Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEXThere is much still to be effected by the growth, whichwe are bound to expect, of a more enlightened attitude infrom the consideration that sexual acts andsociety. Apartattitudes, when not made a cause of public offense, are forthe persons concerned, and no one else, to decide, we haveto remember that such acts and attitudes are largely theoutcome of innate constitution. When so-called or seemingcongenital cases of sexual deviation come before the physician,a difficultproblem is sometimes presented. Shall heendeavor to make the patient "normal" when for him"normality" may be what for a genuinely normal personwould be unnatural and a "perversion." I agree withWolbarst that "we may possibly find ourselves on thecorrect road if we act on the theory that any sexual deviationwhich has always given satisfaction without injuryto a particular individual must be considered normal forthat individual," thoughit must be added that our attitudewill be modified if at the same time injuryis inflictedon some other individual. We are not called upon toattempt the fruitless task of drastic suppression, althoughwe should facilitate the medical, or even surgical, treatment,of those who wish to escape from what they mayfind a burden, congenital or acquired, too heavy to beborne. We must aim not only to be just, but also to besympathetic.The greater tolerance in sexual matters now seen to bedesirable is not alone a matter of justice to those personswho vary from the norm. It has weight in the whole socialconstitution and adds a new stability to the moral system.Not onlyis it a hopeless task to deal with sexual varietiesas immoralities or crimes, but the moral systemistherebydiscredited by its failures, and the prevalence of varietiesrecognized as regards alcohol) , prohibitionsis fostered, for in such matters, as we know (itis now wellare maters16]