When Richard von
Krafft-Ebing combined the theory of degeneration with Karl Ulrichs' Urning
theory, he concluded that homosexuality is an
inborn trait of a sexual minority deserving pity, not punishment. He
and other doctors waxed apoplectic, though, about another class of men whom
they thought were born "normal" but turned to same-sex eroticism
for sexual thrills. Krafft-Ebing called these "perverts"
cultivated pederasts, men who are not born homosexual, but cultivate the
practice of anal intercourse with other males. He recommended
punishment for these debauchees.
