Part 10 (1/2)

The following advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 chastis.e.m.e.nt of naughty children.”

Many advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 catch-words so well known to s.e.xual perverts would have rendered them highly suspicious. ”_Education of Boys_, strict if necessary, diligence at school, school-work under continuous control, &c.” This advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts: ”Private tutor, elderly, experienced, severe instructor, holds cla.s.ses, 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 a.s.sistance, strict individual instruction in the family, &c.” The last few advertis.e.m.e.nts are appended in ill.u.s.tration, 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 s.e.xual 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.

Advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 t.i.tle of a s.a.d.i.s.tic novel. ”Strict task-mistress wanted for a naughty girl of fourteen. Those replying to this advertis.e.m.e.nt should describe their methods of instruction.” Here it is obvious that the advertiser hopes for s.e.xual excitement from reading the descriptions of chastis.e.m.e.nt 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt. 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt was issued by a s.e.xual 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 s.e.xual perverts have only become aware to their sorrow through a legal prosecution. I refer to the paragraph by which the issue of advertis.e.m.e.nts for an immoral purpose is declared to be a punishable offence. The newspapers have now become cautious about the insertion of advertis.e.m.e.nts whose immoral purpose is plainly perceptible. Moreover, the perverts themselves who used to issue such advertis.e.m.e.nts, having through the activity of the authorities learned the significance of the paragraph in question, no longer advertise in unmistakable terms.

CHAPTER IX

s.e.xUAL EDUCATION

In view of the dangers to which children are exposed from the side of the s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual education will have to be considered. In so far as s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual 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 a.s.sume 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 s.e.xual 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 _emile_, 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 s.e.xual education. We know that the s.e.xual 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 a.s.sociation of the child with persons of the opposite s.e.x provides such stimuli. But a separation of the s.e.xes will not do away with them, as is proved, not only by the h.o.m.os.e.xual manifestations of the undifferentiated s.e.xual impulse, but also by those that arise transiently, at any rate, when the members of one s.e.x are completely segregated from those of the other--as in boarding-schools, on board s.h.i.+p, and in prisons. The educator cannot even count on being at all times able to safeguard the child from the sight of s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual intercourse; but in various other ways. The mere kissing of affianced lovers must in this sense be regarded as a s.e.xual 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 a.s.sociation of ideas such a s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual 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 munic.i.p.ality, 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 s.e.xual excitement. But sometimes the result is other than he expects. Sport is recommended to divert the mind from s.e.xual ideas, and yet I have known cases in which marked s.e.xual 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 s.e.xually excited through playing tennis with a girl-companion, and many a boy has been s.e.xually excited through rowing with another. Still, the fact that here and there a child may have been s.e.xually 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 a.s.sume 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 relations.h.i.+p 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual education, this is not meant to imply that we should a.s.sume a perfectly pa.s.sive att.i.tude, 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 pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sing 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 cla.s.s, 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 cla.s.s. 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 s.e.xual life. Herodotus relates that in Babylon the virgins had, for a money payment, and in honour of the G.o.ddess of Love, to give themselves to a strange man; and similar customs are reported of other peoples of antiquity.[128] In providing for the s.e.xual 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 s.e.x. 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 p.e.n.i.s exposed. These examples suffice to show that the sentiment of shame, which is a.s.sociated 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 s.e.xual 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 h.o.m.os.e.xual intercourse is also felt to be immoral. In this relations.h.i.+p 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 relations.h.i.+ps 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 relations.h.i.+ps, 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 a.s.sociation of specific bodily processes with the corresponding mental states: blus.h.i.+ng, with the sentiment of shame; retching and vomiting, with the sentiment of disgust; these a.s.sociations 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 a.s.sumed, 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociated 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 a.s.sociated 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 b.i.t.c.hes 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 was.h.i.+ng 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 s.h.i.+rt 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual matters. A girl who experiences disgust at the sight of s.e.m.e.n or the act of its e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual shame, from the fact that prost.i.tutes 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 prost.i.tutes).

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 circ.u.mstances show that these sentiments are influenced, not merely by individual habituation, but also by the nature of general customs. A lady of the n.o.bility, president, perhaps, of a Ladies'