tommy92 Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 About a week ago ithaca was looking for someone to look into and translate parts of a book called "Sappho and Sokrates". Additionally I was given some other resources from the same Author, Magnus Hirschfeld and I found quite a few passages which hinted to asexuality. Also there are some other things that didn't necessarily have to to with asexuality only, but with sexuality in general that I deemed interesting. Beforehand a little disclaimer, it can become a little bit TMI to a degree. Just wanted to mention that so that nobody can say to me that I didn't mention it. To every translated passage I will provide an image of the original text. If you happen to know German, I would be glad to get some feedback about the translation. Here is a little explanation to how I formated the text: My comments outside of text Actual translation of the text [my comments inside of the translation] I will start from the earliest text to the latest. I just put them here without commenting on it too much as I want you to make your own comments ^_^ Sappho und Sokrates (1896) Sappho und Sokrates (1896), the book’s motto: That what is natural cannot be immoral Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 5 - 8.5 I. We have to accept at one point with the strange fact that love is not limited exclusively between opposite sexes. Even though, we haven’t understood the reasons of what causes of that love yet and this love also scares those who are affected by it we can now say that is isn’t coincidental that everywhere, in every era and peoples there is quite a big number of men and women who aren’t attracted to the opposite but to the same sex. I don’t talk about crude sensuality, but pure, genuine and encompassing love. That kind of unfathomable feeling of greatest happiness, which poets describe in a magical and enthusiastic fashion. They describe the condition of being controlled by love whether we are awake or asleep. The condition we guard with envy, whose touch and sight makes you feel happy. A basic feeling which we cannot give or take, always trying to make the loved one happy, but also the wish of possession and the longing for reciprocation. That love, be it towards the same or opposite sex can lead to prostitution or even despicable acts and aberrations aren’t connected it’s grand character of deep feelings. There is a third group joining in which made understanding this question harder because they pretend to have feelings for both sexes in the same or differing strength. They are called psychological hermaphrodites and there their number shouldn’t be too small. Because of the thick veil that secretly covers the sex life of humans is elusive to be put in numbers to see the ratio between the three classes of people. There is no other area that is filled with so many lies, distortions, estimations and self-delusions like this highly personal field. Even renowned scientist only have completely unreliable assumptions. There is no unification for the personality, the quality and quantity of the sex drive. There are individuals who are without any sexual desire (anesthesia sexualis), up to individuals whose mere existence is focused on their sexuality (heat [as in animals are in heat], bestiality, hyperesthesia sexualis). Decades ago when we initially began to approach this corner of science, Casper thought that the sex drive is one of the controllable drives, but this sentence is a complete fallacy in general. It is dependent on the quantity to how much we can influence or suppress this urge. We could make a scale similar to the scale of wind strength where 1 would be most complete [completest?] indifference and 10 hurricane like sensual pleasure. Our diagram would look like this: [diagram] According to this we would have a man for instance who would only have feelings for women, but those feelings are passionate with A, 9. A woman who would be attracted to other women, but only rather cool, she would be B, 4. Hermaphrodites who are attracted to both in a moderate strength would be A, 5. + B, 5. and those who would be attracted to their own sex with wild desire and towards the opposite sex only weak attraction would be A, 3. + B, 9. This arrangement shows the unseemingly huge diversity of sexual inclinations. We also have to consider the seemingly infinite variety of different tastes and interests like preference for blonde or dark hair, strong or tender people, smooth or hairy people. One has an interest in this delicate foot and the other one soulful eye, uniformed or just naked. Looking at all this diversity it is understandable that no two persons are equal to each other and that it is hard for a third party to understand the desires of another person. Love that is directed the same sex would appear as something completely senseless if love’s purpose would exclusively be to procreate. (...) [to be continued] Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 6 (...)There are individuals who are without any sexual desire (“Anästhesia sexualis”) (...) Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 17 (...) It is easy for cold inclined people to stay abstinent. Tilly, the misogynist [i did a brief research and couldn’t find the person he was referring to] and Cornelia, the sister of Goethe. He said about his sister that “there wasn’t any trace of sensuality in her character” (Wahrheit und Dichtung, Book XVIII [18]). They probably had an easy time to keep their moral purity. (...) Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 18 (...) It is also not possible to artificially evoke the kind of drive, that is not existent or almost not noticeable. In case of a complete atrophy there is no way that it would spontaneously develop. However, if there already is a mental disposition towards it, it can be increased by the upbringing, exercise, example, seduction and suggestion. We can wake up a sleeping drives, as long as their sprouts are big enough, but we can never create new ones. The sex drive attaches itself irremovable to the developing cell mass [afaik he is referring to an embryo]. (...) Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 31 (...) The people refer to justice and the justice refers to the people. Does this turn a fallacy into the truth which is a few thousand years old? The paragraph 175 is a black stain on the sign of the German Lady Justice of which we will look back on it in shame just like we look back in shame at those witch and heretics trials where they contradicted the conclusions of science. “Don’t burn the witches”, the scientists yelled at the judges for hundreds of years. “They aren’t criminals, they are exalted, hysteric women. Often their only offense is to be more spiritually gifted than their surroundings.” They wouldn’t listen, they would always refer to “the people’s voice” and unchanged the flames of the stakes are burning thousands of innocent women. (...) Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 34 (...) The state is supposed to work against the degeneration of our morals, but not using paragraphs which go against everything that scientific research has concluded, but to do hygienic education in every direction especially in the sexual one. That what is natural cannot be immoral, says Friedrich Nietzsche. (...) Die Transvestiten (1910) Die Transvestiten (1910), page 421-422 (...) Here I will describe the case which Forel himself describes as “a pure mental inversion of the sexual personality or, if you would like, purely mental hermaphroditism with sexual anesthesia”: “A.M., age 22, Villager, son of an alcoholic, mentally disabled sister. He always was frail [i assume he meant it in a negative way because of the but], but highly intelligent and clever with completely normally developed male sex organs, which also developed normally during puberty. Beginning from his childhood, he thinks of himself as a girl. He hates the interaction with boys as well as manly work. Instead he passionately engages in cooking, sewing, mending, washing, ironing, stitching, domestic work in general. There is a compelling urge that drives him to wear women's clothing. Taunting and punishing is futile. He just claims to be a girl and wants to pursue a woman's job. The attempt to employ him with manly work in a bigger place failed completely. His female behavior was so suspicious that the police threatened with arrest under the assumption that he was a woman dressed like a man. Forced to wear men's clothing he still wears women's undergarments, even a corset.” Forel has investigated this case closely. He writes: “The most interesting part about that, A.M. is completely sexual anesthetic. Everything that is connected to the sex drive is repulsive to him. The mere thought about sexual activities with men, who he is afraid of, dreads him probably even more than the thought about normal sex with women. He never has erections. However, as I said before, his testicles and penis are developed completely normal. He has a high voice, though and his whole being is reminiscent of a eunuch. Apparently this is a case of a sexual anesthesia with a purely psychic [mental] inversion of the sexual irradiation of the self. This informative case shows that the psycho-sexual personality [sexual orientation?] can be hereditary [genetically?] predetermined independent from the sex organs and purely in the brain. Furthermore it shows that it [psycho-sexual personality] can even work without any sexual feelings and without any sex drive.” (...) Sexualpathologie Teil I (1916) Sexualpathologie Teil I (1916) , page 183-184 (...) In this chapter we talk about automonosexualism, but only in a sense of sexual excitement caused by one’s own body. I will now portrait a typical case of this anomaly, observed by me and Dr. Burchard to form a basis for our further observations. A 37 year old big and sturdy man, a farmer, came to us. He states that he is completely indifferent towards the female sex, never touched one, unmarried, also inclinations towards the same sex are missing entirely. But seeing himself naked in the mirror causes the greatest feelings of sexual pleasure. It makes it even less understandable for the fact that he doesn’t have the body of an Adonis or of a Narcissus, but sharing similarities with Thersites with his untended beard and hairy body. He recalls that the first sexual arousal was caused spontaneously when he first saw his whole body in a mirror at the beginning of puberty. Following happened during the examination: He put off his clothing and just looking at himself in the mirror he immediately got an erection and was visibly excited. He excused himself and began to kiss the mirror. We allowed him to proceed and he took the mirror of the wall and began to squeeze his body onto it. Apparently he was very skillful as he had to be careful to not break the mirror. Shortly after that he ejaculated... He says about himself: "I love myself all the way to madness" (...) Sexualpathologie Teil I (1916) , page 186-188 (...) There are also cases of automonosexualism in which neither mirrors nor images that are erotically stimulating, but only the sight of the naked body alone was enough. This is also an account of a relatively unknown and unappreciated anomaly, which would have been seen as asexuality in the past. A 40 year old art salesman seeked me. He had an athletic body because of the exercises he does. If someone complimented him about his body he blushed and was (deeply) embarrassed by it. He admitted that his strong musculature was his only means of becoming sexually stimulated. The only thing he did was locking himself in the bathroom, flexing his muscles, touching them, fondling/stroking them. During that he gets an erection. After that he lifted dumb bells and did chin-ups. Somewhere around the 20th and 30th chin-up and without touching his genitals he usually got an intense ejaculation. I have a few sentences about this quite intelligent "weirdo": (...)[i thought that this part is not really important. Hirschfeld writes about this person’s family and that there was a high suicide and criminal rate in his family and that he could almost be described as gifted. And that he had his first ejaculation by the age of 12 or 13 and he shortly began with his "chin-up masturbation"] I have never had intercourse with a woman and I will never wish to do so. I am possessed by a strange dualism. From a mental[intellectual?] point of view is every kind of sports unsympathetic, not to say repulsive, but in an erotic point of view I love every kind of physical activity with all I have. I have a fiery longing for doing gymnastics of every kind, but not dancing and the like. However, I am ashamed for doing those physical activities near relatives, friend and people of my "way of thought"[no idea what is meant by that]. Because of that I can only do it in privacy, without anyone knowing. When I lift the dumbbells I am highly cautious as cautious as I would be if I would go out to break in somebody's home. I am ashamed to show my charms. I would dread it if my surroundings would know that I am muscular. I only give in the delectations to walk tight and elastic if I exactly know that I wouldn't meet an acquaintance on my way. I explain the sexual value of walking hard this way: When I got to school in Fiume a teacher pressed his knee in my back and pulled back my shoulder at the same time. I was 6 years old; It was really painful; I thought he might break me. Later on, I remembered this little martyrdom very often with big delights. By the way, in this hour was also the first time I experienced a feeling of being insufficient; A noble fellow pupil was complimented for his straight posture from the same teacher. From this day on the terms straight posture, elegant figure or words like chest or back always contained a certain amount of sexual context for me. Some times I feel like it would be arousing to wear servants livery. But all things considered: I am not sexually aroused [attracted?] by men nor women, only by myself, less my empirical body or better the wishful thinking I have about it. W. exposes a variety of signs of physical degeneration: He is bald headed since he was 20 years old; has gynecomastia and has noticeably small genitals; he is left-handed; his face childish with big infatuated eyes. He has pretty handwriting in which he tells us he is in love with. Hygiene is very important to him; he cannot exist without his daily bath. Bugs, mice, bad odors, dirty clothing, dusty furniture, especially sticky things can invoke suicidal thought in him. He is controlled by many compulsions and idiosyncrasies in general. And yet he possessed stupendous amounts of knowledge and despite all his superstitious tendencies a sharp and very skeptical mind, a burning ambition and holds himself in high esteem. (...) Sexualpathologie Teil II (1918) Sexualpathologie Teil II (1918), page 145 (...) However, the experience shows that this automonosexual streak, just like the homosexual streak, isn’t the same for every transvestite. There are many for whom the simple changing of clothes isn’t enough to cause erotic feelings and just see it as a way of bringing their feminine inner side to the outer world. I knew those, who were already content if they were able to go for a walk as a woman from time to time. During the walk they never had erections nor ejaculations nor the desire to have any sexual intercourse, be it with male or female persons. One could say they are asexual. (...) Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920) Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920), page 82 (...) The most famous bon vivants [“lady's men” “ladykillers”] whose names became a term on their own; Casanovas, Don Juans, Phrynes, Messalines on the one side and on the other side men like Immanuel Kant and the painter Menzel who allegedly have never known love nor sex and women like Cornelia Goethe whose brother Wolfgang said about her that she shows no evidence of sensuality. Between those two limits are all imaginable kinds of gray shades. For decades those individual strengths in the drive are kept with few exceptions on the same level. With other words: frigid men and women have a lower level and temperamental ones a higher level of libido [i have a problem understanding the rest of the sentence...if I understand correctly it means that frigid persons have a lower libido than they should have and temperamental persons a higher libido than they should have. Not sure, though.] instead of keeping their associated sexual temperament [probably another word for libido?]. The direction of the drive has nothing to do with it's strength. Heterosexuals as well was homosexuals can be quite passionate, but they can also have a weakly developed sex drive. If they are bisexuals the strength of the attraction towards either sex can develop quite differently. Patients themselves usually express the strength with numbers. They could be attracted to females 90 percent and to males 10 percent of the time, for instance. (...) Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920), page 162-163 (...) I. Cerebral Impotence a) Drivelessness (anerotism, asexuality) b) Lustlessness (anorgasmia) (...) Cerebral Impotence Let us first turn to the talking about drivelessness, but we have to answer the question beforehand: “Are there even anerotic people, men and women of a post pubic age without any desire for sexual activities?” It is often said about someone, even male but especially female persons who don’t have any sexual desires whatsoever. They be called asexual, anerotic or how one could also say "atropic" [i haven't found any reference for that word...maybe he meant "atrophic"?]; It is not uncommon that such claims are made by relatives of those people. It is also not uncommon to claim from people who are celibate -something that is from a standpoint of biological and psychological factors something that goes against nature- that they have no sexual feelings and it is said that it is caused by the long time exposure to anti-erotic literature. Big philosophers like Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Leibniz, Spinoza and others are told to have spent their youth as bachelors because they would have spiritualized their sex drive. If you have the chance to go to the bottom, you will shed new light onto those cases. Those persons often have an autistic sex life [i have no idea what that means, I just translated it literally] or they were sexually fixated on objects which they very well knew how to hide. It also might be the case that they actually suppressed their urges with all their might. Also are these person who had a general low sex drive, which was very often on a biological basis like gonads which produce too little amounts of eroticising substances. (...) Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920), page 266 “Painter Menzel as a type of a sexually negative” (...) The theoretical idea of the sublimation of the sex drive comes into play, for instance in a sense of Nietzsche who once said that the sex drive could be made available to the machine. People who think that way often use great minds as an argument namely philosophers, Leibniz, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche also Spinoza and Cartesius who allegedly spent their life as bachelors. Saying this doesn't necessarily mean that it is automatically true that they were sexually abstinent especially if you don't disregard that they perhaps might have had sexual drive disorders. After all you cannot generalize something that applies to extraordinary people. Indeed it seems true that the sex life of people who intensely use their mind productively is not the same as the sex life of people who are physically productive. If the superb painter Adolf von Menzel mentions in his testament that he never had touched a woman in his entire life, while one can assume that this creative mind deviated noticeable from the norm in the context of sexuality, it doesn't mean that his sex drive was directed towards the other direction [i.e. homosexuality]. Those who have known Menzel personally will not be surprised of the sexual negativism -might have been caused by endocrines- he expressed. (...) Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920), page 270 (...) During the war he was hit by a bullet and lost his right eye because of it [i think it wasn't a bullet, though. I guess it actually means something like a shrapnel]. The brain wasn't greatly affected. However he had a concussion with vomiting and was apathetic for months [i don't know why but I have the feeling it has more to do with the war than with the actual injury]. The most important fact is about his sexual nature. According to this he has inherited a very low sexual urge from his mother. Even after his puberty which went by very normal, a sex drive never came into action. Even though he felt attracted to female appearances, he never had any desire to have intercourse with them. He never needed any sexual satisfaction. Before he was married he had hoped that this missing desire would become active once he is in a marriage. Unfortunately these hopes have been proven to be false. He often made attempts to have intercourse with his wife. It never worked out. After the first few failures he had developed fears and other mental inhibitions that made it impossible for him to achieve an erection. Those previous failures also had a significant negative effect on his mental health. He wasn't able to cope with the ill temper of his wife and his mental health further deteriorating soon believed that it was completely impossible for him to have a successful intercourse with this woman. He noticed that his own sexual excitement decreases more the more his wife’s excitement increases. And it decreases even further the harder he tries to satisfy her needs. He cannot even think about inserting his member into her vagina anymore. Even the wish of children, which both want more than anything, cannot change that. His rare ejaculations are nocturnal emissions. Physiologically is Mr. Sch. a well built man with healthy organs and normal development of the sex organs, he only has a little weakness of the nervous system: slightly heightened reflexes and slight shaking of the eyelids and hands. His wife has completely normal and healthy sexual feelings. She is both physically and mentally healthy and normal as well. Besides the already said, she adds: She suffered more under the missing marital sexual release when she shared the house and bedroom with her husband. Prior to the the years of futile arousals and hardship of the last years she was mentally completely healthy. Her current state is one that was foreign to her in the past. She lost 7kg [15.4lbs] during this year. Furthermore she slept badly and fitfully. Her mood is also unbalanced and irritable, cries easily and has become very feisty. Heart palpitations and anxiety not uncommon. An objective examination confirmed those findings. The inner organs of Ms. Sch. are healthy and she he has the ability to conceive. Her heart rate is slightly increased and her breathing is very irregular. Skin- and tendon reflexes are greatly increased. Her hands and tongue tremble intensely. In the psychological side is the shallowness very much noticeable. She she began to cry multiple times without any reason. Because of this report we came to following assessing conclusions: Mr. Sch. suffers from a “mental-nervous caused inability to copulate” relating to his wife. Looking at the course and the nature of this ailment we cannot speak of a temporary disorder. It is based on an abnormal psychosexual disposition which isn’t medically treatable anymore. Each attempted intercourse just increases this suffering. Both he and his wife couldn’t have known of this condition prior to the marriage. They had to assume that it would go away after the first few months of marriage. At this time she had to become aware of the fact that at the time of marriage there was a mistake regarding the husband’s ability to copulate. This mistake would have kept her from marrying considering the valuation of the nature of marriage. The nervous hyperexcitability and irritable weakness are an indication for the state caused by the ailment of her husband. Looking at the findings we can safely assume that there has never been any marital intercourse between those two people. This kind of marriage is from a medical point of view unsustainable and because of it’s nature it has to be considered as not existing. The requirements of §1333 BGB. are completely met. This marriage has been annulled. (...) Feedback is highly appreciated :) Also I will make some minor additions later on, but I have to wait for a permission before doing so^^ I finally got the physical copy and it has an ISBN :D ISBN: 3-226-01388-2 And also, guess who made it possible (by requesting the digitization) that the book can now be bought on Amazon (com) (de) :P Edit: Changed the color of the translation so it's better distinguishable. Edit2: Changed the color of my in-translation comments so it's better distinguishable. Edit3: Added some more text at the end of Teil III, page 270 Edit4: Included the "artificially" and removed "in the future" (Sappho und Sokrates p.18) Edit5: added pages 5 to 8.5-ish including the -for the time- very good diagram^^ and added the ISBN of the book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ithaca Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I can't even begin to thank you for your work, Tommy! This is more than awesome, it goes to add about half a century to our history! Working with you (well, seeing you work, mostly :redface: ) has been one of the most rewarding experiences for me on AVEN, and I really hope to see you at WorldPride, where I hope to see this discussed at the conference maybe! Kinsey (with his "group X") was so damn late to the party :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member54880 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Awesome work, Tommy! This really changes how we see early asexual history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lia Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Awesome job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambda Corvus Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Great job undertaking this project. It shows that asexuality was at least known further back than we were initially led to believe, even if the surrounding understanding of it was not well developed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 It is easy for cold inclined people to stay abstinent. Tilly, the misogynist [i did a brief research and couldn’t find the person he was referring to] I think it might refer to Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly? Although, the only indication I've found on the fly why Hirschfeld would call him misogynist is that Count Tilly was nicknamed "The Monk in Armor" by his contemporaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy92 Posted February 9, 2014 Author Share Posted February 9, 2014 It is easy for cold inclined people to stay abstinent. Tilly, the misogynist [i did a brief research and couldn’t find the person he was referring to] I think it might refer to Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly? Although, the only indication I've found on the fly why Hirschfeld would call him misogynist is that Count Tilly was nicknamed "The Monk in Armor" by his contemporaries. I came across this person as well, but I couldn't find any indication that would let him seen as misogynist, at least I found that "Monk in Armor" wasn't enough for me, but I guess it might be the person of question^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 This is very interesting, thanks for translating. Considering how early this is, some of the explanations come pretty close to what we would recognise as asexuality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin L Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Wow, to think that something akin to asexuality is mentioned in a book so old...just mind-blowing. Thanks for the translate. for the work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VindicatorPhoenix Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 That's really cool, I had no idea that asexuality was a recognized orientation at the time, even if few knew about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sennkestra Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Oh, wow, this is great! Thanks for translating this :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valeati Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 This is wonderful. Thank you so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmilla DeWinter Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 So, kudos to the translations. This is stuff I hadn't known either. As I am German, some notes. First: Yes, this is certainly Graf von Tilly Hirschfeld is referencing, who was a general in the 30 Year War. He has a number of sights named after him, but. Meh. There are people who do not remember him well to this day, and IMO rightly so. According to an online source without citations, Tilly was raised a Jesuit, had no interest in women, and habitually killed soldiers for gambling and being drunk. This is not sufficient to name him an "misogynist", at least, not in the way we today understand the word. Sappho and Sokrates p. 18. The second last word in the first sentence is „künstlich“ - artificial. The Transvestites. „frail“, or maybe delicate. Most certainly meant as negative. „hereditär“ would be translated as „genetical(ly)“ nowadays. I believe the „psycho-sexual personality“ is referring to gender, not orientation. Sexualpathologie I, about „M.“ About the „Geistesrichtung“. I believe he means people who have a similar mentality or mindset as he has. Given that we're talking about an arts dealer, he probably means other well-educated (artsy) types. Sexualpathologie III, first excerpt – unless we stumble upon Hirschfeld's definition of „Sexualtemperament“, I have absolutely no idea what he means, either. Sexualpathologie III, p. 162 „atropisch“ from Atropos, the Greek goddess of fate who „cuts off the thread of life“? I don't have sufficient knowledge of the myth to guess why Hirschfeld would pick that word. „Autistic sex life“ meaning their desires aren't focused on other people and they only self-stimulate? I hope this is somewhat helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy92 Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Thank you, for the feedback :) I will integrate it as soon as I can^^ This is not sufficient to name him an "misogynist", at least, not in the way we today understand the word. That was a thought of mine as well Sappho and Sokrates p. 18. The second last word in the first sentence is „künstlich“ - artificial. Thank you for pointing that out...sometimes my mind changes words. I read it as "künftig" for some reason. Will fix that soon^^ The Transvestites. „frail“, or maybe delicate. Most certainly meant as negative. „hereditär“ would be translated as „genetical(ly)“ nowadays. I believe the „psycho-sexual personality“ is referring to gender, not orientation. I don't know if the person who told me that wants to be named (if you read this, just let me know ;) ) but I was told this: "Hereditary" shouldn't be automatically read as "genetic", on account of some history of science matters. People have known for a very long time that offspring tend to resemble their parents, and this is true of plants, animals, and humans. Presumably, people have been using this to do selective breeding since the dawn of agriculture. Recognizing this is different from having a theory of inheretence. "Genetic" is specifically associated with a specific theory of how this happens, specifically a discrete theory of inheritance along the lines of the one proposed by Mendel. (One reason that Darwin's notion of "natural selection" as the mechanism for evolution took so long to catch on was that he had no theory of inheritance, even though his theory needs one to work.) Sexualpathologie III, p. 162 „atropisch“ from Atropos, the Greek goddess of fate who „cuts off the thread of life“? I don't have sufficient knowledge of the myth to guess why Hirschfeld would pick that word. „Autistic sex life“ meaning their desires aren't focused on other people and they only self-stimulate? Same person: So I would take "autistic sex life" to mean that the person sexual arousal/interest does not have any external focus (i.e. not interested in other humans, animals, or even objects). As I said before, I will integrate it as soon as I feel up to it, hopefully tomorrow :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echidna Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 This is really valuable work Tommy92, and it's wonderful to see someone putting in so much effort. I hope awareness of these texts filters through to academics who are working in this area. Echidna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmilla DeWinter Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Good point on "hereditary" by anon. I shall keep that in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy92 Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 I finally got the physical copy and it has an ISBN :D ISBN: 3-226-01388-2 And also, guess who made it possible (by requesting the digitization) that the book can now be bought on Amazon (com) (de) :P So if anyone is interested in buying it and understands German (and can read Fraktur ;) ) you now have an easy time to do so^^ (and you pay less money than I did...digitization is somewhat costly...at least I payed less for my physical copy :P ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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