In this paper I explore Freud’s idea that perversion is a universal disposition of human sexuality. I argue that his conception of the sexual fluidity of children had become axiomatic in youth psychology during the 1920s. The implications of this view went far beyond the interests of the academic community. Youth became the signifier of renewed life and survival during the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). After the First World War, German youth seemed to be in a troubled (and troubling) state due to a perceived ‘inversion wave,’ that is, an increase in homosexuality. In light of these developments, moral crusaders believed that only normative heterosexuality could guarantee Germany’s racial and national survival. Youth became a category of analysis that reinforced normative sexuality in psychology, as well. While scientists agreed that youths were sexually fluid, they rejected the idea of a universal homo- or bisexuality. Instead, youth psychology came to the rescue of morality: youth and its alleged sexual fluidity had the potential to undermine society. For that reason adolescents had to be controlled and protected, lest they be seduced by the real homosexual’s powerful and subversive appeal. Attempts to control youths’ sexual behavior led to the repression of the queer. Polymorphously perverse youth had to be tamed in the interest of the nation’s future.
Javier Samper Vendrell,
University of Wisconsin-Madison
