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PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS.
two following cases, however, there is such a demonstrable connection:—
Case 87. Shoe-fetichism. Mr. v. P., of an old and honorable family, Pole, aged 32, consulted me, in 1890, on account of “unnaturalness” of his vita sexualis. He gave the assurance that he came of a perfectly healthy family. He had been nervous from childhood, and had suffered with chorea minor at the age of eleven. For ten years he had suffered with sleeplessness and various neurasthenic ailments. From his fifteenth year he had recognized the difference of the sexes and been capable of sexual excitation. At the age of seventeen he had been seduced by a French governess, but coitus was not permitted; so that intense mutual sensual excitement (mutual masturbation) was all that was possible. In this situation his attention was attracted by her very elegant boots. They made a very deep impression. His intercourse with this lewd person lasted four months. During this association her shoes became a fetich for the unfortunate boy. He began to have an interest in ladies’ shoes in general, and actually went about trying to catch sight of ladies wearing pretty boots. The shoe-fetichism gained great power over his mind. He had the governess touch his penis with her shoes, and thus ejaculation with great lustful feeling was immediately induced. After separation from the governess, he went to puellis, whom he had perform the same manipulation. This was usually sufficient for satisfaction. Only seldom did he resort to coitus as an auxiliary, and inclination for it grew less and less. His vita sexualis consisted of dream-pollutions, in which women’s shoes played the exclusive rôle; and of gratification with women’s shoes apposita ad mentulam, but this had to be done by the puella. In the society of the opposite sex the only thing that interested him was the shoe, and that only when it was elegant, of the French style, with heels, and of a brilliant black, like the original.
In the course of time the following conditions have become accessory: A prostitute’s shoe that is elegant and chic; starched petticoats, and black hose, if possible. Nothing else in woman interests him. He is absolutely indifferent to the naked foot. Women have not the slightest mental charm for him. He had never had masochistic desires, in the sense of being trod upon. In the course of years his fetichism had gained such power that when he saw a lady on the street, of a certain appearance and with certain shoes, he was so intensely excited that he had to masturbate. Slight pressure on the penis sufficed to induce ejaculation, in his state of severe neurasthenia. Shoes displayed in shops, and, of late, even advertisements of shoes, sufficed to excite him intensely. In states of intense libido he made use of onanism, if shoes were not at his immediate command. The patient quite early recognized the pain and danger of his condition, and, even when he was free from neurasthenic ailments, he was morally very much depressed. He
