It was primarily during the 1700s
and 1800s when masturbation was first associated with
mental and physical deficiencies. Some prominent physicians,
scientists, philosophers, and religious leaders believed
that illnesses such as insanity, vision and hearing
problems, epilepsy, mental retardation, and general
health problems were caused by self-stimulation.
At the time over 60% of medical and mental illnesses
were blamed on masturbation.
American health reformers of the 19th century preached
that, as in these words from John Kellogg, masturbation
was "the vilest, the basest and the most degrading
act that a human being can commit."
Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of
The Scout Association incorporated a passage in the
1914 edition of Scouting for Boys warning against the
dangers of masturbation. This passage stated that the
individual should run away from the temptation by performing
physical activity, which was supposed to tire the individual
so that masturbation could not be performed. Between
1856 and 1932, the U.S. Patent Office, awarded 33 patents
to inventors of anti-masturbation devices.
There were recommendations to have
boys' pants constructed so that the genitals could not
be touched through the pockets, for schoolchildren to
be seated at special desks to prevent their crossing
their legs in class and for girls to be forbidden from
riding horses and bicycles because the sensations these
activities produce were considered too similar to masturbation.
The medical literature of the times describes procedures
for electric shock treatments, infibulation, restraining
devices like chastity belts and straitjackets, cauterisation
or—as a last resort—wholesale surgical excision
of the genitals.
Turn-of-the-century magazines featured
advertisements for penile rings which were spiked on
the inside so that if the wearer experienced an erection
during the course of the night, he'd wake from the pain.
Bondage belts, restraints, straitjackets, cauterising
irons and even clitoridectomy (the surgical excision
of the clitoris) were all methods used to prevent young
women masturbating.
Routine neonatal circumcision was
widely adopted in the United States and the UK at least
partly because of its believed preventive effect against
masturbation.
In later decades, the more drastic
of these measures were increasingly replaced with psychological
techniques, such as warnings that masturbation led to
getting hairy palms, getting warts on your fingers,
going blind, having a permanent erection, never being
able to get an erection, shrinking your penis permanently,
never being able to have real sex, never being able
to father children, going insane and becoming a sex
pervert.
Individuals within the medical community
began questioning whether or not masturbation was independent
from the various psychiatric and medical illnesses to
which it was historically linked. During the 1950s and
1960s, with greater discussion of sex and sexuality
and lessening conservative social attitudes along with
greater medical research on the topic of masturbation,
the thought that the act of self-stimulation is associated
with medical and mental illnesses dissipated.
Beginning with the Kinsey Report of
1948, masturbation was demystified and even discovered
to be beneficial. In 1966, Masters & Johnson revealed
the practice to be virtually universal in North America,
cutting across all boundaries of sex, age, race, and
social class. In 1971 Goldstein, Haeberle & McBride
determined masturbation to be the most common form of
sexual activity among humans.
Today, masturbation is now almost
universally accepted by the medical community as a common,
safe, and normal practice which occurs in infants, teenagers,
and adults.
Despite this new attitude, the actual practice and discussion
of masturbation continues to be a social taboo within
most societies. Former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elder
was immediately dismissed by President Clinton in 1994
after she stated that masturbation “is something
that is part of human sexuality and its part of something
that perhaps should be taught.”
Some of the known sexual health benefits
of masturbation include:
Sexual tension is released. Masturbation allows a person
to express their sexuality by themselves and is valuable
if, for example, they don’t have a partner or
if sex with their partner isn’t available, or
if they want to (or have to) abstain from sex for any
reason.
Being familiar with your own sexual responses allows
you to better communicate your wants and needs to your
partner.
Masturbation is a popular treatment for sexual dysfunction;
for example, women who don’t orgasm can learn
by masturbating. Men who suffer from premature ejaculation
can use masturbation to practice control.
Eases some of the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome
Relief from menstrual cramps
Muscle relaxation
Helps you to fall asleep
Promotes release of the brain’s opioid-like neurotransmitters
(endorphins), which cause feelings of physical and mental
wellbeing
Reduces stress
Enhances self-esteem.
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