The reproductive organs malformation problem and homosexuality in nineteenth and twentieth century: the influence of Cesare Taruffi works on Freud's thinking

The French revolution had led to a strong exaltation of virility, in contrast to the attribution of a maternal-family role of women, and the 19th century was transformed into a battleground between patriarchal role and emancipation for women. Such conflicts, together with the discoveries on the complexities of gender determination by embryologists and the realization of the extent of homosexuality in Western society, stimulated very interesting studies in sexology. It was in this context that the works of Taruffi were translated into German, thus demonstrating that in spite of his age, Taruffi was particularly up-to-date on the problem and among the most appreciated specialists at that time. Probably, Germany was the most open and lively culture in the world, at the beginning of the 20th century, and might be considered the cradle of sexology. Therefore, it is not surprising that Taruffi’s last papers, so rich in really accurate and documented information, were posthumously translated into German. Likewise, it is not surprising that Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) were interested in Taruffi’s work. At the beginning of the 20th century, Freud became aware of the close relationship between psychological affections and ‘anomalies’ in sexual behavior. The search for a physical explanation of ‘abnormal’ sexual behavior led Freud to the works of Taruffi, and, as you can see, Taruffi was cited at the beginning of Freud’s three essays on sexuality. Morphology was a critical aspect in Freud’s research (initially, he was a distinguished neuroanatomist), and he considered embryology as pivotal in understanding the dynamics of the determination of gender. Such appreciation also led him to see a sort of embryogenesis in the development of the psyche. Taruffi was, though involuntarily, a sort of detonator that led to an explosion in the research activities of Freud, which characterized his work from 1905 to 1910 and radically changed the way we think.