Is it plausible that Druitt did it?

[aspallek]

I could ask the good doctor for an explanation of the phrase "sexually insane".

Druitt was labelled "sexually insane" by Melville Macnaghten, who was Oscar Wilde's neighbour in 1888. Wilde termed the carnal passions which led to his own imprisonment in 1895 as "sexual insanity". (That was in a petition to the government from his prison cell.)

Wild's use of "sexual insanity" is the only such use of that phrase to refer to homosexuality that I have ever found, and I have done quite a lot of looking. It was not a usual way to refer to homosexuality. While Druitt might have been a homosexual, there is no reason to jump to the conclusion that's what Macnaghten meant by the term "sexually insane."

I believe we must interpret Macnaghten's use of "sexually insane" in light of his use of "sexual maniac" to refer to the Ripper in his autobiography. "Sexual mania" is a much more common term in the LVP and refers to all manner of violent behavior thought to be rooted in aberrant sexual tendencies. In other words, it is a very general term. I believe Sir Melville used the terms interchangeably.

[Graham]

Andy,

I think you'll find that in the Victorian vernacular, 'sexual insanity' meant masturbation. Which in those days was considered extremely naughty.

Carroty Nell,

Pedantic, I know, but the victims of Jack the Ripper were PROSTITUTES, not 'sex workers'. However, I do agree that the Ripper, whatever else he might have been, was not homosexual.

Cheers,

Graham

[aspallek]

Andy,

I think you'll find that in the Victorian vernacular, 'sexual insanity' meant masturbation. Which in those days was considered extremely naughty.

Hello Graham,

While I don't dispute the notion that "sexually insane" could be a reference to the perceived effects of masturbation, I do not believe that exact phrase was a common way of speaking (or writing) about it. My basis for this claim is that I have searched through many digital databases of Victorian literature of varying types and I find that it is an extremely rare term. I searched for different variants, "sexual insanity," "sexually insane," etc., and got almost no hits, and none referring to unambiguously homosexuality or masturbation. Similar phrases, yes, but not this exact one. My attention has been drawn to the Wilde quote referring to homosexuality (which was not in the databases I searched) so I cannot say that it never referred to homosexuality.

I maintain that Macnaghten's use of "sexually insane" must be interpreted in light of his use of "sexual maniac" in his memoirs. A search of "sexual mania" and similar terms in those same databases indicates that it referred to many forms of violent, often homicidal, behavior that was then thought to have a sexual origin, even if the violent act itself was not overtly sexual.