Stepchildren of nature
Subtitle: Krafft-Ebing, psychiatry, and the making of sexual indentity
By: Harry Oosterhuis.
Series: The Chicago series on sexuality, history, and society
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 321
Subjects: Krafft-Ebing, R. von -- 1840-1902; Sexual deviation -- History -- 19th century; Sexual deviation -- Treatment -- History -- 19th century; Sexology -- History -- 19th century; Psychiatry -- History -- 19th century
Description: "Psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) played a key role in the construction of the modern concept of sexuality.".

"In this new cultural history Harry Oosterhuis invites us to reconsider the quality and extent of Krafft-Ebing's influence. Revisiting the case studies on which Krafft-Ebing based his findings, and thus drawing on the voices of his patients and informants, Oosterhuis finds that Krafft-Ebing was not the harsh judge of perversions that we think he was.

He argues that Krafft-Ebing had a deep appreciation of the psyche, and that his work reveals an attempt to separate sexual deviancies from ideas of immorality. In the tradition of Freud, then, Krafft-Ebing should stand not as a villain, but as a contributor to more modern notions of sexual identity."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-309) and index.