Written
By: Jenne
As
we've seen masturbation was considered a life threatening affliction
in the 1800s. So just how did the medical profession choose to
cure the afflicted? Some of the prescribed treatments were to
say the least barbaric but are well documented.
The
course of treatments in the 1800's falls into three distinct and
progressive periods. Up until the 1850s, Doctors emphasized the
use of hydrotherapy, diet and drugs. Between 1850 and 1880 the
majority of the literature found advocated the use of surgery
for curing the curse as it was often referred to. Then between
the 1880s and the turn of the century Doctors turned more towards
physical restraint and psychic terrorization.
If
you think that it was only males that were focused upon during
this time you would be very wrong. Some of the treatments prescribed
to cure women we more barbaric than those commonly used on men.
In order to numb the sexual orgasms many doctors would use a variety
of anesthetics. Many women were forced to take cold baths and
adhere to special bland diets. As Kelloggs and his elk cited spicy
and hot foods as a source of the cause of masturbation it followed
that cold showers and a bland diet would be all that was needed
to cure the patient.
By
the 1850s the cures had become much more brutal, ranging from
blistering and cauterizing the genitals, clitoridectomy, sectioning
of the penile nerves in men and in severe cases even castration.
The most common method to treat women for the affliction was the
use of caustic chemicals to sear the skin, hot irons and electric
cauterization of the clitoris were very common. They didn't just
stop at the clitoris though often blistering the patients thighs
and spinal region in order to cure and beat back the impulses
in someway.
Clitoridectomy
was the preferred method of treatment for females in the mid eighteen
hundreds. Dr. Isaac Baker Brown in England and members of the
Orificial Surgical Society in the U.S. were avid proponents of
this procedure. Baker Brown, in order to prevent what he modestly
called “peripheral excitement,” founded the London Surgical
Home where many female patients - adults as well as children -
were operated on to free them from sexual slavery. In the U.S.,
Dr. M. Landesburg published his novel findings: that a number
of women suffering from upper respiratory infections were cured
when their masturbation was stopped through the use of the knife.
In all cases, he found that the “morbid condition” was
healed by surgery.
Remember
this was a time of huge social structure, many women and children
were now working as the industrial revolution took place. With
this change came a heightened sexual anxiety among the rulers
and owners. A perfect example of this is shown by “Influence
of Sewing Machines Upon the Health and Morality of Females Using
Them.” The authors of this article found that sweatshop seamstresses
often suffered from heart palpitations, severe back pain, headache,
eye strain and exhaustion. The cause? Not miserable working conditions
but secret sexual pleasure from pumping the sewing machine treadles
all day. Women, as cogs in the vast industrial system, were thought
to be masturbating and many were “forced to quit the establishment
on account of the fatigue, lassitude, pains, etc. superinduced
by the venereal excitement incident to setting the machine in
motion.”
Upper
class women too were afflicted by masturbational symptoms. Nubile
daughters resistant to arranged marriages and wives who were unsatisfied
with their lot in life were often brought to doctors for treatment.
No surprise: masturbation was often discovered to be the cause
of their “unsteady and peevish disposition tending toward
anger, exaggerated timidity in the presence of parents, surly
attitude toward strangers, profound idleness and tendency toward
lying.” In short, authorities' obsession with masturbation
was a symptom of their anxieties and a tool for social control.
As
the twentieth century approached many began to question the often
sadist practices used and a much greater emphasis began to be
placed on psychological causes and also on physical restraint.
Dr. I. Bloch, in The Sexual Life of Our Time, recounts with some
fondness the technique of doctors “who appeared before the
child armed with great knives and scissors and threatened a painful
operation or even to cut off the genital organs” as an efficient
way of preventing self-abuse. Thousands of children in this era
where threatened with sexual mutilation if caught masturbating.
Many
devices to help a parent whose child was afflicted were sold and
marketed and proved very popular. The hardest time for any parent
to be vigilant was during the night, most of the devices sold
were to catch out the persistent child during the night. More
often than not they consisted of bells and buzzers that warned
and alerted parents to the child's abuse. Others were cruder,
but maybe more effective and took the form of toothed or spiked
rims worn around the penis, so if a nocturnal erection occurred
the patent would receive severe pain and sometimes bleeding.
Another
common method employed was to simply restrain the hands of the
self abusers. It was not uncommon for a young girl to be made
to sleep in sheepskin pants and jacket made into one garment,
with her hands tied to a collar about her neck; her feet were
tied to the footboard and by a strap about her waist she was fastened
to the headboard so she could not slide down the bed and use her
heels; she had been scolded, reasoned with and whipped, and in
spite of it all she managed to keep up the habit.
If
this failed to cure the girl more drastic measures would be taken,
she would be completely bound in canvas and splints as she slept.
As late as 1928, The Mothercraft Manual read: “untiring zeal
on the part of the mother or nurse is the only cure: It may be
necessary to put the legs in splints before putting the child
to bed.”
Many
girls and women were forced to wear chastity belts. Although commonly
associated with the middle ages there is little fact to support
the notion that Knights and Kings locked up their ladies in order
to curb sexual impulses. The truth is these devices were invented
in an era where Doctors were trying every method possible to stop
girls from exploring their genitals with their fingers.
One
popular and well documented chastity belt design consisted of
a cushion made out of rubber or some other soft material and suitably
covered with silk, linen or soft leather. This cushion or pad
formed the base into which was fixed a kind of grating, and this
part of the apparatus rested upon the vulva, the pad being large
enough to press upon the mons veneris. The lower part of the pad
rested upon the perineum, being curved so as to fit the parts
enclosed. The bars of the grating were to be made of ivory or
bone. The whole apparatus was affixed by means of a belt to a
pair of tight-fitting drawers and secured by a padlock, a secret
flap closing over the key hole.
As
late as the 1930's medical equipment catalogues carried pictures
of such devices. Just how many of them were sold is unknown but
the very fact that reputable medical supplies made them available,
that they were mentioned in so many textbooks and articles of
the time indicates that they are probably among the most common
and best kept secret of Victorian sexual life.
It wasn't until the 1940's when the acceptance of theories such
as those put for forward by Freud became more widely accepted
that the belief that masturbation was bad began to fade. Even
now though many of the myths of that era still pervade out culture.
Fortunately the medical profession now looks for answers, scientific
ones and ones not backed by hysteria and half known truths as
was the case back in Kelloggs day.
So
next time you decide to pleasure yourself just think yourself
lucky that you didn't live in many cases less than a hundred years
ago!!
