Prev | Current Page 709 | Next

Ellis, Havelock, 1859-1939

"Sexual Inversion"

The evidence for the
frequency of homosexuality among the near relatives of the inverted is now
indisputable. I have traced it in a considerable proportion of cases, and
in many of these the evidence is unquestionable and altogether independent
of the statement of the subject himself, whose opinion may be held to be
possibly biased or unreliable.[229] This hereditary factor seems indeed to
be called for by the Freudian theory itself. On that theory we need to
know how it is that the subject passes through psychic phases, and reaches
an emotional disposition, so unlike that of normal persona. The existence
of a definite hereditary tendency in a homosexual direction removes that
difficulty. Freud himself recognizes this and clearly asserts congenital
psycho-sexual constitution, which must involve predisposition. On a
general survey, therefore, it would appear that, on the psychic side, we
may accept the reality of unconscious dynamic processes which in
particular cases may be of the Freudian or similar type. But while the
study of such mechanisms may illuminate the psychology of homosexuality,
they leave untouched the fundamental organic factors now accepted by most
authorities.


Pages:
697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721