the chief focus of excitement in coitus, so that coitus fails to supply the excitation which has become habitual (pp. 113-116).  In the discussion of “Auto-erotism” in the first volume of these Studies, I had already referred to the divorce between the physical and the ideal sides of love which may, especially in women, be induced by masturbation.

Another cause of inhibited sexual feeling has been brought forward.  A married lady with normal sexual impulse states (Sexual-Probleme, April, 1912, p. 290) that she cannot experience orgasm and sexual satisfaction when the intercourse is not for conception.  This is a psychic inhibition independent of any disturbance due to the process of prevention.  She knows other women who are similarly affected.  Such an inhibition must be regarded as artificial and abnormal, since the final result of sexual intercourse, under natural and normal conditions, forms no essential constituent of the psychic process of intercourse.

As a result of the fact that in women the sexual emotions tend not to develop great intensity until submitted to powerful stimulation, we find that the maximum climax of sexual emotion tends to fall somewhat later in a woman’s life than in a man’s.  Among animals generally there appears to be frequently traceable a tendency for the sexual activities of the male to develop at a somewhat earlier age than those of the female.  In the human, species we may certainly trace the same tendency.  As the great physiologist, Burdach, pointed out, throughout nature, with the accomplishment of the sexual act the part of the male in the work of generation comes to an end; but that act represents only the beginning of a woman’s generative activity.

A youth of 20 may often display a passionate ardor in love which is very seldom indeed found in women who are under 25.  It is rare for a woman, even though her sexual emotions may awaken at puberty or earlier, to experience the great passion of her life until after the age of 25 has been passed.  In confirmation of this statement, which is supported by daily observation, it may be pointed out that nearly all the most passionate love-letters of women, as well as their most passionate devotions, have come from women who had passed, sometimes long passed, their first youth.  When Heloise wrote to Abelard the first of the letters which have come down to us she was at least 32.  Mademoiselle Aisse’s relation with the Chevalier began when she was 32, and when she died, six years later, the passion of each was at its height.  Mary Wollstonecraft was 34 when her love-letters to Imlay began, and her child was born in the following year.  Mademoiselle de Lespinasse was 43 when she began to write her letters to M. de Guibert.  In some cases the sexual impulse may not even appear until after the period of the menopause has been passed.[173]