Psychopathia sexualis : with especial reference to the antipathic sexual instinct a medico-forencis study / by R. v. Krafft-Ebing ; only authorized English adaptation of the twelfth German edition by F. J. Rebman.

  • Krafft-Ebing, R. von (Richard), 1840-1902.
Date:
1931, ©1922
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Psychopathia sexualis : with especial reference to the antipathic sexual instinct a medico-forencis study / by R. v. Krafft-Ebing ; only authorized English adaptation of the twelfth German edition by F. J. Rebman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Sexual feeling is really the root of all ethics, and no doubt of sestheticism and religion. The sublimest virtues, even the sacrifice of self, may spring from sexual life, which, however, on account of its sensual power, may easily degenerate into the lowest passion and basest vice. Love unbridled is a volcano that burns down and lays waste all around it; it is an abyss that devours all—• honour, substance and health. It is of great psychological interest to follow up the gradual development of civilisation and the influence exerted by sexual life upon habits and morality.1 The gratification of the sexual instinct seems to be the primary motive in man as well as in beast. Sexual intercourse is done openly, and man and woman are not ashamed of their nakedness. The savage races, e.g., Australasians, Polynesians, Malays of the Philippines are still in this stage (vide Ploss). Woman is the common property of man, the spoil of the strongest and mightiest, who chooses the most winsome for his own, a sort of instinctive sexual selection of the fittest. Woman is a “chattel,” an article of commerce, exchange or gift, a vessel for sensual gratification, an implement for toil. The presence of shame in the manifestations and exercise of the sexual functions, and of modestv in the mutual relations between the sexes are the foundations of morality. Thence arises the desire to cover the nakedness (“and they saw that they were naked”) and to perform the act in private. The development of this grade of civilisation is fur¬ thered by the conditions of frigid climes which necessitate the protection of the whole body against the cold. It is an *Cf. Lombroso, “The Criminal”; Westermarch, “The History of Marriage Ploss, “ Das Weib in der Natur- und Völkerkunde,” third edition, vol. ii., p. 413-90. Joseph Müller, “Das sexuelle Leben der Naturvölkur,” 2 xVufl. 1902; derselbe, “Das sexuelle Leben der alten Kulturvölker, 1902 (Leipzig, Grieben).