PROBLEMS OF BISEXUALITY
AS REFLECTED IN
CIRCUMCISION
By
HERMAN NUNBERG
IMAGO PUBLISHING CO. LTD.,
LONDON(Originally printed in The International Journal of Pocho-Anass
‘nally Pg eXVinl ogy, under the dee
Gnconciston ano PrObtais oF Buextaerry
Published inthis fre
IMAGO PUBLISHING CO. LTD., 1949
AIL rights reserved, copyright, 1949PROBLEMS OF BISEXUALITY AS
REFLECTED IN CIRCUMCISION
I. SUBMISSION. TO CIRCUMCISION
FREUD SAYS that the deepest roots of the castration com-
plex reach “bedrock” where psychology rests on biological
foundations. Homosexuality which constantly crosses the path
of heterosexuality, complicating and yet in its struggle en-
riching the life of man, may be distinguished as one of its
biological foundations.
Among the most significant of the numerous manifestations
of the castration complex are doubts of one’s own sex or of
another's, and fears of being of the opposite sex. Dissatisfac-
tion with the sex bestowed by nature is widespread among
primitive as well as among highly civilized peoples. It has
found expression in the various forms of circumcision, prac-
tised by savages and ancient Egyptians, still adhered to, for
religious reasons, by Jews and Mahomedans, and performed
in Anglo-Saxon couiitries to-day, allegedly for hygienic reasons.
As early as 1912 Freud recognized the inner relationship
between circumcision and castration,? and Theodor Reik, in
his excellent study of the puberty rites of primitives, proved
that circumcision represents symbolic castration, its under-
lying motive being prevention of incest.? By means of these
rites the boy is declared a man, introduced into the com-
munity of men, and granted sexual license with non-incestuous
objects,
Why injury to the penis should make a man more masculine
is not quite clear. The explanation that the initiation ties up
homosexual libido and also facilitates identification with the
father, is undoubtedly valid. It is equally true that the initia-
tion releases heterosexual libido caused by the boy's separation
2 "Analy Terminale gnd Interminable”, It. J. Poche, #957-
2 Totem and Taboo. London, Routledge, 199
ie Puberttriten der Wilden” mgs, 1015-16, (Eng. tans, Ritalin
the Puberty Rites of Savages, p. 91, 1931.) London: ‘The Hogarth Press and
Tsttute of Psycho-Analysis.