Masturbation: Sexologist Explains When It's Normal and When to Worry

Historically, masturbation was shrouded in fear and shame, driven by religious doctrine and pseudoscientific medical explanations. For centuries, the sole purpose of sexuality was considered reproduction, making any act not leading to conception, like masturbation, morally unacceptable. In the 18th century, European physician Samuel Tissot propagated the theory that semen was derived from blood, leading to the belief that each loss of semen weakened the body and mind. This evolved into the conviction that masturbation caused severe illnesses, as documented in health encyclopedias even in 1918.

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Self-gratification causes general weakness, slowed growth, hand tremors, insomnia, memory loss, blindness, stupidity, spinal diseases, consumption, madness, and ultimately leads to the complete collapse of body and mind.

These historical beliefs fueled myths, such as the idea that masturbation could cause blindness or that hair would grow on the palms. Figures like Reverend Sylvester Graham and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in the 19th century attempted to curb sexual urges through diet, with Kellogg even creating cornflakes as a bland food to suppress desire. When dietary measures failed, medical interventions became more extreme, including non-anesthetized circumcisions for boys and clitoridectomies or cauterization for girls, intended to create lasting painful memories.

Sigmund Freud began dismantling these myths, acknowledging that masturbation caused no physical harm and was normal in childhood, though he still considered adult autoeroticism a sign of immaturity. While medicine gradually shed these myths, the church maintained its stance. Vatican declarations in 1976 and writings by Pope John Paul II continued to label masturbation as morally unacceptable. Feminist movements in the 1970s challenged this, advocating for masturbation as a woman's right to explore her own body.

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He created cornflakes as a bland food, intended to suppress the sexual desire of people all over the world. Few buyers today know this origin story of popular flakes.

Today, science has definitively refuted these historical prejudices. Psychological research indicates that approximately half of adolescent girls and three-quarters of boys masturbate, with the practice often continuing into older age as a source of pleasure and comfort. Sexologists attribute some gender differences to anatomy, noting that male genitalia are more visible and touched daily during hygiene, whereas female self-discovery requires more conscious effort, often suppressed by childhood taboos. Modern sexology actively works to break down these remaining taboos.

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Historical facts are truly shocking, but their revelation helps to understand in what a brutal culture of shame and physical control our attitude towards human sexuality was formed.