Psychopathia sexualis : with especial reference to the antipathic sexual instinct a medico-forencis study / by R. v. Krafft-Ebing ; only authorized English adaptation of the twelfth German edition by F. J. Rebman.

  • Richard von Krafft-Ebing
Date:
1931, ©1922
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Psychopathia sexualis : with especial reference to the antipathic sexual instinct a medico-forencis study / by R. v. Krafft-Ebing ; only authorized English adaptation of the twelfth German edition by F. J. Rebman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    merely the law of propagation, a community (family or state) cannot subsist without the guarantee that the off¬ spring thrive physically, morally and intellectually. From the moment when woman was recognised the peer of man, when monogamy became a law and was consolidated by legal, religious and moral conditions, the Christian nations obtained a mental and material superiority over the poly¬ gamic races, and especially over Islam. Mohammed strove to raise woman from the position of the slave and mere handmaid of enjoyment, to a higher social and matrimonial grade; yet she remained still far below man, wTho alone could obtain divorce, and that on the easiest terms. Above all things Islamism excludes woman from public life and enterprise, and stifles her intellectual and moral advancement. The Mohammedan woman is simply a means for sensual gratification and the propagation of the species; whilst in the sunny balm of Christian doctrine, blossom forth her divine virtues and her qualities of house¬ wife, companion and mother. What a contrast! Compare the two religions and their standard of future happiness. The Christian expects a heaven of spiritual bliss absolutely free from carnal pleasure; the Mohamme¬ dan an eternal harem, a paradise among lovely houris. Yet, in spite of the aid which religion, law, education and the moral code offer him, the Christian (to subdue his sensual inclination) often drags pure and chaste love from its sublime pedestal and wallows in the quagmire of sen¬ sual enjoyment and lust. Life is a never-ceasing duel between the animal instinct and morality. Only will-power and a strong character can emancipate man from the meanness of his corrupt nature, and teach him how to enjoy the pure pleasures of love and pluck the noble fruits of earthly existence. It is an open question whether the moral status of mankind has undergone an improvement in our times. ]STo doubt society at large shows a greater veneer of