SEXUAL SYMBOLISM.

NZ Truth, Issue 98, 4 May 1907, Page 5

SEXUAL SYMBOLISM.

IN LOVE WITH A SHADOW!

The Fascination of the Foot.

The Legless Queen of Spain,

The revelations with regard .to the psychology of sex that have been made as the result of the researches Of Kraft-Ebing and other writers on the subject, should, certainly., be m the hands of all administrators of the law. In punishing sexual offenders, there are many things to be taken into consideration as to -which the average magistrate or judge is not at all well informed. There are also numerous things pertaining to the. phenomena of what is called "love" that ought to be generally known, and that, if known, would explain much—and excuse much. Some of these things are curious, and, even, astonishing. There are few people who would believe for. instance, that a man could fall m love with a shadow. Yet thds is what Havelock Ellis says m his "Studies m the Psychology of Sex" :— ■ "There is almost no feature, article of dress, attitude, act," &tan J ley Hall declares/ "or even animal or perhaps object m nature that may not have .to SOME MORBID SOUL specialised' erogenic and erethic power." Even a mere shadow may become a fetich. Gordon tells of a merchant! m Paris— a man with a reputation for ability, happily married and the father of a family— altogether irreproachable m his private life— who was returning home one eveniii'K after a game of billiards with a friend, when, on chancing to raise his eyes, he saw against a lighted window the shadow of a woman changing her chem-i ise. He fell m love with that shadow, aihd returned-to the spot every evening for many months to gaze at the window. Yet— and herein lies the fetichism— he made no attempt to see the woman or to* firtd out who she was ; the shadow sufficed ; lot had no need of the reality. When some misfortune suddenly separates, those- who love each other, love . is likely to find .some sort of pleasure m the contemplation, 6i* the handling, of relics of the person beloved. Havelock Ellis says :— ,. , [ The tendency to treasure the relics of a beloved person, more especially the garments, is the simplest and commonest foundation . of . erotic symbolism. It is, without doubt, absolutely normal. It is in- ■ evitaible that those' objects that have been m contact with the BELOVED PERSON'S BODY and are intimately associated with ' that person m the lover's mind, should possess a little of the same virtue* the same emotional potency. It is a phenomenon closely analagr bus to that; hy which ' the relics of saints are held to possess a singp* ■lar virtue. . ' - . Having thus referred to the normal *ye of the garments of the toeloTOdper-, son, Havelock Ellis proceeds io deal ith a form of abnormal liking for something worn by a person beloved. He deals with the case of Restif.de la Bretonne, whom he refers to as a "publicist and novelist, one of the most' remarkable literary figures of the later eighteenth ceniury .m France." This man had a. passionate liking for women's boots and shoes. He once fell violently m love with the wife of his employer— he has tot a boy at the ; time— aftd heseeins' to have been particularly enamored of her shoes. Havelock Ellis thus refers to this peculiarHy. of Restif de la Bretohne :— "Madame . Parang on. charming woman, as she is described, was not happily married, and the evidently felt a tender . AFECTION FOR THE BOY whose excessive love and revereirice for her were not always concealed. "Madame Parangon," he tells us, possessed a charm which I could never resist, a pretty little foot 1 ; it is a charm that arouses more than tenderness. Her shoes,, made m Paris, had that voluptuous elegance which seems to communicate soul and life. Sometimes Colette (Madame Paragon) wore shoes of simple white drugget, or with silver flowers ;< sometimes rose^colored slippers with green heels, or green with rose heels ; her supple feet, far from deforming her shoes, increased their grace, and rendered the form more exciting. One day, on entering the Ijouse, he saw Madame Parangon elegantly dressed and wearing rose-colored shoes with and with 'green heels and a pretty rosette). Tliey were new, . and she took them off to put on green slippers with rose heels and borders, which he thought equally exciting. As soon as she. ha»d left the room, he continues, "carried away by the most :• impetuous passion and idolising Colette, I seemed to see her and touch her m handling what she had just worn ; my lips pressed one o? these jewels. . . . The warmth which she had communicated to the insensible ob* ject which/ had touched her, still remained and gave a soul to it : A VOLUPTUOUS CLOUD ' covered my eyes." He adds that he! would kiss with ra#e and transport whatever had come m close contact with the woman he adored. Havelock Ellis points out that the foot-fetichism of such men as Restif |de la-. Bretonne is not normal among Europeans ; but that among the Southern Chinese, it is so com!mon as to be properly termed normal. He says :— The most pronounced and the best known example of such foot-fetich-ism is among, the Southern Chinese. , For a Chinese husband her foot is more interesting than her face. A i Chinese . . . woman ? is shy of j showing her feet ; they are reserved for her husband's eyes alone, and to look at a woman's foot, m the str&et is highly improper And indelicate. . . Referring to the sexual fascination excited by the foot m China, Matigroon writes : "My attention has been drawn to this point by the lar.cc number of pornographic engravings, of which the. Cfcin«&s air 9 v»ry fond^ In a'\ Uiuse

lascivious scenes, we see the ina\e voluptuously fondling %)ie woman's foot. . . All the Celestials whom I have interrogated on this point havo replied jinaui/nously : "O.i, a little foot! You Europeans cannot understand how extjuisite, how. sweet, how exciting it is !" . . «. It is not rare to find Chinese Christians accusing themselves at confession Of having evil thoughts on looking at a woman's foot." Dr. J. Matdgnon, "Apropos dun Pied de Ohimoise," Archives d'Anthrppologie Criminelle, 1896. It is mentioned by Havelock Ellis that ii? Spain it is considered THE HEIGHT OF IMPROPRIETY for a -woman to let any man see her feet but her husband, and he also mentions that -a manufacturer ' once gave great offence to the Spanish •Court (by proposing to present a Spanish. Queen wrth a pair of silk stockings. The Court Chamberlain indignantly exclaimed to him : "The Queen of Spain ha? no legs!" >