Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 | Page 8

Zwischenstufen, vol. ix, 1908, p. 213). Kiefer, who has studied
Socrates in relation to homosexuality (O. Kiefer, "Socrates und die
Homosexualität," Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen, vol. ix, 1908),
concludes that he was bisexual but that his sexual impulses had been
sublimated. It may be added that many results of recent investigation
concerning paiderastia are summarized by Hirschfeld, Die
Homosexualität, pp. 747-788, and by Edward Carpenter, Intermediate
Types Among Primitive Folk, 1914, part ii; see also Bloch, Die
Prostitution, vol. i, p. 232 et seq., and Der Ursprung der Syphilis, vol.
ii, p. 564.
It would appear that almost the only indications outside Greece of
paiderastic homosexuality showing a high degree of tenderness and
esthetic feeling are to be found in Persian and Arabian literature, after
the time of the Abbasids, although this practice was forbidden by the
Koran.[22]
In Constantinople, as Näcke was informed by German inverts living in
that city, homosexuality is widespread, most cultivated Turks being
capable of relations with boys as well as with women, though very few
are exclusively homosexual, so that their attitude would seem to be
largely due to custom and tradition. Adult males rarely have
homosexual relations together; one of the couple is usually a boy of 12
to 18 years, and this condition of things among the refined classes is
said to resemble ancient Greek paiderastia. But ordinary homosexual
prostitution is prevalent; it is especially recognized in the baths which
abound in Constantinople and are often open all night. The attendants
at these baths are youths who scarcely need an invitation to induce
them to gratify the client in this respect, the gratification usually
consisting in masturbation, mutual or one-sided, as desired. The
practice, though little spoken of, is carried on almost openly, and
blackmailing is said to be unknown.[23] In the New Turkey, however,
it is stated by Adler Bey that homosexual prostitution has almost
disappeared.[24]
There is abundant evidence to show that homosexual practices exist
and have long existed in most parts of the world outside Europe, when

subserving no obvious social or moral end. How far they are associated
with congenital inversion is usually very doubtful. In China, for
instance, it seems that there are special houses devoted to male
prostitution, though less numerous than the houses devoted to females,
for homosexuality cannot be considered common in China (its
prevalence among Chinese abroad being due to the absence of women)
and it is chiefly found in the north.[25] When a rich man gives a feast
he sends for women to cheer the repast by music and song, and for boys
to serve at table and to entertain the guests by their lively conversation.
The boys have been carefully brought up for this occupation, receiving
an excellent education, and their mental qualities are even more highly
valued than their physical attractiveness. The women are less carefully
brought up and less esteemed. After the meal the lads usually return
home with a considerable fee. What further occurs the Chinese say
little about. It seems that real and deep affection is often born of these
relations, at first platonic, but in the end becoming physical, not a
matter for great concern in the eyes of the Chinese. In the Chinese
novels, often of a very literary character, devoted to masculine love, it
seems that all the preliminaries and transports of normal love are to be
found, while physical union may terminate the scene. In China,
however, the law may be brought into action for attempts against nature
even with mutual consent; the penalty is one hundred strokes with the
bamboo and a month's imprisonment; if there is violence, the penalty is
decapitation; I am not able to say how far the law is a dead letter.
According to Matignon, so far as homosexuality exists in China, it is
carried on with much more decorum and restraint than it is in Europe,
and he thinks it may be put down to the credit of the Chinese that,
unlike Europeans, they never practice unnatural connection with
women. His account of the customs of the Chinese confirms Morache's
earlier account, and he remarks that, though not much spoken of,
homosexuality is not looked down upon. He gives some interesting
details concerning the boy prostitutes. These are sold by their parents
(sometimes stolen from them), about the age of 4, and educated, while
they are also subjected to a special physical training, which includes
massage of the gluteal regions to favor development, dilatation of the
anus, and epilation (which is not, however, practised by Chinese
women). At the same time, they are taught music, singing, drawing,

and the art of poetry. The waiters at the restaurants always know where
these young gentlemen are to be found when they are required to grace
a rich man's feast. They are