Notes on an Unusual Form of Perversion1

The analysis of an unusual form of perverted sexual life has furnished material which in addition to its clinical interest seems significant from the standpoint of theory.

The patient, a man of thirty-five, used to find his most complete sexual satisfaction in the following way. He selected as his partner a woman of his own class, who wore high-heeled shoes, and who, while not a total abstainer from alcohol, had never taken it to excess. A slight redness of complexion, especially of the nose, was taken as indicating her suitability in this respect.

He would ask such a person to dine with him, and during the dinner, with the emotions of a man making a sexual advance to a refined woman, he would invite her to drink some alcohol with him. If she accepted he became sexually excited and filled her glass with wine, eagerly watching her mouth while she was drinking, and meanwhile developing anxiety which he could master only by drinking alcohol himself. When she had drunk enough to satisfy him that she must now be experiencing his own euphoric sensations after taking alcohol he was satisfied and awaited what he called the proofs of her intoxication, especially a slackness of the mouth which made it look spoiled, any derangement of hair or dress and any increased redness of her nose.

He would then try to get her to walk with him in the open air in the hope that further proof would be supplied by her staggering walk, need to urinate and so on, and would attempt to keep her walking till she was on the point of falling and collapsing.

His next step was to become possessed of her shoes which, as the result of this proceeding, had become sexually attractive because the drinking of alcohol by the woman had changed them in some way, and because they had been dirtied and spoiled during the walk. After observing a certain compulsive ritual of arrangement of the shoes, e.g., so that he could see the toe of one and the heel of the other, etc., he