Sex Behavior of Lesbians - Lucius Steiner

[amado1]

 


I believe this book - and all of Steiner's books on sex - are available on archive.org. This was a "fun" read from 1964, with all the 60s hang-ups that you'd expect. Steiner's "case histories" come entirely from lesbians who had been institutionalized, which means his portrait of lesbians is unstable, violent, obsessive, traumatized, etc. The case histories are a mix of lurid sexy drama and soul-wrenching (unintentional) sadness when you read about what these women have been put through. 

Some of my favorite sections:

In "The Homosexual Housemother" we meet an uptight, bossy woman in a high-paying executive position, who runs an authoritative house and puts strict rules on all her roommates. This woman becomes obsessed with a young nursing student who joins the home. They start up an intense lesbian relationship that falls apart when the nursing student falls in love with a man. The housemother tracks her down, stalks her, attacks her with razor blades, and gives her ... dubiously consensual oral sex while she's bleeding out from all her razor wounds. 

Once she's institutionalized, we learn that this housemother was raped as a small child by her father, who eventually went to jail for his crimes. She was expected to raise her younger siblings and developed a tightly-controlled high-achieving personality as a result. Compelling stuff, delivered in the most judgmental tone Steiner could manage.

Later, in "Prostitution and Homosexuality", we meet a caustic and promiscuous lesbian who systematically ruins all her relationships and goads men into raping her; in "Masturbation Among Lesbians", we meet a woman who, as a small child, engaged in ~consensual~ mutual masturbation with an adult woman. This relationship lasted from age 6 to 14. In "Transvestism", we meet a trans man who grew up in poverty in a fishing town and was caught masturbating with a simulated penis by his stepmother -- which led to a severe beating, which led to BDSM fantasies, which circuitously led to the trans man outing his stepmom as an adulterer and ruining his relationship with his dad. 

Tales of rape, abuse, incest, and pedophilia abound. Steiner offers many explanations for what turns a fine young lady into a raving homosexual. Women, he explains, are often frigid -- shockingly, 60-70% are totally frigid, meaning they need (gasp) clitoral stimulation in order to orgasm! Can you imagine?? Because of this inadequacy, these broken women find no satisfaction with men and are tragically forced to take up immoral homosexual relationships to survive.

Other explanations offered by Steiner include: "She had penetrative sex too early and it traumatized her!" and its brother, "She didn't have penetrative sex early enough, and it traumatized her!" Too much masturbation as a child can lead to lesbianism, as of course can too little masturbation. Being molested by an adult can lead to lesbianism either because it's so traumatizing or because it's so pleasurable. Being promiscuous is a sure sign of future lesbianism. Being a prude is also a sure sign. Dressing masculine is an indicator, but so is dressing feminine (overcompensating!). High-achieving professionals are at obvious risk of lesbianism, but so too are prostitutes who almost entirely sleep with men. 

It's a wild ride of a book. It's sleazy, with a faux-academic air, and it viciously exploits these sad/titillating stories while vigorously condemning the women involved. On the whole it's pretty depressing. You can only read Steiner's "This woman is thankfully recovering! She has responded well to analysis and is getting married to a pleasant young man in July" or "This woman is sadly not recovering. Strangely, she seems totally content with her lesbianism and considers it her natural state. She will no doubt be institutionalized for the rest of her life" ... so many times before it gets to work on your soul. 

I normally love books like this ... pro-Satanic Panic books from the 80s and 90s are my fave. But maybe this subject hit a little too close to home 😆 I'd recommend taking a look if you're interested.

Comments

[diva_samodiva]

Now that was quite the read xD I think my favourite part is this:
"Too much masturbation as a child can lead to lesbianism, as of course can too little masturbation. Being molested by an adult can lead to lesbianism either because it's so traumatizing or because it's so pleasurable. Being promiscuous is a sure sign of future lesbianism. Being a prude is also a sure sign. Dressing masculine is an indicator, but so is dressing feminine (overcompensating!). High-achieving professionals are at obvious risk of lesbianism, but so too are prostitutes who almost entirely sleep with men."

Gotta love it when books on homosexuality contradict themselves like that
Person A: What causes homoesexuality?
Lucius Steiner: What doesn't?

[amado1]

Exactly! XD