ABSTRACT

First published in Britain in 1958, the original blurb read: ‘To those whose sex life is based on heterosexual relationships, the homosexual is a grotesque, shadowy creature – a person spoken of with scorn. If you are not one of us, it is impossible to realise our feelings when this occurs. It is incredible to us that a well-educated girl could make the following remark: "What do they look like? I wonder if I’ve ever seen one?"’

These words – written by a lesbian and taken from one of the personal histories of homosexual men and women which open this book – might be taken as its theme. In our statistically minded age, we are apt to forget that behind the word homosexual there is always a person. Widespread misconceptions about homosexuality are particularly startling when one considers the disturbing prevalence.

The purpose of this book is to bring into public light, the knowledge of the manifestations of the problem, so that they may be openly examined. The book is divided into two parts: Part One presents a collection of revealing autobiographies, diaries, letters and intimate observations in which the homosexuals speak for themselves. Part Two offers an examination of the cause and cure of homosexuality by important figures from all major schools of thought. It includes contributions by Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, George W. Henry, Magnus Hirschfield, Wilhelm Stekel and Sandor Ferenczi.

In editing this volume, Dr Berg has bridged a significant gap in the scientific approach to sexual behaviour. By bringing to life the feelings, fears, attitudes and anxieties of the human being behind the statistics of homosexual incidence, as well as the causes, it should become indispensable to the movement for intelligent sex education.

This book is a re-issue originally published in 1958. The language used is a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.

part One|82 pages

As Seen by Themselves

chapter |9 pages

The Women

I am a homosexual woman

chapter |7 pages

The case of Miss Ilse

chapter |2 pages

From the casebook of a gynaecologist

Case 1137

chapter |3 pages

Woman to woman: homosexual letters

Anonymous *

chapter |4 pages

Dreams of masculine regret

chapter |9 pages

Mother and daughter

chapter |5 pages

A Jealous Wife

chapter |21 pages

The Men

‘Better than the love of women. . .’

chapter |5 pages

Autobiography of a homosexual writer

Anonymous *

chapter |5 pages

Crisis in the life of a homosexual

Anonymous *

chapter |4 pages

Letter of a homosexual husband

Anonymous

chapter |6 pages

The perfect servant

part Two|267 pages

Cause and Cure

chapter |18 pages

The Psychobiological Approach

The homosexual as an intersex

chapter |8 pages

Homosexuality of youth

chapter |16 pages

The Psychoanalytic Approach

Types of male homosexuality

chapter |16 pages

On homosexuality

chapter |14 pages

Incest and Homosexuality

chapter |29 pages

Types of Treatment

A Case of Homosexuality in a Woman

chapter |9 pages

Analysis of two Homosexual Dreams

chapter |4 pages

An Analytic Session

chapter |21 pages

A case of Male Homosexuality