CHAPTER III.

HOMO-SEXUALITY IN HISTORY.

It has been mentioned on another page that the problem of bisexuality, in a more or less general manner, has engaged the attention of observers for ages. The specific phenomenon of homo-sexuality has been even more closely studied, dramatized, romanced about, and even idealized.

No less a luminary and distant character than Plato expressed himself in the following words regarding the subject under discussion (quoted from Plato’s _Banquet_, chapters VIII and IX): “There is no Aphrodites without an Eros. But there are two goddesses. The older Aphrodites came into existence without a mother; being the daughter of Zeus and Diana and is called Pandemos. The Eros of the former must, therefore, be Uranos, that of the latter Pandemos. With the love of Eros Pandemos the ordinary human beings love; Eros Uranos did not choose a female, but a male; this is the love for boys. Whoever is inspired with this love turns to the male sex.”

Herodotus, the Greek historian, who seemed possessed of omnipresence, because he appeared to have been everywhere and seen everything in the known world of his time, described definite characteristics indicative of homo-sexuality. Thus, writing of the Scythians, he referred to a “peculiar disease,” the symptoms of which were these: That certain of the men became effeminate in character, put on female garments, did the work of women, and even became effeminate in appearance.

In attempting an explanation of this abnormality of the Scythians, Herodotus fell back on the myth that the goddess Venus, angered by the plundering of the temple at Ascalon by the Scythians, had made _women_ of these plunderers and their posterity.

Herodotus also made the curious remark, with respect to these effeminate Scythians, whom he called _Enarees_ or _Androgyni_, “that they were endowed by Venus with the power of divination,” and were consulted by the King of the Scythians when the latter was ill.

Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine,” having no faith in supernatural causes of disease, ascribed the cause to impotence. He attributed it, however incorrectly, as due to the custom of the Scythians to have themselves bled behind the ears in order to cure an affliction brought about by excessive horse-back riding. It was his theory that these veins were of great importance in the preservation of the sexual powers, and that when they were severed, impotence followed.

The Scythians so afflicted, however, believing their impotence due to divine punishment and beyond human aid, donned the garb of females and lived as women among women.

It is thought that fear of excess population on the part of the early Greeks was one factor in turning their erotic interests from women to young men. As the so-called Greek states of that period consisted principally of cities with very limited capacity for sustenance, the problem of feeding the population was one of some concern. Aristotle, on this account, advised the men to shun their wives and to indulge in boy-love. Even before him, Socrates had already hailed pederasty as a mark of superior culture.

Diotima revealed to Socrates a new spiritual principle in erotic life--the principle which guides man beyond the pleasures of the senses and, through love, leads him to the divine. “The slave of his senses runs after women; but he who loves with his soul and strives to win immortality through virtue and wisdom, seeks a great and beautiful soul that he may surrender himself to it completely.” This looks innocent enough on the surface, but as it was the opinion of the Greeks that a beautiful soul was to be found only in the body of a man, the implications are clear.

Dr. Beatrice M. Hinkle (_The Re-Creating of the Individual_) remarks that “The symbol of this human ideal achievement for the Greek was the psychic hermaphrodite, the blend of feminine and masculine attributes in a male form and its immortalization was attained in Greek art. The homosexuality flourished as the natural accompaniment of man’s love for himself--that is, of his own sex--was an incidental result which does not affect the real significance of the Greek achievement, nor alter the greatness of their ideal aim, the creation of the highest human values under the conception of ideal love, and the effort at its achievement in the world of reality.... The ‘great and beautiful soul’ could only be found in the male form--women belonged to the animal sphere and could contribute only to the sensual pleasure of man.”

As the women were neglected by the men, the former tended to engage in erotic practices among members of their own sex. In the island of Lesbos, the women were especially given to indulging in the love of their own sex--from which historic precedent we get the term _Lesbian Love_.

Sappho, the _Lesbian Nightingale_, who lived about 600 B. C. was the principal representative and has remained the classical oracle of this form of erotic expression. In her ode to Venus, she sings fervently of her passions:

“Thou who rulest all, upon flowers enthroned, Daughter of Zeus, born of foam, thou artful one, Hark to my call. Not in anguish and bitter suffering, O goddess, Let me perish!--”

The Hellenic conception of beauty was quite invariably realized in the male form, with a characteristic touch of bisexuality--almost a modified hermaphroditism. The sculpture of the period, and of subsequent periods, whenever it has been influenced by the Greeks, shows this tendency. Both Apollo and Dionysus are represented with male and female attributes. The female figures approach the masculine in the cast of their features as well as in their bodily proportions.

As the growing boy comes nearest to combining the male and female lines, the blending of these in sculpture realized the ideal of classical Greek art.

A striking example of the combining of the male and female attributes is seen in the Apollo in the temple at Delphi--one of the foremost seats of prophesy and divination in the old world. Apollo, who presided at this shrine, was a queer blend of masculine and feminine characters. He was frequently represented as being very feminine in form, particularly in the more archaic statues.

Apollo was the patron of song and music. He was, too, a representative divinity of the Uranian love, being the special god of the Dorian Greeks, who seem to have been responsible for establishing the custom of invert love in that country. It was said of Apollo that to expiate his pollution by the blood of the Python, whom he slew, he became the slave and devoted favorite of Admetus.

Muller described a Dorian religious festival, in which a boy, taking the part of Apollo, “probably imitated the manner in which the god, as herdsman and slave of Alcestis, submitted to the most degrading service.”

The opinion is expressed by Dr. Iwan Bloch in his great work, “_Die Prostitution_” that homosexuality, on account of its strange and inexplicable character, was accounted by primitive people as something divine and miraculous. To the homosexual man or woman were therefore attributed supernatural powers. In this respect, the homosexual had characteristics in common with the primitive gods, which probably accounts for the ancients venerating their inverts.

Bloch says on this score: “This riddle, which despite all our efforts, present-day science has not yet satisfactorily solved, must to the primitive intelligence have appeared even more inexplicable than to us; and a man born with the inclination toward his own sex must have been regarded as something extraordinary, as one of those strange freaks of Nature which among Primitives are so easily accounted divine marvels and honored as such. The by no means scanty supply of ethnological facts on this subject which we possess confirms the above view, and shows in what odor of sanctity homosexual individuals have often stood among Nature-folk--for which reason they frequently played an important part in religious rituals and festivals.”

It was the theory of Adolf Bastian, a German authority, that the priests among early peoples, as representatives of the bisexual principle in Nature, encouraged homosexual rites in the temples on the same footing as heterosexual rites.

“The men,” stated Bastian, “prayed to the active powers of Nature, and the women, in privacy and retirement, to the feminine powers--while the priests, who had to satisfy the demands of both parties, learned the idea of sex changes from the Moon, and served the masculine gods in masculine attire, and the goddesses in feminine garments, or set up images of a bearded-Venus and of a Hercules as spinning at the wheel.”

Practically all the ancient deities, at one time or another, seem to have been invested with bisexual characters. Even Venus or Aphrodite was sometimes worshipped in the dual form. Frazer in his _Adonis_, etc., states that in Cyprus there was a bearded and masculine image of Venus in female attire, and that according to Philochorus, the deity thus represented was the moon. Sacrifices were offered to him or her by men clad as women, and by women clad as men.

This bearded female deity is sometimes also referred to as Aphroditus, or as Venus Mylitta. While the worship of bearded goddesses was practiced principally in Cyprus and Syria, Egypt also had a representation of a bearded Isis, with the infant Horus in her lap.

In the Orphic hymns, we find the following bisexual features and powers attributed to the deities:

“Zeus was the first of all, Zeus last, the lord of the lightning; Zeus was the head, the middle, from him all things were created; Zeus was Man, and again Zeus was the Virgin Eternal.”

In another passage, Adonis is addressed thus:

“Hear me, who pray to thee, hear me, O many-named and best of deities, Thou, with thy gracious hair ... both maiden and youth, Adonis.”

Boy-love is believed to have been introduced in Hellas by the Dorians, as in the pre-Doric period (Homer, for instance), the custom of homosexual practice had as yet no roots as an institution.

In Greece, boy-love was the privilege of the elect only, being permitted to the free citizen, the knight. Slaves were forbidden to indulge in the practice, often under penalty of death. Strict rules were formulated for the regulation of the practice, which in time took on the aspect of a social institution, fostered and approved by the state.

In Sparta the lovers were held to a strict accounting for their “companions” who became attached to them from their twelfth year; so that they, and not their young companions, were punished for any shameful act on the part of the latter.

The choice of boy-lovers in Crete took the form of bridal theft. The lover advised the boy’s family of his intention of stealing the boy. If the family did not like the “match,” it tried to avoid the capture of the youth; but on the other hand if the alliance was considered a desirable one, the “romance” was encouraged. The higher the lover’s social position the greater was the honor felt by the boy and the family. Afterwards, the chosen one was sent home bearing gifts.

So established was the practice upon the rock of social convention that it was considered a shame for a boy to possess no knightly lover. It was a great honor, on the other hand, for a youth to be coveted by numerous lovers. Repelling a wooing knight was considered ignominious--a blot on one’s honor.

In Crete, Thebes and Thera, these unions enjoyed religious sanction. The engagement of the lovers, or at least their physical attachment, was accorded the protection of some god or hero. In Thebes, upon the holy promontory near the City, some 50 to 70 meters from the temple of Apollo Karneies and on the sacred site dedicated to Zeus, there is a chiselled inscription, which bears these words: “On this holy place, under the protection of Zeus, Krion has consummated his union with the son of Bathykles and proclaiming it proudly to the world dedicates to it this imperishable memorial. And many Thereans with him, and after him, have united themselves with their boys on this same holy spot.”

Referring to Rome in the time of the emperors, during which time lewdness and debauchery assumed forms that could only have been inspired by moral insanity, Bebel states that men and women vied with each other in immorality. The number of public brothels increased rapidly, and besides “Greek love” (Pederasty) was practiced more and more by the men. As an indication of the extent of homosexual indulgence, at one time the number of male prostitutes in Rome was greater than the number of female prostitutes.

Later, when the pendulum swung the other way, repressive measures were taken to stamp out the practice of homosexuality. Both Constantine and Theodosius enacted legislation against sexual inversion, even going to the extent of committing the offenders to “avenging flames.” These statutes, however, were not rigidly enforced, and modern opinion on the question may be said to have come from Justinian’s enactments.

HOMO-SEXUALITY AMONG PRIMITIVE PEOPLE.

Among primitive tribes, religious rites and ceremonies in association with homosexual acts have long been observed. Dr. W. A. Hammond reports that the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico cultivate so-called “mujerados,” of which one is required in every tribe of this group. They play an important role in the Spring religious festivals--which, from the modern viewpoint, are really orgies--in which pederasty figures prominently. These Saturnalia naturally were guarded with the greatest secrecy from the observation of outsiders.

To cultivate a _mujerado_, a very powerful man is chosen, and he is induced to masturbate excessively and ride horseback constantly. This combination of activities gradually produces an irritable weakness of the genital organs, resulting in great loss of semen. Paralytic impotence follows this condition of chronic irritability, and finally atrophy of the testicles and penis sets in. This condition is accompanied by characteristic physical changes; the beard falls out, the voice loses its depth and volume and physical strength and energy decrease. The disposition and inclinations become feminine. Thenceforth, the _mujerado_ loses his position in society as a man. He adopts feminine customs and manners, and associates quite exclusively with women. Notwithstanding his effeminization, he is for religious reasons, held in honor. It is probable that at other times of the year than during the festival occasions, he is used by the chiefs for pederasty.

Hammond was privileged to examine two _mujerados_. One, then thirty-five years of age, had undergone his metamorphosis seven years previously, when he was fully masculine and potent. Gradually atrophy of the testicles and penis came about, and concurrently he lost his potency and the power of erection. At the time of examination he differed in no way in dress or manner from the women with whom he associated. In contrast to the degeneration of his genital organs, he had developed large breasts like a pregnant women, and claimed that he had nursed several children whose mothers had died. The other _mujerado_, who was then thirty-six years of age, had been effeminate for ten years. He presented the same general peculiarities as the one already referred to, but with less development of the mammary glands. Like the first, his voice was high-pitched and thin, and the body plump.

The relation of excessive horse-back riding to underdevelopment of the male genitals has been noted by many authorities. The Apaches and Navajos, who spend practically all their waking hours on horse-back are remarkable for small genitals and mild libido and vitality. Kraproth and Chotomski record that even at the present time impotence is very prevalent among the Tartars, which was attributed to riding on unsaddled horses.

Westermarck, in his monumental work, _The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_, remarks, in describing the Koriaks: “Krasheninnikoff makes mention of the _Ke’yev_, that is men occupying the position of concubines, and he compared them with the Kamchadale (a Behring’s Strait Tribe) _Koe’kcuc_, as he calls them, that is men transformed into women. Every _Koe’kcuc_ is regarded as a magician and interpreter of dreams.... The _Koe’kcuc_ wore women’s clothes, did women’s work, and were in the position of wives or concubines.”

Elsewhere, Westermarck says: “There is no indication that the North American aborigines attached any opprobrium to men who had intercourse with those members of their own sex who had assumed the dress and habits of women. In Kadiak such a companion was, on the contrary, regarded as a great acquisition; and the effeminate men, far from being despised were held in repute by the people, most of them being wizards.”

In the South Sea Islands, in 1796-98, Captain James Wilson found men there who were dressed like women and enjoyed certain honors. He expressed surprise that “even their women do not despise these fellows, but form friendships with them.” Another traveler in these islands, William Ellis, a missionary, reported that the natives not only enjoyed the sanction of the priests, but even became the direct examples of their divinities.

China and Japan, as well as Malaysia, offer many examples of Buddhist priests, or _Bonzes_, who have boys attached to the service of the temples. It is the duty of each priest to educate a novice to follow him in the ceremonies, and it is known that the relations between the two are often intimate physically. As long ago as 1549, Francis Xavier, then traveling in Japan, refers to this. He states that the _Bonzes_ admitted the nature of their relations with the youths, but asserted it was no sin. They said, however, that intercourse with women was for them a deadly sin, and even punishable with death. The homosexual relation, on the other hand, was not only harmless, but even commendable. It appears that in all the Buddhist sects in Japan, except the _Shinto_, celibacy is enforced upon priests, but homosexual relations are not discouraged.

In Hindu mythology, _Brahm_ is often represented as two-sexed. Originally he was the sole Being. But, “delighting not to be alone he wished for the existence of another, and at once he became such, as male and female embraced (united). He caused this his one self to fall in twain.”

A Russian traveler by the name of Dawydow writing about 1800, reported that among the Konyagas of Alaska, in the island of Kadiak, there were here men with tatooed chins, who work only as women, who live with the womankind, and like the latter, have husbands, and not infrequently even two. These inverts were called _Achnutschiks_. They were held in the highest regard in the community, and were generally considered wizards. The native who possessed an _Achnutschik_, instead of a female wife, was envied. When the parents regarded their son as effeminate in appearance or bearing they often dedicated him in early childhood to the vocation of an _Achnutschik_. In case parents were disappointed with a son when a daughter was desired, they sometimes made their new-born son an _Achnutschik_.

Referring to the Pelew Islanders, Frazer (_Adonis, Attis and Osiris_) attributed the adoption by the priests of female attire to the fact that it often happens that a goddess chooses a man not a woman, for her minister and inspired mouthpiece. When this occurred, the favored man thenceforth was regarded and treated as a woman. He remarked that this pretended change of sex under the inspiration of a female spirit perhaps explains a custom widely spread among savages, in accordance with which some men dress as women and act as women throughout life.

The association of supernatural, or at least super-normal, powers with these inverts is quite extensive, as we have already noticed. Still speaking of the Pelew Islanders, Frazer states: “These unsexed creatures often, perhaps generally, profess the arts of sorcery and healing; they communicate with spirits and are regarded sometimes with awe and sometimes with contempt, as beings of a higher or lower order than common folk. Often they are dedicated or trained to their vocation from childhood. Effeminate sorcerers or priests of this sort are found among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo, the Burgis of South Celebes, the Patagonians of South America.... In Madagascar we hear of effeminate men who wore female attire and acted as women, thinking thereby to do God service. In the Kingdom of Congo, there was a sacrificial priest who commonly dressed as a woman and gloried in the title of Grandmother.”

HOMO-SEXUALITY AND GENIUS.

The list of individuals, famous in art and letters, of homosexual disposition, either active or latent, is an imposing one. The Greek philosophers, playwrights and poets of the classic age have placed themselves on record as devotees of invertism. Some of them have been quoted on previous pages.

Among the men of genius and leadership accredited with being outright homosexuals or having a strong bisexual character, are Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, William of Orange, Charles XII of Sweden, William Rufus, James I, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Ludwig II of Bavaria, Edward II, Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde, etc.

The Uranian temperament has also been attributed to Marlowe, Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Tennyson, Chopin, and other great poets and musicians.

Charles G. Leland (_The Alternate Sex_) states that “Great geniuses, men like Goethe, Shakespeare, Shelley, Byron, Darwin, all had the feminine soul very strongly developed in them.... As we are continually meeting in cities women who are one-quarter, or one-eighth, or so on, _male_, so there are in the Inner Self similar half-breeds, all adapting themselves to circumstances with perfect ease. The Greeks recognized that such a being could exist in nature, and so beautified and idealized it as Sappho.”

Weininger remarked that Sappho was only the forerunner of a long line of famous women who were either homosexually or bisexually endowed. Among them may be mentioned Queen Christine of Sweden, Catherine II of Russia, Madame Blavatsky, George Sand, Rosa Bonheur, and others.

Pronounced bisexuality in woman is indicated by a strong masculine cast in the constitutional make-up, which is often observed in women who have achieved outstanding success in various fields of activity. Often they never marry.

In man, pronounced bisexuality is evidenced by a large endowment of femininity. There are, however, homosexual types of both sexes who do not give outward evidence of the characteristics of the opposite sex. In these instances, the homosexual state is almost entirely psychic, and would not seem to be constitutionally or organically conditioned.

Among the modern artist-writers and poets who have done great service in interpreting and reconstructing Greek life and ideals--Carpenter cites men like Winkelmann, Goethe, Addington Symonds, Walter Pater, as having a marked strain of this temperament. And this, he adds, has been a service of great value, one which the world would ill have afforded to lose.