The disease of masturbation essay

Masturbation may help to relieve stress, and encourage healthy self-image.

Ancient history[ edit ] There are depictions of male and female masturbation in prehistoric rock paintings around the world. Most early people seem to have connected human sexuality with abundance in nature.

A clay figurine of the 4th millennium BC from a temple site on the island of Maltadepicts a woman masturbating. From the earliest records, the ancient Sumerians had very relaxed attitudes toward sex.

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The Latin verb masturbari is of uncertain origin.

Detail of a kraterdating to c. Pan in his turn taught the habit to young shepherds. A doctor named J W Robertson tried to describe the differences between different types of masturbation in the yearwhen addressing the Medical Society of the State of California.

Disturbances of the stomach and digestion, loss of appetite or ravenous hunger, vomiting, nausea, weakening of the organs of breathing, coughing, hoarseness, paralysis, weakening of the organ of generation to the point of impotence, lack of libido, back pain, disorders of the eye and ear, total diminution of bodily powers, paleness, thinness, pimples on the face, decline of intellectual powers, loss of memory, attacks of rage, madness, idiocy, epilepsy, fever and finally suicide.

Included were letters and testimonials supposedly from young men ill and dying from the effects of compulsive masturbation.

Does masturbation cause hair loss?

The pamphlet then goes on to recommend as an effective remedy a "Strengthening Tincture" at 10 shillings a bottle and a "Prolific Powder" at 12 shillings a bag, available from a local shop.

James[ edit ] In —45, the British physician Robert James published A Medicinal Dictionary, in which he described masturbation as being "productive of the most deplorable and generally incurable disorders" and stated that "there is perhaps no sin productive of so many hideous consequences".

Treatise on the Diseases Produced by Onanism. One of the many horrified by the descriptions of malady in Onania was the notable Swiss physician Samuel-Auguste Tissot. Inhe published L'Onanisme, his own comprehensive medical treatise on the purported ill-effects of masturbation. The authority with which the work was subsequently treated — Tissot's arguments were even acknowledged and echoed by luminaries such as Kant and Voltaire — arguably turned the perception of masturbation in Western medicine over the The disease of masturbation essay two centuries into that of a debilitating illness.

Earlier in the book page 33 he claims there is a "train of physical and moral evils which this solitary vice fixes upon the body and mind. In his observation of "congenital idiotism" page he notes, "The venereal appetite exists in them with great force, and they gratify it after puberty by onanism.

Whitewe find: If the practice [of self-indulgence] is continued from the age of fifteen and upward, nature will protest against the abuse he has suffered, and continues to suffer, and will make them pay the penalty for the transgression of his laws, especially from the ages of thirty to forty-five, by numerous pains in the system, and various diseases, such as affection of the liver and lungsneuralgiarheumatismaffection of the spinediseased kidneysand cancerous humors.

Some of nature's fine machinery gives way, leaving a heavier task for the remaining to perform, which disorders nature's fine arrangement, and there is often a sudden breaking down of the constitution; and death is the result.

The result of self-abuse in them is seen in various diseases, such as catarrhdropsyheadache, loss of memory and sight, great weakness in the back and loins, affections of the spine, and frequently, inward decay of the head.

Cancerous humor, which would lie dormant in the system their lifetime, is inflamed, and commences its eating, destructive work. The mind is often utterly ruined, and insanity supervenes.

Kellogg was able to draw upon many medical sources' claims such as "neither the plague, nor war, nor small-pox, nor similar diseases, have produced results so disastrous to humanity as the pernicious habit of onanism ," credited to one Dr.

Kellogg strongly warned against the habit in his own words, claiming of masturbation-related deaths "such a victim literally dies by his own hand," among other condemnations. Kellogg believed the practice of "solitary-vice" caused cancer of the womb, urinary diseases, nocturnal emissions, impotence, epilepsy, insanity, and mental and physical debility — "dimness of vision" was only briefly mentioned.

Included are 39 signs indicating someone is masturbating.

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He recommended, to cure children from this "solitary vice", bandaging or tying their hands, covering their genitals with patented cages, sewing the foreskin shut and electrical shock, and circumcision without anesthesia, which would break the habit.

In order to prevent it, he advised parents first to teach children to avoid handling their genitalia, and as they get more mature, to inform them "of the evil consequences". He also warned parents against "evil associations", servants, and "wicked or ignorant" nurses who would masturbate children in order to quiet them.

Religious views on masturbation Immanuel Kant regarded masturbation as a violation of the moral law. In the Metaphysics of Morals he made the a posteriori argument that 'such an unnatural use of one's sexual attributes' strikes 'everyone upon his thinking of it' as 'a violation of one's duty to himself', and suggested that it was regarded as immoral even to give it its proper name unlike the case of the similarly undutiful act of suicide.

He went on, however, to acknowledge that 'it is not so easy to produce a rational demonstration of the inadmissibility of that unnatural use', but ultimately concluded that its immorality lay in the fact that 'a man gives up his personality … when he uses himself merely as a means for the gratification of an animal drive'.

He argued that it was the corrupting influence of society that led to such unnatural acts as masturbation and that humans living a simple life amidst nature would never do such things.

Of all the various kinds of sexual intercourse, this has the least to recommend it. As an amusement it is too fleeting; as an occupation it is too wearing; as a public exhibition there is no money in it. It is unsuited to the drawing room, and in the most cultured society it has long since been banished from the social board… So, in concluding, I say: Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism Speech.

There were recommendations to have boys' trousers 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.

Boys and young men who nevertheless continued to indulge in the practice were branded as "weak-minded. This approach was promoted by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg inventor of corn flakes and Rev. Sylvester Graham inventor of Graham crackers. Routine neonatal circumcision was widely adopted in the United States and the UK at least partly because of its believed preventive effect against masturbation see also History of male circumcision.Essay on Sexual Response.

The Sexual Response Cycle What is sexual response? It is described as the physical and emotional changes that occur in the body as men and women get sexually aroused during sexual activities such as intercourse and masturbation.

The Disease Of Masturbation Essay - The Disease of Masturbation: Values and the concept of Disease by Engelhardt Englhardt's article The Disease Of Masturbation is an example of the ways in which values impact society's definition of disease. Essay about Drug Addiction as a Disease - Drug abuse and addiction are issues that affect people everywhere.

However, these issues are usually treated as criminal activity rather than issues of . The Disease of Masturbation: Values and the concept of Disease by Engelhardt Englhardt's article The Disease Of Masturbation is an example of the ways in which values impact society's definition of disease.3/5(1).

The Disease Of Masturbation Englhardt’s article The Disease Of Masturbation is an example of the ways in which values impact society’s definition of disease. I agree that it is possible that science is being, or has been, limited by the values within society.

The Disease of Masturbation shows how much the many emotions and values of the time add stress and eventually bring on the symptoms that people reported to be associated with masturbation.

Masturbation is the best possible example of the role of society’s values on health and disease.