Masturbation: Guilty Pleasure or Deadly Sin?

By Brianna Douglas

In today’s society it can seem hard to believe that masturbation was once taboo during the antebellum periods of American history. Many ideals were thrown to keep young people during that time from masturbating, such as inducing sexual self-harm and other physical and mental consequences. Today however, masturbation is welcomed with open arms and even encouraged by many individuals to practice, especially for men. It’s crazy to see how society’s standards go from one extreme to the next, especially with sexuality.  But is it a positive or negative thing to masturbate?

The transition of the ideals of masturbation is quite fascinating. During the antebellum period, many doctors and thinkers were starting to realize the innocence of children and how masturbation should be avoided. The essay “Onania” of the biblical story of Onan and his brother’s wife is what started the famous masturbation scare in the first place during the 19^th century.  All Onan did was coitus interruptus instead of conceiving with his brother’s wife, but because of this the Lord put him to death. Personally that is not my idea of male masturbation, but the connotation changes over time. Other thinkers and scientists started to make up their own ideas on masturbation as well. Dr. Kellogg even stated that masturbation of men and women could lead to physical and mental maladies later in life. Insanity, cancer and even death were some of a list of supposed side effects to masturbating [1]. Of course these are quite extreme notions, however society during the 19^th century were very impressionable and religious, and bought the idea that masturbation could cause massive self-harm. Doctors even tried to cure people’s sexual frustrations. Ironically they used manual stimulation as a cure of hysteria for women (fighting fire with fire, I suppose?), which eventually led to Dr. George Taylor’s invention of the vibrator. The vibrator thus led to the private enjoyment of female pleasure and eventually became used for masturbation purposes instead.

"Choking the chicken"

Then we come to today’s idea of masturbation. In contrast, modern day science has come to show that masturbation is actually healthy to the individual. Many people say that masturbation is a way to literally get in touch with yourself and truly know your body. Men have no problem practicing and discussing masturbation. Women, on the other hand, are quiet and slightly shameful of masturbation. According to Planned Parenthood, 50% of men and women are shameful of masturbation [2]. Many women, however, are starting to speak up about also participating in this virtually taboo topic. Doctors and scientists point out that masturbation is healthy and there are actually many health benefits to self-pleasure, in total contradiction of what scientists such as Kellogg used to believe. It has even been said that masturbation can decrease the risk of getting prostate cancer for men [3]. On the other hand, some negative views of masturbation currently are about their role in marriage. Many people, both male and female, use pornography to masturbate. This can cause tension within the marriage about the sexual commitment. Also, more people are focused on individual sexual fulfillment more than mutual fulfillment within the marriage itself, so this not only downgrades marriage but shows that if your partner cannot fulfill your sexual needs, you should do it yourself [4]. 

If masturbation has so many benefits, then why is it not encouraged by society and within marriage? One would want their spouse to be healthy, and society should care about the health of their people, right? Masturbation to me still seems odd, but I can understand using it to know your own body and how to satisfy yourself, because of you don’t know your body how can you expect someone else to come and please you? So the question remains, is masturbation a good or a bad thing? Only with more research to prove either side will we be able to truly know. 

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1.      Moore, Crystal. “Masturbation and Reform Physiology.” Lecture, History of Sexuality in America, UNCC. Charlotte, North Carolina.  March 13, 2014.

2.      Planned Parenthood, "Female & Male Masturbation." Last modified 2014. Accessed March 29, 2014. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/sex-101/masturbation-23901.htm.

3.      Shpancer, Ph.D., Noam . "Insight Therapy." The Masturbation Gap (blog), September 29, 2010. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-therapy/201009/the-masturbation-gap (accessed March 26, 2014).

4.      Vuoto, Dr. Grace. The Edmund Burke Institute for American Renwal, "Our Masturbation Society." Last modified November 30, 2010. Accessed March 29, 2014. http://www.edmundburkeinstitute.org/OurGracefulHeritage/Ourmasturbationsociety.htm.