Nymphomania: A Perverse Diagnosis
In his excerpt from Nymphomania, M.D.T. de Bienville characterizes feminine desire and sexuality as a disorder which soils the spirit of the individual and spills it’s contagious energy into her surrounding society. Bienville notes that “this disorder” of hypersexuality hits women the hardest in cases of unrequited love, when their “premature” hearts desire someone who they cannot, for many possible reasons, marry (516). Of course, this was common of the time. Desire, as Bienville asserts, leads women into a “labyrinth of horrors” from which she is unlikely to return (517).
Okay, I think we have Bienville to thank for the incessantly lingering stigma surrounding healthy female sexuality. Bienville’s argument, among many at the time and still today, asserts the disconnection of the body from the mind. Mostly, his essay assumes that connecting with and yielding to bodily desires directly equates to a poisoning of the spirit. But not just any desire, no, only female desire. There is no mention of male desire in this essay. The only time the male is mentioned is when he is used as an innocent object towards which female lust is obtrusively directed.
By regarding female sexuality and the feminine pursuit of pleasure through the lens of the mind-body polarity, in other words, by catering to religious beliefs regarding self-sacrifice and bodily denial (therefore control), Bienville gets away with his argument. But the only reason female desire was popping up all over the place in this time and society is because it was so tightly suppressed and consciously denied. Bienville should at least acknowledge the funny nature of human desire: the more we deny ourselves access to something, the more we want it. The more it rears it’s reviling head. The more erect it becomes. Hello, return of the repressed.
So, the only thing wrong with female desire and pursuit of pleasure is that it was forbidden, veiled, and manipulated so as to be associated with human baseness. Bienville also argues that feminine sexual desire gives way to an insatiable appetite on all fronts: for bloody meat, for masturbation, for seduction in any shape or form. But maybe, just maybe, through seeking out sex, women were able to feel self-agency again. And maybe, this glimpse of self-power (which did not necessarily equate to dominating another human being) made them hungry for other modes of satiation. Hence, the consumption of delicious food and the pursuit of men. Why was this considered a normal aspect of male behaviour but was frowned upon when made manifest in the woman? By desiring, by pursuing, a woman assumes an active role in the locus of society. This is less a disorder and more a birth right.
But as long as the pursuit of pleasure harms neither yourself or another, there is absolutely nothing evil nor base about it. On the contrary, sexual emancipation through the body can become a form of transcendence of the separated “I,” the ego. In this case, the body and the mind, and spirit, are not split but rather merge in complete surrender to the moment. To complete presence. This does not have to occur through bodily pleasures but can arise from any form of sensual activity: being in nature, cooking/tasting food, speaking your deepest truths, connecting with others. Simultaneously, pursuit itself, of anyone or anything (as long as it is respectful and is in accordance with one’s personal moral code), can teach us more about our deepest, sometimes darkest, selves than many other activities. This form of exploration, this introspection and self-evolution, becomes invaluable.
I want to subvert Bienville’s argument that feminine sexuality is noxious to the soul and to decent society. I definitely think sexuality can arise from a ‘lower’ place, perhaps through subliminal media or pornographic interpretations of sex, intimacy, and pursuit. On the other hand, however, sexuality, sensuality, and presence can connect us deeply with our minds and our bodies simultaneously. It can also catalyze a healthy surrender to the self and, if applicable, to the other. But by instructing readers to deny feminine sexuality, Bienville suggests we should deny the wants of the ‘other.’ By embracing sexuality and sensuality in all forms, however, as long as it is healthy and respectful, we can come to love, connect with, and listen to our bodies, minds, and spirits, and those of others.
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