n many civilized practices to-day.[17] The prostitute must be
able to simulate the modesty she may often be far from feeling, and the
immense erotic advantage of the innocent over the vicious woman lies
largely in the fact that in her the exquisite reactions of modesty are
fresh and vigorous. "I cannot imagine anything that is more sexually
exciting," remarks Hans Menjago, "than to observe a person of the opposite
sex, who, by some external or internal force, is compelled to fight
against her physical modesty. The more modest she is the more sexually
exciting is the picture she presents."[18] It is notable that even in
abnormal, as well as in normal, erotic passion the desire is for innocent
and not for vicious women, and, in association with this, the desired
favor to be keenly relished must often be gained by sudden surprise and
not by mutual agreement. A foot fetichist writes to me: "It is the
_stolen_ glimpse of a pretty foot or ankle which produces the greatest
effect on me." A urolagnic symbolist was chiefly excited by the act of
urination when he caught a young woman unawares in the act. A fetichistic
admirer of the nates only desired to see this region in innocent girls,
not in prostitutes. The exhibitionist, almost invariably, only exposes
himself to apparently respectable girls.

A Russian correspondent, who feels this charm of women in a
particularly strong degree, is inclined to think that there is an
element of perversity in it. "In the erotic action of the idea of
feminine enjoyment," he writes, "I think there are traces of a
certain perversity. In fact, owing to the impressions of early
youth, woman (even if we feel contempt for her in theory) is
placed above us, on a certain pedestal, as an almost sacred
being, and the more so because mysterious. Now sensuality and
sexual desire are considered as rather vulgar, and a little
dirty, even ridiculous and degrading, not to say bestial. The
woman who enjoys it, is, therefore, rather like a profaned altar,
or, at least, like a divinity who has descended on to the earth.
To give enjoyment to a woman is, therefore, like perpetrating a
sacrilege, or at least like taking a liberty with a god. The
feelings bequeathed to us by a long social civilization maintain
themselves in spite of our rational and deliberate opinions.
Reason tells us that there is nothing evil in sexual enjoyment,
whether in