Dr. K: "A Note on Sexual Inversion" in Women, 1897

"Current views of homosexuality are . . . cruelly unjust"

by Jonathan Ned Katz. Copyright (c) by Jonathan Ned Katz. All rights reserved. Reedited by Katz from Gay American History (1976).

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The first two English editions of Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds's Sexual Inversion contain "A Note on Sexual Inversion" in women by "Dr. K.," who Ellis describes as "an American woman physician, who kindly assisted me in obtaining cases…" Although from a modern liberationist viewpoint Dr. K.'s statements contain much that is extremely oppressive, in 1897 they constituted a liberal Lesbian defense. A footnote quotes Dr. K. to the effect that homosexuality,

wherever found, indicates a psychic condition which can be properly governed but cannot be eradicated.

She suggests that nervous "affectations" sometimes result from homosexuality, or from

the vices which sometimes accompany it. But such effects are not an inevitable result. Of the eight cases which I have reported to you, seven are perfectly sound, physically, and four are remarkable for their intellectual qualities…In all such cases I would recommend that the moral sense be trained and fostered, and the persons allowed to keep their individuality, being taught to remember always that they are different from others, and that they must not infringe upon the happiness or rights of others, rather sacrificing their own feelings or happiness when necessary. It is good discipline for them, and will serve in the long run to bring them more favor and affection than any other course, This quality or idiosyncrasy is not essentially evil, but, if rightly used, may prove a blessing to others and a power for good in the life of the individual, nor does it reflect any discredit upon its possessor.

In her "Note," Dr. K. records the general impressions to which her study of "sexual inversion" in women have given rise.

A number of cases of inversion in women have come under my observation. In some of these cases there is a hereditary neurasthenic or psychopathic tendency, but it must be borne in mind that there are few people in modem life, perhaps none, who could be pronounced absolutely free from such a Belastung [burden].

The persons whom I have questioned acknowledge their feelings to be unusual, and perhaps morbid, but they unite in declaring them to be absolutely ineradicable. One invert thus describes the needs of her nature: "A desire for a deep spiritual communion with a friend who has the same tastes, aspirations, and interests. Embraces and endearment, and a perfect faith in the other's purity of heart. These are the necessary conditions." I may also quote the following passage from a letter written by a young inverted woman to her friend: "Remember, dear, I am not asking you to love me as I love you, neither do I wish to make you remarkable in any way. I shrink from everything of the kind as much as anyone. I am simply exercising my right in loving you as I do with a love which I know has God's sanction and blessing. The world has not learned friendship's blessing yet, but I know, for I have learned it through my misfortune, that it is possible for human souls to be made strong and beautiful by the spiritualising effect of love, the kind of love that I have given you. During all the years that I have known you my one desire has been to make my influence over you tend upward. I love you for the strength and purity and beauty of your character, and my only reason for telling you about my peculiar nature is to make you understand, if possible, that my affection for you is earnest and sincere. I cannot bear to have you treat it lightly, or to be considered weak and sentimental. Be brave and honest with me. You have known me now for seven years; you know that this inversion does not affect my moral sense, yet you have not written to me since I told you of it, and I cannot, understand your silence. It is so unlike you."

While the feeling, doubtless, has a sexual basis, it is in many cases not recognized, and the love, though intense, is purely spiritual in character, and is placed upon a high plane. Moreover, this moral attitude is not attained as the result of conscious effort on the part of these persons; it seems rather to be a natural tendency. This may be explained in several ways. There may be a congenitally feeble [sexual] instinct, or it may be that the instinct, through having been gratified only in an emotional or spiritual way, has been entirely subordinated to the higher feelings.

The cases which I have investigated have no unfavorable physical or mental symptoms. On the contrary, their health is as sound as their morals. They are, as a rule, persons of a highly wrought nervous organization, and of unusual mental power. Inquiries of this character must be carried on with the utmost caution. There is an inevitable tendency to form conclusions before the subject is adequately mastered, and facts are almost invariably looked at from the standpoint of some theory which so colours and distorts them, that weak corroborative evidence is apt to be invested with undue strength and strong adverse evidence carelessly to be dismissed as weak. Most of the cases heretofore investigated are of persons belonging to the criminal or quasi-criminal classes, and conclusions drawn from these cases are necessarily tainted with this imperfection. Homosexual phenomena are in such instances difficult to disentangle from other phenomena-the stigmata of criminality-which may be of great significance, or of little or no significance whatever, in the solution of the problem of homosexuality.

Furthermore, the testimony of the homosexual, or of those who describe themselves as homosexual, is doubtless in many cases not entitled to full credence. Every person is impelled by a law of his nature to justify his conduct in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. This is, of course, especially true where any habit or feeling exists which is condemned by the prevailing opinion of mankind. Under this influence one who admits himself to be homosexual is apt, on the one hand, to magnify any evidence tending to show a congenital element which necessarily excludes the idea of personal responsibility, and, on the other hand, largely to ignore or to understate evidence of exactly opposite significance, which, perhaps, exists in equal abundance.

…it is clear to me that homosexual investigations are attended with great difficulties. In studying the cases which have fallen under my observation, I have tried to keep these difficulties always in view. My own cases have not been sufficiently numerous to justify broad conclusions, but they have thoroughly convinced me that the current views with regard to homosexuality are grossly erroneous and cruelly unjust.

One thing has been made perfectly clear: whether congenital or acquired, homosexuality is not in itself a mark of mental deficiency or of moral degradation. All feelings are capable of abuse, and the homosexual feelings, like the ordinary sexual feelings, have beyond question led to degraded practices; but I have had the fortune to have found a number of cases of inversion where the persons have been distinguished for unusual strength and purity of character, and for far more than the average intelligence and energy. To denounce such persons as degraded is the height of cruelty-a cruelty which must necessarily produce an acute sense of injustice and feelings of bitter resentment.

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