Man/boy love in the writings of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs

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Among the male individuals who attract Urnings there is a series with wider extremes than among those men who attract women. Women are attracted by men with strong masculine characteristics, around 18-36 years old... This is the case, remarkably exactly, for that half of Urnings on the feminine side, for Weiblings in the broad sense of the term. I personally know Weiblings who still feel themselves attracted by men aged 32-36. Differing, on the other hand, is the whole other half of Urnings, those on the masculine side, the class of Mannlings in the broad sense. In their inclination they go from about eighteen down to the extreme limit of tenderest puberty, only just attained, all the way to thirteen, here and there even below puberty. [...]

The Urning is not directed toward the male sex for the first time at true puberty, but rather already with the first recognizable signs of the love drive, with the first awakening of a sexual longing. This may be traced back to long before the onset of true puberty. [...]

[Ulrichs quotes from a correspondent:] I was fourteen years old when I first discovered the wonder of love. My brother was a hussar cadet. To request a leave for him, I once went to his riding master, whom I did not know. He was a stern, handsome man, with a wonderful build, about 30 years old, with a mustache and blond hair. When he spoke, I thought I heard metallic tones. He asked me in a friendly way to sit down and he sat beside me. When he spoke in a friendly way to me, I no longer found him so stern. But he looked at me so penetratingly I could not bear his look. When he touched my hand, I began to tremble in my whole body; and when he moved still closer to me, my teeth chattered from a blissful thrill. Finally he pressed a kiss on my lips and asked why I was so anxious. Then it happened to me. Crying, I threw myself on his breast. With each new kiss I was thrilled to the marrow. From that moment on, I idolized him in my heart. He was my only thought. With him my love blossomed into bliss. It was a time of love and roses.

source: 'Forschugen über das Rätsel der mannmännlichen Liebe' by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs; Magnus Hirschfeld, ed. Leipzig: Spohr, 1898; Reprint 'Memmon'; New York: Arno Press, 1975; Quoted in the article 'Man/Boy Love in the Writings of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs' by Hubert Kennedy; From the book 'Varieties of Man/Boy Love - Modern Western Contexts'; Edited by Mark Pascal; NAMBLA Journal 8; Wallace Hamilton Press, New York; 1992; Original text from: 1898