Historical Perspectives On Masturbation: The Cure

Nineteenth-Century "Cures"
Masturbation became the nineteenth century's scapegoat for all societal and unexplainable medical illnesses thanks in part to the work of Tissot and colleagues and also in part to the moral guidance of the Christian Church. Treatments for curing masturbation in men, women and children abounded and ranged from being physiologically and psychologically damaging to being completely absurd: "Treatments for preventing masturbation ranged from the pathologically violent to the absurd. Turn-of-the- twentieth-century magazines featured advertisements for penile rings that were spiked on the inside so that any boy who experienced an erection during the course of the night would be woken in pain. Bondage belts, restraints, straitjackets, cauterizing irons, and even clitoridectomy {the surgical excision of the clitoris) were all methods used to dissuade young women from masturbating. These methods lived on into the new century in the more benign form of mittens put on children at bedtime so that they couldn't easily play with themselves during the night" (The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex).

By today's standards the precautions taken in response to masturbation seem barbaric, but considering that doctors firmly believed that masturbation was the cause of mental illness, consumption, hysteria, constitutional invalidism, and any other unexplainable diseases, the lengths to which the doctors went to prevent masturbation are almost understandable. Caught in the anti-masturbation fervor of the old country, American health reformers collectively attacked masturbation. Masturbation was linked to the larger problem of excessive physical excitation which the radical reformers viewed as a dangerous expenditure of energy harmful to men, women and children alike. Sylvester Graham, inventor of the graham cracker, "believed physical lust was harmful to the body and caused such dire maladies in the sexually overheated as pulmonary consumption, spinal diseases, epilepsy, and insanity, as well as such lesser ailments as headaches and indigestion. He also thought too much lust could result in the early death of offspring, who would have been conceived from weakened stock" (snopes.com). Graham offered salvation from physical lust and masturbation through a carefully planned regimen of cold baths, fresh air, exercise and a bland vegetarian diet including his famed Graham Crackers.

Another radical health reformer tackled masturbation at his Battle Creek Sanitarium by denouncing masturbation as "the vilest, the basest and the most degrading act that a human being can commit." He also advocated a bland vegetarian diet to curb the desire to masturbate and with his brother, Will Kellogg, John Kellogg invented cereal and created a worldwide business monopoly from the initial desire to cure masturbation. Luckily, towards the beginning of the twentieth century, masturbation ceased to be as much of a scapegoat in the American and European communities due to numerous medical breakthroughs, and with the acceptance of sexuality came the acceptance of masturbation. Rather than being viewed as the root of all human evils, masturbation and sexuality were depicted "as a force that needed only to be properly channeled, rather than totally reined in" (Good Vibrations).

According to historical records, genital massage (ie. masturbation performed by a doctor) was the forerunner of the vibrator and a standard treatment for hysteria, with the objective being to induce "hysterical paroxysm" (better known today as orgasm) in the patient through masturbation. As you may imagine, inducing "hysterical paroxysm" in female patients was a complicated and time consuming task without the aid of the vibrator. Turn-of-the-century physicians were delighted with the efficiency, convenience, and reliability of portable vibrators which enabled them to help more women and create a certain clientele. Ironically within a century, masturbation, once the medical industry pariah, became the medical industry's savior.