In the foreword of this book I have affirmed that homosexuality cannot and must not be considered as a problem apart nor the liberation of the homosexual as the selfish objective of a minority. Homosexuality is only a special case, a variant of all sexuality, and must be considered within the broadest framework and context. In a pamphlet on Kinsey I tried to show that the prejudice surrounding this form of behavior stems in a large part from the patriarchal depreciation of femininity, traditionally considered to be inferior, and that, from this point of view, the cause of the homosexual becomes entangled with the cause of women. From the same point of view I believe that the suppression of homosexuality in France, the subject of this study, cannot be and must not be isolated from a much greater whole. Our penal code, in those articles which touch upon the sex life of the individual, abound in superannuated and abusive provisions. It is not only Article 331, which concerns homosexuality, which needs to be revised and ameliorated but many other texts which are equally unjust. Let us consider, for example, the articles which recognize the last, but by no means negligible, vestiges of the inequality of women; those which still permit abuses in the power of the husband and father; the one-sided provisions which condone an adulterous male but penalize an adulterous female; the long and onerous divorce procedures; the continued outlawing (in France) of artificial insemination; the repressive legislation concerning the dissemination of birth control information; the laws concerning abortion, prostitution, and all those pre-

tending to cover offenses "contrary to good morals," etc.

A reform of our code (a reform often promised but ever postponed) should revise and correct the abuses contained in all these texts, not just those concerning homosexuality. The author hopes that a committee composed of the most courageous and enlightened of our liberals and defenders of the rights of man may soon be organized with the purpose of persuading the public powers to undertake at once this indispensable reform.

The persecution of homosexuality has existed in France only a few years. Before 1942 homosexual actions did not constitute a crime. The Code Napoleon of 1810 does not even allude to homosexuality. That liberalism and respect for the rights of men which were fostered by the great French Revolution were still an inspiration to the law-makers of 1810. A tolerance prevailed which professor of law Garraud described in these terms: "Every individual is master of his own body as of his own intelligence, and he is free even to debase them without interference from the community." The Napoleonic Code did not even punish the sex act committed with minors or children unless it was accompanied by force or violence.

But throughout the 19th century and continuing today there has been an evolution exactly reverse to that of morals, which have tended to become freer, and to that of our knowledge of sexuality, which becomes ever more extensive and profound. It is curious and frightening that as the darkness is dissipated, the deeper the light of

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