berty; it is supposed that it manifests itself in
irresistible attractions exerted by one sex upon the other, and that its
aim is sexual union or at least such actions as would lead to union.

But we have every reason to see in these assumptions a very
untrustworthy picture of reality. On closer examination they are found
to abound in errors, inaccuracies and hasty conclusions.

If we introduce two terms and call the person from whom the sexual
attraction emanates the _sexual object_, and the action towards which
the impulse strives the _sexual aim_, then the scientifically examined
experience shows us many deviations in reference to both sexual object
and sexual aim, the relations of which to the accepted standard require
thorough investigation.

1. DEVIATION IN REFERENCE TO THE SEXUAL OBJECT

The popular theory of the sexual impulse corresponds closely to the
poetic fable of dividing the person into two halves--man and woman--who
strive to become reunited through love. It is therefore very surprising
to hear that there are men for whom the sexual object is not woman but
man, and that there are women for whom it is not man but woman. Such
_persons_ are called contrary sexuals, or better, inverts; the
_condition_, that of inversion. The number of such individuals is
considerable though difficult of accurate determination.[3]

A. _Inversion_

*The Behavior of Inverts.*--The above-mentioned persons behave in many
ways quite differently.

(_a_) They are absolutely inverted; _i.e._, their sexual object must be
always of the same sex, while the opposite sex can never be to them an
object of sexual longing, but leaves them indifferent or may even evoke
sexual repugnance. As men they are unable, on account of this
repugnance, to perform the normal sexual act or miss all pleasure in its
performance.

(_b_) They are amphigenously inverted (psychosexually hermaphroditic);
_i.e._, their sexual object may belong indifferently to either the same
or to the other sex. The inversion lacks the character of exclusiveness.

(_c_) They are occasionally inverted; _i.e._, under certain external
conditions, chief among which are the inaccessibility of the normal
sexual object and initiation, they are able to take as the sexual
object a person of the same sex and thus find sexual gratification.

The inverted also manifest a manifold behavior in their judgment about
the peculiarities of their sexual impulse. Some take the inversi