Yoav Ben-Dov
masturbation
the alleged 19th-century
"killer of youth"
background
Throughout the 19th century, western society was taken by a strong belief in the lethal effects of masturbation. This was not a left-over of popular beliefs from the middle ages. Instead, masturbation phobia was a modern phenomenon, initiated and maintained by educated specialists and experts - doctors, hygienists, moralists and educators. Seemingly, masturbation phobia had nothing to do with religion: the arguments which served to support it were believed to be based on rational and scientific reasoning.
As such specialists claimed, masturbation had disastrous effects on both body and mind. In fact, this was the first and foremost "killer of youth", and caused more deaths among european boys and girls than any plague or war. Even a single experience of masturbation was liable to carry the youngster into a vicious process of physical and mental deterioration, which would most likely lead to disability, insanity and premature death. These views became accepted as evident in all levels of society, and for many years, practically nobody dared to put their validity in doubt.
In face of such horrible dangers, these specialists have prescribed a variety of methods - from strict discipline and preventive education to restraining mechanisms put on children during the night, and in some cases surgical operations conducted on girls and intended to hide the clitoris out of hand reach.
The modern fear of masturbation can be traced back to the 18th century. It first became popular through a brochure which appeared in London in 1715, and was translated and reprinted in several european languages and in many editions: "Onania, or the heinous sin of self-pollution, and all its frightful consequences in both sexes considered". It was given a systematic theoretical foundation in the works of a Swiss physician, Samuel-August Tissot, during the 1750's and 1760's. But it reached its climax during the 19th century, when Tissot's arguments became the common belief among specialists and laymen in many countries, and on both sides of the Atlantic.
Like other mass phobias (e.g. the european witch-craze), Masturbation phobia was slow to build up, and relatively quick to die out. During the first half of the 20th century, the obvious facts - that everybody masturbates at some time or another, with no harm at all - became admitted as common public knowledge. Masturbation phobia disappeared, and the whole episode was largely forgotten.
Today it is even difficult to understand how modern and educated men came to be so oblivious to the obvious facts, and so forcefully held by the spell of their own collective construction. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that at least in pre-Freudian terms, unlike procreative sex, which can be rationalized by its function, masturbation expresses the irrational aspect of desire. Thus, masturbation phobia might reflect something similar to what Foucault indicated as the modern fear of the irrational.
As part of preventive education, the horrible effects of masturbation were illustrated to 19-th century youngsters through printed pamphlets. It is interesting to compare such anti-masturbation propaganda with 20th century anti-drug material, similarly relying on the opinions of educated specialists and experts, and illustrating the dark fate of any youngster who indulges in such dangerous and counter-rational habits. Below is an example of an anti-masturbation pamphlet from the mid-19th century. The text is translated from the original french.
Source: J. Stengers and A. Van Neck, "Histoire d'une grande peur: la masturbation", Editions de l'Universite de Bruxelles, 1984.
"the book without title"
an anti-masturbation pamphlet
2nd edition, Paris 1844.
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