Richard von Krafft-Ebing, sometimes referred to as the father of sexology, was the first psychiatrist to attempt to conduct a systematic, scientific study of atypical sexuality, or "degenerate perversity" as he called it. Krafft-Ebing's theories and case studies were considered scandalous when published in the late 19th century due to his graphic descriptions of masturbation, homosexuality, and fetishism. In contemporary times, almost all of his theories have been debunked, but his work is preserved as a matter of historical interest.
Krafft-Ebing was born on August 14, 1840 in Mannheim, Germany. He was educated in Germany and Switzerland, and began a successful career as a psychiatrist and neurologist. He was appointed professor of psychiatry at Strasbourg in 1872, and later at Vienna in 1889. He died in Graz, Austria on December 22, 1902.
In 1886, Krafft-Ebing's seminal work, Psychopathia Sexualis, was published and almost immediately stirred controversy. The book was directed at psychotherapists and other medical professionals who wished to study and potentially treat patients who suffered from sexual abnormalities, but it quickly gained notoriety in non-medical circles. It consisted of over 200 case studies of sexually aberrant individuals, vividly describing deviations such as sadomasochism, bestiality, pedophilia, necrophilia, and a host of other fetishes that would, in today's parlance, fall under the umbrella term paraphilia. Krafft-Ebing is responsible for coining much of the fetish terminology still used today (for instance, he was the first to use "sadism," named for the Marquis de Sade, and "masochism," for Leopold von Sacher-Masoch). Krafft-Ebing erroneously concluded that because most of his deviant patients admitted to masturbating, masturbation must be the primary cause of sexual deviation. This finding, of course, neglects the obvious fact that the vast majority of people that Krafft-Ebing would consider normal also masturbate.
In particular, Krafft-Ebing held an overwhelming interest (one might even call it a morbid fascination) with homosexuality. He is responsible for popularizing the term "homosexual" as a way of recognizing that homosexuality is as much an issue of identity as it is an issue of sexual conduct with members of the same sex (prior to Krafft-Ebing, homosexuals were generally classified as sodomites or pederasts, based on the nature of the sexual acts themselves). Krafft-Ebing theorized that homosexuality is a mental illness manifested as a gender inversion, neatly (albeit incorrectly) explaining the stereotype of gay males as effeminate, and lesbians as mannish. He was especially interested in male homosexuality, and, as with his theories regarding other sexual abnormalities, Krafft-Ebing pegged masturbation as the culprit. Male masturbation supposedly arrested the development of normal erotic instincts, leading to impotence with women and encouraging male-male sexual activity.
Krafft-Ebing wrote exclusively in German, and for the most part, English speaking readers only have access to two translated editions of Psychopathia Sexualis. Based on this limited segment of Krafft-Ebing's work, contemporary psychologists and sexologists view Krafft-Ebing as a sort of demonic pioneer who simultaneously advanced sexology by legitimizing the scientific study of sexuality, but also had a negative impact on sexology because of his backwards ideas and tendency to couch his observations in terms of morality. Thus, Krafft-Ebing is largely considered a hypocritical dirty old man who wrote a laughable manual on kinky sexual practices.
While this characterization may hold some truth, recent interest in the history of sexology has unearthed a wealth of material related to Krafft-Ebing's work that may redeem him somewhat. In fact, he published 11 different editions of Psychopathia Sexualis during his lifetime, each of which contained substantial revisions to his original theories. He also wrote over 25 scholarly books and innumerable papers on a wide variety of subjects, from menstruation to hypnotism. In 1992, previously unpublished papers, including more than 1500 case studies, were discovered in the attic of the Krafft-Ebing family home in Graz. Of particular note is the evolution of Krafft-Ebing's theories regarding homosexuality. Eventually, he came to believe that most homosexuality is due to "degenerate heredity" and therefore is not under anyone's control, although he still considered masturbation to be a possible contributing factor. While he continued to regard most homoerotic behavior (especially anal sex) as perverted and immoral, he was also surprised to find that love played a significant role in same-sex relationships. Based on his studies (and one suspects, perhaps, a bit of personal experience), Krafft-Ebing eventually concluded that homosexual love is equivalent to heterosexual love, and became a staunch advocate for the decriminalization of homosexuality.
Sources:
Bullough, Vern. "Krafft-Ebing: A Reconsideration." Journal of Sex Research, Feb 2001, Vol. 38 Issue 1, p 75.
Rathus, Spencer, et al. Human Sexuality in a World of Diversity. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 2002.
Sawyer, Robin. Lecture notes for HLTH377: Human Sexuality. University of Maryland, College Park.
http://www.bartleby.com/65/kr/KrafftEb.html
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=47257
http://www.gayhistory.com/rev2/events/1886.htm
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/1/awtprerela98n103.html | 
