman who had been punished with imprisonment on account of improper relations with a boy, and who continued to assure me that he had done nothing wrong in touching the boy's penis. In other cases, well-educated young men and women have no idea that unchaste conduct with children is an offence which may entail severe punishment, even in cases in which the child's genital organs are not touched.
It should not need demonstration that such sexual malpractices on children may have serious consequences for these latter. A girl may suffer most severely, alike morally and socially, even though defloration has not been effected. It is quite conceivable that in such a way a girl may be brought to prostitution. Certain investigators have studied the question at what age defloration had been effected in women leading a life of prostitution, and have ascertained that in many cases this had taken place in childhood. Martineau[118] reports cases in which defloration had been effected at the age of nine or ten years. Experience teaches that boys also, especially when they have been seduced by sexual inverts, are very apt to adopt a life of prostitution. It must also be remembered that girls may occasionally become pregnant and give birth to a child even before they have themselves passed the years of childhood--another source of social danger. In addition, we have to reckon with dangers to physical health; among these we have the direct consequences of premature misuse of the genital organs, and, above all, the danger of venereal infection. In a great many cases, sexual offences against children are brought to light only when, on examining the child, gonorrhoeal or syphilitic infection is disclosed. Many authorities hold that the superstitious hope of curing venereal disease by sexual intercourse with an innocent child, is a comparatively frequent source of such infection in children. Freud, to whose views I have referred several times before, believes that sexual attempts on children may give rise in the latter to severe neuroses--an idea which forms an important part of the etiological system put forward by this author.
We must regard it as a peculiar danger of sexual relations on the part of a child with an adult, that sexual perversion may be induced. I may refer to what I said about this matter on pp. #-#. The chief danger does not arise from the fact that the child is occasionally utilised for a homosexual act, but from the circumstance that in the period of the undifferentiated sexual impulse, the child's sexual interest, and especially its contrectation impulse, is directed towards one of its own sex, and that thereby a permanent perversion may be induced. Edward Carpenter,[119] indeed, considers that in such homosexual relationships the younger partner makes the advances. "The younger boy looks on the other as a hero, loves to be with him, thrills with pleasure at his words of praise or kindness." In his general views on this question, Carpenter takes a somewhat peculiar position. Unfortunately, he overlooks the fact that the elder is not to be exonerated because the younger made the first advances--at any rate, in cases in which the elder is in a position to understand the true nature of such relationships. Everyday experience shows that in many cases the elder person is of such an age that there can be no doubt upon this point. And apart from this, it is not usual to find that it is the younger person who makes the sexual advances. In most of the cases which have come under my own notice, it was unquestionably the elder who began to lead the younger astray. The matter is not as harmless as Carpenter makes out. The same considerations apply to sexual intercourse with immature girls. Beyond doubt, there are many girls who meet sexual advances half-way, owing to the premature development of their own sexual impulse; and some such girls go more than halfway. A common practice of paedophiles is to begin by arousing sexual excitement in the child, either by manual stimulation, or else by showing the child erotic pictures, or by reading to it from an erotic book. We must also admit that in certain cases the child meets sexual advances halfway, not so much under the stimulus of its own sexual impulse, but for other reasons; for example, the child may be following the instructions of its parents, who regard their child as a marketable commodity, either because they have been well paid by the paedophile, or because they wish to use the child as an instrument in a blackmailing scheme. The point last mentioned is one of great importance--the fact that intercourse on the part of a grown person with a child under fourteen years of age is sometimes deliberately instigated by the child's parents or guardians, with the sole object of securing thereby a permanent income from blackmail. In other cases, the instigation may not come from the parents or guardians, or not directly from these, but from professional procuresses, who have undertaken to satisfy the desires of sexual perverts. I may refer in this connexion to the Pall Mall Gazette revelations of the London of nearly a generation ago.
False accusations on the part of children, especially on the part of little girls, who allege themselves to have been the subjects of sexual assaults, have been mentioned in an earlier part of this work, but the matter is one of such outstanding importance, that its further consideration will not come amiss. An experienced Berlin lawyer has recently emphasised this danger.[120] He shows that it is a regular practice to utilise the existence of certain punishments as a means of getting undesired persons out of the way, by bringing false accusations against them. Immediately after the Franco-German War, these accusations dealt with offences against the laws providing for the safety of the Empire and of the individual States of the German Confederation. At a later date, persons seeking revenge made frequent use of accusations of lèse majesté. Still more recently, it is the section in the German legal code dealing with sexual offences against children, which is chiefly utilised for such purposes. "The good-natured householder who, because it is his birthday, presents a few sweets to children assembled in the courtyard of his house, is suspected of an offence against sexual morals;" when he finds it necessary to give warning to his untrustworthy hall-porter, this latter revenges himself by lodging a false accusation of this kind. It is a melancholy fact that an experienced barrister should find it necessary to make the following comprehensive declaration: "As a rule it is of no use for the accused person to call expert witnesses, who give the court long lectures upon the significance of children's evidence, and upon the import of evidence in general. In our own experience, one accused of such offences rarely escapes conviction. He is hardly ever spared the terrible ordeal of examination and cross-examination. On all hands we hear the loud complaints of such persons, declaring that they have been wrongfully condemned." My own experience in the law courts leads me to accept these statements without reserve, and I regard as one of the gravest scandals of our present penal system the ease with which a girl who makes a pretty curtsy to the court, and who appears to be shamefaced when giving her evidence, is believed by the judge or magistrate. The dangers involved in this are obvious to many, especially to those who have much to do with children. An actor personally known to me, constantly received advances both from married women and from young girls, was pestered with letters from such persons, and to his great distress was several times followed in the streets by half-mature and immature girls. One day, in the street, he was walking with a friend, when two girls of about thirteen or fourteen years of age began to follow him. Turning round, he shouted to the girls that they had better run off home, or their father would give them a good spanking. To his astonished companion he explained that only by such drastic methods was he able, as he thought, to protect himself from false accusations.
It is very generally assumed that sexual offences against children are increasing in number. As regards the increase in Germany, the following figures are given by Mittelmaier.[121] For sexual offences against children, the convictions in the year 1897 numbered 3085; and in the year 1904, 4378. But of hardly any offences specified in the code can we say with more certainty than we can of sexual offences against children, that the convictions bear no necessary relationship to the number of offences actually committed. My own experience in the law courts leads me to see in the figures nothing more than an increase in the number of convictions for such offences--convictions which may have involved the innocent as well as the guilty. However this may be, historical studies prove that sexual offences against children are no new thing. Long ago, Martial, in the sixth and eighth epigrams of his ninth book, complained of the procurement of children, referring to boys rather than to girls. Otto Stoll[122] reports cases from uncivilised countries; and to his account of the defloration of children he appends the following words: "From all such details, we draw the ethnologically remarkable inference, that those human beings who have attained the highest level of civilisation, relapse frequently in the matter of the sexual life to the rudest instincts of savagery; and that in this respect neither does one civilised country much excel another, nor is 'civilised man' in a position to cast many reproaches in the teeth of the savage." Finally, I may refer to the experience of a Parisian Police Commissary,[123] who in the middle of the nineteenth century described prostitution in Paris, and devoted a special chapter to the subject of child-prostitution. Beyond question, the committing of sexual offences against children is no peculiar privilege of the civilised world or of modern times; although it remains possible that there has of late been some increase in the number of such offences.
It is obviously right that children should receive special protection from the law. The higher limit of the age of protection varies from ten to eighteen years. Ten years is the age-limit in certain States of the American Union; seventeen is the age-limit in Finland.[124] According to Mittelmaier, two considerations should guide us in regard to the protection of children: bodily immaturity, and moral weakness. The existence of the former leads the normal and healthy man to regard sexual approaches to children as unnatural and detestable. But, apart from the question of immaturity, we have to recognise that in children the moral sphere also deserves consideration; that notwithstanding the possible recent development of physical maturity, the child as such requires protection, in order to prevent the occurrence of such moral corruption as will render it incapable, when grown-up, of obeying the moral law. No thoughtful person can refuse to admit the child's right to protection.
But here a peculiar point needs attention, concerning, namely, the treatment in the law courts of such offences against children. I consider that by legal intervention in these cases the child's morals are sometimes more gravely endangered than by the original offence. If a man has momentarily laid his hand on the knee of a girl of ten, the child can hardly be said to have been injured, and will certainly have received much less injury than would result, if the case be brought into court, from cross-questioning of the child, not merely by its own relatives, but also by the police, the magistrate and his colleagues (in the court of first instance), by the public prosecutor and the counsel for the defence (in the higher court), and perhaps in addition by expert witnesses. When such a child is asked, whether the offender did not put his hand higher than the knee, whether he did or did not actually touch the genital organs, grave dangers may arise from such questioning. There is a further danger, in that sometimes, in such a case, the child is present in court throughout the entire proceedings. Some years ago, in Hamburg, I was called as an expert witness in a case of this kind. In this instance, the presiding judge, and also the public prosecutor and the defending counsel, exhibited the greatest possible delicacy, when one child was under examination, in sending the others, as far as possible, out of court. But I have also been present at trials in which no such precautions were taken, but in which every child was allowed to hear all the uncleanness in the evidence of the other children, and perhaps also in that of adults. Knowledge of the world, and, above all, tact, will best save the judge from treating children wrongly in this matter. The way in which a trial is conducted, which is often an extremely mechanical one, will not always enable the judge to avail himself of the means requisite for the protection of children from contamination in the course of such a prosecution. When we take a comprehensive view of the harm that may be done to children by sexual offences committed against them and by the consequent legal proceedings, we shall find, in my opinion, that from the legal proceedings arises a notable proportion of the injury.
The examination of the mental condition of the child-depraver is a matter of the utmost importance. In cases in which we find that the offender is suffering from some pronounced mental disorder, such as progressive paralysis (paralytic dementia), senile dementia, or an epileptic disturbance of consciousness, there can be no doubt as to the existence of irresponsibility; but it must never be forgotten that in the early course of such diseases, these sexual perversions often make their appearance at a time when no other definite signs of the brain disease have as yet appeared, and that for this reason the conviction of innocent persons--old men, for instance--on account of sexual offences against children, often occurs. Kirn,[125] who in the Freiburg prison had under observation six old men at ages from sixty-eight to eighty-one, all convicted for sexual offences against little girls, states that in all of these there were intellectual defects, and in several of them pronounced symptoms of senile dementia. The psychiatric expert must examine all such cases with the utmost care. We may also express a wish that judges were not inclined to regard themselves as experts in this field, of which, as a rule, they have no expert knowledge whatever.
Cases in which there is no definite mental disorder belong to a different category. Fritz Leppmann to whom we are indebted for the most comprehensive studies in this field of inquiry, comes to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a truly congenital sexual inclination towards children. Such inclinations often appear, indeed, in congenitally tainted or weak-minded individuals; but he considers that we have no right to speak of the perverse impulse as being itself congenital. Even if we admit this, and refuse to recognise the existence of a congenital perverse impulse towards children, still we have to admit that certain opportunities and conditions may not only lead to the committing of sexual offences against children, but may also induce paedophile tendencies. And the fact cannot be contested that this danger arises more especially in those who are much associated with children; especially, that is to say, in schoolmasters and tutors, on the one hand, and in schoolmistresses and governesses, on the other. Now, in every case that comes under our notice, two points must be taken into consideration. In the first place, if a remarkably large number of teachers come before the law courts charged with sexual offences against children, we have to remember that a certain proportion of these cases must arise from the false accusations to which those persons precisely are exposed who are much associated with children. The second point, on account of which limits are imposed on the extent of the last-mentioned etiological factor, is that certain persons adopt the profession of schoolmaster or mistress, or tutor or governess, either because they axe aware of the fact that their sexual impulse is directed towards children, or else, and this is commoner, because, while they are but obscurely conscious of it, they are influenced thereby in the choice of a profession, without having any definite intention to make use of the children under their care in the gratification of their sexual desires. It is an indefinite impulse towards children which is here operative, and sometimes determines the choice of occupation. I have seen cases in which there seemed to be a sort of mania for giving education and instruction, but in which on closer examination it appeared that the interest in the children was a sexual one. Two cases which have been reported to me show that in the case of women also opportunity very easily awakens the sexual impulse; in these cases the giving of baths to the children under their care, first definitely gave rise in two governesses to such perverse inclinations, and in one of them subsequently led to serious sexual malpractices with the children.
As regards the psychiatric treatment of true paedophilia, as a rule in such cases there is no possibility of pleading extenuating circumstances, as provided for by Section 51 of the Imperial Criminal Code. By this section, the offence escapes punishment if the offender was at the time in a state of unconsciousness, or was suffering from a morbid disturbance of mental activity, by which free voluntary choice was rendered impossible. In general, such persons must be held to be legally responsible. It may indeed, in individual cases, be possible to plead extenuating circumstances, or, when it is legally permissible, to plead the existence of partial responsibility--this latter more especially in cases in which symptoms of mental degeneration exist. But by itself a qualitatively abnormal sexual impulse gives the offender just as little right to plead irresponsibility, as a qualitatively abnormal sexual impulse gives the right to invade the sphere of interests of another. The fact that paedophile tendencies occur in those who are in other respects admirable persons does not countervail the need that children should be protected. It would be an error to assume that only morally defective persons are thus affected. I may mention in passing that Dostoiewski is said to have exhibited such paedophile tendencies--at any rate for a time. From the circle of my own acquaintanceship, I have learned that such a tendency may exist in those who are in other respects morally and intellectually sound.
In the sexual inclination of adults towards children, we find a source of serious danger; but the risks are greatly enhanced by the fact that the paedophile tendency is often complicated by other sexual perversions. Exhibitionism in the male is exhibited not only towards adult females, but also towards children, commonly towards girls, but in exceptional instances towards boys. It appears that in these cases the stimulus of innocence plays the chief part. In many cases, the exhibitionist is satisfied with exposing his genital organs; and only in comparatively rare cases, which by many are not included in the category of exhibitionism, do we find that the exhibitionist also masturbates, sometimes in the presence of the child, sometimes after going elsewhere. The fetichistic tendencies of adults are also in many instances directed towards children. Well-known cases are those of the hair fetichists, who not infrequently cut plaits of hair from the heads of schoolgirls, but other hair fetichists are satisfied with cutting from the head smaller fragments of hair.
Sexual inclinations towards children are especially apt to be associated with sadistic acts. In a comparatively large proportion of cases, children are the victims of lust-murder, if this term be used in its strictly limited signification, and not to include all possible sexual acts complicated with murder, but simply to signify cases in which the very act of murder provides a sexual stimulus, or when the corpse is utilised for a lustful act; that is to say, we must exclude from lust-murder proper, all the cases in which, for other reasons than a sadistic impulse, the sexual act is complicated with murder, as when the female witness of a previous sexual crime must be got out of the way. Children, too, are often the victims of other sexual acts, such as rape, which in a few instances only can be included in the category of sadism. In some cases force is employed only because the victim resists the act of violation, and here there is no question of sadism; but the rape is sadistic when the use of force is per se a sexual stimulus. Moreover children are often endangered by "stabbers."
In the year 1899, there was much anxiety in the city of Cologne on account of such a stabber. Those injured were all schoolgirls, and ultimately no children were sent alone to school, but they were always accompanied by a servant or a relative. In 1901, there was a similar series of cases in Moscow, a number of half-grown girls being stabbed by a man with a dagger. In the year 1896, a stabber appeared in Berlin. He enticed schoolgirls into the vestibule of a house, under the pretence that he wanted to brush some mud from their clothing; then, drawing a knife, he would inflict on the child a long and deep incised wound. In the summer of 1901, the inhabitants of northern Berlin were terrorised by a man who stabbed one girl fatally, and wounded two others severely. A remarkable point about this case was that the stabber made three separate assaults in a single afternoon, at very brief intervals. Unless the offender is discovered, it is naturally impossible to ascertain whether he has acted under the influence of some ordinary mental disorder (such as mania or post-epileptic insanity), or if he is a sexual pervert. The act alone will not enable us to answer this question.
Boys also are liable to such attacks, as we learn from what happened in Breslau in the year 1889. A student of philosophy in that town enticed to his dwelling an eight-year-old boy whom he met in a public lavatory, and wounded the boy's penis with a sharp-pointed knife. It appeared that the offender had done the same thing before to other boys. Ultimately, having been examined by a committee of experts, he was on their recommendation adjudged to be insane. In the year 1869, Berlin was disturbed by the doings of a certain X. This man had made use of two boys for sexual purposes, and had inflicted on them horrible injuries: in one, he cut off the testicles, and inflicted other severe wounds, so that the boy died; in the other, he introduced a walking-stick through the anus, and pushed it roughly onwards until it had perforated the lung.
Far commoner than the acts of such stabbers are the cases in which the striking of children is to the sadist a source of sex-stimulation. Erotic literature is full of the description of such perversions. Thus, in a well-known pornographic eroticon, we find pictures of a girl who has to subserve the perverse lusts of a wealthy boyar (Russian territorial magnate), the latter mishandling the child most horribly with cane and knout. In the English erotic literature, it is remarkable how often and how fully the flagellation of children is described. Almost typical are the English educational works in which, with little variation, we find descriptions of the flogging of little girls in order to excite the perverse lusts of the schoolmistresses. Not very long ago, in a certain English newspaper, a special column was devoted to accounts of the chastisement of children, and especially of girls. Anyone who reads this column with care could not fail to recognise that for the most part these chastisements were the expression of perverse sexual sensibilities. The available material shows, indeed, that in England this sexually perverse whipping of children is no mere matter of imaginative literary expression, but that such perversities are a matter of actual experience. Such things are, however, by no means confined to England, as is shown by a large number of recorded observations.
In Paris, not long ago, the following case was noted. A woman entered into relations with the parents of girls of eleven and twelve years of age, in order to hire the children as the subjects of chastisement for perverse sexual purposes. The parents, who must have known for what their children were wanted, received payment. Apparently the woman did not do this for the satisfaction of any perversion of her own, but for her perverse husband or for other perverts, who watched the whippings through spy-holes. In Germany, some years ago, there was an important trial, in which I was called as an expert witness, of a man who had flogged his pupils (with one exception, they had all been boys) solely to obtain perverse sexual gratification.
Many of these cases obtain publicity through the columns of the daily press, although occasionally, in part from sensationalism, and in part from sheer ignorance, a case may be allotted to the category of sadism, which really has, nothing to do with this perversion, or whose sadistic character is doubtful. This applies, for example, to the well-known Dippold case. Here, the sons of a wealthy Berlin family were mishandled by a private tutor to such an extent that one of the children died. Neither by the legal proceedings in this case, nor by any subsidiary evidence, was it established, in my opinion, that sexual motives existed for the maltreatment; and only when such motives exist have we any right to speak of sadism. As a rule, such cases are elucidated only when the mental life of the offender is very carefully analysed. Therefore, in a great many cases, while there may be grounds for suspecting the existence of sadism, adequate proof of this is not forthcoming. Some cases bearing on this matter will now be briefly recorded.
A furniture polisher, twenty-five years of age, induced two young fellows to enter his dwelling, and there, under the threat that if they resisted they would be severely punished by their parents, he made them submit to a thrashing with a cane. A similar case was reported in Paris some years ago. A man thirty-seven years of age, supposed to have formerly been a private tutor, took boarders into his house for love, and not because he made his living by doing so. He also had under his care an orphan boy, and it appeared that this child was grossly ill-treated. When the authorities entered the house, they found the boy entirely unclothed, but wrapped in rags; he was fastened to the crossbars of the window, and quite exposed to the cold winter air. To prevent the child from crying out, a gag had been placed in his mouth. Of dubious nature, also, was a case which occurred at Berlin in the year 1906, in which a girl twelve years of age was enticed away by another girl, and taken to a man who, at the suggestion of the second girl, drew two teeth from the first. In the case reported from Salzwedel some years ago, it is possible that the offender was insane; but he may have been sadistically inclined. An eleven-year-old fifth-form boy was enticed away by a young man of twenty, who took the lad to a hotel, gagged him, beat him unmercifully with a walking cane, threatening him with a revolver to prevent his calling for help. The boy suffered also two severe contused wounds of the head. The offender himself put cold compresses on these. When the police who were in search of the boy broke into the room, the young man shot himself.
In the year 1891, the following case occurred in Berlin. A young man, not yet eighteen years old, had in three cases undressed boys, and performed improper acts on them. Then he misused and bound the boys. The youth, who had previously been convicted of theft, was on this occasion sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for an offence against (sexual) morality. At Liegnitz, a few years ago, a pupil-teacher was sent to prison for three months, because he had lured little boys to a remote field, and there had mishandled them by beating them with a walking-stick. The court held that these acts had been performed under the influence of the sexual impulse, resulting from a sadistic tendency. About two years ago, a teacher of the pianoforte committed suicide in Berlin, because he had been accused of ill-treating children, apparently owing to a sadistic tendency. The children wore nine or ten years old; he had undressed them and then flogged them. The matter had, it seemed, been kept secret for a long time, until the parents of some of the children discovered traces of the ill-treatment, and this led to the charge being brought. A case which attracted considerable attention occurred in Berlin in the year 1896. A man, supposed to be a Russian prince, entered a well-known saddler's shop in the Potsdamerstrasse, asked to be shown some dogwhips, and, on the pretext of wishing to try their quality, persuaded some boys employed in the establishment to allow him to try the whips on their persons. The boys were handsomely paid for this, and the practice went on until the head of the firm intervened and forbade it. Whilst some regarded the matter as a joke, others expressed the suspicion that it was a case in which the rein had been given to sadistic tendencies. A similar case was that of the author, X., which occurred in Hamburg a few years ago. X. was acquainted with a woman named Y., who lived in Berlin. The latter's son, eleven years of age, was sent to reside with X. for educational purposes; and without proper cause, but under the pretext of educational necessities, this lad was severely mishandled by X. The boy was frequently taken from his bed, stripped naked, and then struck with a switch. The boy's mother stated that her boy had been put under the care of X. because the lad needed severe discipline, being untruthful and dishonest. Further charges were made against X. of various indecent acts against the boy. Teachers and others, who were acquainted with this boy, deposed that he was well behaved and not untruthful, and that he had in no way merited such punishments as had been inflicted on him. A very remarkable case was reported six years ago, from one of the minor German principalities. Here, children who had been sentenced to imprisonment were pardoned by the Prince, on condition that they submitted to a whipping; and the remarkable feature in the case was that not only did the Prince make a point of seeing the whipping, but himself in part administered it. In some of the reports of this case it was added that the children were stripped naked.
It is a not infrequent reproach against Catholic priests, monks, nuns, &c., that they make use of the children entrusted to their care for perverse, sadistic acts. I may recall the Graubund scandal of September 1906, in which girls and women were whipped by an acolyte until the blood ran; also an affair which occurred in Christiania about fourteen years ago, where, at a home kept by an unmarried woman, for children from the age of two years until their confirmation, a horrible and elaborate system of punishments was in use, whippings and other tortures being the order of the day. In many biographies and other works giving descriptions of life in the cloister, we find additional details: for instance, in the memoirs of the Countess Kaunitz, mother of the well-known statesman Kaunitz, we find an account of the severe whippings which were administered to her during her childhood spent in a nunnery.
All kinds of subterfuges are employed by the sexual pervert to make the punishment appear harmless and legitimate. Schoolmasters find this comparatively easy, inasmuch as they are able to allege misconduct such as would ordinarily be visited with a verbal reprimand, if not completely overlooked, as the reason for a whipping. Obviously, some of the excuses will be remarkable. In one case the flagellant asserted that he wished to write a work on education, and had therefore to ascertain how many strokes a child could endure. In a case which came under my own notice the offender stated that he wished to make the children courageous.
The expert who studies the advertisements in the newspapers will observe that they often subserve such perverse tendencies. "Educational" advertisements may be classified in three groups. Those of the first group are perfectly harmless (in appearance). To this class belong advertisements in which a teacher offers instruction to children. Since this is the ordinary form of serious advertisement, it attracts no special attention; there is nothing suspicious about it, and it is merely intended to lead to correspondence with those who have boys or girls to place as pupils. The advertiser hopes that in the course of instruction he will find opportunity for inflicting chastisement without giving rise to any suspicion. The second group has a definitely suspicious air, some catchword being employed to manifest to initiates the existence of a perverse tendency; but there is nothing more than this to excite suspicion. Among such catch-words, are the words "energetic," "severe," "English instruction." In some cases an energetic governess desires children to instruct; in others, it is some one else who desires an energetic instructress. It may be that the actual advertiser is on the look-out for the energetic instructress; here we have to do with masochism. But in other instances, the advertiser wants the energetic instructress for children, and the wording of the advertisement sometimes indicates that the advertiser's aim is to experience sexual excitement in watching the instructress chastise the children. Since these advertisements are intelligible only to initiates, they naturally receive answers from persons who have failed to understand their purport; but the sadist (male or female) and the masochist (male or female) is aware that the use of the word "energetic" refers to this sexual perversion. Of course, however, an advertisement in which an energetic tutor or governess is asked for, may be perfectly innocent. If an advertisement inserted in all good faith has really been open to a double meaning, the advertiser will sometimes be greatly astonished by the receipt of all sorts of perverse offers. A married woman of my acquaintance advertised for energetic supplementary instruction for her son, a rather naughty boy of ten; and received, in addition to many serious answers several answers from perverts, who stated that they would be delighted to be able to handle a boy in the sense she mentioned. In many cases, notwithstanding the use of the words "energetic" or "severe," we recognise from the general wording of the advertisement that it is seriously intended, and not issued with a perverse aim; but at other times we derive an opposite impression. When an "energetic instructress" advocates her "Anglo-American methods of education," hardly any room for doubt remains; and such advertisements as this belong to our third group.
I will now give some of the advertisements which I have been collecting for years, some belonging to the second, and some to the third group, in illustration of what has just been said. Certain of the advertisements which I have classed in the second group, were probably not issued with a perverse intent; this being partly shown by the context, although without this context they would have been suspicious.
The following advertisements belong to the second group: "Boy of seven to be placed under simple and scrupulous care, for the purposes of energetic education (premium paid)." "Boys and girls of a fair age received in a strict and severe boarding-school." "A strict, disciplinary master required to teach English at a preparatory school for the Army." The following advertisements are extremely suspicious: "A fairly well-educated gentleman offers energetic gratuitous supplementary instruction." "Severe education for boys and girls; energetic gentleman offers also free supplementary lessons." "Distinguished, experienced lady gives advice and help in difficult educational questions; defects of character, &c., treated with success." "Advertiser recommends himself for the severe chastisement of naughty children."
Many advertisements worded as above, or similarly, are, as was pointed out above, shown by the context to be seriously meant, and must not then be interpreted as perverse; but in the absence of such a context, the use of the catchwords so well known to sexual perverts would have rendered them highly suspicious. "Education of Boys, strict if necessary, diligence at school, school-work under continuous control, &c." This advertisement was probably not issued with perverse intent, since the advertiser's full name and address were given, and a number of additional details suggested that it was seriously meant. The same is true of the following advertisements: "Private tutor, elderly, experienced, severe instructor, holds classes, and also takes private pupils." "Daily supplementary lessons desired by a student in the fourth form of the Gymnasium [School] at X. An energetic and experienced governess wanted." "An experienced and energetic governess, thoroughly competent in the English language, very musical, desires morning or afternoon employment as teacher of children or adults." "Officer desires board with small family, preferably with authority over sons, with whom strict care would gladly be taken." "Some pupils under eleven years of age wanted to live with our own well-behaved children--no objection to those difficult to manage. Energetic assistance, strict individual instruction in the family, &c." The last few advertisements are appended in illustration, although the context (which is not in all cases given in its entirety) shows that they had no perverse intent.
Speaking generally, in view of the significance attached by sexual perverts to the words "energetic," "strict," "severe" "English methods," "discipline," &c., it will be wise, alike for those offering and for those seeking instruction, to exercise the utmost care when there is any possibility of mistake; as thus only is it possible to avoid being misled by the overtures of perverts.
Advertisements belonging to the third group, some examples of which will now be given, have of late become much rarer. Here are some: "Distinguished, energetic lady desires fairly old boys and girls for strict education." "Distinguished lady desires a child of fair age (girl by preference), to receive into the house for strict education and training." "Distinguished lady wishes to undertake the strict care and education of children of fair age, boys and girls, whose relatives have gone abroad." "Artist offers to teach French and English, strict and energetic." "Strict, energetic tutor desires children of fair age for strict education." "Energetic widow desires a boy of fair age and of good family, for strict education. Apply 'energetic,' Post-Office, No.----." "Girl, seven years old, received by energetic lady for strict education." "Tutor undertakes, gratuitously, strict education of growing children; especially suitable for cultured widow, who lacks herself the requisite energy. Unexceptionable references." "Pupils requiring energetic management, even if fairly old, received by a gentleman for strict education." "Half-grown girl received in strict board by a governess." The perverse character of these advertisements is rendered unmistakable by the fact that the catch-words are all italicised. "Naughty children; recommended for severe discipline; replies to 'Free.'" "Governess, from England, recommends her admirable boarding establishment for pupils of fair age. Apply 'Hearneshouse.'" No doubt is possible in this case, since "Hearneshouse" is the title of a sadistic novel. "Strict task-mistress wanted for a naughty girl of fourteen. Those replying to this advertisement should describe their methods of instruction." Here it is obvious that the advertiser hopes for sexual excitement from reading the descriptions of chastisement for which he asks. "English, strict method, offered by gentleman." "Highly cultured lady seeks position as English gouvernante. Delight William, Post Office, No.----." "Governess Housekeeper; cultured and distinguished lady wanted, good-looking, age twenty to twenty-eight, for the education of two motherless children, knowledge of English language required. Good presence requisite, and must be extremely energetic." Here it is possible that the advertiser really wants a housekeeper; but the advertisement is perverse in character. "Governess, youthful, energetic, very strict, either Englishwoman or Frenchwoman, wanted for spoiled children. Very good salary." "Energetic gentleman, severe disciplinarian, offers English instruction to boys and girls of fair age." No shadow of doubt is possible as to the perverse nature of this last advertisement. The same is true of the one that follows: "Gentleman offers strict instruction to older boys. Replies to 'English,' c/o Office of this paper."
An advertisement which appeared about four years ago in a Hamburg paper had a tragi-comic sequel. It ran as follows: "Difficult educational opportunity. Advertiser, residing in Hanover, with pretty daughter of twelve years, wishes to place her under strict discipline in the care of a widow with a daughter of similar age. Arrangements must be made to enable the advertiser herself to stay with the lady in Hamburg when visiting that town from time to time. In replying to the office of this paper, give a detailed account of the methods of punishment." A gentleman who suspected that this advertisement was issued by a sexual pervert, and was anxious about the future of the child, sent a reply in the simulated handwriting of a woman. The answer he received showed that the child was, in fact, being subjected to perverse maltreatment, and in order to rescue the girl, after consultation with some friends, he communicated the facts to the Public Prosecutor. However, that official refused to interfere at this time. Then the advertisement appeared once more, and this time the offender was arrested. The gentleman thereupon wrote to the Public Prosecutor, blaming him for not having taken action on the first occasion. The Public Prosecutor regarded this as libellous, and actually brought an action for libel against the philanthropic gentleman. Happily the Public Prosecutor lost his case; but none the less, in view of what happened, a good citizen may well hesitate in future to take similar action in the public interest, if, for some trifling excess of zeal, he is to render himself liable to an action for libel.
As I said above, of late years, in Berlin at any rate, such advertisements appear less often; or those that do appear belong chiefly to the second group. Doubtless we owe this to the action of the authorities, and more especially to a paragraph of the Lex Heinze,[126] of whose existence but few persons are aware, and of which, as my own note-books show, certain sexual perverts have only become aware to their sorrow through a legal prosecution. I refer to the paragraph by which the issue of advertisements for an immoral purpose is declared to be a punishable offence. The newspapers have now become cautious about the insertion of advertisements whose immoral purpose is plainly perceptible. Moreover, the perverts themselves who used to issue such advertisements, having through the activity of the authorities learned the significance of the paragraph in question, no longer advertise in unmistakable terms. CHAPTER IX: Sexual Education
In view of the dangers to which children are exposed from the aide of the sexual life, the question presses whether and how it is possible to prevent these dangers arising, or, if prevention has failed, to minimise them. To enable us to answer this question, the general question of sexual education will have to be considered. In so far as sexual manifestations in the child may arise from hereditary taint, the sociologist will endeavour to prevent them by hindering marriage or procreation on the part of those likely to give birth to such children (eugenics). Our present knowledge, however, does not enable us to say, when an individual exhibits some particular tendency to sexual aberration, whether this same tendency will appear as a concrete symptom in the descendants. Apart, indeed, from certain cases of very severe taint, we are hardly in a position even to predict with any high degree of probability that the offspring will exhibit morbid endowments. There are marriages which we expect to result in the birth of congenitally defective children, and in spite of this the offspring are healthy; and conversely, we sometimes meet with affections which we are in the habit of regarding as dependent upon hereditary transmission, and yet we fail, in these cases, to find any evidence of such affections in the progenitors. And, apart from these theoretical considerations, the physician's advice is not of much importance, for experience teaches us that in questions of marriage his advice is very rarely followed.
The less power we have to operate by control of the congenital factors, the more necessary shall we feel it to be to minimise the dangers threatening the child by influencing its environment. It is true that in this department, as in others, there is much diversity of opinion regarding the limits of educability. Some contend that we can mould the child like wax, a view which prevailed especially during the "period of enlightenment" in the eighteenth century; others maintain that organic development is predetermined at the time of procreation, and that subsequent influences can have no effect. Although we must be careful not to overestimate the power of education, it would be no less erroneous to assume that development is inalterably predetermined at the time of procreation. This applies to the efficacy of educational influences in general, and to educational influences affecting the sexual life in particular. The following consideration must be given due weight. The power of the educator is limited, not merely by the child's hereditary dispositions, but also by the nature of its environment. Rudolf Lehmann, in his work on Education and the Educator (Erziehung und Erzieher), rightly points out that Rousseau, in his Émile, when discussing the problems of education, neglects too much the influences of environment. If we wish our reasoning to furnish us with results of practical value, and not to remain confined to the purely theoretical plane, we must give due weight to this consideration. This applies with equal force to the matter of sexual education. We know that the sexual impulse may be excited by innumerable external stimuli. Such stimuli are continuously in operation, and the best educator has no power to exclude their influence. The mere association of the child with persons of the opposite sex provides such stimuli. But a separation of the sexes will not do away with them, as is proved, not only by the homosexual manifestations of the undifferentiated sexual impulse, but also by those that arise transiently, at any rate, when the members of one sex are completely segregated from those of the other--as in boarding-schools, on board ship, and in prisons. The educator cannot even count on being at all times able to safeguard the child from the sight of sexual acts. In the country, but also in the town, children have opportunities for this; not only when the members of a large family sleep in a single room, and the children can watch their parents and others in the act of sexual intercourse; but in various other ways. The mere kissing of affianced lovers must in this sense be regarded as a sexual act, and how is it possible so to bring up a child that it will never have an opportunity of seeing anything of the kind? If we go further, and recognise that through the association of ideas such a sexual stimulus may arise from witnessing the coupling of animals--of dogs, for instance, in the street--we shall understand how the educator's powers are limited by the milieu in which he has to work. We have, therefore, to recognise clearly from the first, that in the education of the child the complete exclusion of sexual stimuli is impossible.
Obviously, when the external noxious influences exceed a certain measure, we may endeavour to effect an improvement by measures of general hygiene, through the activities of the central government, the municipality, or the community at large. In this connexion, we think of better housing conditions, of the separation of children from night-lodgers, and the like measures. But, even here, we must guard against making Utopian demands, after the manner of many fanatics on the subject of social hygiene, whose proposals are often quite incompatible with the maintenance of human intercourse. Independently of such impracticable demands for future reforms, the educationalist of to-day seeks to protect the child from unduly frequent sexual excitement. But sometimes the result is other than he expects. Sport is recommended to divert the mind from sexual ideas, and yet I have known cases in which marked sexual excitement has been induced in this way. I am not now referring to mechanical stimulation through bicycling or horseback-riding, of which I shall speak later; but many a child has been sexually excited through playing tennis with a girl-companion, and many a boy has been sexually excited through rowing with another. Still, the fact that here and there a child may have been sexually excited in such a way, is no reason for condemning what is invaluable to the enormous majority of children.
This is all that need be said regarding the manner in which general influences may counteract the efforts of the educationalist. But experience shows that the good effects of education are also seriously impaired by individual factors, especially by congenital predisposition, or by a tendency acquired very early in life. Although we no longer assume that human impulses, emotions, and sentiments take their course quite independently of the influence of other psychical powers, such as the reason and the will, still, unprejudiced observation shows that the power of the reason and the will is less than many persons imagine. In very many cases we are able to see how difficult it is in a child of ten or less, to exert any notable influence upon the impulses, the emotions, and the sentiments. This is no less true in the positive than it is in the negative aspect. In one child it may be just as difficult to induce a fondness for music or reading, as it is in another to break it of an inclination for romping or other games. The same is true of the emotions--fear, for instance. In many cases, logically planned efforts may be altogether out of relationship to the result. Above all, great weight must be laid upon the consideration that there is a tendency to overrate the effect of education in the form of precept as compared with the effect of example. A child may receive the best of instruction without result, if in its own environment it is continually seeing something precisely the opposite of that which it is being told. This applies with equal force to the sexual life, which can be influenced far more readily by example than by good teaching, if the latter, though daily repeated, conflicts with what the child sees every day in the conduct of its relatives and companions.
Although, for this reason, we must avoid forming an exaggerated idea of the utility of individual sexual education, this is not meant to imply that we should assume a perfectly passive attitude, and leave everything to the uncontrolled course of development, in order to allow the child, as the modern phrase goes, "to live its own life."
Before passing to consider details, we must consider the elementary bases of all matters connected with the education of children--namely, morality and custom. These two words are connected by their inner significance, and not merely by etymological meaning;[127] but they represent different standards for passing judgment upon our actions. Certain things conflict with established custom, without its being permissible for us to speak of them as immoral. If at a social gathering for which evening dress is the rule, a gentleman turns up in light tweeds, he is guilty of a breach of custom, but not of an immoral action. If an officer in the army, having impregnated a young girl of the working class, marries her, his action is a moral one in the positive sense, but in spite of this he commits an offence against the customs of his class. Moreover, we have to remember that an act which is immoral or opposed to custom at a certain time and among a certain people, may at another time, or among another people, be neither the one nor the other. In such matters, opinions change; and this applies also to the case of actions connected with the sexual life. Herodotus relates that in Babylon the virgins had, for a money payment, and in honour of the Goddess of Love, to give themselves to a strange man; and similar customs are reported of other peoples of antiquity.[128] In providing for the sexual education of the child, we have to take into account such changes of view; but we have also to consider the matter in relation to the present condition of our civilisation, for the child is to be a citizen of a real, not of an imaginary State.
Intimately related to custom and morality are certain psychical processes, especially the sentiment of shame. This is aroused by actions which are considered immoral by ourselves or by members of our environment, and by actions which conflict with established custom. The child detected in a lie is ashamed, either because the act is immoral, or more often because the act is by others regarded as immoral; for the opinion of others plays a great part in the causation of shame. The man who has forgotten to put on his necktie, and in that condition appears in public, is ashamed, because he has committed a breach of custom. This dependence of the sense of shame upon morality and custom is true above all in matters of sex. A girl who is undressing in a hotel room, and has forgotten to bolt the door, so that a strange man suddenly enters by mistake, is ashamed; equally ashamed is a girl who encounters an exhibitionist with his penis exposed. These examples suffice to show that the sentiment of shame, which is associated with great discomfort, is a safeguard against immorality and against breaches of custom.
Similar relations exist for the sense of disgust, which is allied to the sense of shame. Shame is felt in the performance of an action disgusting to others, if against one's will one is watched in the process. Defaecation is usually effected in some retired place: in the onlooker, defaecation arouses disgust; whilst by the person defaecating, if he knows that he is being observed, shame is felt. Normal sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, objectively regarded, is a no less unaesthetic act than pseudo-coitus between two men. None the less, in most persons, the sight of the former act arouses less disgust than that of the latter. This difference depends upon the fact that by most persons homosexual intercourse is also felt to be immoral. In this relationship between the sense of disgust and immorality, it is often impossible to determine what is primary and what is secondary. A mutual retroaction occurs: the sense of disgust is increased, because the act is regarded as immoral; and, on the other hand, a strong sense of disgust may increase the perception of immorality. The same mutual relationships with the ideas of morality are found in connexion with the sense of shame. Beyond question, the sentiments of shame and of disgust are closely connected with the ideas of custom and morality; for shame and disgust arise especially in connexion with matters which conflict with our ideas of morality. It will, therefore, readily be understood that in moral education it is of the greatest importance what are the processes in connexion with which the instructor seeks to arouse the sentiments of shame and disgust; and, on the other hand, it is obvious that the ideas of morality induced by education, favour the development, in certain specific relationships, of the sentiments of shame and disgust.
It is a disputed question whether the sentiments of shame and disgust are inborn. In this controversy, two matters are confused, between which it is necessary to distinguish: the general disposition to experience such sentiments, and the special disposition to react with these sentiments to specific occurrences. The fact is incontestable, that the general disposition to these sentiments is inborn. Inborn, also, is the association of specific bodily processes with the corresponding mental states: blushing, with the sentiment of shame; retching and vomiting, with the sentiment of disgust; these associations are certainly not chance products of education. The only point in doubt is, to what extent the tendency is inborn to experience these sentiments as a result of certain specific stimuli. By some it is assumed, that when we experience disgust at the sight of certain animals--a worm, for instance--such concrete reactions depend upon inborn dispositions; whereupon the further problem emerges, how did our ancestors acquire the disposition they have transmitted to us, their descendants. Others believe that influences operating after birth have led to the association with the sight or idea of the worm of the tendency to feel disgust. Very early in life, the child has seen others exhibit disgust at a worm; doubtless he has often been told how disgusting this animal is; and thus gradually the sentiment of disgust has become associated with the sight or the idea of the worm.[129] With the sentiment of shame, similar conditions obtain. If a human being feels shame in connexion with certain matters, and therefore avoids them, this may depend upon influences operating in the individual life (imitation, education, suggestion, &c.), by which the feeling of shame has been associated with certain perceptions. On the other hand, it is possible that shame may be dependent upon a special inborn disposition. Certain processes in the animal world--for example, the fact that many animals deposit their excrement in hidden places, and the fact that bitches and other female animals sometimes behave in a way which is interpreted as the exhibition of shame--may be regarded as the result of an inborn disposition. But others refer to the slight degree in which little girls appear to feel shame, as an indication that this sentiment is acquired during the individual life. Undoubtedly, we sometimes find manifestations of shame in very early childhood. Sikorsky[130] reports that his son exhibited typical shame at the early age of three and a half years. The boy was washing himself, having for this purpose taken off his coat and bared the upper part of the body. When his father unexpectedly entered the room, the boy was ashamed and startled, and said pleadingly, as he endeavoured to cover himself by crossing his hands over the breast, "Please don't come in, for I haven't got my shirt on." Sikorsky rightly points out that this position of the arms is typical of the sentiment of shame. Still, such cases are comparatively rare; and in contrast with them we may often note that older children, even girls of eight or a little more, will in play raise their petticoats so high that it is necessary to turn away if we wish to avoid seeing the genital organs, and often a word of reproof is needed from the mother or nurse to indicate to the child that it is doing something improper. The fact that in little children the sense of shame is so little developed, but that subsequently this sentiment becomes clearly manifest, has been used as an argument against the theory that it is inborn; but this argument cannot be accepted without reserve, for an inborn quality may not manifest itself until a certain definite age is reached--as we see clearly in the case of the sexual impulse--and this apart from the consideration that the development of an inborn quality may be inhibited by influences acting during the individual life. Whatever view we take of this problem, there can be no doubt as to the possibility of exerting a marked influence upon both qualities, the sentiment of disgust and the sentiment of shame, by means of influences operating during the lifetime of the individual. Thus, by education and habituation, it is possible to learn to repress disgust towards certain animals or certain excreta, as is done by the physician, and by nurses, male and female. The sentiment of disgust also depends largely upon general customs. The civilised European makes a mock of the fact that other races, certain oriental races, for instance, eat foods which to us are disgusting. A European invited as a guest at certain foreign banquets, is thoroughly disgusted when he sees food put into the mouth with the fingers instead of with knife and fork. And yet there is no great difference in respect of our own practice, when we put a piece of chocolate, a grape, or the like, into our own mouths. If, in Europe, we saw someone eating a pigeon in the same way as that in which we are accustomed to eat a crayfish, many persons would experience disgust. And yet, objectively considered, there is no reason to be less disgusted at the eating of crayfishes than when some other kind of animal is eaten in the same manner. Such modification of the sentiment of disgust by habit and custom applies also to sexual matters. A girl who experiences disgust at the sight of semen or the act of its ejaculation, may, through habituation, cease to feel such disgust.
Similarly with the sentiment of shame, we find that in some persons it is aroused by matters to which others are more or less completely indifferent--and this is true no less of the sexual sense of shame than of shame in general. We note the way in which habit or other influences may diminish or even entirely suppress the sentiment of sexual shame, from the fact that prostitutes willingly undress in the presence of a strange man without any sense of shame (although it must be admitted that some remnants of shame may remain even in many prostitutes). Finally, the experience of the marriage-bed shows how rapidly the sentiment of shame in respect of certain situations may disappear or largely diminish. Although a refined woman may long, and in some cases permanently, manifest a certain reserve towards her husband, still, there is an enormous degree of difference between the intensity of the sentiment of shame which a young bride experiences when undressing on her bridal night and that which she experiences in the like situation after a year of married life.
Other circumstances show that these sentiments are influenced, not merely by individual habituation, but also by the nature of general customs. A lady of the nobility, president, perhaps, of a Ladies' Society for the Promotion of Public Morals, may regard the short skirts of a music-hall dancer as the acme of impropriety, and yet will not hesitate for a moment to go into society in the evening in a low dress, with her breasts plainly visible to anyone standing by her when she is seated. The same lady would probably be furious at the suggestion that she should show herself to men in the dress of a ballet-dancer, but with a high corsage. And yet, experience shows that in other circumstances the short skirt is quite acceptable, inasmuch as when bicycling first obtained a vogue among the upper classes, ladies of high standing were to be seen in the streets with short skirts and visible calves, In Germany, and in many other countries, it was for long regarded as improper for men and women to bathe in common. The Americans, however, saw no impropriety in mixed bathing, and of late years even the Germans find it possible for the sexes to mix in bathing without any offence to the sense of shame. Here we have nothing more than the revival of an old custom, for in former centuries mixed bathing was practised in Germany.[131]
From the examples just given, we see clearly the way in which the objects and situations with which are associated manifestations of shame and disgust, depend upon habituation and general custom. But just because this is so, both these sentiments are in the highest degree adapted to furnish protection against actions which are opposed to dominant custom, or are condemned by the prevailing moral code. By the sense of shame, the young girl is prevented from surrendering her person to any man who desires her. Shame interferes with the very preparations for the sexual act; for example, with the act of undressing in the presence of a man. The sentiment of disgust may also exert a protective influence, for disgust is aroused in women by the semen and its ejaculation, and by many other things connected with the sexual act.
All these considerations combine to show how important it is that proper care should be taken to promote in the child the proper development of the sentiments of shame and disgust, and also of the moral ideas. It need hardly be said, that the sentiments of shame and disgust are not the only psychical aids in the sexual education of children. There are others, such as the fear of disagreeable consequences, which deters human beings from many immoral actions, and often enough at the outset greatly furthers the development of moral ideas; also there is direct instruction, the influence of which will be considered later.
But in the moral education of children, and also in the disquisitions of adults upon morality, mistakes are made. In particular, no distinction is made whether anything is to be regarded as immoral per se, or whether it is only considered immoral in certain circumstances. This is shown very clearly in the formation of opinions, from the standpoint of sexual morality, regarding nakedness and the sexual life. Because, in particular situations, nakedness is immoral, the child is often taught to regard nakedness as being per se disgraceful. Similarly with the sexual life. Instead of aiming at its proper control, the idea instilled is that the mere mention of sexuality, and even its very existence, are things gravely immoral. The very same persons who teach the child to repeat the commandment, Honour thy father and thy mother, educate it also in such a way that it is forced to regard the act to which it owes its own existence as something which must have rendered its parents unclean. It has to be admitted that at times it is by no means easy, in these matters, to find the right way; its discovery demands, not interest merely, but also intelligence; it is, perhaps, an art. But often the right course is not so very difficult to find; and if we only exercise reasonable care in the repression of hypocrisy and of perverse moral ideas, we shall be able to educate the child in such a way that he will come to understand that exposure of his person is not a matter of pure indifference, and yet will not regard nakedness as something unclean. The little girl who draws her petticoats too high, will stop doing so when her mother forbids it. A child will not always ask the reason for such a prohibition; and if it does ask, all the mother need answer in this case, as in so many others in which the child is not yet competent to understand the reason, is that it will understand well enough when it is older. When the child is older, and when its understanding has enlarged, the mother need make no difficulty about explaining the true reason in a suitable manner.
In respect also of the sentiment of disgust, exaggerations must carefully be avoided. From a feeling of shame, and for fear of arousing disgust in others, many young girls refrain, when in the company of other persons, from retiring to satisfy the calls of nature. The physician knows that this may result not merely in discomfort, but in consequences by no means indifferent to health. In this respect also, a just mean must be the aim of education. The child has to be taught that, alike for aesthetic and for hygienic reasons, the evacuation of the excreta must be effected in a retired place. But it is necessary to avoid going to the extreme of producing in the child the impression that there is something disgusting in the faintest intimation of such a physical need, or of making it feel that there is something essentially shameful in the fulfilment of these natural functions. The same considerations apply also to the sentiment of disgust in relation to the sexual life. In this also overstatement must be avoided. The education of young girls aims to a large extent at inducing them to regard the sexual act, not merely as something of which they should be ashamed, but as something in itself disgusting. It is well known that quite a number of women are altogether unable to give themselves up to the sexual act in such a way as to derive from it real enjoyment and satisfaction. A part of the severe disillusionment following marriage, depends upon the lack of normal sexual sensibility in the wife; and it in by no means improbable that this state depends in some cases upon the education received in girlhood. If it is impressed on anyone from childhood upwards that a particular act is disgusting and shameful, ultimately inhibitions may arise, owing to which the natural impulse to the performance of that act, and its natural course and natural enjoyment, may be prevented. And although the widely prevalent lack of sexual sensibility in women has additional causes, nevertheless I regard it as probable that in some of the cases, at any rate, this insensibility directly results from educational influences. In this matter, too, we must guard against exaggeration. We must educate children, boys as well as girls, in the belief that to mishandle the genital organs is forbidden alike by divine and by human law. But we must not teach them to regard the sexual act as in itself disgusting; more especially in view of the fact that such an idea conflicts with the lofty ethical significance of the act to which we all owe our existence.
What has been said about nakedness, has bearings also upon the relationships of the education of children to the matter of the nude in art. No intelligent person will deny the importance to art of the representation of the nude. A clothed Venus is a thing with which the connoisseur would prefer to dispense. Although I am not myself an enthusiastic adherent of the movement started a few years back with a great flourish of trumpets for the introduction of art into the education of children--a movement which has already perceptibly slackened--I do not wish to deny the important bearings of art upon the education of the child. Children who are still comparatively young, have not as a rule much understanding of art. None the less, we must not withhold from the child possibilities of appreciating the beauties of the nude. Apart from this purely educational aim, we have to remember that it is impossible to preserve children completely from the sight of the nude in art. We might, of course, exclude them from our museums; but our own houses also often contain nude statuary, and books with illustrations of the nude figure; and nude statues are to be seen also in places of public resort. A demand for the removal of such nude figures is so stupid, that it hardly deserves serious discussion--outside of the columns of the comic papers. A classical education, too, gives so many opportunities for the sight or the mention of the nude--for instance, delineations of the gods of the ancient mythology--that the demands of the "morality-fanatics" could be met only by cutting off the child from the most beautiful sources of culture. But now, let those who, in the lower classes of our schools, have seen in the text-books of mythology pictures of unclad gods and goddesses, seriously ask themselves whether in this connexion they ever experienced even the faintest uncleanness of thought! If in one among thousands of such children, the sight of such a picture is followed by an undesired result, we have further to remember that this fact does not give us the right to deprive thousands of other children of the spiritual nourishment requisite for their emotional and aesthetic development, and for their general culture. There is no need for any anxiety about this question of the nude in art; and we must avoid suggesting to children that there is anything peculiar about the nakedness of statuary. We are, indeed, justified in asking whether the replacement or concealment of the genital organs by a fig-leaf--a practice supposed to have been initiated by the influence of the Jesuits about the middle of the eighteenth century--is a sound one; or whether this is not the very way to lead to objectionable conversations between children. The child compares the work of art with its own body and with the bodies of others which it has seen, notes the difference at once, and is thereby incited to improper conversation.
Those who wish to prevent children seeing artistic representations of the nude are influenced by two very different motives, although by the morality-fanatics themselves these motives are not clearly distinguished. Sometimes we are told that the sight of the nude in art may awaken the child's sexual impulse, sometimes that morality forbids such representations of the nude. These two reasons must not be confused; for even if well-developed moral ideas may repress sexual acts, it does not follow that everything which is immoral is also sexually exciting. A great many pictures are immoral, and yet do not tend in the very least to induce sexual excitement--it suffices to mention illustrations of skatological scenes. Another source of error lies in the fact that things which appear sexual to the adult, may to the child be entirely devoid of sexual colouring. There is an amusing anecdote of a little girl who had been bathing with other children, and on her return home was asked whether boys had been bathing as well as girls; "I don't know," said the little one, "for they were all naked!" This story is based upon a profound insight into the nature of the child, for children in general do not regard nakedness as sexually important--though a few exceptions to this rule may be encountered. Just because the child is so often taught that nakedness is in itself immoral, we are apt also to teach it to experience sexual excitement at the sight of a nude statue; whereas if the child had simply been taught that nakedness at unsuitable times and places was wrong, no such reaction would ensue. I remember the time in which the strong agitation took place which led to the passing of the Lex Heinze;[132] and I was acquainted with a gentleman--he was a patient of mine--who was a member of the party by which the new law was so strongly demanded. When one day he came to see me, bringing with him his little boy, the latter noticed in my waiting-room a nude statue of a woman, but which the little boy took for a man. The child, who was obviously attempting to repeat something he had often heard said, asked his father naïvely: "Papa, if that were a woman, it would be improper, wouldn't it?" This remark is at once natural and characteristic; the child would never have felt the possibility that the statue was in any way improper, unless his education had led him to regard nakedness as disgraceful, or as immoral and improper. There is no doubt that our clothing is intimately connected with the development of the sentiment of shame and with the formation of our ideas of morality. But the more we learn so to form the mind of the child that it will not regard nakedness as being per se immoral, the sooner shall we be able, not only to instil into children truly moral ideas, but also to safeguard them against the risks of premature sexual excitement.
The considerations just stated apply mutatis mutandis to the question of what children should be allowed to read. Although we should give to children neither obscene or erotic books, still, we should not withhold from them every poem which deals with love. If such were our rule, we should have to forbid the most beautiful works in our literature, and also our folk-tales. Read, for example, Grimm's tales, and you will find many passages which our morality-fanatics would reject as improper; for instance, the story of the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, and many others, telling of beauty, love, and kisses. The same remark applies to the folk-songs. There are persons, indeed, who would like to edit such songs and stories especially for the use of children. The case will be remembered in which the song, In einem kühlen Grunde, was so modified for the use of children that they were told, not of the "beloved maiden" who dwelt there, but of an "uncle" instead! Now, either the child that hears this song for the first time has as yet no understanding of the idea of love, and in that case there will be no danger in singing in its original form this song whose full beauty will not until later become manifest to the child; or else it has some understanding, and then the replacement of the girl by an uncle will certainly do nothing to safeguard the child's morality, but will merely corrupt its taste. The assumption that by hearing such a song, the awakening of sexuality can possibly be antedated, is almost ridiculous; and little or no proof has been offered that anything of the sort ever occurs. One who in such a song sees the least suspicion of immorality, and who thinks that the hearing of it entails danger to a child, not only betrays the corruption of his own taste, but lays himself open to the countercharge that his own moral endowments are somewhat defective. Similar conditions apply to the theatre, and to the other factors in the mental development of children, and of human beings in general. It is quite impossible to isolate children from every intimation of the erotic or the sexual. Let us remember the wide diffusion of the newspapers of our day. We cannot prevent children from reading newspapers; a statement that applies not to large towns merely, but to small towns and to the country districts as well. I speak here, not only of newspapers which are known to be sensational, but of others as well. The more serious periodicals are to-day often inclined to devote a good deal of space to many sexual occurrences; they even err in transforming many non-sexual matters into sexual ones, giving them a superfluous erotic background. They miss no chance of converting an ordinary murder into a lust-murder; of describing a common assault as the outcome of sadism; and of writing of any woman of whom mention has to be made in connexion with some public occurrence, as a young lady of surpassing beauty. But apart from all this, the newspapers are to-day so full of sexual matters (the question of sexual enlightenment, the prevention of the venereal diseases, the suppression of prostitution, the protection of motherhood, &c.), that with the best will in the world it is impossible to keep children from reading about such things. Nor can this be regarded as unfortunate, so long as these questions are treated in a moderate manner.
It is altogether different as regards erotic and obscene books and pictures. Unfortunately such products obtain a wide currency in schools, in part as printed pornographica, and in part passed from hand to hand in the written form. Thus, from a number of girls' schools come reports of the circulation of thoroughly obscene writings among girls from twelve to fourteen years of age. Especial favourites are descriptions of the wedding-night, mostly in manuscript form; also an obscene version of the story of Faust and Gretchen; and quite a number of other improper poems pass from hand to hand in girls' schools. In boys' schools, the circulating matter consists rather of obscene printed books and pictures. It is evident that the advertisements in many newspapers indicate the chief source of such articles. There is a trade in obscene pictures advertised under the harmless title of "Parisian Landscapes." For the most part these advertisements originate in Paris; to a lesser extent they come from Hungary, Austria, Italy, and Spain. The German traders in such commodities do not venture to advertise their wares in the German newspapers; nor is there any evidence in foreign newspapers of such advertisements proceeding from Germany. Through the meritorious activity of the Volksbund zur Bekämpfung des Schmutzes in Wort und Bild (The Popular League for the Suppression of Obscene Writings and Pictures), these advertisements have of late almost disappeared from our newspapers. But it can hardly be doubted that formerly immeasurable harm was done to children in this way. This is shown by the fact that half-grown boys often buy such things and circulate them among their school-fellows, all the more in view of the comparatively low price at which they can be obtained. The wide diffusion of the evil is proved by the frequency with which such things are confiscated in boys' schools, and with which obscene photographs are found even in girls' schools.[133] For the suppression of such pornographica in recent days we have certainly in great part to thank the League above named, whose efforts for good must not be confounded with the obscurantist aims of the pious and hypocritical individuals to whom every nude statue is an improper object.
The frequency with which such pornographica are circulated in schools is subject to very great variations; but in the production of these differences, certain factors which are sometimes given great weight, really play a comparatively small part. Thus, it is commonly supposed that there is a great difference in this respect between large towns and small; but in the schools of small towns, pornographic writings and pictures are at least as common as in those of large towns; and, indeed, the addresses to which pornographic photographs are despatched from Paris are usually in the small towns. Thus the determining influence is not the difference between the large town and the small; and the character of the school depends, not only upon the moral level of its pupils, but above all upon the moral level and the personal influence of the head of the school and the assistant teachers. I know certain schools, and some of these in large towns, in which hardly a single improper word is spoken by the pupils, and where no sexual improprieties take place among the children, even though it has to be assumed that many of them indulge, at any rate from time to time, in solitary masturbation. But, on the whole, the spirit of such schools is an admirable one, in contrast to others, in which extremely loose manners prevail. Above all, therefore, we must avoid thinking that we state the truth of this matter by using the catch-word of the "corruption of the great towns."
It cannot be contested that the diffusion of these things among children involves serious dangers alike to their morals and to their health. Speaking generally, upon adults pornographic objects have rather a repellent than a sexually exciting effect. In the case of children in whom no sexual sensibility has as yet developed, they exercise no sexual stimulation, but may later give rise to ill effects. But it is to ripening children and young persons, who do not yet understand the sexual life, but to whom it is first displayed in this form, that such pornographic objects are especially dangerous. Thus we find that many offenders against sexual morality show children obscene pictures, in order to excite them sexually, and render them compliant. Such sexual excitement is per se bad for the child's health; but the moral dangers are even more important. Children who have become familiar with such obscene objects may perhaps suffer in consequence from an inadequate development or even from a complete inhibition of the higher psychical elements of the sexual life. The grave injury inflicted on children by these pornographica cannot possibly be doubted. What has been said above should, however, suffice to show that the nude in art has no necessary connexion with this danger from pornographic objects; although unfortunately, for business reasons, many persons hypocritically attempt to justify by false reference to the interests of art, drawings of the nude really intended to furnish erotic stimulus.
The much-discussed question of the common education of the sexes (coeducation) is related to the mental hygiene of the sexual life of the child. I shall deal with this question only in so far as it bears upon our subject; and shall not consider whether other reasons, such as the different endowments of the sexes, are decisively opposed to coeducation. But coeducation has been opposed also for reasons of sexual education, on two grounds: that it leads to a premature awakening of the sexual life, and that it gives rise to immoral practices between the children.
It is true that when boys and girls associate freely together the first sexual feelings of boys are directed towards girls. But a separation of boys and girls at school would here be of little use. Not only would some other person of the female sex be apt to take the place of a girl schoolfellow, some person the boy often sees, it may be a grown woman, it may be a child (a school-friend of the boy's sister or of the family, a girl-cousin, or some girl employed about the house); but in many cases, if the sexes are separated in youth, both in boys and in girls the sexual impulse, when it awakens, may perhaps be directed towards a member of the same sex. I may refer, in this connexion, to what was said on page # about the undifferentiated sexual impulse.
A further problem is that of the sexual practices which may result from the sexual impulse. It is an indisputable fact that many boys, when the contrectation impulse is intermingled with the detumescence impulse, readily take to sexual practices with others. Examples of this constantly occur in boarding-schools, and in all other kinds of educational institutions; even in day-schools, where the children live apart from one another, we may observe that occasionally they begin sexual practices very early in life (mutual masturbation, and intimate physical contact, especially contact involving the genital organs). We must always bear in mind the possibility that coeducation may lead to the more frequent occurrence of such practices between boys and girls. But we must avoid over-estimating this danger. In the first place, there are many institutions, higher schools and others, attended only by pupils of one sex, in which mutual sexual practices never take place, and in which neither boys nor girls, even though sexual inclinations arise in them, ever effect sexual intimacies with other children. Although mutual masturbation is fairly common in schools, it cannot be regarded as the general rule. Further, it may be pointed out that when boys and girls are educated in common, the girls' natural instincts of self-defence will in many cases lead them to repel improper sexual advances. This is proved by the actual experience of coeducation. Finek[134] gives reports regarding coeducation in the schools of the western states of the American Union, and informs us that there every girl has her beau of fourteen to seventeen years of age. Notwithstanding the fact that these are boys of a fair age, undesirable consequences have not been observed. This view is substantiated by the reports made to me personally by American men and women, in whose truthfulness and judgment I have complete confidence. During a lengthy American tour, and on other occasions, I have elaborately questioned American physicians, ministers of religion, school-teachers, and fathers and mothers of families, regarding this matter. Their universal opinion was that no such undesirable results of coeducation were ever observed. Indeed, I received numerous assurances regarding the customary sexual abstinence of American young men who had been educated in common with American girls. In many of these circles, a young man known to indulge in sexual intercourse, whether with a prostitute or in a so-called "intimacy," was immediately ostracised; and this shows that as far as the question of sexual chastity is concerned, the results of the coeducation of the sexes are at least not more unfavourable than those of the separate education of the sexes. I am well aware that many doubt the harmlessness of these conditions in America, and declare the account given of them hypocritical.[135] My own information, however, leads me to contest this for numerous cases. Of course we have to remember that the population of the United States of America is an extremely composite one, made up of numerous nationalities, whose customs differ as much as do those of the different social strata. The above remarks refer chiefly to the old Anglo-American circles. It is indisputable that even in these circles certain changes have recently taken place. The Americans refer this to their more extensive relations with Europe, in consequence of which European customs and opinions, by which sexual abstinence is not demanded of young men, have been gradually introduced into those circles of American life in which formerly other views obtained.
But even if we believe that in isolated instances coeducation may lead to unfortunate results in the way of sexual practice, we have to remember the objections which may be adduced from the standpoint of sexual education against the separate education of the sexes. Especially we have to think of the fact that by the separation of the sexes during childhood we may favour the development of homosexuality. Apart from this consideration, I believe that in girls the capacity for self-protection arises much earlier in life when frequent association of boys and girls is permitted--a method of education which in Europe of late, at any rate outside the school, has become far more common than in former days, and one which is greatly favoured by the joint playing of games and other joint sports.
If the question be asked whether the sexual life awakens earlier in children who mix freely with those of the opposite sex, or in those whose companionship is confined to members of their own sex, we find it difficult to detect any notable difference in this respect. As regards boys in boarding-schools, the information available certainly suffices to lead us to this conclusion; and from such information as I have received from girls' schools, and from the behaviour of school-girls (some of these quite young), I infer that no notable difference in the age at which sexual sensibility first makes its appearance, results from the coeducation or the separate education of the sexes.
One condition has to be imposed, if coeducation is not to entail any dangers. The child must not be allowed to regard such education as experimental, and as possibly dangerous, If the child were to be enlightened with all sorts of warnings, dangers might ensue. It is necessary that the child should regard coeducation as something perfectly natural. In this connexion, the matter assumes a different aspect, according as coeducation is undertaken from the outset, or only after the children are already half-grown. From the latter course, perils might sometimes arise, as Gertrud Bäumer rightly insists.[136] From the earliest days of childhood onwards, coeducation should appear to the child as a matter of course; only if this is not the case, may the practice prove dangerous from the sexual standpoint, and especially from the standpoint of sexual morality.
Here, of course, I make no attempt to offer a decisive opinion one way or the other upon the disputed question of coeducation of the sexes. My sole aim has been to show that certain of the objections commonly made to coeducation, on the grounds with which we are especially concerned in this book, do not bear examination.
Better reasons can be found for objecting to some other modes of association on the part of children of the two sexes. The most important of these are common dancing lessons and children's balls. These are not so recent a development as is often assumed. More than a century ago, Pockels,[137] the distinguished psychologist and educationalist, objected strongly to dancing parties for children, which commonly lasted, he tells us, from five o'clock in the afternoon till midnight, and sometimes even on into the small hours of the morning. Beyond question, the association of children in dances can by no means be regarded as more innocuous than coeducation, all the more in view of the fact that the children at such dances are often fairly old--towards the end of the second period of childhood, or in the early years of the period of youth. For my own part, the danger of children's balls appears to me to affect, not so much the sphere of sexual morality, as that of hygiene and general morality. As regards the danger to health, I have known parents who were always complaining of the way in which their children were overworked at school, and yet saw nothing wrong in these same children going to dancing lessons on two evenings every week.
In conclusion, I will report a case which proves that when children are inclined to sexual practices, they will find sufficient opportunity, even in the absence of coeducation. This was the case of a boy of eight and a girl of seven years, who stripped quite naked and got into bed together; from the fact that spots of blood were found on the bed-clothing, it appeared that very definite sexual malpractice had taken place. The girl's sexual history was followed up for three years after this. She showed herself much inclined to make sexual advances towards adults, pressing herself up against them in a way which innocent persons interpreted as manifesting the caressive inclinations of the child.
Having given this illustrative case, I must not omit to state that similar incidents may, of course, occur from time to time in connexion with the coeducation of children. But we must avoid the error of attributing to external chance-influences, such as coeducation, occurrences which are dependent upon the very nature of human beings; for such things happen whatever method of education be adopted. Naturally, the difference between the sexes must not be ignored; but in children the existence of sexual differentiation must not be incessantly and anxiously emphasised. Brothers and sisters, when they have reached a certain age, should certainly not be placed naked together in a bath. But this is to be avoided, not for fear lest thereby sexual excitement might result in the children, but because to do so would be in opposition to the customs of our time, and it is precisely by such contrasts with generally accepted customs, that the attention of children is aroused. Further, we may approve of the fact that in consequence of the movement for child-protection (Kinderschutz), the misuse of children in various ways--in the theatre, for example--has undergone a notable diminution. But in this matter also, the decisive factor is not exclusively the interest of sexual morality, but rather the rights of the children themselves. The same consideration applies, in part, to an earlier movement. In France, in the year 1848, the appearance of children on the stage was legally prohibited, one reason alleged for this enactment being the moral dangers resulting from the mixing of the sexes in such conditions, but reference was also made more particularly to the need for the better protection of the physical and mental powers of the children.[138]
I come now to the description of certain other mental influences necessary for the child. A very important point is that we should use our utmost endeavours to divert the child from the sexual impulse. The more the awakening of this impulse threatens to force itself upon the child's attention, the more necessary is it to bring into play the measured activity of other faculties and interests. We think here as much of methods of aesthetic culture, reading, and the theatre, as of bodily sports and games. At the same time, it must be our aim to cultivate the general strength of the will, since this is needed alike for the control of the sexual impulse, and for the overcoming of other temptations and passions. The general moral education of the child, the formation of its character, and the encouragement of a pursuit of ideal aims, are all also of the greatest possible importance in relation to sexual education. Nothing is better adapted to ensure personal happiness and a high moral standard, than the inculcation of idealism, which must on no account be confused with aloofness from the everyday affairs of the world.
By many persons, an especial stress is laid upon the value of religious education, for the purpose of directing in proper paths the sexual life of the child, and of giving help in the mastery of its temptations. But notwithstanding the fact that I value most highly a genuinely religious education, I feel that for the purposes just mentioned we cannot place much reliance upon that which in our schools of to-day passes by the name of religious education. I have been personally acquainted with too many persons brought up on "strictly religious" lines, adherents of the most diverse creeds, but chiefly Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, whose religious education has been of remarkably little use to them in this respect. Among children, I have known some who masturbated immoderately, and yet their progress in their religious studies was extraordinary. I have known of serious epidemics of masturbation, in some cases of mutual masturbation, in boarding-schools in which the day's work was always begun with prayers and hymns. Quite recently, another case has been reported to me, of a so-called exemplary school, where the educational methods had a strong religious trend, and yet seduction to mutual masturbation played a great part. In spite of these experiences, I do not dispute the fact that even in association with the modern methods of religious instruction--but not always in consequence of these--many have been withheld from masturbatory and other sexual acts. These cases fall into three groups. The first group consists of cases in which the sexual impulse is very weak, so that very little is requisite to prevent the occurrence of sexual practices. To the second group belong the cases of those who are kept in check by the fear of God's anger, which will be visited, they are taught in their lessons on religion, upon all unrighteous acts. The third group is comprised of those rare natures who are really profoundly inspired by religious ethical sentiments, and in whom even the ordinary unpractical methods of religious instruction have not been able to inhibit the development of genuinely religious feelings. These three groups may readily be recognised among adults as well as among children. But when I compare the number of the children and young persons making up these three groups with the number of those to whom religious instruction has been quite useless, I feel justified in a certain scepticism. I do not pretend to assert that those who have received religious instruction have become more immoral than the others; but I am certainly entitled to contest the assertion that religious instruction induces a loftier sexual morality. Indeed, a further limitation is needed here, and one to the discredit of religious instruction. A portion, even, of those persons comprising the exceptional cases just enumerated have not thereby attained to spiritual peace. Tormented, and at times almost mastered, by the sexual impulse, they struggle unceasingly under the influence of terror lest they should commit a deadly sin by yielding to this impulse. The mental condition[139] of such persons--I speak chiefly of young men--is in some cases such that a doctor may well doubt if he be not justified in advising them to indulge in illegitimate sexual intercourse. I have myself never given such advice in these cases, nor do I intend to give it in similar cases in the future. I refrain from doing so on ethical grounds, which I have discussed in great detail in connexion with the sexual question in my work on Medical Ethics.[140] The physician has no right to advise his patient to the performance of an act which is regarded by the latter as a deadly sin. But all the more because I have felt unable to give such advice, do I feel it my duty to insist here upon the seamy side of the education by which this state of mind is induced.
My view that what is commonly called religious education does not as a rule help the subject to master the sexual impulse, has been forced upon me by the numerous confessions entrusted to me by persons who have received such an education. Very recently, I was shown a diary in which a young man, obviously very religious and pious, to whom God was the source of all hope, and who thanked God for His grace on every page, refers again and again to the fact that he has found himself unable to overcome the lower forms of sensuality. He writes: "In resisting this powerful sensual impulse, religion was of some help, but unfortunately not very much. When I was only twelve years of age, the impulse towards the lower forms of sensuality made its appearance, and speedily attained great intensity. Again and again I believed myself to be strong enough to withstand it, only to pass from a weak and inefficient resistance, to a profound fall." And later he writes: "But the lower sensuality persisted, however much and however often I resisted it. My imagination continually produced the horrible pictures. And though in desperate rage I clenched my teeth to drive them away, they always left traces in my soul, and from time to time I fell. How I have struggled, how I have fought! How often with tears have I sought God's protection and help, praising God with holy zeal and faith. In my room I knelt, praying for grace and strength. I write this, not for self-glorification, but to show you, dear reader, how terrible, how gigantic is the struggle for virtue."
Notwithstanding all that I have written, I do not for a moment dispute the fact that a religious education may effect admirable results, both in respect of sexual matters, and of others. Indeed, I am firmly convinced of this. But the religious education competent to do this does not consist merely of learning Bible texts by heart; nor is its chief aim the inculcation of precepts which are to-day impossible of fulfilment--as the child sees at every turn in the conduct of the members of its own environment. I refer to the religious education which has an internal reality, and arises spontaneously out of the demands of morality. I do not mean the sort of education which regards it as almost a disgrace that we come naked into the world; not the religious education which regards man as soiled by the fact that he is born from his mother's womb; nor that which considers every sexual act as essentially sinful, and asceticism as man's salvation. It is not religious education of such a kind that will have any good effect in the matter of sexual education; but that religious education only which is in complete accord with our ideas of morality, and which is based, not so much upon the historical and material contents of the Bible, as upon the internal and everlasting truths of religion.
The sexual dangers of the Bible have often been pointed out. But this work would be incomplete, if I omitted making a fresh reference to the matter. In the Bible, sexual processes are repeatedly mentioned. In the mind of the child a conflict inevitably arises when, on the one hand, he finds that everything of a sexual nature is diligently concealed from him, and, on the other, in the Holy Book which is put before him as the basis of his moral instruction, he finds that so much attention is paid to sexual things. It is not the actual accounts of sexual things in the Bible which constitute the danger, but the contrast between the plain speaking of the Bible in these matters, and the general affectation of secrecy outside its pages. An additional point of importance is the fact that in the Bible sexual topics are handled in a way which is by no means always delicate. I may recall the frequency with which the idea of the whore is employed for purposes of comparison; and I may refer also to the occasional use of strongly erotic language, as, for example, in the Song of Solomon. A further danger lies in the fact, that the Bible contains descriptions of customs which are no longer in harmony with modern ideas; it suffices to mention the accounts of polygamy in the Old Testament. Unless the distinction between what is historical and what is truly religious is carefully explained to the child, the latter's moral ideas will very readily become confused.
In this connexion, I must also refer to the Catholic confessional, about which of late years a good deal has been written. I may recall the disquisitions on the moral teaching of Liguori. The father confessors have to read books in which are discussed the questions of casuistry with which they have to deal, in order to learn what authoritative decisions have been given regarding the concrete cases on which they are asked to pass judgment, In these books, sexual misconduct plays a leading part. This is also true of the confessional manuals written to assist the penitents in the discovery of their sins, in which sexual errors also find a place. Opinions as to the wisdom of giving such manuals to penitents are certainly very divergent. When we read the authoritative decisions, for the use of confessors, pronounced by Catholic theologians upon sexual faults, we are sometimes astonished at the practical insight displayed in these decisions; the opinions expressed must, indeed, often appear dubious to the strict moralist, and yet they are occasionally marvellously well adapted to the practical requirements of the case. In many instances, however, even this cannot be admitted; and however right from the practical point of view the decisions may sometimes be, we must not overlook the dangers of the confessional. Cases have been personally known to me in which, at the confessional, penitents have been cross-questioned in such a way about sexual details that unfavourable consequences were, in my opinion, extremely likely to ensue. This statement applies with equal force to the case of children, who have to go to confession as soon as they arrive at the "age of reason."[141] No one will dispute the assertion that the father-confessors gather much experience in the exercise of their profession, and that most of them possess sufficient tact to avoid asking improper questions. But to assert this of all of them would be to rush to the other extreme; and for the same reason that in the latter part of this chapter I shall express myself as opposed, at any rate in part, to sexual instruction in schools, do I think that to ask such questions of children as are sometimes asked in confession, may in certain circumstances lead to very undesirable results. When the child penitent describes to the confessor sexual faults (masturbation, &c.), however well intentioned the words of the confessor may be, it is impossible that they should be so individually adapted as is really necessary in such cases; and the detailed discussion of these matters which sometimes follows is open to grave objection. In what I have just said, it is far from my intention to attack one of the sacraments of the Catholic Church; but the matter is one to which it was necessary to allude, and I will merely add that the error must be avoided of taking as a basis for criticism much that is written with a party bias against the Catholic Church, and much also of the mockery of the confessional which abounds in erotic literature. For example, when Michelet[142] asserts that, in matters concerning love and the sexual life, a French girl of fifteen is as far advanced as an English girl of eighteen, and when he refers this to the effect of a Catholic education in accelerating the process of human development, it is necessary to observe that these far-reaching generalisations are not supported by any jot of proof.
In the earlier parts of this chapter, I have discussed certain questions belonging to the psychical sphere in their bearings upon sexual education. I have now to refer to two specialised methods of treatment: first of all, the one which has initiated the whole of the newer psychotherapy, namely, hypnotism; and, secondly, the psycho-analytic method. Hypnotism has been employed against all kinds of sexual processes, both in adults and in children. As far as children are concerned, it is masturbation, in especial, for the prevention of which hypnotic suggestion has been tried. When the child is old enough to be hypnotised, good results will occasionally be obtained; but in many other cases the desired end can unquestionably be attained without the induction of the hypnotic state, either by suggestion in the waking state, or else by the other methods to be described in the present chapter.
Here are brief notes of a case in which hypnotic suggestion was employed with beneficial results.
Case 17.--X., a boy eleven years of age, was diligent at school. For some time past he had withdrawn from the companionship of all his school-fellows, and his parents had noticed that he was continually in the company of a schoolgirl two years older than himself. He availed himself of every opportunity to play with this girl. When they sat together at table, it was noticed that they endeavoured to secure physical contact by bringing their knees together. In addition, they were often seen kissing one another. It was obvious that the two had a mutual inclination each for the other. If anyone gave the boy a present of money, he shared it with the girl. The two wrote letters to one another, and some of these letters fell into the parents' hands. Thereafter the two were watched, so that this exchange of letters became impossible. At first, the matter was not regarded seriously; on the contrary, the two were teased about it, especially the boy. The latter became very unhappy, and for a time it was believed that the intimacy had been broken off. In reality, the rupture was apparent merely, and was simulated to escape the teasing. In secret, they continued to meet. Whereas regarding the girl few details were at my disposal, I had a good deal of information about the boy. It was astonishing how many excuses he made to deceive his relatives. Sometimes he was supposed to be writing his home-lessons, sometimes to be at a gymnastic lesson or at church, when in reality he was with his girl friend. It had been observed before that the boy occasionally played with his genital organs. Since a complete separation from the girl gave rise in the boy to a state of profound depression, followed by his paying attentions to a somewhat older girl living in his house, his parents now sought my advice. The boy proved to be extremely susceptible to hypnotism and to hypnotic suggestion, and it was remarkable how rapidly a complete change in his demeanour was effected. Since then I have seen the boy occasionally, the last time being when he was about fifteen and a half years of age. There had been no return of the sexual tendencies previously observed. Quite recently, indeed, he had been known to masturbate occasionally; and it was for this reason that he was again brought to consult me. But for four years previously, notwithstanding the fact that he had been very carefully watched, no improper conduct had been detected. Undoubtedly, the recent practice of masturbation would have escaped notice, had not the parents been made very anxious by the earlier experiences. No special treatment was now undertaken, since it appeared that there was nothing more amiss than is observed in average boys of his age; symptoms which in most cases disappear spontaneously, and without treatment.
A short account must also be given here of the method of Breuer and Freud, or the psycho-analytic method. It is true that this method is applicable to adults only, but its aim is to relieve the ill effects of sexual experiences during childhood. I have before pointed out that in Freud's view four neuroses always result from previous sexual experiences; and two of these, hysteria and compulsion-neuroses (Zwangsneurose) are considered by him to depend upon sexual experiences during childhood. Freud, who originally worked out this method in co-operation with Breuer, but subsequently further developed it by himself, assumes that the hysterical symptoms which result from the noxious influences of sexual experiences during childhood, are always permanently allayed if we succeed in making the subject once more actively conscious of them, and enable the emotions thereby again aroused in the mind of the patient to obtain an efficient outlet (sie zum abreagieren zu bringen). If we are able, either with or without the aid of hypnotism, to reawaken the effect which was originally experienced as a result of the sexual trauma, the hysterical symptoms will be permanently relieved. Originally, he endeavoured to reawaken the memory of the sexual trauma by means of the induction of profound hypnosis. Later, however, he was able to do this, without the aid of hypnotism, by conversing with the patient, and by awaking his memory by means of questions. This method, to which formerly Freud gave the name of the cathartic method, but which is now generally known as the psycho-analytic method, has to some extent been further developed by Freud's pupils. Freud's view is that by means of psycho-analysis he is enabled, from the sphere of the unconscious, or rather of the subconscious, to restore to the supra-consciousness the lost sexual experiences of childhood or of later life; and by this means to effect a permanent cure of the most diverse diseases. No detailed criticism of this method of treatment will here be attempted, but my views on the matter will to some extent have become apparent from what has been said in earlier parts of this book. The value of Freud's work appears to me to consist chiefly in this, that he has insisted more definitely than other writers upon the reality of subconscious processes. But I believe that the general sexual etiology which he assumes to exist can from no point of view be regarded as sound, even with the limitation which he later imposed upon his own doctrine, namely, that it is not the sexual experience itself, but the reaction against this experience, which is etiologically significant. Recently, I have several times tried to treat by the psycho-analytic method some of the cases for which that method is supposed to be suitable, and as a result of my experience I have been forced more and more to the conclusion that, notwithstanding all the other advantages of the psycho-analytic method, the importance of the factor of sexual experiences in the causation of disease has been greatly over-estimated by Freud. Moreover, I believe that the cures effected by Freud (as to the permanence of which, in view of the insufficiency of the published materials, no decisive opinion can as yet be given), are explicable in another way. A large proportion of the good results are certainly fully explicable as the results of suggestion. The patient's confidence in his physician, and the fact that the treatment requires much time and patience, are two such powerful factors of suggestion, that provisionally it is necessary to regard it as possible that suggestion explains the whole matter.
There are, of course, many other psychological influences to which attention must also be directed. One of the most important of these is the avoidance of psychical contagion. A boy who is sexually premature, or in whom some other striking sexual manifestations have occurred, may exercise an extremely harmful influence upon other children. We must endeavour to remove such a boy from the companionship of others, and in this country this often can be effected through the instrumentality of the Law of Guardianship (Fürsorgegesetz). But it will by no means always be easy to find the guilty person. It is extremely common for such an abnormal child to set the tone for the others; and such a child may be making remarkable progress in study, although its sexual and moral level is a very low one. A number of other measures will be inferred from what has been said in the section on etiology. These are social rather than medical problems. We must avoid letting children have the chance of seeing others engaged in sexual intercourse; they must not live in too close and intimate an association with other children; they must not grow up in the society of prostitutes; children who are past infancy should not share a common bed. As regards school-life, it is supposed to be a matter of great importance that there should be separate closets for the two sexes. I am myself doubtful if this last matter is one of much moment.
In any case, we can interfere for the special protection of children who have been exposed to peculiar risks, and have for this reason been led astray sexually. I have seen children who have been taught sexual misconduct, either by a nursemaid or by other children, and have practised such misconduct for a time; but in whom a complete cure has resulted from separation from the seducer. In some cases, of course, it will be necessary to do more than this, and to subject the child to some special treatment; and in rare instances, in which the sphere of the sexual is already markedly developed, it may be necessary that this treatment should be institutional. But such cases are certainly very uncommon. A matter of importance is that the parents or other persons responsible for the care and guidance of the child, should understand the psychical management of children; for example, that they should not fall into the common error of regarding the love-affairs of children as a joke, and that they should not, by this attitude, actually encourage the children in their course of conduct.
One part of sexual education is made up by the question of the purposive sexual enlightenment of children--a matter much discussed at the present day. I have shown, on page #, that this question is not, as many suppose, a new one. Those who have written on the subject of sexual enlightenment use this term with somewhat various meanings. As regards the extension of the term, it may be applied to either (or both) of two fields, which we may term the objective and the subjective aspects of the sexual life. To the objective side belong the physiological processes by means of which is effected the reproduction of organisms, whether plants, animals, or human beings. In explanation of these it is necessary to describe the reproductive organs, and the processes of conjugation, fertilisation, and fructification, as they have long been customarily taught in the botany class; and the nourishment of the nursing infant from the breast of the mother may also be described. To the subjective side, belong the relationships of the sexual processes to the individual organism, the good and the bad effects of the sexual impulse, &c. In this connexion, reference will be made to the dangers of masturbation, sexual excesses, pregnancy, venereal infection, and so on. By many writers, these two fields are not distinguished each from the other with sufficient clearness. The question, whether children should be taught about the methods of reproduction in plants, animals, and human beings, must not be confused with the question whether they should be taught about masturbation or the venereal diseases. It is possible to teach children that self-abuse is a harmful practice, without giving them any account of the physiological processes of reproduction; and, conversely, these processes may be described, without any special reference to the bearings of the matter on the individual life. Of course, the two fields are interconnected; and some writers suggest that in teaching children and young persons a proper respect for the genital organs, such teaching should be based upon a knowledge of the subsequent function of these organs in the work of reproduction. The individual processes cannot at once be referred to one field or the other; involuntary sexual orgasm, menstruation, the puberal development, inasmuch as they exhibit both a subjective and an objective aspect, belong to both fields. This is also true of the sexual act itself, in connexion with which, moreover, the principal difficulties of sexual enlightenment arise.
Having thus considered the general significance of sexual enlightenment, we have next to ask what are the grounds on which such enlightenment is thought to be desirable. These will have become partly apparent from what has been said regarding the importance of the sexual life of the child; but this does not exhaust the matter, for the sexual enlightenment of the child may also comprise instruction concerning the entire subsequent development of the sexual life. The reasons for sexual enlightenment may be classified under various heads; the chief of these are reasons of health, of social life, of law, morality, education, and the intellectual development.
To consider first the matter of intellectual development, we have here to think, not so much of a limitation of the intellectual growth in consequence of the sexual thoughts of the child, as of the fact that instruction in the nature of sexual processes, at least as far as the objective field is concerned, promotes the general culture. The degree to which even adults are ignorant about such matters, is hardly credible. There are persons who believe that every egg laid by a hen will develop into a chicken if incubated by the mother, or if kept for the proper time in an artificial incubator; there are persons who do not know what the hard roe and soft roe of fishes are, who do not understand the nature of the spawning process, and are, in fact, quite uninstructed concerning the process of reproduction in fishes. I have conversed with adults who did not know wherein a wether differs from a ram, or a bullock from a bull; and who were even ignorant, as regards great groups of the animal kingdom, whether they reproduced their kind by means of eggs or living young. But on such matters as these, every cultured person should be sufficiently informed, and should not be capable of being shamed by the superior knowledge of an uneducated child from the country. On one occasion, I even saw a married woman, actually twenty-eight years of age, who had been examined by a gynecologist, and for whom the latter had recommended the operative division of the hymen; but the lady confused this operation with oöphorectomy, and it was by no means an easy matter to make her understand the difference between the two. It will readily be understood that every grown man and woman ought ultimately to be fully informed concerning all such matters. In part, such instruction will take place at school, and more especially in the case of processes in the vegetable and lower animal world; these things will be explained in connexion with instruction in natural history and biology. But information about the human reproductive organs cannot be given in the school, unless to children of a considerable age; for these matters, direct personal instruction at home is more suitable.
Apart from the demands of general culture there are other reasons why sexual enlightenment is desirable. These chiefly concern the subjective aspects of the sexual life, whilst the objective processes serve principally for preparatory instruction.
First of all, grounds of health have to be considered. It may be desirable to enlighten the child regarding the dangers of masturbation, those of ordinary illegitimate sexual intercourse, and those of sexual excesses. No detailed discussion of these points is here necessary, since they have been dealt with before at considerable length, especially on page # et seq. Here I will merely point out that this aspect of enlightenment affects the entire future of the child and the family it will one day have. The first consideration here is the danger of venereal infection, and it is this danger, in close association with the other prophylactic efforts of our time, which has given rise to the recent movement in favour of sexual enlightenment. In this connexion the dangers may be explained that threaten the male from gonorrhoeal infection, not only in his own person, but also in the persons of his future wife and children. The wife may be infected by the husband, and the visual powers of the new-born child may also be endangered. Ophthalmia of the new-born, which often leads to blindness, commonly depends upon conjunctival infection received during the act of parturition. Syphilis was referred to on page #. Here it may be added that still-births and abortion and miscarriage may result from syphilitic infection either of the mother or of the embryo. Or the child may be born alive, but suffering from syphilitic infection. Even when no actual infection of the offspring results, syphilis favours the occurrence of a general degeneration of the progeny. If we desire to safeguard human beings against such dangers as these, we shall feel it necessary to enlighten them before it is too late; and in view of the fact that from a single act of intercourse infection may result by which the health may be permanently injured, such enlightenment is no less necessary for girls than for boys.
I need not describe the dangers to health resulting from masturbation and sexual excesses, for these have previously been considered in detail; but it is necessary to allude to the exaggerated statements which are sometimes encountered regarding the dangers of masturbation, especially in popular works on the subject, so that the physician may be on his guard about this matter. A child who during and after the act of masturbation has a keen sense of wrong-doing, and consequently suffers much from self-reproach, may, if the fear is superadded of having done serious permanent injury to health, be affected with grave hypochondriacal manifestations. Many instances of this have come under my notice, in young men and young women of sixteen or thereabouts. Even when the practice of masturbation has long been discontinued, and the patient is quite grown up, such symptoms may arise, owing to the persistence of the fear of disastrous results, and the autosuggestive influence of this fear. Nowhere is more tact required by the physician than in his dealings with those who masturbate or have masturbated. There is even a real danger that a moral lecture may cause a shock to the system; in the case of some young men it may sometimes be better to acquiesce in masturbation, rather than to alarm them by talking about the disastrous consequences of the indulgence. I refer to those unfortunate creatures who suffer from severe hyperaesthesia of the sexual impulse, and who for social reasons are not in a position to satisfy the impulse in any other way than by masturbation, or who refrain from illicit intercourse in the well-grounded fear of venereal infection. The physician who has seen a number of such cases, who has learned how they continually relapse into the practice of masturbation, notwithstanding all their good resolutions and their conviction that masturbation is at once dangerous and immoral, will be likely to feel that it is better, not indeed to recommend masturbation, but from time to time tacitly to permit it. To do in these cases what it is well to do in certain others, namely, to describe the bad effects of masturbation, may give rise to grave conditions of depression, and even to suicide. Certainly, in such cases, we must carefully avoid alarming the patients too seriously about the consequences of masturbation.
In undertaking the sexual enlightenment of the child, those phenomena of the sexual life should not be forgotten which are shown by experience to arouse in the ripening child, now curiosity, and now anxiety--and the chief among these are involuntary sexual orgasm and menstruation. Imagine the state of mind of the girl who has never heard a word about menstruation, and awakens one morning with blood flowing from the genital organs; or that of the boy, who has his first nocturnal seminal emission, without having received any information as to its significance. Similar considerations apply to some of the other signs of puberty; and especially to the growth of the pubic hair, which has made many a child extremely anxious. Although, by the time this age is reached, a child has commonly been sufficiently informed about these things by his playfellows, we meet with instances in which nothing of the kind has occurred.
Hitherto I have been considering the hygienic grounds for effecting sexual enlightenment; but there are also important ethical reasons for such enlightenment. It is not possible in our life to speak the truth always and unconditionally; but this fact does not give us the right to lie to children without good cause. Especially dangerous is it to relate to children fables about the stork or the cabbage-garden, at a time when they have long been enlightened about sex from other sources. I recall the case of a girl seven years of age, whose mother was still in the habit of telling her that babies were brought by the storks; but this child was accustomed to join with other girls and boys in playing at "father, mother, and midwife," wherein they displayed a comparatively exact knowledge of the processes of reproduction and birth. We are not surprised when a woman tells us that as a child her confidence in her mother was seriously shaken from the moment when she was enlightened by others concerning the sexual life, and she recognised that what her mother had told her about the matter was quite untrue. I do not mean to imply that stories of the stork and cabbage-garden variety are to be altogether excluded. It would be as reasonable to prohibit all kinds of fairy tales. Some tell us that we should tell children fairy stories only so long as they regard the whole of life as a fairy tale. But in view of the vivid imagination of childhood, no such sharp distinction is practicable. Let the reader recall his own childhood. Does the child regard the fairy tale as a lie, even after he has began to doubt if the world of fairy stories has any actual existence? Certainly not. Similarly with regard to the stork fable. I consider that the complete suppression of this fable, unless we replace it with some like poetical fancy, can do nothing but harm to the child's nature. All that we must ask is that such a story shall not for too long be put before the child as fact. When the child's development has gone far enough, it will be well to dispense with the stork story. This is suggested by considerations both of prudence and of morals, and the like considerations urge us to describe to the child, tactfully and at the proper time, the true nature of the reproductive processes.
Such a course is desirable, if merely for the reason that when a child is sexually enlightened by other children, this is usually effected in so coarse a manner as very readily to undermine the bases of respect for the sexual life of humanity. A child who has been instructed regarding this grave and important matter by his parents and in a proper manner, is in a position to reject offers of a coarse method of enlightenment; but by the customary--too long customary--plan, as far as children are concerned, of altogether ignoring the sexual life, children are deprived of the power of repelling obscene methods of enlightenment.
The legal dangers to which reference was made on page # et seq. are additional reasons for undertaking the sexual enlightenment of the child. I pointed out that, in certain circumstances, a boy of thirteen who undertook sexual practices with a girl of twelve was committing a punishable offence. But sexual enlightenment is desirable, not merely for those of this age, but also for those who are somewhat older. A large number of people are completely ignorant of our penal code in these relationships. I recall the case of a sexually perverse young man of twenty who on a number of occasions performed the following acts with boys of about thirteen years of age. He would go to a public bath, induce a boy of thirteen or so to enter his dressing cubicle, and, as if in joke, tie the boy's hands together. In reality, as he did this, he experienced sexual excitement to the point of ejaculation. This latter occurred especially when he touched the boy's body--not his genital organs. He had absolutely no idea that such acts were punishable with imprisonment, in accordance with the third paragraph of Section 176 of the Criminal Code; and it gave him a terrible shock when I explained to him that he had rendered himself liable to imprisonment. Some persons even believe that they may handle children's genital organs, for the purpose of exciting themselves sexually, without rendering themselves liable to punishment. It is obvious that on these grounds also enlightenment on sexual matters may be extremely desirable.
Finally, there are certain social and economic reasons for sexual enlightenment. These reasons are closely connected with those bearing upon health, but they may in part be separated from the latter. No one will deny that illegitimate sexual intercourse may entail grave social consequences. For women these dangers are much greater than they are for men; but for men, even, they are by no means inconsiderable. As far as women are concerned, the danger of extra-marital impregnation occupies the first place. The importance of this of course varies greatly in various regions and in different social strata. In the servant-class in the country, for instance, pre-marital sexual intercourse, and even pre-marital motherhood, is far from having the seriousness which attaches to these things among the old peasant families firmly rooted to the soil. Among the servant-class in towns, the matter has a more serious aspect than among the same class in the country. On the other hand, in many artistic circles in the Metropolis, pre-marital intercourse, even on the part of women, is regarded far more indifferently than in other strata of society. None the less, for a girl of the upper ranks, extra-marital pregnancy is for the most part tantamount to social annihilation. Even here exceptions occur, and we shall find good families of the aristocracy and the upper bourgeoisie in which a woman who has given birth to an illegitimate child, or even one who is manifestly a cocotte, will be socially recognised, provided she has attained some great position, such as that of a great artist, for instance. In such cases we may even find that women who on other occasions are unable adequately to express their hatred and contempt for prostitutes and similar unfortunate beings, will yet be proud of their friendship with such a woman, and will boast of it in public. But such opportunities of social recovery are open to very few; most women of the upper classes sink rapidly and far in the social scale as soon as it is publicly known that they have experience of illegitimate intercourse. For this reason, such consequences must be taken into the reckoning. The objection need not be raised that the sexual enlightenment would not safeguard a girl, since, when she gives herself to a man, a girl knows well enough that children are the result of sexual intercourse. The objection is unsound, if we only have a right understanding of what we mean by sexual enlightenment, and if at the same time we do not neglect the general sexual education. Enlightenment should not be limited to merely making the person concerned aware of the consequences of sexual acts; it should, as it were, become ingrained in the flesh and blood, so as to influence the actions, even unconsciously. A girl brought up in this way will defend herself instinctively against the wiles of a seducer. But only by such an education, by one which is not confined to the mere imparting of information, can we produce in the girl greater powers of self-protection and a more enduring self-consciousness, and so save her from the far too common fate of behaving like a stupid unripe creature, and believing all the asseverations of the first man who makes love to her--asseverations which the man himself, in the moment of passion, very probably believes. Let me, then, repeat that all that appertains to the sexual enlightenment must became part of the flesh and blood of the subject; only from this can we expect good results, whereas a sexual education which consists merely in the acquirement of information, is altogether valueless. But by a true sexual enlightenment, in the sense above defined, it is probable that many a girl may be safeguarded from prostitution; and many a child, boys as well as girls, may be better protected against the attempts of paedophiles. And these considerations apply, not merely to childhood, but also to subsequent life--especially as regards girls. How many girls enter upon marriage quite ignorant and altogether inexperienced. They commit themselves to the keeping of a man of whom they know hardly anything at all. The parents are often satisfied with the most meagre information. It is considered improper to ask for detailed information regarding the husband's past life, and hence it often happens that a girl is delivered up to an unscrupulous man suffering from venereal infection, simply because she has never been adequately informed regarding the serious step she is undertaking, regarding the completely new mode of life upon which she is so suddenly entering. We thus see that there are ample grounds for explaining to a girl in good time precisely what she will undertake in entering the married state.
A question of importance is at what age the sexual enlightenment can most wisely be effected. Some advise that enlightenment should begin with our answers to the first questions the child propounds upon the subject; others contend that it is better to wait till it is somewhat older than this. There is truth in both these views; but the matter and manner of our communications must be appropriate to the age of the child with which we are dealing. When a young man is being sent to the university, it is wise to instruct him concerning the dangers of venereal infection; but to inform him that human beings come into the world as the result of an act of sexual intercourse would be altogether superfluous. Conversely, if a child asks its parents where its little brother has come from, we do not need to say anything about syphilis and gonorrhoea; but none the less we can give such a child an account suitable for one of its age of the way in which human beings come into the world. Speaking generally, it may be said that the biology and physiology of reproduction--that is to say, the objective processes--may be described at a comparatively early age; but that cautions regarding masturbation should not, in average cases, be given before the age of thirteen or fourteen; and that instruction about the risks of venereal infection should be deferred until even later than this. In the case of boys, in so far as enlightenment in the school is concerned, information about venereal infection may, for practical reasons, best be given about the time the boys are preparing to leave for a higher school. In the case of girls, for whom a caution against risks of impregnation and against prostitution are especially in question, we have also, as far as sexual enlightenment in the school is under consideration, to recommend the time when they are about to leave school. But if we prefer that sexual enlightenment, or at any rate a part of such enlightenment, should be effected at home rather than in the school (a course which I regard as essentially preferable), it will be impossible to lay down a fixed rule as to the age at which this should take place. To a lively girl of twelve or thirteen years, a great deal can be said far better by the mother, than can be said to a girl considerably older, say at fifteen, by the school physician, schoolmaster, or schoolmistress. Speaking generally, in the case of girls, the enlightenment may well begin at a somewhat earlier age than in the case of boys--at any rate as regards the subjective processes of the sexual life.
On the whole, it may be regarded as definitely established that the child may well receive information about the objective processes at a very early age, and this long before the time commonly regarded as marking the commencement of puberty. But as regards the subjective processes, it is better that there should be some delay. It may, indeed, be asked whether it would not be preferable that in the case also of the subjective processes, the child should be instructed before they actually make their appearance in the child's own consciousness, to render possible the adoption on the child's part of a more objective attitude towards these phenomena. But in reality such a course offers no advantages. The child is quite unable to understand the dangers of the sexual life, as long as it has no actual experience of sexual feelings. For this reason, it is better to accept the view of those who contend that, as far as the subjective processes of the sexual life are concerned, we should wait till near the end of the second period of childhood before beginning the enlightenment. But we must not forget what has previously been pointed out, that the puberal development may begin at a time when nothing of the sort is apparent to the eye of the observer; and we must also bear in mind that the first seminal emission and the first menstruation are by no means so important, as marks of the puberal development, as is commonly believed. For the fulfilment of the aims of the sexual enlightenment, however, it does not so much matter when the first physical manifestations of the puberal development make their appearance, but when the first sexual feelings and sentiments, which must be distinguished from the unconscious and purely physical symptoms, are experienced. The important matter is, not whether follicles have already matured in the ovary, but what influence such a process has exercised upon the mental life of the child. For this reason, in our study of the individual case, we must have some knowledge of the psyche of the child with which we are concerned.
A matter also within the scope of our subject is the question by whom the sexual enlightenment may best be effected. This question is connected with the questions for what reason and at what age enlightenment should take place. As regards these points, it lies between the school and the home. Some writers contend that so far as possible everything, others, that, at any rate, a great deal, should be imparted at school. The latter view is also my own.
In so far as the enlightenment has to do with purely biological processes, and especially in so far as it relates to processes in the vegetable and lower animal world, it can be effected in the school, and in the first years of the second period of childhood; but of course the giving of such instruction at school does not prevent a father who goes out walking with his son, or a mother with her daughter, from seizing opportunities of giving information about the sexual processes of plant-life. At school, education regarding such biological processes will form a part of the lessons in botany and zoology; or will be imparted in the class on general biology, if such a class exists. Instruction in hygiene, such as is often advised, has little to do with the matters we are now considering; and at any rate could merely involve an elementary account of such processes. The school may even be the best place for sexual enlightenment regarding the sexual life of human beings, at least in the case of the older pupils. There is no adequate reason for objecting to boys about to leave school being warned by a schoolmaster or a physician about the dangers of venereal disease; and at the same time a plea may be put forward against the view that it is incumbent upon every young man to prove his strength by the maximum indulgence in sexual intercourse.
But the matter is very different as regards the enlightenment concerning the subjective processes of the sexual life of those who are still quite young. It is impossible to approve of the suggestion that a girl of twelve or a boy of fourteen should receive instruction in school as to the dangers of masturbation. Enlightenment of this sort must be given in a purely individual manner, and for this reason the school is here out of the question. It may be objected to this that we now and again encounter a schoolmaster who is able to establish between himself and his pupils a relationship of complete personal confidence, and that such a man is just as well able as the father to instruct his boys about these matters; mutatis mutandis, the same considerations apply to the exceptional schoolmistress as compared with the mother. But although it must be admitted that such cases really exist, they are--and this is no fault of master or mistress--such rare exceptions, that it is out of the question to base upon their existence a general rule that enlightenment upon these particular points should be given in the school. Enlightenment regarding the earliest manifestations of the sexual life, whether about the feelings or about the peripheral processes, demands such a degree of individualisation, that a schoolmaster or a schoolmistress, who has to teach from thirty to fifty pupils at once, or even a larger number than this, is quite unable to undertake anything of the kind. Such enlightenment can be properly effected only by an individual confidant, and by one who makes the fullest possible allowance for the child's own individuality. Such a confidant is most suitable, if only for the reason that enlightenment on these questions can best be effected, above all in the case of little children, as far as possible in response to spontaneous inquiries, or at least when an opportunity is afforded by some chance occurrence. The express manufacture of an opportunity, such as would be necessary in the school, might entail very unfortunate consequences; and even if, in response to a wide demand of our day, instruction in hygiene is given in school, either by a schoolmaster or a medical man, the anticipation of such topics might have undesirable results. In the German Medical Congress of the year 1908, it was evident that even the advocates of hygienic instruction in the school were not all prepared to answer with an unqualified affirmative the question whether the school was the best place for effecting sexual enlightenment; and a resolution proposed by Scheyer was adopted, to the effect "that this Congress considers that the question of the school taking part in the work of sexual enlightenment is one which it would at present be premature to discuss."
Those who are inclined to assume to-day that we have left the older authorities far in the rear, would do well sometimes to study the works they despise. Basedow in his Elementarbuch für die Jugend und für ihre Lehrer und Freunde (Handbook for Young Persons, their Teachers, and their Friends), gives some ideas as to how a mother may best enlighten her children regarding sex-differences. Looking at a chest of drawers, one of the children says to the mother that the purpose of clothing is to protect the body from cold and heat, and to cover the private parts. The mother replies that the last-named use of clothing is indeed very important, and that it is very naughty to allow these parts of the body to be seen, unless in cases of the greatest need. But the child goes on to say that an additional use of clothing is to help us to know one person from another, and to distinguish the female sex from the male; and her little brother remarks that he knows of no difference between the sexes other than that shown by the clothing: "If I were dressed like my sister, I should be a girl." "No, no, my child," answers the mother, "as time goes on, a girl's form becomes very different from that of a young man. In men, a beard grows; but not in women. Men cannot give birth to a child, nor can they suckle a child; they can only procreate children, or become fathers. For this reason, even from the time they are born, their bodies are different from those of little girls. And not only are their bodies different; their inclinations are different also; &c., &c." Although we may be disinclined to accept everything that Basedow and other early educationalists have said about such matters, none the less, in these old writings the modern educationalist will find much that is suggestive.
Of late years, now that the school physician has gained a higher position, the suggestion is sometimes made that it is by him that the sexual enlightenment may best be undertaken. As far as children of a fair age are concerned, and in the matter of imparting warnings against the dangers of venereal infection, I share this view. But as regards enlightenment as to the personal sexual life in the case of a child of thirteen or so, I am compelled to differ. My reasons will be obvious from what has been said before. The principal reason is that the enlightenment ought to be effected by someone who enjoys the child's personal confidence. Undoubtedly there are certain school physicians who fulfil this condition; and to such persons this task may, of course, be entrusted. The very fact that they enjoy the children's confidence suffices to show that they possess certain special qualifications for such a task, and further, that they have the faculty of coming to a real understanding with children. But the fact that a man is appointed to the position of school physician, does not by itself prove that he possesses to an adequate degree the fine perceptions and the tact that are needed in effecting the sexual enlightenment; nor does it prove that he is the person best fitted to enlighten the children with whom he has to deal. In this difficult matter, we cannot be too careful in formulating any general rule. The person who is to effect the sexual enlightenment must possess, not merely a theoretical knowledge of the processes of sex, but also the faculty of making these processes intelligible at the right moment and in the right way. But how is the school physician or the schoolmaster to know, in individual cases, the degree to which the sexual life has developed? He must have definitely abandoned the old view that either the child's age in years or the external physical signs of puberty can be regarded as indicating with any degree of precision the progress of psychosexual puberty. But since this latter, the psychosexual development, should most often guide us in the choice of the right moment for effecting the sexual enlightenment, we are compelled to depend upon an individual consideration of the child, such as will be possible only to a person who is fully in its confidence. We learn from everyday experience that even very near relatives, if they have failed to penetrate the child's intimate psyche, may have utterly erroneous conceptions of its mental life. They completely ignore the extent to which the sexual imaginative activity has already developed; they know nothing as to whether the originally obscure sensibility of the child has now become focussed in a particular direction, so that its feelings are stimulated by definite individuals; they are ignorant of the degree to which the child's genital organs have become subject to the peripheral changes characteristic of sex. In the fourth chapter of this work I have discussed the wide individual differences which children exhibit in these various respects; and a mere reference to the matter here should suffice to show that the most careful and detailed individual examination of the child-soul is indispensable, and that the observance of a mechanical routine in the process of sexual enlightenment would be even worse than no enlightenment at all.
It is a question of great importance, who, outside the school, is the person best fitted to undertake the sexual enlightenment; and I have repeatedly expressed my preference for the selection of the mother. But a mother who is unable to superintend the general education of her children, because she is compelled to spend most of her time away from home engaged in earning a livelihood, is not fitted to undertake the sexual enlightenment of her children; equally unfitted for this is the mother who leaves the education of her children in the hands of hired assistants, whilst herself occupied in attending public meetings, perhaps on behalf of the woman's movement, of the education of children, of the promotion of the sexual enlightenment, of rational dress, or the like, whilst her children at home are abandoned to moral corruption; and the same considerations apply to the mother whose nights are so much occupied in dancing and feasting, that the greater part of her days have to be spent in bed. Fortunately, however, there are many mothers who have very different conceptions of their duties to home and children. We find such mothers very often among the class of skilled artisans, but also among the cultured middle class,[143] although among these latter the desire to ape the manners of the so-called upper classes is unfortunately far too general. I have seen cases in which the mother was still the confidant of her sons after they had entered the period of early manhood; and thus I have known a mother who in the case of a son of sixteen, and even of eighteen years, was in a position to allay the grave anxiety awakened by the first occurrence of nocturnal emissions. But where the mother is not the confidant, some other person must take this place, as, for instance, a governess or a near relative. In the case of boys, the father is often the person best able to undertake the sexual enlightenment; or it may be a physician who enjoys the lad's confidence, and especially a family physician in the old and excellent sense of the term; in other cases it may be an elder brother, or an old family friend. Much good in such cases may be done by a friend, older, indeed, than the child who is to receive enlightenment; and yet not so much older as to make the child feel that a mutual understanding is hardly possible. In any case, next to the possession of a cultivated intelligence by the person who undertakes to effect the sexual enlightenment, the point of greatest importance is that this latter person should receive the full confidence of the child. Only when the child has such perfect trust, will it accept as true what it is told, and not suspect that, as has so often been the case, it is being put off with hypocritical phrases--for children recognise the hypocritical character of much of what they are told about sexual matters at an age far earlier than most elders are willing to believe. But another reason why the person who undertakes the enlightenment must be one who has the child's fullest confidence, is that in that case only can the child be expected to be absolutely straightforward. A very frequent mistake in dealing with children is to mistrust them needlessly. Let us suppose that a child has been discovered to masturbate, and that it is spoken to very earnestly in order to break it off the habit. I have known cases in which, although everything pointed to the fact that the child had abandoned its bad habit, yet, when it denied masturbating any longer, it was accused of lying. A child will naturally never give its confidence again to one who has once unjustly reproached it in this manner. On the other hand, a child is far more likely to acknowledge its faults to one in whom it has perfect confidence. The child's confidence can be gained only by an individual confidant. In the presence of such a confidant, a child loses all sense of false shame, and this is an indispensable precondition for effecting a really valuable enlightenment. Where no individual is forthcoming who fulfils the requirements just specified, it is usually better to dispense with the enlightenment; and above all, in this matter, a mechanical routine must be avoided.
I will now briefly report a case in which a younger brother made a confidant of his elder brother, and will show how unwise it would be to lay down any general rule as to who is the person best fitted to undertake the sexual enlightenment of a child.
Case 18.--One day a student of medicine came to me to ask my advice about his younger brother, a lad of thirteen. This latter, an intelligent boy, was attending the upper third class of the higher school. The boy confessed to his brother that he masturbated to excess, and that he found that scenes of cruelty especially aroused sexual stimulation. I asked the student to bring his young brother to see me, and the latter made on me a very favourable impression, especially in the matter of his frankness. He spoke to me quite openly, and attended most carefully to all my advice. I explained to him truthfully that his future was endangered, not only by the masturbation, but also by the perverse ideas; I told him that the danger of a combination of masturbation with perverse ideas was especially serious; and I assured him that he was still at an age when it remained possible for him to develop into a normal man. Some years later, I saw the young man once more. His subsequent development had been excellent, and he was almost free from perverse sexual sensibility.
In this case it would have been utterly wrong to insist on the lad's being enlightened by his father, his mother, his guardian, or his schoolmaster. The particular circumstances of the life often point out the right way. In this instance, it was his elder brother in whom the lad had complete confidence. Now, if the elder brother had consulted the parents in this difficulty, such a course would not merely have destroyed the younger's confidence in his elder brother's silence and discretion, but would have undermined the lad's confidence in general. Especially towards the parents, but also towards other relatives, a feeling of shame commonly exists--perhaps a mistaken feeling, but one with which we have to reckon. Often it is the parents' own fault, when they fail to gain the confidence of their children.
The question has also been mooted whether the sexual enlightenment of girls should not be entrusted to some companion of the same sex, more especially in cases in which the mother is for one reason or another unfitted for this task. This view is altogether erroneous. Sex has comparatively little to do with the question. For example, Heidenhain, whose practical experience in these matters is most extensive, has shown that the enlightenment of girls may be effected most admirably by a male physician endowed with the requisite qualities.[144] The thing that matters is not the sex of the person who effects the enlightenment, but the manner in which the enlightenment is effected.
To sum up. The sexual enlightenment of the child is advisable. The biological processes of sex in the vegetable and lower animal world may be taught in school as early as the second period of childhood. A warning against the dangers of venereal infection may be given at school to the senior pupils shortly before they leave, or at some similar suitable opportunity. But for effecting enlightenment regarding the processes of the individual sexual life, the school is unsuitable; this matter can best be undertaken by some private person, and above all by the mother. Choice of the time for this last phase of the sexual enlightenment must be guided, in part by the questions of the child, in part by the child's physical maturity, but more especially by the indications of psychosexual development.
Deliberately I avoid discussing the question as to the precise words and phrases with which the child's enlightenment is to be effected. Moreover, this question is subordinate to another, namely, to what extent instruction in natural science has prepared the way, in the child's mind, for such enlightenment. Both in Germany and in Austria, schemata have been drawn up for systematic preparation of this kind.[145] Speaking generally, we may draw the following conclusions. We have to distinguish according to the age of the child with which we have to deal. Where we have to caution a young man about to leave one of the higher schools, about the dangers of venereal infection, our difficulties are inconsiderable. But where we have to do with a girl of eight, who has asked her mother where her baby brother has come from; or with a boy of fourteen, whom we wish to protect because he has taken to sexual malpractices with his school-fellows, our difficulties are great. In such cases, tact, which cannot always be taught, and a desire for the best interests of the child, must show us the right path. It is obvious that each case will require individual consideration and treatment. An intelligent mother, who constitutes half the child's world and more, can describe these matters to her child, can even describe the sexual act, whose existence most persons prefer to conceal from children. It is by no means impossible to present even this act to the child's mind in a tactful way. It can be done in a poetical manner, and yet without departing from the strict truth. The same considerations apply to the act of birth. In a book dealing with this subject, a mother is asked by her child where children come from, and she answers as follows: "You see, little one, how fruit grows upon a tree; in just the same way, little children grow within the body of the mother." Beyond question, there is no justification for the assumption that sexual enlightenment can be effected only in a repulsive manner; and this view depends merely upon the fact that through a perversion of moral ideas certain persons regard as unclean things which are essentially clean. Everything depends upon the person who effects the enlightenment, upon finding a suitable opportunity, and upon choosing words and phrases adapted to the child's intelligence. Success will often follow upon replying in an illuminating way to some chance question of the child. In other cases, there may be indications for making the enlightenment part of a festival occasion--a method described in an old book, in which the father effects the enlightenment of his children to the accompaniment of public prayers.[146] The description shows a truly religious spirit, and a genuine love for children; it shows, further, that natural processes may be described truthfully to children without wounding in any way their sense of shame. There is no ground whatever for the belief that to a fairly advanced child a serious person cannot suitably describe all the natural processes of the human body, including sexual intercourse. The child to whom these things are described in a well-considered way, will receive no kind of injury to its moral sentiments; nor will such a description, once more, if it is couched in well-chosen words, provoke in the child any tendency to laughter. The secrecy with which the sexual life is surrounded, confused by many with the sentiment of shame, often gives rise to the belief that the child has the same feelings about the sexual life as the adult. But the unspoiled child has absolutely no feeling that the sexual life is in any way unclean; and for this very reason, no great difficulty arises in the sexual enlightenment of such an unspoiled child--an enlightenment which includes a description of the sexual act. I have myself on several occasions been asked by parents with a proper care for the future morality and health of their children, to undertake the necessary enlightenment of these latter. I am absolutely convinced that when the child has complete trust in the person who effects the enlightenment, the explanation of everything is fully possible. In this book, I have more than once proved that a description of sexual intercourse, appealing as it does rather to the intellectual side of the child's mind, need have no bad influence at all upon its emotional life; and in the further course of this chapter I shall have to speak of the matter once again. I may add here that there are books written specially for the purpose of assisting parents in the instruction of their children in these matters.[147]
From what I have written it will have been obvious that I regard the sexual enlightenment of the child as very desirable; but it does not follow from this that I regard it as something that must be undertaken. Not everything is practicable which may seem desirable. We must not forget that there are dangers associated with the sexual enlightenment. It will not be right simply to ignore a reason often alleged against the desirability of sexual enlightenment, namely, that in this way it is possible that the child's thoughts will be turned in the sexual direction. This is unquestionably possible, and the danger can only be avoided by great adroitness. But when we remember that such adroitness is not found everywhere, we shall have to admit, however much we may wish that the sexual enlightenment of children should invariably be effected, that it will often be necessary to dispense with it, because the person suitable to undertake the enlightenment of a particular child is not forthcoming.
If the right person is not to be found, the idea of the sexual enlightenment must be abandoned. However unsympathetic and even dangerous the manner in which, as a rule, children mutually enlighten one another about sexual matters, even more serious dangers may attach to the enlightenment of a child by an adult unsuited for this difficult task. Inept enlightenment may entail extremely serious consequences, and more especially it is likely to bring about the particular evil results that we are most eager to avoid, that is to say, it may direct the attention of the child to its own sexual inclinations. We have also to take into account the fact that there are persons who cannot discuss sexual topics without themselves becoming sexually excited; and we cannot afford to ignore the danger that among those who undertake to effect the sexual enlightenment of children there may he persons who will gladly seize every opportunity of speaking to the children upon sexual matters, intoxicating themselves the while with their own sexual imaginings. The grave danger of allowing an unsuitable person to undertake the sexual enlightenment is obvious from the existence of those persons who teach that homosexual inclinations occurring in children indicate that they are permanently homosexual--a view which, as has been shown, is utterly erroneous. But let us suppose that one who holds such a doctrine is the person who has undertaken the sexual enlightenment of a child, and we can hardly doubt what the result will be, namely, to foster homosexuality. The greatest possible care must therefore be exercised in the selection of the person who is to undertake the sexual enlightenment.
Nor must we expect too much from the sexual enlightenment. Although to adults the way in which one schoolboy instructs another about matters of sex may appear to be extremely unpleasant, yet, as a matter of practical experience, this method has not had the disastrous results that some believe to attach to it. Unquestionably, the Germans and other civilised races have done much very important work, not only in the intellectual field, but also in that of ethics and in that of social life. Still we have learned that disadvantages are entailed by the rough-and-ready methods of sexual enlightenment hitherto commonly practised. Will these ill-effects disappear with the realisation of the modern efforts for a purposive and deliberate sexual enlightenment? Even though the modern ideas on the subject are to be preferred, it must not be supposed that their adoption will immediately result in the disappearance of all the unfavourable aspects of the sexual life. We shall not thereby transform children into little angels; and I doubt very much if the new methods of enlightenment will have much effect in diminishing the frequency of masturbation among children. I am led to this conviction by my experience that at the time when the process of sexual ripening begins, a child does not usually possess an adequate sense of the dangers of such malpractices. I am certainly afraid that nothing we can do will greatly lessen the prevalence of masturbation among children, I would rather venture to hope for a diminution in the prevalence of venereal diseases, as a result of the newer methods of sexual enlightenment; but even here there will be many cases in which passion will gain the victory over all possible prudential considerations. The same remarks apply also to pregnancy, and to the other consequences of the sexual life.
I am, moreover, sceptical because the very persons to whom today we have to look to effect the sexual enlightenment of children, are themselves to a great extent also in need of enlightenment; and in respect of many of the questions about which the child has to be enlightened, no general harmony of scientific opinion can as yet be said to obtain. Take, for example, the question whether masturbation during the period of sexual development is or is not a physiological act; or the question whether sexual abstinence can do any harm to the health. It is true that such differences in scientific opinion are not so extensive as gravely to affect the question of the sexual enlightenment of the child. In the matter of sexual abstinence, for example, the majority of physicians are to-day agreed upon the view that such abstinence in general does no harm; and that those, if any, whose health may be unfavourably influenced by sexual abstinence, constitute at most a very small minority. In my own view, the persons who may suffer from this cause are those affected with hyperaesthesia of the sexual impulse, and in whom the impulse is dominant to such a degree that it interferes with all their alternative activities. But it is certainly only an extremely small percentage of persons about whom, among medical men able to speak authoritatively, that there is any difference of opinion.
A more serious matter is the extent to which erroneous views about sexual questions still prevail among the populace. A father who starts with the false assumption that his son must inevitably have intercourse with so many prostitutes and must seduce so many girls--in a word, a father who regards sexual abstinence as unmanly, or as necessarily dangerous to health (and fathers who hold such opinions are no rarity)--such a father must himself be sexually enlightened before we give him the right to enlighten his son. Those also themselves greatly need enlightenment who, for instance, advise a young bridegroom who has always lived a chaste life to visit a prostitute before marriage, in order to prove his sexual potency. As if potency in intercourse with an experienced prostitute, skilled in all the tricks of her trade, were a proof that the bridegroom will prove sexually potent in intercourse with a chaste woman; or as if, on the other hand, the fact that a man proves impotent when he attempts intercourse with a prostitute whose embraces are repulsive to him, were in any sense whatever a proof that the same man will fail to effect intercourse with the woman he loves. Thus, many full-grown men are in need of enlightenment about this matter of sexual potency, and especially need information regarding the extent of the individual variations in this matter. We hear of young men who believe themselves to be ill, simply because they are not sexually potent to a degree that enables them to effect complete sexual intercourse several times in brief succession. Their error often depends upon the fact that they have been told by other young men that normal sexual potency enables a man to have repeated intercourse at intervals of a few minutes. As regards the informants, it may be that, having had such exceptional potency on one or two occasions, they really believe it to be a normal requisite of full manhood; more often, however, the mistake originates from a young man taking at its face value the boasting of one of his comrades who has lied freely about his own "virile potency." I have known similar things happen in the case of women, among whom boasting about the intensity of the voluptuous sensations experienced during sexual intercourse is by no means uncommon. There are a great many women in whom voluptuous sensations during intercourse are entirely lacking, and in whom even sexual desire may be in abeyance. Sometimes this is a matter of no great importance. But wives whose women-friends have boasted to such an extent of the intensity of the voluptuous sensations experienced in sexual intercourse, are apt to overestimate the importance of the lack of such voluptuous pleasure in their own experience of the sexual act; and it is therefore desirable that women should know the true facts of the case. We have further to remember that many of the disillusionments of marriage depend upon the fact that before marriage girls have allowed their imaginations to run riot concerning the intensity of enjoyment they will experience in sexual intercourse; all the greater is their disillusionment if they are among those who fail, after all, to experience sexual pleasure to the full.
In conclusion, I may refer to another instance of the way in which the importance of the sexual enlightenment is apt to be over-estimated, namely, as regards the effect of the enlightenment in furnishing protection against the venereal diseases. It is by this very error attaching to so much of what is said about the sexual enlightenment, that attention is readily diverted from a far more important field. Namely, in moral questions, a child is far more easily influenced by good example, than by any amount of good instruction by word of mouth. Example arouses a stimulus towards imitative action, whilst, in countless cases, the listener has no inclination whatever to do what he is merely told. This applies even to very little children, who adopt for themselves the practices they observe in their elders to a far greater extent than is commonly believed--although, as Bleuler[148] has shown, in this imitativeness the conceptual life may play a comparatively small part. If, therefore, from the first the principal stress is laid on giving a good example, the subsequent sexual enlightenment would be rendered far easier, and its success to a large extent assured. In a pure household, it is not so necessary that a child should be fully enlightened; or rather, the child's enlightenment will be extremely easy. Conversely in the case of an impure household. Unless the greatest care is taken that children shall never be exposed to the contagion of bad example, how readily may it happen, that the child, after it has received the sexual enlightenment, and has been cautioned against any kind of obscene talk, is allowed to watch all sorts of improper acts and to listen to obscenities! Such mischances may occur, not only, as self-satisfied parents are apt to imagine, through the misconduct of servants or strangers, but often the members of the child's own family may be the persons at fault. Adults believe that a child hears nothing, when in reality it is paying careful attention to that which is not intended for childish ears, and to that which gives the lie to what the child has just been told in the form of the sexual enlightenment. And this may happen without the grown-up persons having made any indiscreet connected speeches in the child's presence. Various slight indications, gestures, a stolen laugh, &c., may be interpreted by the child after its own fashion, which is often one directly conflicting with the sense of the lesson previously given. How easily may it happen that a boy is taught that the seduction of a girl is a wicked thing, or a girl is told that she must never be so ignorant or so stupid as to become the victim of a seducer, and yet a few minutes later the child may overhear the instructor relating the heroic deeds of a cousin, who has seduced so and so many girls of the lower orders!
Thus the importance of the sexual enlightenment must on no account be over-estimated. Rather should the words of the old proverb always be kept in mind: "As the old birds sing, so will the young birds chirp." Those who guide their own conduct in accordance with this principle, will find the sexual enlightenment of their children an easy matter; but in other houses, the theoretical enlightenment may be effected as carefully as you please, and yet it will do but little good. It is evident that the earlier movement in favour of the sexual enlightenment, to which I referred on page #, failed because the expectations of its advocates were pitched too high, and because the emotional life of the child was ignored--an error rightly pointed out by Thalhofer. I have no doubt that in a few decades the efforts of our own day on behalf of the sexual enlightenment, in so far as they lay the principal stress upon the theoretical enlightenment, and expect its enforcement to initiate the golden age, will arouse similar feelings of amusement to those with which we ourselves now contemplate the failures of the past.
The above is all I have to say about the psychical aids to the sexual enlightenment of the child. I turn now to consider the hygienic measures--those with a direct effect upon the body. Speaking generally, these are identical with those which are recommended for the treatment of masturbation.
When the child awakes in the morning, it should not be permitted to lie in bed too long, above all, not in a hot feather-bed. To send children to bed, or to keep them in bed all day, as a punishment, as a means of depriving them of liberty, is, from this point of view, a practice which must unreservedly be condemned. Very dangerous, from this outlook, is also the rule common in boarding-schools and similar places, in accordance with which the children are sent to bed at a fixed time, and are not in any circumstances allowed to leave their beds before a fixed time in the morning. Everything must be done strictly according to the rules. Now although we may admit that no such institution can be carried on without some discipline, yet it is necessary to point out that when there is a rule in a boarding-school that no inmate shall get out of bed before seven o'clock in the morning, children that are wide awake and lively at an earlier hour are exceedingly likely to take to masturbation. The dangers attendant upon prolonged lying in bed arises from a combination of mental and physical influences. Among the physical influences, the warmth of the bed is the most important; among the mental influences, we have to consider the lack of occupation, and the ease with which the genital organs are handled.
We have further to take steps to allay as far as possible all kinds of local irritation of the genital organs. Among these may be mentioned: phimosis and skin-eruptions of the genital region, which latter may lead to scratching, and so give rise to masturbation, even apart from the fact that the itching itself may favour the occurrence of voluptuous sensations. In addition, we have to think of the clothing. I pointed out before that breeches which pressed on the perineum sometimes led to the practice of masturbation. Hence this article of dress, breeches, knickerbockers, or trousers, should be made loose and comfortable. With regard to the proposal to do away with breeches altogether in the case of children, a recommendation which, as previously explained, has been made by several authorities, I cannot think that we should gain much thereby, for, to be effective, this measure would have to be continued up to a comparatively advanced age, and would thus involve a complete remodelling of our customary dress. It may be doubted, however, if attention to this point will do much to prevent premature sexual stimulation; for the danger is not so great as has sometimes been suggested. Still, a careful mother will take care that the tailor does not cut her little boy's breeches so as to fit too closely: for though this may please the parental eye, it is undoubtedly dangerous to the child. I have previously referred to the dangers attendant upon climbing the pole in the gymnasium; and here will merely add that a number of teachers of gymnastics regard pole-climbing as an exercise of very great value, whilst they believe that the danger of sexual stimulation in climbing results from the use of too thin a pole, and does not occur in climbing a thick pole, or in climbing a rope. It has been suggested, in his connexion, that the rocking-horse should be eliminated from the list of permissible toys. Objections have also been made, on the ground of the possibility of improper sexual stimulation, against bicycling and horseback-riding; but I think these objections are largely unfounded, for, as far as bicycling is concerned, a well-shaped saddle cannot improperly stimulate the genital organs; and just as little does such stimulation occur in horseback exercise unless when the lower part of the trunk is pressed forward against the front peal of the saddle, as in halting, or in passing from a faster to a slower pace. Of course, for horseback exercise, the breeches must be properly cut, as otherwise they may exercise injurious pressure on the genital organs when the rider is in the saddle. Intestinal stimulation may also give rise to reflex excitation of the genital organs; for example, intestinal worms may initiate such reflex disturbance. Mantegazza[149] lays especial stress upon stimulation of the rectum, being of opinion that stimulation of this region is very likely to lead to the development of paederastic inclinations. There are no grounds for such an assumption; but it is quite true that stimulation of the anal or gluteal region will very readily irradiate to the sphere of the genitals. For all these reasons, constipation, and more especially the accumulation of large scybalous masses in the rectum, are above all to be avoided.
In cases of obstinate inclination to masturbate, all kinds of local measures have been recommended to prevent manipulation and artificial stimulation of the penis or the vulva. But speaking generally, no great reliance can be placed in any of these local measures. Moreover, casual local stimulation, especially towards the end of the second period of childhood, has no very profound etiological significance. The chief stimuli giving rise to reflex excitement of the genital organs are of an organic nature, and are therefore but little influenced by external measures. Besides, the fact that among races who never wear breeches, the boys masturbate freely, and perhaps even more freely than do boys in Europe, proves that such external stimuli as the pressure exercised by breeches on the genital organs play no decisive part in the causation of masturbation.
I purposely refrain from further reference here to such measures as a methodical "hardening" by hydrotherapeutic procedures, and the like. In special text-books, whether upon masturbation, or upon hydrotherapeutics, ample information will be found about these matters.
The suggestion has also been made that from the sexual outlook the diet of children is a matter worthy of the most earnest attention. Nothing should be given to the child which may exert a sexually stimulating effect; especially we must avoid giving heavy foods late in the evening. More detailed directions are also given as to the use of particular kinds of food, some of which may be consecrated by tradition, and yet seem to have but small reasonable foundation. To this category belong the prohibition or limitation of flesh-foods, and the prohibition of asparagus, celery, and other articles of diet. There is no proof that such things have a stimulating influence upon the sexual impulse, either in children or in adults. We might more readily incline to believe that certain spices may have such an influence; but even as regards these, no great anxiety need be felt. As regards alcohol, many maintain it has an exciting influence upon the sexual life, and thus gives rise to all kinds of excesses. This is true of a good many cases, but the rule is by no means so general as is commonly assumed. I recall that in my own student days we often classified the students into two groups, the alcoholic and the sexual; those of the former group spent their money upon alcohol, those of the latter group upon women. My own experience of these days certainly leads me to dispute the assertion that those addicted to alcohol are generally more inclined than others to indiscriminate sexual intercourse. But this reservation is necessary, that at that time actual abstainers were almost unknown among the students, and we classified in the alcoholic group those who consumed very large quantities of alcohol; whilst the members of the sexual group certainly also consumed alcohol, though not very much. Beyond question, the common belief that there is an association between the free use of alcohol and sexual excesses is one which lacks foundation. This view is to too great an extent based upon criminal statistics, and upon the records of the perversions to which the sexual perverts among alcoholics have been inclined. But think of the countless normal persons in whom the enjoyment of alcohol induces no tendency to sexual excesses; and, on the other hand, abstainers from alcohol have been personally known to me whom no one could venture to call moderate in their sexual relations. But although I make all these reservations with regard to the effects of the use of alcohol by adults, I am in full accord with the view that the use of alcohol should be prohibited to children. Alcohol cannot do any good to children, and the possibility that in individual instances it may stimulate the sexual imagination, is one which cannot be denied. But this fact does not justify us in advising against the moderate use of alcohol by adults.[150]
Passing to consider the general mode of life, we certainly agree with Hufeland, who, in his Makrobiotik, recommends vigorous bodily activity. He contends that children who go to bed at night healthily tired out, will not be likely to think of masturbation. In the present age of sports and games it will not be found difficult to fulfil this indication; and we see as a matter of fact that a great deal of trouble is taken to give children every opportunity of keeping in active movement. Even in our large towns, in which, owing to the lack of a sufficiency of open spaces, great difficulties have arisen in this respect, much has of late been done to improve matters. For many years past in England special efforts have been made to provide such playgrounds for children and adults.
I take this opportunity of drawing attention to a method recommended by Féré for the cure of masturbation, which I have myself found of good use in several cases, but which appears to be almost entirely unknown. It is that the child addicted to masturbation during the night hours should be watched by a trustworthy person; every time the child puts its hand to its genital organs, or endeavours to stimulate these organs mechanically in some other way, the attendant, must immediately intervene, and draw the hands from beneath the bed-clothing. This plan may be adopted whether the child masturbates while asleep or while awake. But good can be expected from the method above all in those cases in which the child masturbates during sleep, and in which it commonly wakes up directly it is interfered with. In most cases the children treated in this way soon give up the practice of masturbation, even though the evil is of long standing. But it will be advisable to continue to supervise the child for some time after a cure has apparently been effected, lest what may have become a nervous automatism should be resumed after a brief intermission. The chief difficulty in the practical application of this method lies in the choice of a trustworthy person to watch the child. As a rule, the mother will be the most suitable, but now and again we shall find a hired nurse to whom this extremely difficult task may safely be entrusted. In a number of cases with which I have had to deal, I have recommended the mother to undertake the duty herself, because she seemed to me the most trustworthy person available. But it is a very regrettable fact that many mothers are altogether unwilling to make the necessary sacrifice for their child's good; and most of them are quite ready to believe that some woman whom they can hire for a few shillings a night will perform the duty which they themselves as mothers have renounced. Such lack of proper feeling is especially common among those who belong to what are termed the upper classes of society--to the aristocracy whether of birth or of wealth--whereas among the middle classes I have found mothers far more ready to make the necessary sacrifices.
In sexual education, the sexual perversions must receive especial attention. I must first of all refer again to two matters, of which some account has previously been given: the influencing of congenital inborn tendencies; and the undifferentiated sexual impulse. As regards the former, we have to take the following data into consideration. The fact that the indications lead us to believe that a particular sexual perversion is inborn, need not induce us to think there is no hope of counteracting this perversion by well-planned educational influences. I have already written at considerable length about the undifferentiated sexual impulse, and have shown that perverse manifestations during the period of the undifferentiated sexual impulse do not prove that a permanent perversion has developed. But everything possible should be done to guard against the further development of any such perverse mode of sexual sensibility, including sexual qualities in the wider sense of the term. We know, for example, that many homosexual men have a tendency to dress in girls' clothing, and many homosexual women to go about in men's clothing, and, in both cases, to adopt the inclinations and occupations of the opposite sex. During the period of the undifferentiated sexual impulse, we must not attach too much importance to the appearance of inclinations of this kind; but it would be equally erroneous to ignore them altogether. Boys who adopt a girlish behaviour, should not be encouraged in doing so by treating the matter as a joke. If a boy frequently dresses up as a girl, or a girl as a boy, and if we observe between two boys, or between two girls, an unduly intimate friendship at an age which corresponds to the period of the undifferentiated sexual impulse, it will be as well to modify the children's education accordingly. A girl with such inclinations should, for example, be thrown as much as possible into the society of lads of an appropriate age. In the case of those who are still quite young, there is no doubt that by the proper measures we can in part cheek the development of perverse manifestations, and in part completely repress them; notwithstanding the fact that interested agitators, whose principal aim is to secure the repeal of Section 175 of the German Imperial Criminal Code, maintain the contrary, and assert that homosexual tendencies appearing in the child necessarily indicate the future development of permanent homosexuality. Parents, tutors, schoolmasters, and physicians, must not allow themselves to be led astray by these agitators, who falsify the data of science. In the interest of truth, in the interest of the children endangered by these perversions, and in the interest of civilisation, these misstatements must be contradicted.
The chief danger associated with the appearance of sexual perversions lies in the fact that the child thus affected, whether boy or girl, endeavours again and ever again to revive these pleasurably-toned sensations; and above all in the fact that as soon as the genital organs are sufficiently mature, the boy or girl obtains sexual gratification by masturbating simultaneously with the imaginative contemplation of perverse ideas. Such perverse psychical onanism, accompanied or unaccompanied by physical masturbatory acts, is eminently adapted to favour the development of the perversion. Obviously, the actual performance of the corresponding perverse sexual act will be just as dangerous as is perversely associated masturbation. Thus, a boy who is homosexually inclined may masturbate while allowing his imagination to run riot upon homosexual ideas; or he may take to homosexual acts with one or more other male persons. Every sort of gratification that is associated with perverse images, is dangerous; and no less dangerous is the spontaneous cultivation of such perverse sexual images.
A very real and serious danger to children is to be found in my opinion in the risk of the progressive cultivation of homosexuality, if they become victims of a paedophile. The adult homosexual will sometimes conceal a perverse inclination directed towards children under the cloak of friendship or of an educational interest. I have previously referred to the danger that the child, at a time of life when its own sexual impulse is still undifferentiated, may sometimes reciprocate such a feeling. When I recall the light-heartedness with which homosexual males have acknowledged to me their experiences of sexual intercourse with apprentice-boys, and with pupils attending the higher forms of our secondary schools, and when I think of the readiness with which homosexual women seek opportunities of sexual intercourse with immature or partially mature girls, it seems to me that there are good grounds for the utterance of an urgent warning. My experiences in this department further lead me to believe that if Section 175 of the German Imperial Criminal Code is to be repealed, a further alteration in the Code will also be indispensable, namely, that the Age of Protection (Schutzalter--equivalent to the Age of Consent in the English Criminal Law Amendment Act) should be raised to the completion of the eighteenth year, and that the protection should apply, not merely to the actions now specified in Section 175 as "unnatural vice," but to all acts of sexual impropriety in the widest sense of the term. Recently this proposal has been approved by a resolution of the Reichstag.[151]
There are certain additional points about which it is unnecessary to write here, for the reason that these have all been considered in some appropriate connexion earlier in this book. For example, I have insisted upon the importance of anyone who possesses children's confidence taking steps for the removal of corrupted children from the environment of uncorrupted ones.
Where we have reason to believe, in the case of a particular child, that a perverse mode of sexual sensibility is developing, we shall occasionally find it preferable rather to attempt to hinder the growth of the perversion, than to try to cheek the general manifestations of the sexual impulse. Thus, in the case of a boy of fourteen, who is continually affected with homosexual imaginings, we shall find it far more difficult to repress sexual manifestations altogether, than to divert the homosexual sensibility into heterosexual channels. If a boy affected in this way be thrown much into the society of girls, or conversely, a girl into the society of boys (at dances, games of lawn-tennis, &c.), the subsequent effect is likely to be good, because the sexual pervert, even if his perverse tendency be congenital, can nevertheless be educated out of his perversion. It should hardly be necessary to state expressly, that when I speak of finding for the homosexual associates of the opposite sex, I am not thinking of suggesting intimate sexual intercourse. Apart from moral considerations, we could not, in the cases under consideration, expect any benefit to accrue on medical grounds; my reference was to a purely platonic association.
No one need suggest that all these recommendations are superfluous, for the reason that, according to my own previous account of the matter, the undifferentiated condition of the sexual impulse is spontaneously replaced by the normal heterosexual impulse. For, first of all, the signs that give rise to anxiety may not be manifestations of the undifferentiated sexual impulse, but may be the first manifestations of a developing congenital perversion; and, secondly, it is by no means improbable that, even in the entire absence of any congenital tendency to sexual perversion, unfavourable external conditions may lead to the further development of the perverse manifestations of the undifferentiated period. I may refer in this connexion to what was said upon page # et seq.
It is necessary to refer at length to one additional educational method which plays a very important part in sexual development, namely, punishment. The sexual perversions known by the names of sadism and masochism have of late attracted much attention from students of the sexual life. In sadism, sexual excitement occurs in association with the infliction of ill-treatment, humiliation, or pain upon others; in masochism the sexual excitement results from the experience of such ill-treatment, humiliation, or pain by the masochist in person. But in sadism, it is not essential that the sadist should himself play the active part; very often, the maltreatment by a second person of a third suffices to cause sexual excitement in the sadist who looks on. Masochistic and sadistic modes of sensibility are frequently associated in the same individual. As far as the relationship of these perversions to punishment is concerned, we learn from many adult masochists and sadists that their first experience of sexual excitement occurred when as children they received a whipping, or saw another child whipped--at school, for instance. The oft-quoted case of Rousseau has previously been mentioned in this work. It is thus evident that the subject of the punishment of children needs to be considered, not merely from the general educational point of view, but also from the special outlook of sexual education. The principal question is whether as a result of corporal punishment, either personally experienced or witnessed, an enduring sexual perversion may be induced in a child; and this problem must be carefully distinguished from another problem, which, however, is also of very great importance, namely, that of the sexual excitement which may be experienced by the person who inflicts the punishment. The significance of the materials available to guide us to a conclusion upon these questions, is not, however, perfectly clear in all cases. I may refer to what was said upon page # et seq.; and will here merely add that the question whether the infliction of corporal punishment really originates a perversion in the sufferer, or whether it merely awakens to activity a pre-existent tendency, and one which, in the absence of this particular exciting cause, would almost certainly have been awakened by some other and unavoidable cause, some influence acting from without--this is a question to which conflicting answers have been given.
But corporal punishment entails other dangers, in addition to the risk of the origination or the awakening of a sexual perversion. Certain children, having experienced sexual stimulation as a result of such punishment, will endeavour to secure its repetition. I have known cases in which sexual perverts have deliberately misconducted themselves in school, in order to be punished, and thus to enjoy voluptuous sensations. Finally, there is a third danger to be taken into account, and this is a danger of whose reality I have been convinced by the direct confessions of schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, that they have struck their pupils for the purpose of thereby enjoying sexual stimulation. Even if no such admissions had ever been made to me, I should have regarded it as by no means improbable that such incidents should from time to time occur. Let no reader draw the inference that whenever a master chastises a naughty boy, he acts always under the influence of a sadistic inclination; I do not even consider that sadistic inclinations are a frequent cause of the infliction of corporal chastisement. The danger of such sweeping generalisations is obvious, especially in view of the fact that to-day many children, even, know what sadism is. Hence a schoolboy who has been punished might readily attribute sadistic motives to his master; and might even make a definite accusation of this kind.
When we come to ask what practical conclusions may be drawn from our recognition of the relationships between corporal punishment and sexual perversions, the first point that occurs to our minds is to consider whether the corporal punishments which may possibly give rise to such perverse stimulations are in fact absolutely indispensable. Although in this matter I find myself in opposition to a great many physicians and to not a few educationalists, I remain of the opinion that we cannot propose to do away altogether with corporal punishments in our schools; at any rate, such punishment remains, I consider, essential, so long as certain other reforms are still wanting. Among the reforms which are indispensable preliminaries to the complete abolition of corporal punishment, is one giving a greater power to expel insolent and undisciplined boys. Not until such a power is granted can corporal punishments be abolished from our schools. For a flogging is oftentimes the only punishment of which a rough and ill-conditioned boy is afraid. Moreover, and altogether apart from this consideration, the discipline of our schools is to-day endangered in various ways: for instance, by public disquisitions about overwork in schools; by the conduct of many parents, who prejudice their children against the schools in a most indiscreet manner; and by attacks in the newspapers on the schoolmasters--attacks which are often unfair and inconsiderate. Further, the recent widely advertised public pronouncements against the right of the schoolmaster to inflict corporal punishment, are hardly calculated to strengthen the discipline of our schools, or to assist the masters in the performance of what must be at best extremely difficult duties. So long, therefore, as we lack the safeguard to discipline that would be provided by extensive powers of expelling undesirables, I consider that corporal punishment is essential to the discipline of our schools.
Unquestionably it would be a good thing if we could entirely dispense with the use of corporal punishments, or at least dispense with them in all cases in which there might be any possibility of their doing harm, as by giving rise to sexual stimulation. But unfortunately we have no means of ascertaining beforehand what are the cases in which corporal punishment is likely to do harm. There is no possibility of withholding the right to inflict corporal punishment from those masters in especial who might use it to gratify their own sexual passions--if only for the reason that we have no means of finding out who these persons are. For it is not the masters with free views about sexual questions who are especially open to suspicion from the point of view we are now considering; nor is it the masters who are morally defective or irreligious. Indeed, I am acquainted with some extremely pious schoolmasters who, according to their own admissions to me, have experienced sexual excitement when chastising children; and some of these have in other respects had admirable characters. Cases recorded, not merely in erotic literature, but also in historical literature, show that religion affords no safeguard against such temptations; we learn, for instance, that in the cloister, monks and nuns have utilised their right to inflict punishment in order to procure sexual excitement. For these reasons, it is inadmissible to infer, because a schoolmaster is a religious man, that therefore he is the one to whom the right to inflict corporal punishment may safely be entrusted.
The danger of an excessive use of powers of administering corporal punishment, and more especially the danger of awakening the sexuality of children prematurely and with perverse associations, may be minimised by the proper treatment of schoolmasters. We must not treat our schoolmasters in such a way that behind them they always feel the presence of the inspector, compelling them to force the pupils through the prescribed, but excessive tasks. Nor must the schoolmaster's own work be excessive, for nervous overstrain will very readily lead to outbreaks of violence. It seems also desirable that the right of administering corporal punishment should not be entrusted to masters who are still quite young, for a certain experience is needed to guide them to a reasonable moderation. What I have said of schoolmasters applies, mutatis mutandis, to schoolmistresses and governesses. There are many reasons for the belief that the danger that the right to inflict corporal punishment may be utilised to procure erotic excitement for the person exercising that right, is considerably greater in women than it is in men. Even if we take no notice of erotic literature, in which sadism in women manifested by the mishandling of children is so frequent a motif, we shall find quite a number of experiences of actual life which compel us to admit the frequency of such perverse sensibilities in women. Among various records bearing upon this matter, I may remind readers of those of the upper class women of ancient Rome, and of the horrible punishments they inflicted upon their female slaves; and also of American women of the slave-owning class, in the South before the war, who sometimes flogged young male slaves in the most terrible way.
Whether this matter in regarded as one of great or of small importance, it is as well to inquire whether it is not possible that the necessary disciplinary punishment should be inflicted in such a way as to reduce to a minimum any dangers from the sexual point of view. Now, we learn from experience, that when a perversion is traced back to its origination in a chastisement endured during childhood, this chastisement was as a rule the customary whipping of the buttocks. Far less frequently, and indeed hardly over, are we told that any other form of punishment has initiated a sexual perversion. This may, of course, depend merely upon the fact that other modes of punishment are far less common. But there are many reasons for supposing that stimulation of the buttock is especially apt to induce sexual excitement. It is possible, also, that another factor is in operation here, namely, the fact that the child undergoing punishment is commonly placed across the elder's knees in such a way that pressure upon the child's genital organs is almost unavoidable. Moreover, when we bear in mind the fact that other methods of chastisement may involve dangers to health (boxing the ears, for instance, may threaten the integrity of the sense of hearing), the question which is the best method of corporal punishment becomes a very serious one. I have myself elsewhere expressed the opinion that as far as the possible effects on health are concerned, and especially from the point of view of sexual hygiene, blows upon the palm of the hand perhaps constitute the least dangerous form of corporal punishment. But I by no means suppose that even here danger is altogether excluded, or that no sexual stimulation can possibly ensue from such chastisement. For the local physical stimulation is not the only matter we have to consider in connexion with a whipping upon the buttocks. In quite a number of cases in which we are told that some experience during childhood has been the initiating cause of subsequent masochism or sadism, there has been no question of purely physical causation, as by a whipping upon the buttocks. I may recall the case in which sexual perversion appeared to have developed out of witnessing the slaughter of animals, so that the only stimulus acting upon this child belonged to the psychical sphere. The cases, also, in which a child refers the origin of his perversion to having looked on at a whipping (in school, for instance) show that such perversions are not only aroused by mechanical stimuli, but may depend also upon psychological factors. For these reasons I consider that we are not justified in assuming, if whipping upon the buttocks were altogether done away with, and if blows upon the palm of the hand became the only permissible form of corporal punishment, that permanent sexual perversions would then become impossible. With further reference to what I have said above about discipline in schools, I may add that the kernel of the problem is this: is the probability that corporal punishment will lead to permanent sexual perversion, or will induce sexual excitement, sufficiently great, to render it necessary that corporal punishment should be completely abolished from our schools, so long as our schoolmasters possess no other adequate means of making certain of their pupils observe the discipline of the school? It is unconditionally necessary that the discipline of our schools should be maintained; and those who are unreservedly opposed to corporal punishment in all its forms should make it their business to see that some other adequate means are provided for the maintenance of school-discipline. However strongly we may feel that it is essential that there should be no abuse by schoolmasters of their right to administer corporal punishment, none the less, even in this "Century of the Child," we need safeguards also against the abuse of sentimentality.
In this chapter I have attempted to deal with a few only of the problems of sexual education. To discuss the subject exhaustively would have been impossible within the limits of this book; nor have I endeavoured to take into consideration the enormous mass of literature relating to the modern movement in favour of the sexual enlightenment. I have made no reference to the fact that it has recently been recommended that every girl should spend a year of service [Dienstjahr--analogous to the term of military service obligatory on all males in Germany] in hospitals, asylums, &c., whereby she would gain enlightenment concerning many things which will be of value to her in her subsequent married life. All such proposals are so much matters of detail, that I have thought it inadvisable to discuss them here.
The most important requirement of all is certainly a good educator--a word used here in the widest possible signification. The best of all educators for the child should be its own mother; although we may agree with the assertion recently made by Eschle[152] and others, that the father has important duties to fulfil as instructor, even during the child's first year of life. Nevertheless, the father, even if his professional training gives him especial skill in these directions, is not really likely to do very much in the educational way for his infant offspring. It is to the mother, above all, that the care of infants and young children is of necessity entrusted. We have, however, to remember that a large proportion of mothers, especially those belonging to the ranks of the proletariat, take part in the work of breadwinning for the family, and are thus prevented from giving as much attention to their children as might be wished. But in the families of the well-to-do there is often no question of the mother herself playing the principal part in the education of her children, since it is customary for her to depute so many of her maternal duties to hired substitutes. It has recently been maintained that it is to the Woman's Movement that we owe the fact that the question of the sexual enlightenment has now become a live one; but this is certainly an over-statement, though it is not to be denied that women have had some influence in this direction. But if the women who play a prominent part in the Woman's Movement would do more than they have done as yet to impress upon the women of the well-to-do classes an understanding of their duties towards their children, they would certainly be doing excellent work. No paid substitute can adequately replace for the child the benefits it will derive if its mother herself does all that she could and should do. A mother who seriously devotes herself to the care of her child, need have no anxiety about the risks of its being misused by others for sexual purposes. Such a mother keeps herself fully acquainted with her child's sentiments. She is m a position to choose the best moment for effecting the child's sexual enlightenment, and she can best judge when the use of the stork story is no longer justified. Of such a mother, a child far more readily makes a confidant. Moreover, if the mother devotes a great deal of time and pains to the personal care of her child, this has, in the case of a boy, the great advantage of inculcating a greater respect for the female sex in general than is apt to be found in boys to-day. I consider this last-mentioned point to be one of the utmost importance in relation to the sexual enlightenment, for only in such a way can the boy when grown to manhood be led instinctively to refrain from the seduction of girls--with all the misery which such a course usually involves for the victims. Similarly, a young man brought up to respect women will refrain from making a mock of pregnancy, whether "legitimate" or "illegitimate." When we see a young woman bearing a new life in her womb, owing her position it may be to all the subtle arts of the seducer, and note how cruelly she is treated by the law and what scorn and contempt are poured upon her by society and by the individual, we cannot fail to welcome most heartily the movement for the Protection of Motherhood (Mutterschutzbewegung) which has recently made such progress in Germany. When children are properly educated, there is reason to hope that sexual matters will be less often treated in an obscene spirit than is the case to-day. Nor need we fear, when such education becomes the rule, that every allusion to sexual things may involve dangers to the child. Precisely because the sexual life will then be known to the child in a natural way, will there be less reason to dread the deliberate cultivation by children of sexual topics of conversation. When at school the love adventures of Mars and Venus are the subject of the lesson, in children thus educated no unclean thoughts need arise. It must never be forgotten, however, that when the imagination has been perverted, opportunities for unclean thoughts recur with extraordinary frequency; and indeed by no means whatever can such opportunities be altogether avoided. Since this is so, we must strengthen the child against the dangers it will inevitably encounter, and must be careful not to pervert its imagination by a false prudery.
Of course we must avoid leading the child to dwell too much upon sexual topics, and fortunately human beings have numerous other interests. The sphere of the sexual must be regarded as a fraction merely of the general educational field. The inculcation of true ideas of morality, and of a sense of honour not confined to externals but one by which the entire being is permeated--these will be the safest essentials of a good sexual and general education.