First published in Britain in 1958, the original blurb read: ‘To those whose sex life is based on heterosexual relationships, the homosexual is a grotesque, shadowy creature – a person spoken of with scorn. If you are not one of us, it is impossible to realise our feelings when this occurs. It is incredible to us that a well-educated girl could make the following remark: "What do they look like? I wonder if I’ve ever seen one?"’
These words – written by a lesbian and taken from one of the personal histories of homosexual men and women which open this book – might be taken as its theme. In our statistically minded age, we are apt to forget that behind the word homosexual there is always a person. Widespread misconceptions about homosexuality are particularly startling when one considers the disturbing prevalence.
The purpose of this book is to bring into public light, the knowledge of the manifestations of the problem, so that they may be openly examined. The book is divided into two parts: Part One presents a collection of revealing autobiographies, diaries, letters and intimate observations in which the homosexuals speak for themselves. Part Two offers an examination of the cause and cure of homosexuality by important figures from all major schools of thought. It includes contributions by Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, George W. Henry, Magnus Hirschfield, Wilhelm Stekel and Sandor Ferenczi.
In editing this volume, Dr Berg has bridged a significant gap in the scientific approach to sexual behaviour. By bringing to life the feelings, fears, attitudes and anxieties of the human being behind the statistics of homosexual incidence, as well as the causes, it should become indispensable to the movement for intelligent sex education.
This book is a re-issue originally published in 1958. The language used is a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.