The Foundations of Personality by Abraham Myerson (sites to read books for free TXT) 📖
- Author: Abraham Myerson
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With the rise of Mandel’s theory of heredity, it has been assumed
that such a scheme offers a wider variety of possible character
combinations. At present it is safe to say that no one can give a
valid reason for the existence of male and female, and that while
this elaboration of the reproducing individual into two parts may
be necessary for some purpose, at first glance it appears like an
interesting but mysterious complication.
[1] See Lloyd Morgan’s book on sex.
I refer the reader to textbooks in anatomy and embryology, and to
the specialists on sex like Krafft-Ebbing, Havelock Ellis and
Ploss for details as to the differences between man and woman.
There are first the essential organs of generation, differing in
the two sexes, the ovary furnishing the egg, the testes
furnishing the seed or sperm; then the organs of sexual contact;
the secondary sex characteristics, such as stature, distribution
of hair, deposits of fat, shape of body and especially of the
pelvis, the voice, smoothness of skin, muscular development, etc.
There is an orderly evolution in the development of sex
characters which starts with earliest embryo life and goes on
regularly until puberty, when there is an extraordinary
development of latent characters and peculiarities. After puberty
maturity is reached by easy stages, and then comes involution or
the recession of sex characters. This is reached in woman rather
suddenly and in man more gradually. The completely differentiated
man differs from his completely differentiated mate in the
texture of his hair, skin, nails; in the width and mobility of
pupils, in the color of his sclera, etc., as well as in the more
essential sex organs.
Indeed there are very essential bodily differences that are
obviously important though not well understood. One is that the
bodily temperature of man is slightly higher than that of woman,
and that he has five million red blood corpuscles to every cubic
millimeter of his blood, while she has four and a half million;
that his brain weighs considerably more but is not heavier
proportionately; that her bodily proportions resemble those of
the child-form[1] more than do his, which some interpret as a
point of superiority for her, while others interpret it as a sign
of inferiority. On the whole, the authorities consider that man
is made for the discharge of energy at a high rate for a short
time, he is the katabolic element, while woman stores up energy
for her children and represents the anabolic element of the race.
[1] See Havelock Ellis.
As a corollary to the above, it is necessary to know that each
human being (and also each higher animal) starts out with the
potential sex organs of both sexes, and that each individual
becomes sexually differentiated at about the eleventh week of
intra-uterine life. Moreover every male has female organs, and
every female has male organs, though in the normal conditions
these are mere vestiges and play no part in the sex life of the
person. Yet this indicates that the separation of male and female
is not absolute, and logically and actually a male may have
female characters, physically and mentally, and vice versa a
female may resemble the male in structure and character.
The sex relations have in the racial sense reproduction as their
object, but it is wise to remember that in the whole living world
only man knows this, and he has known it for only a relatively
short time. Furthermore, in youth, when the sexual life is at its
intensest, this fact, though known, is not really realized, and
in the individual’s plans and desires parenthood figures only
incidentally, if at all. Society, in its organization, places its
emphasis on child-bearing, and so indirectly reproduction becomes
a great social aim rather than an individual purpose.
1. The feeling of parenthood is, as every one knows, far stronger
in woman than in man. But here again generalizations are of no
use to us, since there are women who develop only a weak maternal
feeling, while there are men whose intensity of response to
children is almost as great as any woman’s. Undoubtedly
occupation in other than the traditional woman’s field is
weakening the maternal feeling or is at least competing with it
in a way that divides the modern mother’s emotions and purposes
and is largely responsible for her restless nervousness. This I
think may safely be stated: that industry, athleticism,
education, late marriage, etc., are not making for better
physical motherhood.[1] On the contrary, the modern woman has a
harder time in bearing her children, and worst of all she is
showing either a reluctance or an inability to nurse them. Small
families are becoming the rule, especially among the better to
do. On the other hand, the history of the home is the gradual
domestication of the man, his greater devotion to the children
and to his wife. The increase in divorce has its roots in social
issues too big to be discussed with profit here, but perhaps the
principal item is the emancipation of woman who is now freer to
decline unsatisfactory relations with her mate.
[1] “The Nervous Housewife.”
2. The sex passion, as a direct feeling, is undoubtedly stronger
in the male, as it is biologically necessary it should be, since
upon him devolves the active part in the sex relationship.[2] The
sexologists point out two types of sex feeling, one of which is
supposed to be typically male, the other typically female.
[2] See Havelock Ellis, Krafft-Ebbing, Freud.
The male feeling is called sadism, after an infamous nobleman who
wrote on the subject. It is a delight in power, especially in
cruelty, and shows itself in a desire for the subjection of the
female. In its pathological forms it substitutes cruelty for the
sexual relation, and we have thus the horrible Jack the Rippers,
etc. The Freudians go to the extreme of seeing in all love of
power a sadism, but the truth is that the sadistic impulse is the
love of power, cruelly or roughly expressed in sex. The cave man
of the stories is a sadist of a type, and one generally approved
of, at least in theory. A little of sadism is shown in the
delight in pinching and biting so often seen; and the expression
“I’d like to eat you up” has a playful sadism in it.
The opposite of sadism is masochism. This is a delight in being
roughly used, in being the victim of aggression. The typical
female is supposed to rejoice in the power and strength of the
male as exerted on her. The admiration women often give to the
uncouthly strong, their praise of virility, is masochistic in its
origin. The desire of the peasant woman to be beaten as a mark of
man’s love is supposed to be masochistic, a pleasure in pain,
which is held to be a primitive female reaction.
Sex psychopathology discloses innumerable cases where extreme
sadism and masochism exist in both sexes; that is, not only males
but females are sadistic, and so not only females but males are
masochistic. Undoubtedly in minor degree both qualities express
themselves in male and female; undoubtedly the male is more
frequently a sadist than is the female. Though the majority of
women may thrill in the strength and power of the lover, there
are relatively few American women who will tolerate real
roughness or cruelty. As a matter of fact the basic feelings in
sex love, aside from the sexual urge itself, are tenderness and
admiration. Naturally men desire to protect, and this becomes
part of their tenderness; they admire and love the beauty of
women and are attracted by the essential (or supposed essential)
feminine qualities. And as naturally women desire to be
protected; this enhances their tenderness, and their admiration
is elicited by the peculiar male characters of strength,
hardihood and aggressiveness, as well as by beauty and human
qualities generally. Though the love of conquest is a part of sex
feeling, it is neither male nor female, but is that feeling of
superiority and power so longed for in all relations. Men like to
conquer the proud, reserved, haughty woman because she piques
them, and women often set out to “win” the reserved “woman hater”
for the same reason. Thus tenderness and sex passion, with sadism
and masochism in lesser degree, are basic in sex feeling, but
other qualities enter so largely that any complete analysis is
almost impossible. The belief, engendered by romance and
teaching, that happiness lies in love, spurs youth on. Admiration
for achievement, love of beauty, desire for the social standing
that winning some one gives, desire for home and perhaps even for
children are some of the factors of love.
Sex passion varies enormously in people. In some men it is an
almost constant desire, obsessive, and is relatively uncritical
and unchoosing. Occasionally, though much more rarely, the same
condition is found in women. Such abnormal individuals are almost
certain of social disaster, and when married their conduct
usually leads to divorce or desertion. Then there is a wide range
of types down to the almost sexless persons,[1] the frigid, who
are much more commonly found among women than men. In fact, with
many women active sex desire may never occur, and for others it
is a rarity, while still others find themselves definitely
desirous only after pregnancy. Not only are women less
passionate, but their desire is more “finicky,” more in need of
appropriate circumstances, the proper setting and the chosen mate
than with man. In other words, sex desire is more physical and
urgent in the man and more psychical and selective in the woman.
[1] Some claim that the “frigid” woman is such because her mate
is ignorant of the art of love. This is true of some frigid
women. Instruction to men and women about to be married on the
technique of sexual life might well take a fine place in the
curriculum of life.
A curious by-product of the sexual feeling is fetichism. To do it
justice, fetichism is found in all feeling toward others, but is
most developed in sex relation. The fetich is a symbol of the
desired person, thus the handkerchief and glove of the woman or
the hat of the man. Pathologically any part of the dress—the
shoe or the undergarments—may become so closely associated with
sexual feeling as to evoke it indiscriminately or even to
displace it. Normal fetich formation may become a bit foolish and
sentimental but never becomes a predominant factor in sex
relationship.
The history of modesty is the history of the sex taboo. As
pointed out, the sex feelings are the most restricted of any of
the instincts. I despair of giving an adequate summary of this,
but it may be best stated by declaring that all the restrictions
we hold as imperative have, at one time or another in some place,
been regarded as sacred and desirable. Brother and sister
marriages were favored by Egyptian royalty, prostitution was a
rite in Phoenician worship, phallic worship frankly held as a
symbol that which to-day we hold profane (in a silly way), plural
marriage was and is countenanced in a large part of the world
to-day, marriage for love is held as foolish in most countries,
even now. The practice of child restriction now prevalent in
Europe and America would be looked at with horror in those
countries where children of ten or eleven are allowed to marry.
Exogamy, endogamy, monogamy, polygamy,—all these are customs and
taboos, and though in our day and country monogamy has the social
and religious sanction, there is nothing to indicate that this is
a permanent resting place for marriage. Certainly the statistics
of divorce indicate a change
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