Devereuxl MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 545 



4. HOMOSEXUALITY 



Mohave data tend to substantiate also the theory that latent or re- 

 pressed homosexuality plays a certain role in alcohol addiction. 



CASE 149. (Informants: Hivsu : Tupo: ma and Hama: Utce:) : 



The notorious lesbian transvestite and heterosexual prostitute Sahaykwisa: 

 spontaneously accepted noncommercial heterosexuality after she was punitively 

 raped by a man whose wife she had tried to seduce. [The phallic kamalo :y 

 (Devereux, 1948 f) are, likewise, "feminized" by group rape.] Her conversion 

 to heterosexuality appears to have been a conflict-laden and traumatic event, 

 however. First, she "fell in love" with an oldish male kinsman of hers (father 

 image?), whom she bewitched when he spurned her advances. Next, she had 

 an (unconsciously incestuous?) affair with this man's son, and with a friend 

 of the latter as well. While drunk, she confessed to her two lovers that she 

 had bewitched the father of one of them; whereupon, they drowned her (see 

 Case 105). 



Comment 



An analysis of the oedipal fixations of the Mohave kamalo :y (Devereux, 

 1948 f ) and of Mohave lesbians suggests that Sahaykwisa :'s self-destructive 

 intoxicated behavior may have been a manifestation of her oedipal guilt feelings, 

 which were reactivated by her conversion to heterosexuality. 



If one accepts the theory that men who deliberately share a woman 

 sexually are frequently motivated by unconscious homosexuality, then 

 homosexual factors may also be suspected in certain other episodes: 



(1) A man participated in the serial sexual abuse of his wife and only pro- 

 tested when his friends attempted to have anal intercourse with her (Devereux, 

 1950 a). 



(2) A jealous husband discovered his wife's misbehavior, took a drink and 

 shot himself (Case 120). Several details of this incident suggest the presence 

 of homosexual factors. Suicide by shooting is often motivated by passive homo- 

 sexual impulses. A Mohave husband, dissatisfied with his dissolute young wife, 

 frequently marries either his hard-working mother-in-law, or else a male homo- 

 sexual who takes pride in being a good "wife" (Devereux, 1951 f). Drinking 

 before committing suicide is indirectly illustrated also by the behavior of the 

 shaman Tama :rahue who, after being unjustly accused of witchcraft, drank 

 a decoction of datura, before drowning himself in the Colorado River 

 (Case 106). Finally, since jealousy is not an approved form of Mohave be- 

 havior, and since intense jealousy is often rooted in homosexual impulses 

 (Freud, 1923), the suicide of a jealous husband is sometimes due to the onset of 

 a homosexual panic. 



The most striking aspect of the above incidents is that, even under 

 the influence of alcohol, the Mohave do not appear to engage in overt 

 homosexual acts. On the other hand, intoxicated individuals some- 

 times engage in heterosexual anal coitus, or in incest, or else confess 

 former incestuous activities, or deeds of witchcraft. This observation 

 confronts us with the most difficult problem in the analysis of Mohave 

 alcoholism. 



