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

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 An?sthesia--Its Prevalence--Difficulties in Investigating the Subject--Some Attempts to Investigate it--Sexual An?sthesia 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 complexity," and instinctive behavior, he concludes, may be said to comprise "those complex groups of co-ordinated acts which are, on their first occurrence, independent of experience; which tend to the well-being of the individual and the preservation of the race; which are due to the co-operation of external and internal stimuli; which are similarly performed by all the members of the same more or less restricted group