Sex Researchers:

Background

Baron Richard von Krafft-Ebing was a German psychiatrist who spent the first years of his career working in asylums. Eventually, he became disillusioned with the institutional approach and switched his focus to education, becoming a professor of psychiatry at the Universities of Strasbourg, Graz and Vienna (Hunnicut, 2004).

Theory/Research

Although he published numerous articles throughout his life, Krafft-Ebing is best known for the book, Psychopathia Sexualis, which was first published in 1886 and eventually became an international best seller. His research consisted of interviews with hundreds of patients and resulted in an evolution-based theory on homosexuality. The theory considered homosexuality to be a differentiation occurring during gestation and resulting in a sexual inversion of the brain (Oosterhuis, 2000).

Results

Psychopathia Sexualis is widely regarded as the first modern pornographic book and is particularly notable because it was written intentionally as medical science. Krafft-Ebing went to great lengths to describe the technical terms in Latin and was successful in transforming what many would consider an interest in sexual deviance into scientific inquiry and compassion. The extensive catalog of sexual positions and nonprocreative sexual activities identified names and descriptions for acts that were considered unspeakable, sinful and criminal. His work re-named these behaviors as “sexual perversions” and influenced recognition of Sexology as a new branch in the study of psychiatry. Krafft-Ebing also coined the terms sadism and heterosexual, describing other behaviors with terms such as fetishism, masochism and exhibitionism (Oosterhuis, 2000).
He was among the first of specialists to view homosexuals as normal people with a different sexual orientation. This shift in thinking marked the beginning of discourse and a challenge to previously held notions. It should also be noted that his work was revisited by later theorists who applied this rationale to the study of transgenderism (Oosterhuis, 2000).

Commentary

While Krafft-Ebing, clearly an early contributor to the study of sexuality and his work on sexual orientation was only a starting point for definitive conclusions and his theories were not all accurate. One theory claimed that that an individual’s sexual orientation was closely connected to gender, speculating that heterosexual women look and behave in a feminine manner while homosexual women are notably masculine in behavior and interests. Numerous studies have since proven this theory incorrect (Peplau, 2000). Krafft-Ebing also experimented with attempting to use hypnosis as a cure for homosexuality (Oosterhuis, 2000).
Many of Krafft-Ebing’s ideas were shadowed for years after Freud shifted the view of homosexuality to be defined as a psychological problem. The Catholic church was also disturbed by Krafft’s attempts to draw a connection between sanctity and martyrdom with masochism and many found his research morally offensive at the time. Despite the controversial nature of his work, Krafft-Ebing pioneered an approach to exploring and classifying sexuality that was accepting and sympathetic (Oosterhuis, 2000).

References

Hunnicut, A. (2004). Richard von Krafft-Ebing. Retrieved September 11, 2004, from
www.glbtq.com/social-science/krafft_ebing_r.html

Peplau, L.A. (2000). A New Paradigm for Understanding Women’s Sexuality and Sexual Orientation. Journal of Social Issues, Summer.

Oosterhuis, H. (2000). Stepchildren of Nature: Krafft-Ebing, Psychiatry and the Making of Sexual Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.