Editing Richard von Krafft-Ebing (section)

==Principal work==
[[File:Krafft-Ebing Psychopathia sexualis 1886.jpg|thumb|280px|The first edition of ''Psychopathia Sexualis'' (1886), by Richard von Krafft-Ebing]]
Krafft-Ebing's principal work is ''Psychopathia Sexualis: eine Klinisch-Forensische Studie'' (''Sexual Psychopathy: A Clinical-Forensic Study''), which was first published in 1886 and expanded in subsequent editions. The last edition from the hand of the author (the twelfth) contained a total of 238 case histories of human sexual behaviour.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jens De Vleminck|title=Sadism and Masochism on the Procrustean Bed of Hysteria: From Psychopathia Sexualis to Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality|journal=Psychoanalysis and History|date=2017|volume=19|issue=3|page=381|doi=10.3366/pah.2017.0232|via=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/6984879|hdl=1854/LU-6984879|hdl-access=free}}{{Subscription required}}</ref>

Translations of various editions of this book introduced to English such terms as "[[Sadomasochism|sadist]]" (derived from the brutal sexual practices depicted in the novels of the [[Marquis de Sade]]),<ref>{{cite OED|sadist|access-date= 16 July 2018}}</ref> "[[Sadomasochism|masochist]]", (derived from the name of [[Leopold von Sacher-Masoch]]),<ref>{{cite OED|masochist|access-date= 16 July 2018}}</ref> "[[homosexuality]]",<ref>{{cite OED|homosexuality|access-date= 16 July 2018}}</ref> "[[bisexuality]]", "[[necrophilia]]",<ref>{{cite OED|necrophilia|access-date= 16 July 2018}}</ref> and "[[anilingus]]".<ref>{{cite OED|anilingus|access-date= 16 July 2018}}</ref><ref>Mark Forsyth. The etymologicon // Icon Books Ltd 2011, page 49.</ref>

''Psychopathia Sexualis'' is a forensic reference book for psychiatrists, physicians, and [[judge]]s. Written in an academic style, its introduction noted that, to discourage lay readers, the author had deliberately chosen a scientific term for the title of the book and that he had written parts of it in Latin for the same purpose.

''Psychopathia Sexualis'' was one of the first books about [[Human sexuality|sexual practices]] that studied [[homosexuality]]/[[bisexuality]]. It proposed consideration of the mental state of sex criminals in legal judgements of their crimes. During its time, it became the leading medico-legal textual authority on sexual [[pathology]].

The twelfth and final edition of ''Psychopathia Sexualis'' presented four categories of what Krafft-Ebing called "[[Neurosis|cerebral neuroses]]":

*'''paradoxia''', sexual excitement occurring independently of the period of the physiological processes in the generative organs
*'''anaesthesia''', absence of sexual instinct
*'''hyperaesthesia''', increased desire, [[Hypersexuality|satyriasis]]
*'''paraesthesia''', perversion of the sexual instinct, i.e., excitability of the sexual functions to inadequate stimuli

Krafft-Ebing considered [[Reproduction|procreation]] the purpose of sexual desire and that any form of [[recreational sex]] was a [[perversion]] of the sex drive. "With opportunity for the natural satisfaction of the sexual instinct, every expression of it that does not correspond with the purpose of nature{{mdash}}i.e., propagation,{{mdash}}must be regarded as perverse."<ref>''Psychopathia Sexualis'', 7th ed. translation, pg 56, 12th ed. translation, pg 79</ref> Hence, he concluded that homosexuals suffered a degree of [[Perversion#Sexual usages|sexual perversion]] because homosexual practices could not result in procreation. In some cases, homosexual [[libido]] was classified as a moral [[vice]] induced by the early practice of [[masturbation]].<ref>''Psychopathia Sexualis'', pp. 185–192.</ref> Krafft-Ebing proposed a theory of homosexuality as biologically anomalous and originating in the [[embryo]]nic and [[Fetus|fetal]] stages of [[gestation]], which evolved into a "[[Sexual inversion (sexology)|sexual inversion]]" of the [[Human brain|brain]]. In 1901, in an article in the ''[[Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen]]'' (Yearbook for Intermediate Sexual Types), he changed the biological term from ''anomaly'' to ''differentiation''.

Although the primary focus is on sexual behaviour in men, there are sections on ''Sadism in Woman'', ''Masochism in Woman'', and ''Lesbian Love''. Several of the cases of sexual activity with children were committed by women.

Krafft-Ebing's conclusions about homosexuality are now largely forgotten, partly because [[Sigmund Freud]]'s theories were more interesting to physicians (who considered homosexuality to be a psychological problem) and partly because he incurred the enmity of the Austrian Catholic Church when he psychologically associated [[martyrdom]] (a desire for sanctity) with [[hysteria]] and [[Sadomasochism|masochism]].<ref>Freud, 1915.</ref>

The term "hetero-sexual" is used, but not in chapter or section headings. The term "bi-sexuality" appears twice in the 7th edition, and more frequently in the 12th.

There is no mention of sexual activity with children in Chapter III, ''General Pathology'', where the "cerebral neuroses" (including sexuality the paraesthesias) are covered. Various sexual acts with children are mentioned in Chapter IV, ''Special Pathology'', but always in the context of specific mental disorders, such as dementia, epilepsy, and paranoia, never as resulting from its own disorder. However, Chapter V on sexual crimes has a section on sexual crimes with children. This section is brief in the 7th edition, but is expanded in the 12th to cover ''Non-Psychopathological Cases'' and ''Psychopathological Cases'', in which latter subsection the term ''paedophilia erotica'' is used.