Psychopathia Sexualis: The Case Histories

Rating:
Summary: pornography or psychiatric reference tool?
Review: Although some of Dr. Richard von Krafft-Ebing's 19th c. theories and conclusions have been discredited or rejected by contemporary psychiatry, this is an incredibly interesting and shocking collection of personal individual case histories of "sexual perverts"--lust murderers, vampires, necrophiles, rapists, lesbian nymphomaniacs, zoophiles, sadists, masochists, pedophiles, coprophiles, fetishists, voyeurs, exhibitionists, defilers of dummies or statues, and other sick and twisted kooks and crazies. Each case history is numbered, giving the patient's background and deviant sexual history, although only the patient's initials are given. In all there are over 200 individual patients evaluated. The author Krafft-Ebing meant this highly controversial study to be accessible only in Latin and available only to the medical community so as not to corrupt the less well-bred. However, it has since been translated into several languages and has become essential reading for students of abhorrent and alternative sexuality and criminal psychology; it has also been read as a new form of pornography by some.

David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"

Rating:
Summary: Great edition of a great primary source.
Review: As a student of the history of homosexuality, this is one of the best (and cheapest) editions of one of the best nineteenth century sources out there. Krafft-Ebing's work provides a quaint and often humorous reading today, but was largely considered on the cutting edge of sexology in its day and provides a great contrast with the works of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, whose publications are finally in modern translation. This unabridged book is well worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: The more things change ......
Review: Like "Wisconsin Death Trip," this book provides strangely familiar tales of madness, perversion, and death from the 19th century. Part of the fascination of the book is that it was written *before* Freud, and that it not biased by the views of Freud or his critics. As such, it almost reads like the dispassionate report of visitors from another planet.

Much of the subject matter is familiar grist for modern tabloids. And some of it rather amusing, especially the idea that masturbation leads to illness, insanity, and death. As in "Death Trip," this was an age when science was still groping for the causes of many types of mental illness that are still not truely cureable.

It is also interesting to compare modern standards to those of a hundred years ago. Sexual acts that were considered beyond the bounds of decency a hundred years ago even for married couples are likely to be recomended by a minister today. But many stories in which sexual acting out (infidelity, sudden change of sexual orientation) is part of a general pattern of self-destruction seem as relevant and cautionary as ever. The authors are also very matter of fact about transexuals and some very "modern" activities, which psycholanalysts seem to have given wide berth for decades. On the other hand, it isn't clear what has happened to bustle fetishists.

And before we congratulate ourselves on our sophisitication, it is also interesting that Krafft-Ebing found well established networks of dedicated pedophiles, and that a hundred years later we have not solved the problem and barely acknowledge it. Also, they were found many instances of adult female nannies and teachers molesting male children and students, which has only recently been getting much attention.

Rating:
Summary: Should be mandatory for anyone interested in human sexuality
Review: Preceding Freud's work over twenty years, Krafft-Ebing's works are classic, and should be mandatory for anyone interested in human sexuality, especially sexual deviance. Psychopathia Sexualis is a compilation of Krafft-Ebing's casework (over 200 cases documented) involving bizarre, perverse, and sexually confused subjects. In reading this, I found that the questions I thought I clearly had answers to, I really did not, and that in fact, I had more questions about human sexuality than ever before. The cases dive deep into the personal history of each subject, and Krafft-Ebing objectively provides physiological aspects (that you may or may not take as explanatory factors) and the subject's reasoning for their deviant behavior. Instead of providing direct answers that are more likely to be declared in postmodern literature, Krafft-Ebing presents only facts, understanding that one single evaluation could never explain the "why's" and the "how's" of human behavior.

Rating:
Summary: Krafft-Ebing reshaped sexual prejudice for the 20th c.
Review: That some readers still take Krafft-Ebing at face value is testament to the strength of the sexual prejudices that he helped re-formulate at the end of the 19th century. Anyone seeking to understand the ideological basis of present-day sexual prejudices, or the official pathologization of human sexual diversity should become familiar with Krafft-Ebing's seminal work. Anyone seeking to understand human sexuality, on the other hand, should be warned that Krafft-Ebing is more joke than role model for modern-day sex researchers. The book is viewed by historians of sexuality as largely a (very influential) re-formulation of existing folk-lore. Unfortunately, the resulting formulas were used by Krafft-Ebing (a court psychiatrist) and his peers for the purpose of channelling people into either prisons or equally confining asylums. He set a pattern that is still widely used, and that is still viewed with horror by both sexual non-conformists and true scientists alike.

Rating:
Summary: Krafft-Ebing reshaped sexual prejudice for the 20th c.
Review: That some readers still take Krafft-Ebing at face value is testament to the strength of the sexual prejudices that he helped re-formulate at the end of the 19th century. Anyone seeking to understand the ideological basis of present-day sexual prejudices, or the official pathologization of human sexual diversity should become familiar with Krafft-Ebing's seminal work. Anyone seeking to understand human sexuality, on the other hand, should be warned that Krafft-Ebing is more joke than role model for modern-day sex researchers. The book is viewed by historians of sexuality as largely a (very influential) re-formulation of existing folk-lore. Unfortunately, the resulting formulas were used by Krafft-Ebing (a court psychiatrist) and his peers for the purpose of channelling people into either prisons or equally confining asylums. He set a pattern that is still widely used, and that is still viewed with horror by both sexual non-conformists and true scientists alike.