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Psychopathia Sexualis -- A Clinical-Forensic Study

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Though it is difficult to obtain nowadays, this is a classic compendium of some 230 case histories dealing with sexual perversions, presented in often fascinating detail. The terminology may have changed since the compilation of these "pathologies", which range from lustmurder, "contrary sexual instinct", (homosexuality) frottage, masochism, sadism, sadomasochism, ideal sadism and pederasty. Though presented in a spare, descriptive, purportedly detached tone, it cannot be denied that Krafft-Ebing's purpose is not to offer an objective analysis, but to assume also the role of a guardian of moral order: a prognostician and theraputician of the deviances and illnesses that menace society. This role can only be fully understood in the context of his time, which unambiguously asserted the type of patriarchal masculinity and the sanctity of the monogamous bourgeois family. Under this standard, any "deviance" from these norms was not to be simply addressed by curative means, but also punitive ones. It would be interesting to put into contraposition the rhetorics and paradigms of Krafft-Ebing and Foucault, who, in more recent years, provided masterful and penetrating insights into the epistemic and discursive formations that have been used in modern society to regulate and police sexual behaviour, as in the nineteenth century's obligation to pathologise homosexuality as an "aberration", a category rejected in the mainstream of the West. Though it must be of great interest to students of forensic medicine and clinical psychiatry, this study would also be equally appreciated by non-specialist readers who are interested in the subject of sexual deviance.