It is, moreover, noteworthy that a remarkably large proportion of the cases in which homosexuality has led to crimes of violence, or otherwise come under medico-legal observation, has been among women. It is well know that the part taken by women generally in open criminality, and especially in crimes of violence, is small as compared with men.[144] In the homosexual field, as we might have anticipated, the conditions are to some extent reversed. Inverted men, in whom a more or less feminine temperament is so often found, are rarely impelled to acts of aggressive violence, though they frequently commit suicide. Inverted women, who may retain their feminine emotionality combined with some degree of infantile impulsiveness and masculine energy, present a favorable soil for the seeds of passional crime, under those conditions of jealousy and allied emotions which must so often enter into the invert's life.
The first conspicuous example of this tendency in recent times is the Memphis case (1892) in the United States. (Arthur Macdonald, "Observation de Sexualité Pathologique Feminine," _Archives d'Anthropologie Criminelle_, May, 1895; see also Krafft-Ebing, _Psychopathia Sexualis_, Eng. trans, of 10th ed., p. 550.) In this case a congenital sexual invert, Alice Mitchell, planned a marriage with Freda Ward, taking a male-name and costume. This scheme was frustrated by Freda's sister, and Alice Mitchell then cut Freda's throat. There is no reason to suppose that she was insane at the time of the murder. She was a typical invert of a very pronounced kind. Her mother had been insane and had homicidal impulses. She herself was considered unbalanced, and was masculine in her habits from her earliest years. Her face was obviously unsymmetrical and she had an appearance of youthfulness below her age. She was not vicious, and had little knowledge of sexual matters, but when she kissed Freda she was ashamed of being seen, while Freda could see no reason for being ashamed. She was adjudged insane.
There have been numerous cases in America more recently. One case (for some details concerning which I am indebted to Dr. J.G. Kiernan, of Chicago) is that of the "Tiller Sisters," two quintroons, who for many years had acted together under that name in cheap theaters. One, who was an invert, with a horror of men dating from early girlhood, was sexually attached to the other, who was without inborn inversion, and was eventually induced by a man to leave the invert. The latter, overcome by jealousy, broke into the apartment of the couple and shot the man dead. She was tried, and sent to prison for life. A defense of insanity was made, but for this there was no evidence. In another case, also occurring in Chicago (reported in _Medicine_, June, 1899, and _Alienist and Neurologist_, October, 1899), a trained nurse lived for fourteen years with a young woman who left her on four different occasions, but was each time induced to return; finally, however, she left and married, whereupon the nurse shot the husband, who was not, however, fatally wounded. The culprit in this case had been twice married, but had not lived with either of her husbands; it was stated that her mother had died in an asylum, and that her brother had committed suicide. She was charged with disorderly conduct, and subjected to a fine.
In another later case in Chicago a Russian girl of 22, named Anna Rubinowitch, shot from motives of jealousy another Russian girl to whom she had been devoted from childhood, and then fatally shot herself. The relations between the two girls had been very intimate. "Our love affair is one purely of the soul," Anna Rubinowitch was accustomed to say; "we love each other on a higher plane than that of earth." (I am informed that there were in fact physical relationships; the sexual organs were normal.) This continued, with great devotion on each side, until Anna's "sweetheart" began to show herself susceptible to the advances of a male wooer. This aroused uncontrollable jealousy in Anna, whose father, it may be noted, had committed suicide by shooting some years previously.
Homosexual relationships are also a cause of suicide among women. Such a case was reported in Massachusetts early in 1901. A girl of 21 had been tended during a period of nervous prostration, apparently of hysterical nature, by a friend and neighbor, fourteen years her senior, married and having children. An intimate friendship grew up, equally ardent on both sides. The mother of the younger woman and the husband of the other took measures to put a stop to the intimacy, and the girl was sent away to a distant city; stolen interviews, however, still occurred. Finally, when the obstacles became insurmountable, the younger woman bought a revolver and deliberately shot herself in the temple, in presence of her mother, dying immediately. Though sometimes thought to act rather strangely, she was a great favorite with all, handsome, very athletic, fond of all outdoor sports, an energetic religious worker, possessing a fine voice, and was an active member of many clubs and societies. The older woman belonged to an aristocratic family and was loved and respected by all. In another case in New York in 1905 a retired sailor, "Captain John Weed," who had commanded transatlantic vessels for many years, was admitted to a Home for old sailors and shortly after became ill and despondent, and cut his throat. It was then found that "Captain Weed" was really a woman. I am informed that the old sailor's despondency and suicide were due to enforced separation from a female companion.
The infatuation of young girls for actresses and other prominent women may occasionally lead to suicide. Thus in Philadelphia, a few years ago, a girl of 19, belonging to a very wealthy family, beautiful and highly educated, acquired an absorbing infatuation for Miss Mary Garden, the _prima donna_, with whom she had no personal acquaintance. The young girl would kneel in worship before the singer's portrait, and studied hairdressing and manicuring in the hope of becoming Miss Garden's maid. When she realized that her dream was hopeless she shot herself with a revolver. (Cases more or less resembling those here brought forward occur from time to time in all parts of the civilized world. Reports, mostly from current newspapers, of such cases, as well as of simple transvestism, or Eonism, in both women and men, will be found in the publications of the Berlin Wissenschaftlich-humanitären Komitee: the _Monatsberichte_ up to 1909, then in the _Vierteljahrsberichte_, and from 1913 onward in the _Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen_.)
Yet, until recently, comparatively little has been known of sexual inversion in women. Even so lately as 1901 (after the publication of the first edition of the present Study), Krafft-Ebing wrote that scarcely fifty cases had been recorded. The chief monographs devoted but little space to women.
Krafft-Ebing himself, in the earlier editions of _Psychopathia Sexualis_, gave little special attention to inversion in women, although he published a few cases. Moll, however, included a valuable chapter on the subject in his _Konträre Sexualempfindung_, narrating numerous cases, and inversion in women also received special attention in the present Study. Hirschfeld, however, in his _Homosexualität_ (1914) is the first authority who has been able to deal with feminine homosexuality as completely co-ordinate with masculine homosexuality. The two manifestations, masculine and feminine, are placed on the same basis and treated together throughout the work.
It is, no doubt, not difficult to account for this retardation in the investigation of sexual inversion in women. Notwithstanding the severity with which homosexuality in women has been visited in a few cases, for the most part men seem to have been indifferent toward it; when it has been made a crime or a cause for divorce in men, it has usually been considered as no offense at all in women.[145] Another reason is that it is less easy to detect in women; we are accustomed to a much greater familiarity and intimacy between women than between men, and we are less apt to suspect the existence of any abnormal passion. And, allied with this cause, we have also to bear in mind the extreme ignorance and the extreme reticence of women regarding any abnormal or even normal manifestation of their sexual life. A woman may feel a high degree of sexual attraction for another woman without realizing that her affection is sexual, and when she does realize this, she is nearly always very unwilling to reveal the nature of her intimate experience, even with the adoption of precautions, and although the fact may be present to her that, by helping to reveal the nature of her abnormality, she may be helping to lighten the burden of it on other women. Among the numerous confessions voluntarily sent to Krafft-Ebing there is not one by a woman. There is, again, the further reason that well-marked and fully developed cases of inversion are probably rarer in women, though a slighter degree may be more common; in harmony with the greater affectability of the feminine organism to slight stimuli, and its lesser liability to serious variation.[146] The same aberrations that are found among men are, however, everywhere found among women. Feminine inversion has sometimes been regarded as a vice of modern refined civilization. Yet it was familiar to the Anglo-Saxons, and Theodore's Penitential in the seventh century assigned a penance of three years (considerably less than that assigned to men, or for bestiality) to "a woman fornicating with a woman." Among the women of savages in all parts of the world homosexuality is found, though it is less frequently recorded than among men.[147] In New Zealand it is stated on the authority of Moerenhout (though I have not been able to find the reference) that the women practised Lesbianism. In South America, where inversion is common among men, we find similar phenomena in women. Among Brazilian tribes Gandavo[148] wrote:-- "There are certain women among these Indians who determine to be chaste and know no man. These leave every womanly occupation and imitate the men. They wear their hair the same way as the men; they go to war with them or hunting, bearing their bows; they continue always in the company of men, and each has a woman who serves her and with whom she lives."
This has some analogy with the phenomena seen among North American men. Dr. Holder, who has carefully studied the _boté_, tells me that he has met no corresponding phenomena in women.
There is no doubt, however, that homosexuality among women is well known to the American Indians in various regions. Thus the Salish Indians of British Columbia have a myth of an old woman who had intercourse with a young woman by means of a horn used as a penis.[149] In the mythology of the Assiniboine Indians (of Canada and Montana) and the Fox Indians (of Iowa) there are also legends of feminine homosexuality, supposed to have been derived from the Algonkin Cree Indians, who were closely connected with both.[150] According to the Assiniboine legend, a man's wife fell in love with his sister and eloped with her, a boneless child being the result of the union; the husband pursued the couple, and killed his wife as well as the child; no one cared to avenge her death. The Fox legend, entitled "Two Maidens who Played the Harlot with Each Other," runs as follows: "It is said that once on a time long ago there were two young women who were friends together. It is told that there were also two youths who tried to woo the two maidens, but they were not able even so much as to talk with them. After awhile the youths began to suspect something wrong. So once during the summer, when the two maidens started away to peel off bark, the youths followed, staying just far enough behind to keep them in sight. While the girls were peeling the bark, the youths kept themselves hidden. After awhile they no longer heard the sound of the maidens at work. Whereupon they began to creep up to where they were. When they drew nigh, behold, the maidens were in the act of taking off their clothes. The first to disrobe flung herself down on the ground and lay there. 'Pray, what are these girls going to do?' was the feeling in the hearts of the youths. And to their amazement the girls began to lie with each other. Thereupon the youths ran to where the girls were. She who was lying on top instantly fell over backward. Her clitoris was standing out and had a queer shape; it was like a turtle's penis. Thereupon the maidens began to plead with the youths: 'Oh, don't tell on us!' they said. 'Truly it is not of our own free desire that we have done this thing We have done it under the influence of some unknown being.' It is said that afterward one of the maidens became big with child. In the course of time, she gave birth, and the child was like a soft-shell turtle."
In Bali, according to Jacobs (as quoted by Ploss and Bartels), homosexuality is almost as common among women as among men, though it is more secretly exercised; the methods of gratification adopted are either digital or lingual, or else by bringing the parts together (tribadism).
Baumann, who noted inversion among the male negro population of Zanzibar, finds that it is also not rare among women. Although Oriental manners render it impossible for such women to wear men's clothes openly, they do so in private, and are recognized by other women by their man-like bearing, as also by the fact that women's garments do not suit them. They show a preference for masculine occupations, and seek sexual satisfaction among women who have the same inclinations, or else among normal women, who are won over by presents or other means. In addition to tribadism or cunnilinctus, they sometimes use an ebony or ivory phallus, with a kind of glans at one end, or sometimes at both ends; in the latter case it can be used by two women at once, and sometimes it has a hole bored through it by which warm water can be injected; it is regarded as an Arab invention, and is sometimes used by normal women shut up in harems, and practically deprived of sexual satisfaction.[151] Among the Arab women, according to Kocher, homosexual practices are rare, though very common among Arab men. In Egypt, however, according to Godard, Kocher, and others, it is almost fashionable, and every woman in the harem has a "friend." In Turkey homosexuality is sometimes said to be rare among women. But it would appear to be found in the harems and women's baths of Turkey, as well as of Islam generally. Brantôme in the sixteenth century referred to the Lesbianism of Turkish women at the baths, and Leo Africanus in the same century mentioned the tribadism of Moorish women and the formal organization of tribadic prostitution in Fez. There was an Osmanli Sapphic poetess, Mihiri, whose grave is at Amasia, and Vambery and Achestorides agree as to the prevalence of feminine homosexuality in Turkey.[152] Among the negroes and mulattoes of French creole countries, according to Corre, homosexuality is very common. "I know a lady of great beauty," he remarks, "a stranger in Guadalupe and the mother of a family, who is obliged to stay away from the markets and certain shops because of the excessive admiration of mulatto women and negresses, and the impudent invitations which they dare to address to her."[153] He refers to several cases of more or less violent sexual attempts by women on young colored girls of 12 or 14, and observes that such attempts by men on children of their own sex are much rarer.
In China (according to Matignon) and in Cochin China (according to Lorion) homosexuality does not appear to be common among women. In India, however, it is probably as prevalent among women as it certainly is among men.
In the first edition of this Study I quoted the opinion of Dr. Buchanan, then Superintendant of the Central Gaol of Bengal at Bhagalpur, who informed me that he had never come across a case and that his head-gaoler had never heard of such a thing in twenty-five years' experience. Another officer in the Indian Medical Service assures me, however, that there cannot be the least doubt as to the frequency of homosexuality among women in India, either inside or outside gaols. I am indebted to him for the following notes on this point:-- "That homosexual relationships are common enough among Indian women is evidenced by the fact that the Hindustani language has five words to denote the tribade: (1) _dúgáná_, (2) _zanàkhé_, (3) _sa'tar_, (4) _chapathái_, and (5) _chapatbáz_. The _modus operandi_ is generally what Martial calls _geminos committere cunnos_, but sometimes a phallus, called _saburah_, is employed. The act itself is called _chapat_ or _chapti_, and the Hindustani poets, Nazir, Rangin, Ján S'áheb, treat of Lesbian love very extensively and sometimes very crudely. Ján S'áheb, a woman poet, sings to the effect that intercourse with a woman by means of a phallus is to be preferred to the satisfaction offered by a male lover. The common euphemism employed when speaking of two tribades who live together is that they 'live apart.' So much for the literary evidence as to the prevalence of what, _mirable dictu_, Dr. Buchanan's gaoler was ignorant of.
"Now for facts. In the gaol of R. the superintendent discovered a number of phalli in the females' inclosure; they were made of clay and sun-dried and bore marks of use. In the gaol of S. was a woman who (as is usual with tribades in India) wore male attire, and was well known for her sexual proclivities. An examination revealed the following: Face much lined, mammæ of masculine type, but nipples elongated and readily erectile; gluteal and iliac regions quite of masculine type, as also the thighs; clitoris, with enlarged glands, readily erectile; nymphæ thickened and enlarged; vulvar orifice patent, for she had in early youth been a prostitute; the voice was almost contralto. Her partner was of low type, but eminently feminine in configuration and manner. In this case I heard that 'the man' went to a local ascetic and begged his intercession with the deity, so that she might impregnate her partner. ('The Hindoo medical works mention the possibility of a woman uniting with another woman in sexual embraces and begetting a boneless fetus.' _Short History of Aryan Medical Science_, p. 44.)
"In the town of D. there 'lived apart' two women, one a Brahmin, the other a grazier; their _modus operandi_ was tribadism, as an eyewitness informed me. In S. I was called in to treat the widow of a wealthy Mohammedan; I had occasion to examine the pudenda, and found what Martineau would have called the indelible stigmata of early masturbation and later sapphism. She admitted the impeachment and confessed that she was on the best of terms with her three remarkably well-formed and good-looking handmaidens. This lady said that she began masturbation at an early age, 'just like all other women,' and that sapphism came after the age of puberty. Another Mohammedan woman whom I knew, and who had a very large clitoris, told me that she had been initiated into Lesbian love at 12 by a neighbor and had intermittently practised it ever since. I might also instance two sisters of the gardener caste, both widows, who 'lived apart' and indulged in simultaneous sapphism.
"That sometimes the actors in tribadism are most vigorous is shown by the fact that, in the central gaol of ----, swelling of the vulva was admitted to have been caused by the embraces of two female convicts. The subordinate who told me this mentioned it quite incidentally while relating his experiences as hospital assistant at this gaol. When I questioned him he stated that the woman, whom he was called to treat, told him that she could never 'satisfy herself' with men, but only with women. He added that tribadism was 'quite common in the gaol.'"
The foregoing sketch may serve to show that homosexual practices certainly, and probably definite sexual inversion, are very widespread among women in very many and various parts of the world, though it is likely that, as among men, there are variations--geographical, racial, national, or social--in the frequency or intensity of its obvious manifestations. Thus, in the eighteenth century, Casanova remarked that the women of Provence are specially inclined to Lesbianism.
In European prisons homosexual practices flourish among the women fully as much, it may probably be said, as among the men. There is, indeed, some reason for supposing that these phenomena are here sometimes even more decisively marked than among men.[154] This prevalence of homosexuality among women in prison is connected with the close relationship between feminine criminality and prostitution.
The frequency of homosexual practices among prostitutes is a fact of some interest, and calls for special explanation, for, at the first glance, it seems in opposition to all that we know concerning the exciting causes of homosexuality. Regarding the fact there can be no question.[155] It has been noted by all who are acquainted with the lives of prostitutes, though opinion may differ as to its frequency. In Berlin, Moll was told in well-informed quarters, the proportion of prostitutes with Lesbian tendencies is about 25 per cent. This was almost the proportion at Paris many years ago, according to Parent-Duchâtelet; today, according to Chevalier, it is larger; and Bourneville believes that 75 per cent, of the inmates of the Parisian venereal hospitals have practised homosexuality. Hammer in Germany has found among 66 prostitutes that 41 were homosexual.[156] Hirschfeld thinks that inverted women are specially prone to become prostitutes.[157] Eulenburg believes, on the other hand, that the conditions of their life favor homosexuality among prostitutes; "a homosexual union seems to them higher, purer, more innocent, and more ideal."[158] There is, however, no fundamental contradiction between these two views; they are probably both right.
In London, so far as my inquiries extend, homosexuality among prostitutes is very much less prevalent, and in a well-marked form is confined to a comparatively small section. I am indebted to a friend for the following note: "From my experience of the Parisian prostitute, I gather that Lesbianism in Paris is extremely prevalent; indeed, one might almost say normal. In particular, most of the chahut-dancers of the Moulin-Rouge, Casino de Paris, and the other public balls are notorious for going in couples, and, for the most part, they prefer not to be separated, even in their most professional moments with the other sex. In London the thing is, naturally, much less obvious, and, I think, much less prevalent; but it is certainly not infrequent. A certain number of well-known prostitutes are known for their tendencies in this direction, which do not, however, interfere in any marked way with the ordinary details of their profession. I do not personally know of a single prostitute who is exclusively Lesbian; I have heard vaguely that there are one or two such anomalies. But I have heard a swell _cocotte_ at the Corinthian announce to the whole room that she was going home with a girl; and no one doubted the statement. Her name, indeed, was generally coupled with that of a fifth-rate actress. Another woman of the same kind has a little clientele of women who buy her photographs in Burlington Arcade. In the lower ranks of the profession all this is much less common. One often finds women who have simply never heard of such a thing; they know of it in regard to men, but not in regard to women. And they are, for the most part, quite horrified at the notion, which they consider part and parcel of 'French beastliness.' Of course, almost every girl has her friend, and, when not separately occupied, they often sleep together; but, while in separate, rare cases, this undoubtedly means all that it can mean, for the most part, so far as one can judge, it means no more than it would mean among ordinary girls."
It is evident that there must be some radical causes for the frequency of homosexuality among prostitutes. One such cause doubtless lies in the character of the prostitute's relations with men; these relations are of a professional character, and, as the business element becomes emphasized, the possibility of sexual satisfaction diminishes; at the best, also; there lacks the sense of social equality, the feeling of possession, and scope for the exercise of feminine affection and devotion. These the prostitute must usually be forced to find either in a "bully" or in another woman.[159] Apart from this fact it must be borne in mind that, in a very large number of cases, prostitutes show in slight or more marked degree many of the signs of neurotic heredity,[160] and it would not be surprising if they present the germs of homosexuality in an unusually high degree. The life of the prostitute may well develop such latent germs; and so we have an undue tendency to homosexuality, just as we have it among criminals, and, to a much less extent, among persons of genius and intellect.
Homosexuality is specially fostered by those employments which keep women in constant association, not only by day, but often at night also, without the company of men. This is, for instance, the case in convents, and formerly, at all events,--however, it may be today,--homosexuality was held to be very prevalent in convents. This was especially so in the eighteenth century when very many young girls, without any religious vocation, were put into convents.[161] The same again is today the case with the female servants in large hotels, among whom homosexual practices nave been found very common.[162] Laycock, many years ago, noted the prevalence of manifestations of this kind, which he regarded as hysterical, among seamstresses, lace-makers, etc., confined for hours in close contact with one another in heated rooms. The circumstances under which numbers of young women are employed during the day in large shops and factories, and sleep in the establishment, two in a room or even two in a bed, are favorable to the development of homosexual practices.
In England it is seldom that anyone cares to investigate these phenomena, though, they certainly exist. They have been more thoroughly studied elsewhere. Thus, in Rome, Niceforo, who studied various aspects of the lives of the working classes, succeeded in obtaining much precise information concerning the manners and customs of the young girls in dressmaking and tailoring work-rooms. He remarks that few of those who see the "virtuous daughters of the people," often not more than 12 years old, walking along the streets with the dressmaker's box under their arm, modestly bent head and virginal air, realize the intense sexual preoccupations often underlying these appearances. In the work-rooms the conversation perpetually revolves around sexual subjects in the absence of the mistress or forewoman, and even in her presence the slang that prevails in the work-rooms leads to dialogues with a double meaning. A state of sexual excitement is thus aroused which sometimes relieves itself mentally by psychic onanism, sometimes by some form of masturbation; one girl admitted to Niceforo that by allowing her thoughts to dwell on the subject while at work she sometimes produced physical sexual excitement as often as four times a day. (See also vol. i of these _Studies_, "Auto-erotism.") Sometimes, however, a vague kind of homosexuality is produced, the girls, excited by their own thoughts and their conversation, being still further excited by contact with each other. "In summer, in one work-room, some of the girls wear no drawers, and they unbutton their bodices, and work with crossed legs, more or less uncovered. In this position, the girls draw near and inspect one another; some boast of their white legs, and, then the petticoats are raised altogether for more careful comparison. Many enjoy this inspection of nudity, and experience real sexual pleasure. From midday till 2 P.M., during the hours of greatest heat, when all are in this condition, and the mistress, in her chemise (and sometimes, with no shame at the workers' presence, even without it), falls asleep on the sofa, all the girls, _without one exception_, masturbate themselves. The heat seems to sharpen their desires and morbidly arouse all their senses. The voluptuous emotions, restrained during the rest of the day, break out with irresistible force; stimulated by the spectacle of each other's nakedness, some place their legs together and thus heighten the spasm by the illusion of contact with a man." In this way they reach mutual masturbation. "It is noteworthy, however," Niceforo points out, "that these couples for mutual masturbation are never Lesbian couples. Tribadism is altogether absent from the factories and work-rooms." He even believes that it does not exist among girls of the working class. He further describes how, in another work-room, during the hot hours of the day in summer, when no work is done, some of the girls retire into the fitting-room, and, having fastened their chemises round their legs and thighs with pins, so as to imitate trousers, play at being men and pretend to have intercourse with the others. (Niceforo, _Il Gergo_, cap. vi, 1897, Turin.) I have reproduced these details from Niceforo's careful study because, although they may seem to be trivial at some points, they clearly bring out the very important distinction between a merely temporary homosexuality and true inversion. The amusements of these young girls may not be considered eminently innocent or wholesome, but, on the other hand, they are not radically morbid or vicious. They are strictly, and even consciously, _play_; they are dominated by the thought that the true sexual ideal is normal relationship with a man, and they would certainly disappear in the presence of a man.