The same conclusion might be arrived at theoretically
on the grounds of the recent biological evidence of
intersexuality discussed in Part I, which implies
that there are no absolute degrees of maleness and
femaleness. If there are no 100% males and females,
it is obvious that no men and women will entirely
conform to ideals of masculine and feminine perfection.
In addition to the imposition of these arbitrary standards
of masculinity and femininity, society has forced
upon its members conformity to a uniform and institutionalized
type of sexual relationship. This institutionalized
and inflexible type of sexual activity, which is the
only expression of the sexual emotion meeting with
social approval, not only makes no allowance for biological
variations, but takes even less into account the vastly
complex and exceedingly different conditionings of
the emotional reactions of the individual sex life.
The resulting conflict between the individual desires
and the standards imposed by society has caused a great
deal of disharmony in the psychic life of its members.
The increasing number of divorces and the modern tendency
to celibacy are symptomatic of the cumulative effect
of this fundamental psychic conflict.
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER I
1. Burnham, W.H. Mental Hygiene and the
Conditioned Reflex. Ped. Sem. Vol.
XXIV, Dec, 1917, pp. 449-488.
2. Evans, Elida. The Problem of the Nervous
Child. Kegan Paul & Co., London, 1920.
3. Finck, H.T. Romantic Love and Personal
Beauty. Macmillan, N.Y., 1891.
4. Hinkle, Beatrice M. On the Arbitrary Use of
the Terms “Masculine” and “Feminine.”
Psychoanalyt. Rev. Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan.,
1920, pp. 15-30.
5. Kempf, E.J. The Tonus of the Autonomic
Segments as Causes of Abnormal Behaviour. Jour.
Nerv. & Ment. Disease, Jan., 1920, pp. 1-34.
6. Krafft-Ebing, R. Psychopathia Sexualis.
Fuchs, Stuttgart, 1907.
7. Pavlov, J.P. L’excitation Psychique
des Glandes Salivaires. Jour de Psychologie,
1910, No. 2, pp. 97-114.
8. Watson, J.B. Psychology from the Standpoint
of a Behaviourist. Lippincott, Philadelphia,
1919.
CHAPTER II
HOW OUR INSTITUTIONS FIT INDIVIDUAL SEX PSYCHOLOGY
Social institutions controlling sex activities based
on the assumption that all women are adapted
to as well as specialized for reproduction; Neurotic
tendencies which unfit women for marriage—the
desire for domination; Sexual anaesthesia another
neurotic trait which interferes with marital harmony;
The conditioning of the sexual impulse to the parent
ideal and the erotic fetish as factors which determine
mating; Homosexual tendencies and their part in the
sex problem; The conflict between the desire for marriage
and egoistic ambitions; The social regulations from
the viewpoint of individual psychology.
