Homo-sexual life by William J. Fielding
Homo-sexual life by William J. Fielding is a popular sexology and psychological treatise written in the early 20th century. It examines homosexuality within human development and culture, presenting it as a complex blend of biology, psychology, and social influence, and argues for understanding the topic beyond stigma. The book opens with the idea that sexual development typically passes from self-focused impulses to same-sex attachments and finally to heterosexuality, with bisexual traits present
in everyone; it illustrates this with biological analogies and childhood patterns of friendship and sublimation. It then surveys competing explanations: hereditary and masturbation-based theories (criticized), views of inborn inversion, chemical and constitutional hypotheses, and psychoanalytic accounts (Freud, Adler, Sadger, Stekel) that stress fixation, identification, and neurosis, alongside Ulrichs’ classic classifications. A wide cultural history follows—Greek pederasty and Sappho, bisexual deities, Roman excess and later repression, and roles akin to “third genders” in Indigenous and Asian contexts—plus a roster of notable figures with homosexual or bisexual temperaments. Turning to pathology, Fielding summarizes Freud’s claim that “perversions” underlie many neuroses, details erogenous zones and symptom formation, and presents Kempf’s “acute homosexual panic” in segregated settings, while challenging blanket “degeneracy” labels. He concludes with Edward Carpenter’s “Intermediate Sex,” emphasizing the positive endowments often seen in inverts—emotional depth, philanthropy, artistic aptitude, strong friendships (including with women), and practical ability—arguing that their attachments are not necessarily sexual and that they can serve as interpreters between the sexes. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Fielding, William J. (William John), 1886-1973 |
|---|---|
| Editor | Haldeman-Julius, E. (Emanuel), 1888-1951 |
| LoC No. | 2004564011 |
| Title | Homo-sexual life |
| Original Publication | Girard: Haldeman-Julius Company, 1925. |
| Series Title | Little blue book ; no. 692 |
| Credits | Tim Miller, Sam Lamb, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net. This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | HQ: Social sciences: The family, Marriage, Sex and Gender |
| Subject | Sex (Psychology) |
| Subject | Homosexuality |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 78514 |
| Release Date | Apr 21, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 3045 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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