The self-proclaimed "sex doctor" a century ago expressed views at least eccentric. The strangest thing is his opinion that almost every woman is prone to sex with animals. So, as he puts it himself, to "psiolysis" and "psiolubry".
Stanisław Kurkiewicz, active in Krakow at the beginning of the 20th century, recognized the study of human sexuality as his life mission. He analyzed every, even the most controversial aspect of intimate life:from methods of female masturbation , by the issue of pedophilia (again: especially women ), the question of the vocabulary used to describe orgasm after the problem of premature ejaculation . He could not be missing from the broader discussion of zoophilia, which I wrote about in another article . Kurkiewicz's views turned out to be extreme as usual.
“In this sexual impudence, the man stands far away from the woman, and in the positive sense [of this] word. (...) For a woman's sodomy, we usually find an unfounded stimulus that comes from uterine eccentricity, 'explained the Krakow sexologist in the spirit of nineteenth-century science. He assessed that “in women, sodomy is most commonly done with a dog, and less often with a cat. And as for the dog, again:sexing with him as such is rarer. ”
For the supposedly most common form of zoophilia, Kurkiewicz created a new, somewhat bizarre term. "Psiolysis". The definition ran as follows:"allowing the dog to lick the vulva." The author also specified "selfishness" (and thus masturbation) "on the dog, usually done for the sake of curiosity (affection and secretiveness)". He brought both of these activities under the broader phenomenon of "psyche."
A model with a dog in the photo of the Illustrated Daily Kuryer. 1929.
"Even the most modestly kept virgins are capable of it"
The name sounds comical today. It must have sounded like that for our great-grandparents. Kurkiewicz himself, however, was convinced that this was a phenomenon that was not only frequent, but also extremely degenerate:
It spreads blatantly these days. And even the most modestly kept virgins, trusting in the silence of the animal, are capable of it. This should be wondering about the general. And this one should sober up the relevant eccentrics with contempt.
In support of the harsh accusations, the doctor cited a story "from his collection". He obtained it as well as hundreds of other "sexual events" filed in a private archive at 8 Batory Street. He paid a random person for bringing reports of hearsay or observed sexual acts. In this case, the report came from a certain maid.
She worked in a house where one of the rooms was rented to a governess. The latter "was always greeted noisily by all dogs, big and small." She hid a few of them, only males. Familiarity with animals must have aroused the suspicions of the servant, because one day she decided to look at the governess through the "open hole above the stove". As a result:“she noticed (...) what it was like to greet the largest dog with her mistress. Psiolysis among the barking of all the other [dogs] ”.
"You get your face close to your sex"
It is impossible to verify the truth of this particular account. Kurkiewicz was in any case convinced that countless women sexually indulge their pets. He even developed techniques for unmasking such delinquents. Again, he had reduced it to absurdity. He explained that if a dog "shoots at the sex area with its mouth," it must have been "trained" to do psiolysis.
Similarly, if an animal happens to get under a woman's dress, it must have undergone erotic training. Deviant sexual practices should also be traced back to the observation that the dog rests its front paws on any person's legs and "attaches its sex to trousers or dresses." If he hadn't been practiced psiolysis with him, he surely wouldn't have done it!
Every dog owner will admit that these are behaviors that characterize ... absolutely every dog. But Kurkiewicz did not even stop there. Do you put your dog in bed? She puts "picky food" in his bowl? Or maybe in any other way it gives the pet "human rights"? Like nothing amateur of psiolysis! According to the Krakow sexologist, even every case where someone has a dog of the "opposite sex" should make people suspect:the sexual acts of that person with the dog.
"Sex Dictionary" by Dr. Kurkiewicz. Cover page.
In disputable situations, Kurkiewicz was in favor of clinical trials. "When committing sex with a dog, you can find the hair of the dog in the vulva or vagina, or under the clip (foreskin) of a man," he emphasized in the tone of an expert. - “Such ones, for example, from a black dog, can look like hair from the head, beard or womb of a black-haired person. But through the small-sighted viewer (microscope) it will be distinguished from the human hair. ”
"While she was lying there, two domestic dogs approached her"
Did the persistent psiolysis tracker actually carry out such forensic examinations? It is not known. However, it can certainly be said that he was not the only expert convinced of the special predisposition of women to zoophilia.
The pre-war Warsaw psychiatrist Albert Dryjski claimed that "due to the special susceptibility of some individuals to (...) associations, fueled with an appropriate emotional tone, various deviations may arise". He supported his reflection with an example. And one in which, of course, the girl played the main role, not the boy. Four-year-old "with a nervous temperament, easily susceptible to anger":
(...) one day she ran very angry into the garden and threw herself half-naked on the grass. As she lay there, she was approached by two pet dogs with whom she used to play, and one of them began to lick her on her bare vulva and the other over her face and mouth. At one point, the girl felt a very strong and pleasant emotion, which she could not forget from then on. Emotion was accompanied by sexual pleasure caused by the licking of her genitals. The set of these experiences became the starting point for perversion .
A handy dictionary of erotic entries, published in Poland in 1933, contained not only the term "sodomy", but also a separate one:"sodomists". Underneath it were "women who had sexual relations with dogs, cats, animals in general."
Dog show in Warsaw in 1935. The owner with her pet.
In turn, Paweł Klinger, a popular venereologist from Lodz, emphasized on the pages of Vita sexualis. The truths about human sexual life ( 1935) that "dogs are sometimes trained to perform a sexual act or to cunnilingus". Finally, there was the Encyclopedia of Sexual Knowledge from 1937 . It draws attention to "cases of dogs of a larger breed having intercourse with women who, in order to enable them to have sexual intercourse, assumed a knee-elbow posture".
"It was an ordinary goat, not a goat!"
All this professional literature provided an excellent medium for the humorous press. The pages of the frivolous magazines were full of jokes related to the issue of zoophilia. And the telltale thing:women almost always chuckled.
My sister Tosia was treated for anemia. And since goat's milk is supposedly nutritious, my mother bought a beautiful goat, thinking that she would milk herself so that she would still have fresh milk. Even though my mother struggled for an hour, there was no milk at all. And think, horror! It was an ordinary goat, not a goat!
A student ball in Warsaw in 1932 accompanied by a goat
This anecdote was published in 1924 by the Warsaw "Amorek". One could laugh carelessly. You might think that something was up, and zoophilia was particularly common among women. But it can also be assumed that there were more ... male fantasies than there were cases of ladies dreaming about psiolysis. Until recently, Paris had the Erotic Museum, boasting a collection of the oldest erotic films.
Some of them were displayed on the third floor of the institution, among collections of pre-war postcards, condom ads and photos of former prostitutes. The repertoire included, among others, a production with the participation of a French lady and ... a small white mongrel. A film from the times of doctors Kurkiewicz, Dryjski and Klinger. A perfect illustration of what really made the hearts of gentlemen beat faster at the time.
***
Old prejudices and fantasies. The history of Polish sexology is also a history of fear of one's own body and of what is hidden in the recesses of the human mind. Kamil Janicki tells how sex was thought and written almost a century ago. What were our great-grandparents afraid of? What attracted them? What were their darkest thoughts?
Check where to buy “The Age of Silence. Pre-war Poland, which we are ashamed to talk about ”: