Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 3 | Page 3

Extreme Perversions are Linked on to Normal Phenomena.
III.
Flagellation as a Typical Illustration of Algolagnia--Causes of Connection between
Sexual Emotion and Whipping--Physical Causes--Psychic Causes Probably More
Important--The Varied Emotional Associations of Whipping--Its Wide Prevalence.
IV.
The Impulse to Strangle the Object of Sexual Desire--The Wish to be Strangled.
Respiratory Disturbance the Essential Element in this Group of Phenomena--The Part
Played by Respiratory Excitement in the Process of Courtship--Swinging and
Suspension--The Attraction Exerted by the Idea of being Chained and Fettered.
V.
Pain, and not Cruelty, the Essential Element in Sadism and Masochism--Pain Felt as
Pleasure--Does the Sadist Identify Himself with the Feelings of his Victim?--The Sadist

Often a Masochist in Disguise--The Spectacle of Pain or Struggle as a Sexual Stimulant.
VI.
Why is Pain a Sexual Stimulant?--It is the Most Effective Method of Arousing
Emotion--Anger and Fear the Most Powerful Emotions--Their Biological Significance in
Courtship--Their General and Special Effects in Stimulating the Organism--Grief as a
Sexual Stimulant--The Physiological Mechanism of Fatigue Renders Pain Pleasurable.
VII.
Summary of Results Reached--The Joy of Emotional Expansion--The Satisfaction of the
Craving for Power--The Influence of Neurasthenic and Neuropathic Conditions--The
Problem of Pain in Love Largely Constitutes a Special Case of Erotic Symbolism.
THE SEXUAL IMPULSE IN WOMEN.
Introduction.
I.
The Primitive View of Women--As a Supernatural Element in Life--As Peculiarly
Embodying the Sexual Instinct--The Modern Tendency to Underestimate the Sexual
Impulse in Women--This Tendency Confined to Recent Times--Sexual Anæsthesia--Its
Prevalence--Difficulties in Investigating the Subject--Some Attempts to Investigate
it--Sexual Anæsthesia Must be Regarded as Abnormal--The Tendency to Spontaneous
Manifestations of the Sexual Impulse in Young Girls at Puberty.
II.
Special Characters of the Sexual Impulse in Women--The More Passive Part Played by
Women in Courtship--This Passivity Only Apparent--The Physical Mechanism of the
Sexual Process in Women More Complex--The Slower Development of Orgasm in
Women--The Sexual Impulse in Women More Frequently Needs to be Actively
Aroused--The Climax of Sexual Energy Falls Later in Women's Lives than in
Men's--Sexual Ardor in Women increased After the Establishment of Sexual
Relationships--Women Bear Sexual Excesses Better than Men--The Sexual Sphere
Larger and More Diffused in Women--The Sexual Impulse in Women Shows a Greater
Tendency to Periodicity and a Wider Range of Variation.
III.
Summary of Conclusions.
APPENDIX A.
The Sexual Instinct in Savages.
APPENDIX B.
The Development of the Sexual Instinct.
INDEX OF AUTHORS.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

ANALYSIS OF THE SEXUAL IMPULSE.
Definition of Instinct--The Sexual Impulse a Factor of the Sexual Instinct--Theory of the
Sexual Impulse as an Impulse of Evacuation--The Evidence in Support of this Theory
Inadequate--The Sexual Impulse to Some Extent Independent of the Sexual Glands--The
Sexual Impulse in Castrated Animals and Men--The Sexual Impulse in Castrated Women,
after the Menopause, and in the Congenital Absence of the Sexual Glands--The Internal
Secretions--Analogy between the Sexual Relationship and that of the Suckling Mother
and her Child--The Theory of the Sexual Impulse as a Reproductive Impulse--This

Theory Untenable--Moll's Definition--The Impulse of Detumescence--The Impulse of
Contrectation--Modification of this Theory Proposed--Its Relation to Darwin's Sexual
Selection--The Essential Element in Darwin's Conception--Summary of the History of
the Doctrine of Sexual Selection--Its Psychological Aspect--Sexual Selection a Part of
Natural Selection--The Fundamental Importance of Tumescence--Illustrated by the
Phenomena of Courtship in Animals and in Man--The Object of Courtship is to Produce
Sexual Tumescence--The Primitive Significance of Dancing in Animals and
Man--Dancing is a Potent Agent for Producing Tumescence--The Element of Truth in the
Comparison of the Sexual Impulse with an Evacuation, Especially of the Bladder--Both
Essentially Involve Nervous Explosions--Their Intimate and Sometimes Vicarious
Relationships--Analogy between Coitus and Epilepsy--Analogy of the Sexual Impulse to
Hunger--Final Object of the Impulses of Tumescence and Detumescence.
The term "sexual instinct" may be said to cover the whole of the neuropsychic
phenomena of reproduction which man shares with the lower animals. It is true that much
discussion has taken place concerning the proper use of the term "instinct," and some
definitions of instinctive action would appear to exclude the essential mechanism of the
process whereby sexual reproduction is assured. Such definitions scarcely seem
legitimate, and are certainly unfortunate. Herbert Spencer's definition of instinct as
"compound reflex action" is sufficiently clear and definite for ordinary use.
A fairly satisfactory definition of instinct is that supplied by Dr. and Mrs. Peckham in the
course of their study On the Instincts and Habits of Solitary Wasps. "Under the term
'instinct,'" they say, "we place all complex acts which are performed previous to
experience and in a similar manner by all members of the same sex and race, leaving out
as non-essential, at this time, the question of whether they are or are not accompanied by
consciousness." This definition is quoted with approval by Lloyd Morgan, who modifies
and further elaborates it (Animal Behavior, 1900, p. 21). "The distinction between
instinctive and reflex behavior," he remarks, "turns in large degree on their relative