La morale dans ses rapports avec la médecine et l'hygiène (vol. 2): La vie sexuelle

Description

PDF pp. 112-6 are on vulvisme / vaginisme , concluding with encouraging words for couples struggling with this (cf. Pope Pius XII's relevant talks in Matrimony).

cited pasim in Fr. Royo Marín's Theology of Christian Perfection—e.g., p. 682fn (PDF p. 362) of the Spanish

pp. 58-63:

Sodomy essentially consists of anal intercourse. When this unnatural act is performed between men, it is generally referred to as pederasty [perfect sodomy]. When it takes place between individuals of different sexes, it retains the name [of imperfect] sodomy. Such is the opinion of our masters, Tardieu and Martineau, and such is ours.

Sodomy occurs both within and outside of marriage. The former is not uncommon and deserves our attention first. How can spouses renounce the normal way and engage in a practice as disgusting as it is criminal? How can two reasonable beings agree to shamefully defraud nature? This is what seems very strange at first glance; and what doubles the astonishment is to observe sodomy mainly among newlyweds. “It is generally very soon after marriage,” writes Tardieu, “that men devoted to these depraved tastes begin to impose them on their wives. The latter, in their innocence, initially submit to them; but later, warned by pain, or informed by a friend or their mother, they refuse more or less stubbornly to perform acts that are then only attempted or accomplished through violence.”

This type of marital sodomy is all too common.** The law considers it a crime (indecent assault) and punishes it when violence is involved and the husband has concealed the indecent nature of his act from his wife. Not all victims seek justice: how many endure these abominations in silence? Most sacrifice their modesty, dignity, and health for the sake of marital peace; some are ignorant enough to believe it is a legitimate right.

The signs of sodomy are easy to recognize, and its consequences are often serious. However, as Martineau rightly observes,1 “these consequences vary greatly depending on whether the act is recent or old, whether it was committed with more or less violence, whether it was repeated more or less often, whether it is occasional or habitual, and whether the disproportion of the organs is greater or lesser.” In recent and transient cases, the entire anal region is red and painful, the mucosa is more or less swollen, excoriated, bleeding, and ulcerated, the anal opening is slightly depressed, and walking is difficult or impossible. In habitual cases, the above signs are not present, but there is a characteristic funnel-shaped deformation of the anus, relaxation of the sphincter, and dilation of the anal orifice. Incontinence is ultimately the sad and irremediable disability that sodomy leaves women with.

It must be said that marital sodomy does not always necessarily involve a perpetrator and a victim: it often involves two accomplices, creating two sets of responsibilities. The woman submits to her husband's intentions and willingly cooperates in the act of sodomy, either out of perversity or for other reasons.

Extramarital sodomy is common and occurs among prostitutes and debauched women as well as married women and even young girls. Its causes are diverse and sometimes difficult to untangle. Prostitutes practice it for money and to satisfy the depraved tastes of individuals who fear the dangers and compromises of pederasty. Lost virgins do not dare to resist their lovers and end up accepting, without protest and almost with pleasure, an act that is disgusting and fraught with consequences for their health. For his part, Martineau draws on the confessions of young Italian women treated by Lourcine to reveal another curious and strange reason. "Debauched women, especially young girls, prefer to engage in anal intercourse rather than vaginal intercourse. The shame of such an act does not affect them as much as it would if it were known that they had lost their virginity before marriage."2 For these unfortunate girls, this is a misplaced sense of modesty. Their continence will seem to many to be too simple and too easy.

Finally, according to the same author, the frequency of sodomy could be attributed in part to physical deformities or diseases of the female genital organs. Men, finding the normal route blocked or difficult to navigate, would nevertheless seek to satisfy their lustful desires and engage in anal intercourse. “Sodomy is observed mainly,” says Martineau, "in women who have abnormalities of the sexual organs, such as imperforate vulva and vagina, scar tissue that closes or incompletely obliterates the vulvovaginal canal, adhesion of the labia minora such that there is only a more or less wide, more or less extensible longitudinal slit; it is also observed whenever, for any reason, vaginal intercourse cannot be performed easily or regularly, for example in women suffering from vulvisme, a painful condition of the vulva, vagina, or uterus."3 Under these conditions, it is clear that sodomy does not lose its status as a criminal vice. When a man encounters an insurmountable obstacle to the insertion of his penis in a woman, he must stop, abstain, and seek professional advice.

Sodomy, needless to say, goes hand in hand with other shameful vices. Our master Martineau has always encountered it in his observations, along with manual stimulation and lesbianism.

Let us say, in defense of our times, that sodomy is not a recent phenomenon and that it dates back to the most distant ages. This abominable degradation, which in ancient times was known as Greek love , reached its peak under paganism and survives among modern nations only because of the decline of morality and the abandonment of faith: it is unknown among Christian peoples.

The remedy for sodomy is therefore obvious: it is the practice of Christian life, the honest and legitimate use of marriage. Civil laws are powerless to repress the scandalous abuses we have pointed out, particularly those of conjugal sodomy; God's law is sufficient.

References
1. Lessons on Sodomy, taught at the Lourcine Hospital, 1881, p. 40.
2. Op. cit., p. 7.
3. Op. cit., p. 6.