"Sin of Onan": The Evolution of the Views on Masturbation in Modern Time
pdf (Русский)

Keywords

history of sexuality masturbation “onania” deviation “medicalization” of society psychiatry Foucault Kinsey Radkau Dodson

How to Cite

Sokolov, A. (2020). "Sin of Onan": The Evolution of the Views on Masturbation in Modern Time. Corpus Mundi, 1(1), 82-110. https://doi.org/10.46539/cmj.v1i1.6

Abstract

History of sexuality is one of the most dynamically developing trends in contemporary historiography. Cultural history of masturbation reflects evolution of ideas about this part of human sexuality. This article uses constructivist methodology and regards masturbation as cultural construct originated from mental dominants of time and society. In conditions of “medicalization” of modern society (the expression of M. Foucault) the masturbation was looked upon as a pathology and a dangerous social vice. The author of the article employs a chronological approach examining the evolution of attitudes to masturbation. In the time of Renaissance and in the XVII century masturbation wasn’t considered a great sin, though many authors condemned it. In the XVIII century, the period of relative tolerance was over - masturbation became to be regarded as a disease that needed treatment, even surgical interference in some cases, as object of “new psychiatry”. It was at the same time exposed to moral condemnation and was put under strict pedagogical control. The expressed repressiveness continued for many decades, and only on the turn of XIX century cautious doubts in attribution of masturbation to diseases appeared. “Rehabilitation” of masturbation happened only in the middle of the XX century under influence of social factors and formation of consuming society, as well as the new ideas in sexology. The attitude to masturbation, as to other sexual practices depends on raising and decreasing of the level of tolerance in society.

https://doi.org/10.46539/cmj.v1i1.6
pdf (Русский)

References

Cholina, A. (2018). He, His Mistress and Her Friend. Retrieved from https://snob.ru/selected/entry/136552. (in Russian)

Crawford, K. (2006). Privilege, Possibility and Perversion: Rethinking the Study of Early Modern Sexuality. The Journal of Modern History, 78(2), 412-433. Doi: 10.1086 / 505802

Diderot, D. (1973). Nun. The Nephew of Rameau. Jacques the Fatalist and His Master. Moscow: Imaginative literature. (in Russian)

Dodson, B. (1987). Sex for one. The Joy of Selfloving. New York: Harmony Books.

Foucault, M. (1998). The History of Sexuality. (Vol.1). London: Penguin Books.

Harris, V. (2010). Sex on the Margins: New Directions in Historiography of Sexuality and Gender. The Historical Journal, 53(4), 1085-1110. Doi:10.1017/S0018246X10000300

Haynes, A. (1997). Sex in Elizabethan England. Sutton Publishing.

Hyam, R. (1990). Empire and Sexuality. The British Experience. Manchester: University Press.

Kinsey A., Pomeroy, W., Martin, C. & Gebhard P. (1953). Sexual Behavior of Human Female. Philadelphia-London: W.B. Saunders Company.

Kinsey, A., Pomeroy, W. & Martin, C. (1948). Sexual Behavior of the Human Male. Philadelphia-London: W.B. Saunders Company.

Korben, A., Kurtin, J.-J. & Vigarello, J. (Ed.). (2012-2014). Body History. (Vol.I-II). Moscow: New literary review. (in Russian)

Laqueur, T. W. (1990). Making Sex. Body and Gender from Greeks to Freud. Harvard: University Press.

Laqueur, T. W. (2004). Solitary Sex. A Cultural History of Masturbation. New York: Zone Books.

Margolis, J. (2004). O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm. London: Arrow Books.

Masters, W. & Johnson, V. (1966). Human Sexual Response. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Mondimore, Fr. (2002). Homosexuality. A Natural History. Yekaterinburg: U-Factoria. (in Russian)

Onania: Or, the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution, and All Its Frightful Consequences Considered, With Spiritual and Physical Advice to those who have already injured themselves by this abominable Practice. The Eighteenth Edition, as also the Ninth Edition of the SUPPLEMENT to it. (1756). London: Printed for H. Cooke.

Porter, R. (Ed.) (1996). Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine. Cambridge: University Press.

Radkau, J. (2017). The Age of Nervousness. Germany from Bismarck to Hitler. Moscow: HSE. (in Russian)

Scully, D. (1994). Men Who Control Women’s Health. The Miseducation of Obstetrician-Gynecologists. New York: Columbia University.

Shakespeare, W. (1968). Tragedy. Sonnets. Moscow: Imaginative literature. (in Russian)

Sokolov, A. B. (2005). Interview with R. Kozellek. Dialogue with Time, (15), 326-340. (in Russian)

Sokolov, A. B. (2019). History of Sexuality as Direction in Historiography. Dialogue with Time, (69), 355-371. Doi: 10.21267/AQUILO.2020.69.46464 (in Russian)

Sokolovskaya, E. (2018). "Same-sex, Oral, too Frequent". How do politicians explain sex bans? Retrieved from https://snob.ru/selected/entry/136675 (in Russian)

Stone, L. (1990). The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800. London: Penguin Books.

Taylor, B. (1995). Sexy Stories. Journal of British Studies, 34(2), 282-288. Doi: 10.1086/386077

Vigarello, J. (2013). The Art of Attraction. The History of Physical Beauty from the Renaissance To the Present Day. Moscow: NLO. (in Russian)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.