How the Medical Profession Waged War - and Made Profits - on Masturbation
In his Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Havelock Ellis attempts to dispute the major trends in sexology to pathologize and condemn sexual variance. On both the topics of masturbation and homosexuality, Ellis would have been considered a radical reformer of sexology. He gave voice to the opinion that "there appears to be little reliable evidence to show that simple masturbation, in a well-born and healthy individual, can produce any evil results" (Vol. I, 250). Instead, Ellis believed that many of the symptoms and results that had been attributed to masturbation were physical ills independent of the habit, or that they were results of the psychological trauma visited upon masturbators who had become aware of their "solitary vice". Speaking to other sexologists and doctors, he argues "it is our wisest course to recognize this inevitableness of sexual and transmuted sexual manifestations, and, while avoiding any attitude of excessive indulgence or indifference, to avoid also any attitude of excessive horror, for our horror nor only leads to the facts being effectually veiled from our sight, but itself serves to manufacture artificially a greater evil than that which we are trying to combat" (Vol. I. 282). The latter argument is a point at which Ellis recognizes the ill effects of a medicine that sought to instill fear and shame in its subjects, and that this may be considered a radical point of departure from traditional sexology.
The sexology texts used as the foundation for many handbooks and medical texts was closer to Krafft-Ebing's style than Ellis', and these "secondary" sexology sources were often even more condemning than the larger tombs of sexology. Plain Facts for the Old and Young, for example, was first published in 1879 by Dr. J.H. Kellogg, and is meant as a medical handbook for families and parents. The preface to the second edition states that over one hundred thousand copies had been "placed in the hands of interested readers", and countless more of subsequent editions added to that total. In "Plain Facts", Kellogg takes up the subject of masturbation with great ferocity and moral impetus. The introduction to the section entitled "Solitary Vice" reads: "If illicit commerce of the sexes is a heinous sin, self-pollution, or masturbation, is a crime doubly abominable. As a sin against nature, it has no parallel except in sodomy" (231). Kellogg makes it clear to his readers that masturbation is a cause of both physical and moral decay and must be prevented at all costs. He offers 39 "signs of self-abuse", which include "general debility", "untrustworthiness", "love of solitude", "capricious appetite" and "biting the fingernails" (255-58). For the parent who fears for their child's safety from masturbation, these signs serve as to guarantee a paranoia from which no child would be immune. Following this list is a section on "results of the secret vice", a catalogue of masturbatory consequences ranging from urinary diseases to idiocy (262-290).
The sexology texts used as the foundation for many handbooks and medical texts was closer to Krafft-Ebing's style than Ellis', and these "secondary" sexology sources were often even more condemning than the larger tombs of sexology. Plain Facts for the Old and Young, for example, was first published in 1879 by Dr. J.H. Kellogg, and is meant as a medical handbook for families and parents. The preface to the second edition states that over one hundred thousand copies had been "placed in the hands of interested readers", and countless more of subsequent editions added to that total. In "Plain Facts", Kellogg takes up the subject of masturbation with great ferocity and moral impetus. The introduction to the section entitled "Solitary Vice" reads: "If illicit commerce of the sexes is a heinous sin, self-pollution, or masturbation, is a crime doubly abominable. As a sin against nature, it has no parallel except in sodomy" (231). Kellogg makes it clear to his readers that masturbation is a cause of both physical and moral decay and must be prevented at all costs. He offers 39 "signs of self-abuse", which include "general debility", "untrustworthiness", "love of solitude", "capricious appetite" and "biting the fingernails" (255-58). For the parent who fears for their child's safety from masturbation, these signs serve as to guarantee a paranoia from which no child would be immune. Following this list is a section on "results of the secret vice", a catalogue of masturbatory consequences ranging from urinary diseases to idiocy (262-290).
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