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, 1949PROBLEMS 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.