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Ellis, Havelock, 1859-1939

"Sexual Inversion"


It must, however, be remembered that, in normal love, homogamy, the
attraction of the like, prevails over heterogamy, the attraction of the
unlike, which is chiefly confined to those features which belong to the
sphere of the secondary sexual characters;[209] the same appears to be
true in inversion, and the homosexual are probably, on the whole, more
attracted by the traits which they seem to themselves to possess than by
those which are foreign to themselves.[210]

PHYSICAL ABNORMALITIES.--The circumstances under which many of my cases
were investigated often made information under this head difficult to
obtain, or to verify. In at least 4 cases the penis is very large, while
in at least 3 it is small and undeveloped, with small and flabby testes.
It seems probable that variations in these two directions are both common,
but it is doubtful whether they possess as much significance as the
tendency to infantilism of the sexual organs in inverted women seems to
possess. Hirschfeld considers that the genital organs of inverts resemble
those of normal people. He finds, however, that phimosis is rather
common.


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