Raffalovich, Uranism. 6i 



This is a sign not to be neglected. The prudence and ret- 

 icence of children renders very difficult this important task. 

 Precocious and exaggerated modesty cannot be the only sign of 

 infantile uranism. But where shall we find what we are look- 

 ing for ? 



Uranists often relate that they loved the games of little 

 girls ; but many heterosexuals have played with dolls because 

 they had good imaginations, and have done needlework because 

 they had nimble fingers. Precocious vanity and a taste for 

 finery should rather be feared. This ought always to be dis- 

 couraged, though not in such a way as to make the more inter- 

 esting that which is forbidden. All masquerading should be 

 avoided, anything which would give the child the illusion of be- 

 ing a little girl. There are some parents who dress their little 

 girls like the boys from stupidity and ignorance. Everything 

 which accentuates or tends to confuse the notion of sex for the 

 child is to be feared. I have often found — though I would not 

 wish to be accused of making too wide a generalization — a 

 uranistic brother with a sister more or less inverted, or a homo- 

 sexual sister with a brother more or less suspected. I have 

 many times been struck with this coincidence, but I do not 

 know how to explain it. If the brother and the sister have 

 been together during their infancy, one might attribute much to 

 their reciprocal influence. The delicate and feminine brother 

 would bring out all that was masculine and energetic in the sis- 

 ter. She would get into the habit of protecting her brother 

 and of supplying those qualities which he lacked. Those con- 

 versant with the psychology of children will appreciate what I 

 have just indicated. But after all there would have to be (in 

 order to explain the kind of companion the one is for the other) 

 in the case of both brother and sister a predisposition or a de- 

 generation. 



Uranists are precocious and precocity ought always to be 

 guarded and given the food of which it has need. Love of 

 pretty things, of dress and of objects of art should make us 

 watchful without leading us to discourage them. On the con- 

 trary the predilection for the artistic has aided more than one 



