Iwan Bloch (April 8, 1872 – November 21, 1922 Berlin) was a Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 dermatologist

Dermatology

Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....

.

Born in Delmenhorst

Delmenhorst

Delmenhorst is an urban district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of 74,500 and is located 10 km/6 miles west of downtown Bremen with which it forms a contiguous urban area, whereas the city of Oldenburg is 25 km/15 miles to the northwest. The city has a total area of 62.36 km²...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, he is often called the first sexologist

Sexology

Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behavior, and function. The term does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sex, such as political analysis or social criticism....

. He discovered the Marquis de Sade

Marquis de Sade

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...

's manuscript of The 120 Days of Sodom

120 Days of Sodom

The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinism is a novel by the French writer and nobleman Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, written in 1785...

, which had been believed to be lost, and published it under the pseudonym Eugène Dühren in 1904. In 1899 he had published Marquis de Sade: his life and works.

Together with Magnus Hirschfeld

Magnus Hirschfeld

Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician and sexologist. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, which Dustin Goltz called "the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights."-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a...

 and Albert Eulenburg

Albert Eulenburg

Albert Eulenburg was a German neurologist who was a native of Berlin. He studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin, Bern and Zurich, earning his doctorate 1861. Among his instructors were Johannes Peter Müller , Ludwig Traube and Albrecht von Graefe...

, Bloch proposed the new concept of a science of sexuality: Sexualwissenschaft or sexology

Sexology

Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behavior, and function. The term does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sex, such as political analysis or social criticism....

. In 1906 he wrote in German the book Das Sexualleben unserer Zeit in seinen Beziehungen zur modernen Kultur which was translated as The Sexual Life of our Time in its Relations to Modern Civilization, a complete encyclopedia of the sexual sciences in their relation to modern civilization.Transl. eng. (1909) The Sexual Life of Our Time in Its Relations to Modern Civilization. Rebman, London.

Legacy
According to Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...

, Bloch's studies were instrumental in the development of the anthropological approach to the theory of sexuality. Before Bloch, homosexuality was analyzed using a pathological approach.

Handbook of Sexology and other works

Iwan Bloch began the publication of his "Handbuch der gesamten Sexualwissenschaft in Einzeldarstellungen" (Handbook of Sexology in its Entirety Presented in Separate Studies). Three volumes appeared, the project was aborted because of Bloch's untimely death.

• Handbuch der Gesamten Sexualwissenschaft in Einzeldarstellungen. Bd. 1, Bd. 2. pt. 1, Bd. 3. Berlin: Louis Marcus, 1912-25
  • Band I: Die Prostitution. Berlin: Louis Marcus, 1912
  • Band I: Die Prostitution, Band II, Hälfte 1. (with Georg Loewenstein). Berlin: Louis Marcus, 1925
  • Band III: Die Homosexualität des Mannes und des Weibes. (By Magnus Hirschfeld). Berlin, 1914
• Rétif de la Bretonne
  Nicolas-Edme Rétif
  Nicolas-Edme Rétif or Nicolas-Edme Restif , also known as Rétif de la Bretonne, was a French novelist. The term retifisme for shoe fetishism was named after him.-Biography:...
  
  , der Mensch, der Schriftsteller, der Reformator, (Berlin, 1906)
• Rétif-Bibliothek, bibliography (Berlin, 1906)
• Das Geschlechtsleben in England, mit besonderer Bezeihung auf London; Eugen Dühren [i.e. Iwan Bloch]. (Studien zur Geschichte des menschlichen Geschlechtslebens; Bd 4.) 3 vols. Berlin: H. Barsdorf (Bd. 2-3:) M. Lilienthal, 1901-03. Contents:- I. Die beiden Erscheinungsformen des Sexuallebens. Die Ehe und die Prostitution.--II-III. Der Einfluss äusserer Faktoren auf das Geschlechtsleben in England.--IV. Das Geschlechtsleben in England
  • A History of English Sexual Morals; translated by William H. Forstern. London: Francis Aldor, 1936
  • Sexual Life in England, Past and Present, London: Alfred Aldor, 1938

• Anthropological Studies on the Strange Sexual Practices of All Races and All Ages (2001, reprint of the English edition of 1933)
• Beiträge zur Aetiologie der "Psychopathia sexualis" (1902)
• Englische Sittengeschichte (earlier: Das Geschlechtsleben in England) (two volumes, 1912, as Eugen Dühren)
• Der Fetischismus (1903, as Veriphantor)
• Irrungen menschlicher Liebe (n.d., as Veriphantor)
• Der Marquis de Sade
  Marquis de Sade
  Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
  
   und seine Zeit. Ein Beitrag zur Cultur- und Sittengeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts. Mit besonderer Beziehung auf die Lehre von der Psychopathia Sexualis
  Psychopathia Sexualis
  Psychopathia Sexualis may refer to:* Psychopathia Sexualis, an 1886 book about human sexuality by Richard von Krafft-Ebing* Psychopathia Sexualis , an 1843 moral psychology book about human sexuality by Heinrich Kaan...
  
   1900, as Eugen Dühren. 1. Aufl. Barsdorf, Berlin 1900; Max von Harrwitz, Berlin 1904; 5. Aufl. Barsdorf, Berlin 1915 (in series: "Studien zur Geschichte des menschlichen Geschlechtslebens"; Bd. 1.) Altogether 7 editions in his lifetime. Reissued 1978: Heyne, München ISBN 3453501241
  • in English (abridged): Marquis de Sade. His life and his works; translated by James Bruce. Castle/ Book Sales, NY 1948 (128 pp.) Also French and Spanish translations.
• Neue Forschungen über den Marquis de Sade und seine Zeit. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Sexualphilosophie de Sade's auf Grund des neuentdeckten Original-Manuskriptes seines Hauptwerkes (als Eugen Dühren); reprint 1965; and again by VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken, 2007
• Die Prostitution (Band 1, 1912; the 2nd volume appeared posthumously in 1925)
• Rétif-Bibliothek. Verzeichnis der französischen und deutschen Ausgaben und Schriften von und über Nicolas Edme Restif de la Bretonne (1906, under the pseudonym Eugen Dühren)
• Rétif de la Bretonne. Der Mensch, der Schriftsteller, der Reformator (1906, under the pseudonym Eugen Dühren)
• Das Sexualleben unserer Zeit in seinen Beziehungen zur modernen Kultur (1907, the fundamental work appeared in many later editions)
• Die sexuelle Osphresiologie (1906, as Albert Hagen)
• Der Ursprung der Syphilis
  Syphilis
  Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
  
  . Eine medizinische und kulturgeschichtliche Untersuchung (1901)
• Das Versehen der Frauen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart und die Anschauungen der Aerzte, Naturforscher und Philosophen darüber (1899, as Gerhard von Welsenburg)
• Projekt Gutenberg-DE: Bibliothek der Sexualwissenschaft 36 Klassiker als Faksimile auf DVD. Hille & Partner ISBN 978-3-86511-524-9

Sources

• Der Papiertiger: Bloch, Iwan (in German); Babel Fish translation

Further reading

• Wolfgang Büsing: "Ido Wolff und seine Sippe. Ein berühmter Wundarzt des 17. Jahrhunderts aus Oldenburg" in: his: Glück, Heil und Segen angewünschet. Familiengeschichtliche und heimatkundliche Beiträge aus dem Oldenburgischen Oldenburg: Heinz Holzberg, 1988 ISBN 3-87358-305-4; pp. 43-51
• Günther Grau: Iwan Bloch. Hautarzt - Medizinhistoriker - Sexualforscher, Berlin: Hentrich & Hentrich Verlag, 2007 ISBN 978-3-938485-41-5
• Erwin J. Haeberle: "Iwan Bloch (1872 - 1922)" in: „Meinetwegen ist die Welt erschaffen“. Das intellektuelle Vermächtnis des deutschsprachigen Judentums. 58 Portraits, Frankfurt: Campus, 1997; pp. 165-172
• Volkmar Sigusch: Geschichte der Sexualwissenschaft, Frankfurt/M., New York: Campus, 2008 ISBN 978-3-593-38575-4; pp. 52-80, 285-307, 597-599
• Volkmar Sigusch & Günter Grau (eds.): Personenlexikon der Sexualforschung, Frankfurt/M., New York: Campus, 2009 ISBN 978-3-593-39049-9; pp. 52-61

External links