Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. For their reading and critical comments on earlier versions of this essay I would like to thank Elizabeth Heineman, Holger Maehle, Lutz Sauerteig and Gabriele von Roedern.
Unless otherwise noted all translations are my own. Namely, presiding judges considered a greater number of sexual acts as punishable, despite no change in the laws themselves. Central to my argument is the role of expert testimony in practice and its critical reception. By focusing upon the rhetorical strategies presented by attorneys, judges and expert witnesses as well as defendants themselves and their relatives , it illustrates the functions of expert and tacit knowledge in court, which were often not mutually exclusive.
(mh=u-m-_4wuIWxjWedB)2.jpg "Sluts Paderborn")
In October , Berlin hosted the first international scientific conference to take place in Germany after the First World War. Its focus was sexology; its organiser was Albert Moll — Several newspapers covered the daily proceedings of a trial concerning the accusation of sexual misconduct, in which Moll served as an expert witness. Because of its proximity to Berlin the story drew the attention of several metropolitan reporters, who conveyed every sordid facet.
For instance, one argument in the case involved the question of whether the rector had spanked students in order to discipline them or to satisfy his own sexual desires. This was due, in part, to the obscure language employed by leading practitioners, and to the embarrassing testimonies offered in highly publicised trials such as the Eulenburg Affair see below. Whereas much previous scholarship frames sexologists and their work in the context of contemporary scientific advances, political struggles, and social values, this article instead examines how sexological ideas shaped state practices.
Sexual forensics helped transform private sexual matters into concerns of public state officials, and scientific experts such as Moll served as key functionaries in this process. This article uses Moll as a case study to examine how experts exerted the basis of their authority, earned and maintained public recognition, and how each of these processes extended the importance of sexual knowledge and its effects.
