Prev | Current Page 161 | Next

Ellis, Havelock, 1859-1939

"Sexual Inversion"

I have added
some observations by a correspondent whose experiences of English
public school life are still recent:--
"In the years I was a member of a public school, I saw and heard
a good deal of homosexuality, though till my last two years I did
not understand its meaning. As a prefect, I discussed with other
prefects the methods of checking it, and of punishing it when
detected. My own observations, supported by those of others, led
me to think that the fault of the usual method of dealing with
homosexuality in schools is that it regards all school
homosexualists as being in one class together, and has only one
way of dealing with them--the birch for a first offense,
expulsion for a second. Now, I think we may distinguish _three_
classes of school homosexualists:--
"(a) A very small number who are probably radically inverted, and
who do not scruple to sacrifice young and innocent boys to their
passions. These, and these only, are a real moral danger to
others, and I believe them to be rare.
"(b) Boys of various ages who, having been initiated into the
passive part in their young days, continue practices of an active
or passive kind; but only with boys already known to be
homosexualists; they draw the line at corrupting fresh victims.


Pages:
149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173