Sex and civilization / by Paul Bousfield.

  • Bousfield, Paul, 1880-
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Sex and civilization / by Paul Bousfield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    between ideas of power in general and sexual power. In analysis, phallic symbolism is continually met with, and is well known by psycho-analysts in relation to feelings of inferiority, in both sexes. It is well known that in the past the phallus* has been an object of worship and is so still in some parts of the world. We have nowadays long discarded the phallus as a conscious emblem of potency with a religious significance, but we have not discarded it from our unconscious mind, and it will be seen at a later stage of this book, that not a little of conventional be- haviour in civilized society seems to depend on this ancient symbol. The importance of phallic ideas is liable to be under- estimated by most people at the present time, as they do not realise that they have a strong unconscious idea of the phallus associated with the idea of power. It is not difficult to see, however, how this association arose. Fertility is a most impressive power to the imagination of primitive man, and there can be no doubt that the most magical and mysterious of all phenomena in his experience was that of birth. The creation of a new human being would appear, as soon as the intellect became even slightly developed, to be probably the most wonderful act in human life. To be able to accomplish such an act, would be regarded as a sign of strength, and it would be noticed that the wonderful feat could only be accomplished in the prime of life. Before puberty, a child could not be attained. In old age, likewise there was no possibility of procreation. Since man at first knew nothing of the anatomy or physiology of repro- duction, and was only able to trace birth to connection between the male and female reproductive organs, the external organs in both men and women were associated with the power of fertility. But the male and female ♦Phallus - a representation of the male genital organ.
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