Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex | Page 9

on account
of the conventional reticence and dishonesty of women.
The employment of the mouth as a sexual organ is considered as a perversion if the lips
(tongue) of the one are brought into contact with the genitals of the other, but not when

the mucous membrane of the lips of both touch each other. In the latter exception we find
the connection with the normal. He who abhors the former as perversions, though these
since antiquity have been common practices among mankind, yields to a distinct feeling
of loathing which protects him from adopting such sexual aims. The limit of such
loathing is frequently purely conventional; he who kisses fervently the lips of a pretty girl
will perhaps be able to use her tooth brush only with a sense of loathing, though there is
no reason to assume that his own oral cavity for which he entertains no loathing is cleaner
than that of the girl. Our attention is here called to the factor of loathing which stands in
the way of the libidinous overestimation of the sexual aim, but which may in turn be
vanquished by the libido. In the loathing we may observe one of the forces which have
brought about the restrictions of the sexual aim. As a rule these forces halt at the genitals;
there is, however, no doubt that even the genitals of the other sex themselves may be an
object of loathing. Such behavior is characteristic of all hysterics, especially women. The
force of the sexual impulse prefers to occupy itself with the overcoming of this loathing
(see below).
*Sexual Utilization of the Anal Opening.*--It is even more obvious than in the former
case that it is the loathing which stamps as a perversion the use of the anus as a sexual
aim. But it should not be interpreted as espousing a cause when I observe that the basis of
this loathing--namely, that this part of the body serves for the excretion and comes in
contact with the loathsome excrement--is not more plausible than the basis which
hysterical girls have for the disgust which they entertain for the male genital because it
serves for urination.
The sexual rôle of the mucous membrane of the anus is by no means limited to
intercourse between men; its preference has nothing characteristic of the inverted feeling.
On the contrary, it seems that the pedicatio of the man owes its rôle to the analogy with
the act in the woman, whereas among inverts it is mutual masturbation which is the most
common sexual aim.
*The Significance of Other Parts of the Body.*--Sexual infringement on the other parts of
the body, in all its variations, offers nothing new; it adds nothing to our knowledge of the
sexual impulse which herein only announces its intention to dominate the sexual object in
every way. Besides the sexual overvaluation, a second and generally unknown factor may
be mentioned among the anatomical transgressions. Certain parts of the body, like the
mucous membrane of the mouth and anus, which repeatedly appear in such practices, lay
claim as it were to be considered and treated as genitals. We shall hear how this claim is
justified by the development of the sexual impulse, and how it is fulfilled in the
symptomatology of certain morbid conditions.
*Unfit Substitutes for the Sexual Object. Fetichism.*--We are especially impressed by
those cases in which for the normal sexual object another is substituted which is related
to it but which is totally unfit for the normal sexual aim. According to the scheme of the
introduction we should have done better to mention this most interesting group of
aberrations of the sexual impulse among the deviations in reference to the sexual object,
but we have deferred mention of these until we became acquainted with the factor of
sexual overestimation, upon which these manifestations, connected with the relinquishing
of the sexual aim, depend.
The substitute for the sexual object is generally a part of the body but little adapted for
sexual purposes, such as the foot, or hair, or an inanimate object which is in demonstrable

relation with the sexual person, and preferably with the sexuality of the same (fragments
of clothing, white underwear). This substitution is not unjustly compared with the fetich
in which the savage sees the embodiment of his god.
The transition to the cases of fetichism, with a renunciation of a normal or of a perverted
sexual aim, is formed by cases in which a fetichistic determination is demanded in the
sexual object if the sexual aim is to be attained (definite color of hair, clothing, even
physical blemishes). No other variation of the sexual impulse verging on the pathological
claims our interest as much as this one, owing to the peculiarity occasioned by its
manifestations. A certain diminution in