Routledge Revivals
STUDIES OF SAVAGES AND SEX
STUDIES OF SAVAGES AND SEX
BY
ERNEST CRAWLEY
EDITED BY
THEODORE BESTERMAN
First published in 1929 by Methuen & Co. Ltd.
This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge
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1929 Taylor & Francis
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A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 29017411
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-55516-7 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-12353-0 (ebk)
STUDIES OF SAVAGES AND SEX
STUDIES OF SAVAGES AND SEX
BY
ERNEST CRAWLEY
EDITED BY
THEODORE BESTERMAN
Reprinted with the permission of Methuen & Co. Ltd.
JOHNSON REPRINT CORPORATION JOHNSON REPRINT COMPANY LTD.
111 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003 Berkeley Square House, London, W1X6BA
First Published in 1929
Landmarks in Anthropology, a series of reprints in cultural anthropology
General Editor: Weston La Barre
First reprinting 1969, Johnson Reprint Corporation
Printed in the United States of America
THE success of my revised edition of Mr Crawleys The Mystic Rose has encouraged me to bring together in the present volume some of his papers, previously unpublished in book-form, on subjects akin to those of his great work. Mr Crawleys treatment of these problems of sexual anthropology, especially on the psychological side, was, in the years in which he was most actively at work, too uncompromisingly original to meet with general acceptation, even in academic circles. But now his standpoint, which can perhaps be best described as being that of a profound psychological analysis on the basis of biological common-sense, is beginning to be appreciated. And the following papers will be found, I think, to contain all those qualities which so sharply differentiate Mr Crawleys work from that of most other students in the same fields. These qualities are admirably summed up by Dr Havelock Ellis in a letter which he sent me in reply to a set of the proofs of this book, and from which he very kindly allows me to quote: Crawley seems to have possessed a marvellous insight into some of the most obscure recesses of the primitive soul. It was a scientific insight, and he was duly equipped with a scholarly knowledge of the facts; yet there was something about it of the swift vision of the poet, indicated perhaps by the title of his most famous book, The Mystic Rose. These qualitiesthe sure instinct, the light touch, the varied learningappear happily in this collection of his shorter essays and studies, dealing mainly, though not exclusively, with various aspects of marriage and the love-life, at their origin and in their development. They are the qualities which have made Crawley one of the most attractive figures among the pioneers of our modern investigation into sex.
I have allowed myself somewhat greater liberties in editing these studies than in the case of The Mystic Rose. That is, I have silently made a good many verbal alterations, omitted and added a few passages, and generally made slight adaptations to fit the papers for book-form. Needless to say, opinions and theories have nowhere been tampered with. The references to authorities have been verified and reduced to order, and I am also responsible for the Index.
I have to thank the family of the late Dr James Hastings and Messrs T. & T. Clark for permission to reprint some of Mr Crawleys articles in The Encyclopdia of Religion and Ethics.
TH. B.
BUDAPEST, BERLIN
STUDIES OF SAVAGES AND SEX
IT is only within recent yearspractically the last half-centurythat scientific attention has been brought to bear upon the subject of the nature and evolution of the sexual impulse in man. McLennans study of Primitive Marriage (1865) marked an epoch in anthropological research, and the step then taken was the first indirect move towards a psychology of sex. Darwins study of sexual selection directed attention to the biological aspects of the subject. Many converging lines of anthropological study have since made contribution; in particular, the close inquiry into the origin and evolution of the institution of marriage. Direct attacks upon the problem soon began. Psychologists and clinical students have made careful investigations into the phenomena of normal and abnormal sexual life among the civilized populations of the present day. Investigations have also been carried on among some of the uncivilized races still available for study. The result, considering the natural difficulties of the subject and the short space of time since investigation began, is remarkable. Though we are still far from definite knowledge on many points of importance, and though practical application of what is known is as yet impossible, we have reached a fairly clear understanding of some main aspects, and are able to formulate some probable principles.
The close connexion of the subject of sex with religion, both in social evolution and in individual psychology, renders the study of chastity an extremely important chapter in the past and future sociology of the race. Such an investigation brings us down to the biological foundations of individual and social life and morality. Roughly speaking, the sexual impulse is a psychical overgrowth from the nutritive, corresponding to it as physiological reproduction corresponds to physiological nutrition. Chastity, both as practice and as principle, is a biological and psychological moment, in phylogeny and ontogeny, of profound significance. In order to appreciate that significance in connexion with the evolution of religion, it is necessary (1) to investigate the various causes and conditionsbiological, economic, and psychologicalwhich have produced, generally, what is known as sexual morality, and, in particular, have elevated the regulation or control of the more or less reflex action of the reproductive centres into a religious virtue, a social ideal, and an individual duty; and (2) to trace the distribution of the habit of chastity, and the historical curve of its development, of course without prejudice to the question whether this or that opinion which has been held is physiologically sound.
The roots of civilized popular opinion, of theological, ethical, and ecclesiastical enactment, upon the questions of sexual life and habit are deep in primitive soil. But the popular and theological ideas which spring from this have been moulded by external conditions, continually, but slowly, changing with the evolution of society. At the same time there has been a decided evolution of the sexual impulse itself.
