miration, of real capture; he does not believe that the latter has ever
been a form of marriage recognized by custom and law, but only "an
occasional and punishable act of violence." (_Die Formen der Familie_, pp.
105-7.) This position is too extreme.
[71] Ernest Crawley, _The Mystic Rose_, 1902, p. 350 et seq. Van Gennep
rightly remarks that we cannot correctly say that the woman is abducted
from "her sex," but only from her "sexual society."
[72] A. Van Gennep (_Rites de Passage_, 1909, pp. 175-186) has put forward
a third theory, though also of a psychological character, according to
which the "capture" is a rite indicating the separation of the young girl
from the special societies of her childhood. Gennep regards this rite as
one of a vast group of "rites of passage," which come into action whenever
a person changes his social or natural environment.
[73] Fere (_L'Instinct Sexuel_, p. 133) appears to regard the
satisfaction, based on the sentiment of personal power, which may be
experienced in the suffering and subjection of a victim as an adequate
explanation of the association of pain with love. This I can scarcely
admit. It is a factor in the emotional attitude, but when it only exists
in the sexual sphere it is reasonable to base this attitude largely on the
still more fundamental biological attitude of the male toward the female
in the process of courtship. Fere regards this biological element as
merely a superficial analogy, on the ground that an act of cruelty may
become an equivalent of coitus. But a sexual perversion is quite commonly
constituted by the selection and magnification of a single moment in the
normal sexual process.
[74] The process may, however, be quite conscious. Thus, a correspondent
tells me that he not only finds sexual pleasure in cruelty toward the
woman he loves, but that he regards this as an essential element. He is
convinced that it gives the woman pleasure, and that it is possible to
distinguish by gesture, inflection of voice, etc., an hysterical, assumed,
or imagined feeling of pain from real pain. He would not wish to give real
pain, and would regard that as sadism.
[75] De Sade had already made the same remark, while Duchenne, of
Boulogne, pointed out that the facial expressions of sexual passion and of
cruelty are similar.
[76] Kryptadia, vol. vi, p. 208.
[77] Daumas, _Chevaux de Sahara_, p. 49.
[78] See in vol. iv of these _Studies_ ("Sexual Selection in Man"
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