[286] M. Rosenthal, _Diseases of the Nervous System_, vol. ii, p. 44. Féré
notes similar cases (_Twentieth Century Practice of Medicine_, vol. x, p.
551). Long previously, Gall had recorded the case of a young widow of
ardent temperament who had convulsive attacks, apparently of hysterical
nature, which always terminated in sexual orgasm (_Fonctions du Cerveau_,
1825, vol. iii, p. 245).
[287] There seems to be a greater necessity for such explosive
manifestations in women than in men, whatever the reason may be. I have
brought together some of the evidence pointing in this direction in _Man
and Woman_, 4th ed., revised and enlarged, Chapters xii and xiii.
[288] There is no doubt an element of real truth in this ancient belief,
though it mainly holds good of minor cases of hysteria.
Many excellent
authorities accept it. "Hysteria is certainly common in the single,"
Herman remarks (_Diseases of Women_, 1898, p. 33), "and is generally cured
by a happy marriage." Löwenfeld (_Sexualleben und Nervenleiden_, p. 153)
says that "it cannot be denied that marriage produces a beneficial change
in the general condition of many hysterical patients,"
though, he adds, it
will not remove the hysterical temperament. The advantage of marriage for
the hysterical is not necessarily due, solely or at all, to the exercise
of sexual functions. This is pointed out by Mongeri, who observes
(_Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie_, 1901, Heft 5, p. 917): "I have
known and treated several hysterical girls who are now married, and do not
show the least neuropathic indications. Some of these no longer have any
wish for sexual gratification, and even fulfil their marital duties
unwillingly, though loving their husbands and living with them in an
extremely happy way. In my opinion, marriage is a sovereign remedy for
neuropathic women, who need to find a support in another personality, able
to share with them the battle of life."
III.
The Prevalence of Masturbation--Its Occurrence in Infancy and
Childhood--Is it More Frequent in Males or Females?--
After Adolescence
Apparently more Frequent in Women--Reasons for the Sexual Distribution of
Masturbation--The Alleged Evils of Masturbation--
Historical Sketch of the
Views Held on This Point--The Symptoms and Results of Masturbation--Its
Alleged Influence in Causing Eye Disorders--Its Relation to Insanity and
Nervous Disorders--The Evil Effects of Masturbation Usually Occur on the
Basis of a Congenitally Morbid Nervous System--
Neurasthenia Probably the
Commonest Accompaniment of Excessive Masturbation--
Precocious Masturbation
Tends to Produce Aversion to Coitus--Psychic Results of Habitual
Masturbation--Masturbation in Men of Genius--
Masturbation as a Nervous
Sedative--Typical Cases--The Greek Attitude toward Masturbation--Attitude
of the Catholic Theologians--The Mohammedan Attitude--
The Modern
Scientific Attitude--In What Sense is Masturbation Normal?--The Immense
Part in Life Played by Transmuted Auto-erotic Phenomena.
The foregoing sketch will serve to show how vast is the field of life--of
normal and not merely abnormal life--more or less infused by auto-erotic
phenomena. If, however, we proceed to investigate precisely the exact
extent, degree, and significance of such phenomena, we are met by many
difficulties. We find, indeed, that no attempts have been made to study
auto-erotic phenomena, except as regards the group--a somewhat artificial
group, as I have already tried to show--collected under the term
"masturbation" while even here such attempts have only been made among
abnormal classes of people, or have been conducted in a manner scarcely
likely to yield reliable results.[289] Still there is a certain
significance in the more careful investigations which have been made to
ascertain the precise frequency of masturbation.
Berger, an experienced specialist in nervous diseases, concluded, in his
_Vorlesungen_, that 99 per cent. of young men and women masturbate
occasionally, while the hundredth conceals the truth;[290] and Hermann
Cohn appears to accept this statement as generally true in Germany. So
high an estimate has, of course, been called in question, and, since it
appears to rest on no basis of careful investigation, we need not
seriously consider it. It is useless to argue on suppositions; we must
cling to our definite evidence, even though it yields figures which are
probably below the mark. Rohleder considers that during adolescence at
least 95 per cent. of both sexes masturbate, but his figures are not
founded on precise investigation.[291] Julian Marcuse, on the basis of his
own statistics, concludes that 92 per cent. male individuals have to some
extent masturbated in youth. Perhaps, also, weight attaches to the opinion
of Dukes, physician to Rugby School, who states that from 90 to 95 per
cent. of all boys at boarding school masturbate.[292]
Seerley, of
Springfield, Mass., found that of 125 academic students only 8 assured him
they had never masturbated; while of 347, who answered his questions, 71
denied that they practiced masturbation, which seems to imply that 79 per
cent. admitted that they practiced it.[293] Brockman, also in America,
among 232 theological students, of the average age of 23½ years and coming
from various parts of the United States, found that 132
spontaneously
admitted that masturbation was their most serious temptation and all but
one of these admitted that he yielded, 69 of them to a considerable
extent. This is a proportion of at least 56 per cent., the real proportion
being doubtless larger, since no question had been asked as to sexual
offenses; 75 practiced masturbation after conversion, and 24 after they
had decided to become ministers; only 66 mentioned sexual intercourse as
their chief temptation; but altogether sexual temptations outnumbered all
others together.[294] Moraglia, who made inquiry of 200
women of the lower
class in Italy, found that 120 acknowledged either that they still
masturbate or that they had done so during a long period.[295] Gualino
found that 23 per cent. men of the professional classes in North Italy
masturbate about puberty; no account was taken of those who began later.
"Here in Switzerland," a correspondent writes, "I have had occasion to
learn from adult men, whom I can trust, that they have reached the age of
twenty-five, or over, without sexual congress. '_Wir haben nicht dieses
Bedürfniss_,' is what they say. But I believe that, in the case of the
Swiss mountaineers, moderate onanism is practiced, as a rule." In hot
countries the same habits are found at a more precocious age. In
Venezuela, for instance, among the Spanish creoles, Ernst found that in
all classes boys and girls are infested with the vice of onanism. They
learn it early, in the very beginning of life, from their wet-nurses,
generally low Mulatto women, and many reasons help to foster the habit;
the young men are often dissipated and the young women often remain
single.[296] Niceforo, who shows a special knowledge of the working-girl
class at Rome, states that in many milliners' and dressmakers' workrooms,
where young girls are employed, it frequently happens that during the
hottest hours of the day, between twelve and two, when the mistress or
forewoman is asleep, all the girls without exception give themselves up to
masturbation.[297] In France a country _curé_ assured Debreyne that among
the little girls who come up for their first communion, 11 out of 12 were
given to masturbation.[298] The medical officer of a Prussian reformatory
told Rohleder that nearly all the inmates over the age of puberty
masturbated. Stanley Hall knew a reform school in America where
masturbation was practiced without exception, and he who could practice
it oftenest was regarded with hero-worship.[299]
Ferriani, who has made an
elaborate study of youthful criminality in Italy, states that even if all
boys and girls among the general population do not masturbate, it is
certainly so among those who have a tendency to crime.
Among 458 adult
male criminals, Marro (as he states in his _Caratteri dei Delinquenti_)
found that only 72 denied masturbation, while 386 had practiced it from an
early age, 140 of them before the age of thirteen. Among 30 criminal women
Moraglia found that 24 acknowledged the practice, at all events in early
youth (8 of them before the age of 10, a precocity accompanied by average
precocity in menstruation), while he suspected that most of the remainder
were not unfamiliar with the practice. Among prostitutes of whatever class
or position Moraglia found masturbation (though it must be pointed out
that he does not appear to distinguish masturbation very clearly from
homosexual practices) to be universal; in one group of 50 prostitutes
everyone had practiced masturbation at some period; 28
began between the
ages of 6 and 11; 19, between 12 and 14, the most usual period--a
precocious one--of commencing puberty; the remaining 3
at 15 and 16; the
average age of commencing masturbation, it may be added, was 11, while
that of the first sexual intercourse was 15.[300] In a larger group of 180
prostitutes, belonging to Genoa, Turin, Venice, etc., and among 23
"elegant cocottes," of Italian and foreign origin, Moraglia obtained the
same results; everyone admitted masturbation, and not less than 113
preferred masturbation, either solitary or mutual, to normal coitus. Among
the insane, as among idiots, masturbation is somewhat more common among
males, according to Blandford, in England, as also it is in Germany,
according to Näcke,[301] while Venturi, in Italy, has found it more common
among females.[302]
There appears to be no limit to the age at which spontaneous masturbation
may begin to appear. I have already referred to the practice of
thigh-rubbing in infants under one year of age. J.P.
West has reported in
detail 3 cases of masturbation in very early childhood--
2 in girls, 1 in a
boy--in which the practice had been acquired spontaneously, and could only
be traced to some source of irritation in pressure from clothing,
etc.[303] Probably there is often in such cases some hereditary lack of
nervous stability. Block has recorded the case of a girl--very bright for
her age, though excessively shy and taciturn--who began masturbating
spontaneously at the age of two; in this case the mother had masturbated
all her life, even continuing the practice after marriage, and, though she
succeeded in refraining during pregnancy, her thoughts still dwelt upon
it, while the maternal grandmother had died in an asylum from
"masturbatory insanity."
Freud considers that auto-erotic manifestations are common in infancy, and
that the rhythmic function of any sensitive spot, primarily the lips, may
easily pass into masturbation. He regards the infantile manifestations of
which thumb-sucking is the most familiar example (Lüdeln or Lutschen in
German) as auto-erotic, the germ arising in sucking the breasts since the
lips are an erogenous zone which may easily be excited by the warm stream
of milk. But this only occurs, he points out, in subjects in whom the
sensitivity of the lip zone is heightened and especially in those who at a
later age are liable to become hysterical.[304]
Shuttleworth also points
out that the mere fidgetiness of a neurotic infant, even when only a few
months old, sometimes leads to the spontaneous and accidental discovery of
pleasurable sexual sensations, which for a time appease the restlessness
of nervous instability, though a vicious circle is thus established. He
has found that, especially among quite young girls of neurotic heredity,
self-induced excitement, often in the form of thigh-friction, is more
common than is usually supposed.[305]
Normally there appears to be a varying aptitude to experience the sexual
organism, or any voluptuous sensations before puberty. I find, on
eliciting the recollections of normal persons, that in some cases there
have been voluptuous sensations from casual contact with the sexual organs
at a very early age; in other cases there has been occasional slight
excitement from early years; in yet other cases complete sexual anæsthesia
until the age of puberty. That the latter condition is not due to mere
absence of peripheral irritation is shown by a case I am acquainted with,
in which a boy of 7, incited by a companion, innocently attempted, at
intervals during several weeks, to produce erection by friction of the
penis; no result of any kind followed, although erections occurred
spontaneously at puberty, with normal sexual feelings.[306]
I am indebted to a correspondent for the following notes:--
"From my observation during five years at a boarding-school, it
_seems_ that eight out of ten boys were more or less addicted to
the practice. But I would not state _positively_
that such was
the proportion of masturbators among an average of thirty pupils,
though the habit was very common. I know that in one bedroom,
sleeping seven boys, the whole number masturbated frequently. The
act was performed in bed, in the closets, and sometimes in the
classrooms during lessons. Inquiry among my friends as to onanism
in the boarding-schools to which they were sent, elicited
somewhat contradictory answers concerning the frequency of the
habit. Dr. ----, who went to a French school, told me that _all_
the older boys had younger accomplices in mutual masturbation. He
also spoke with experience of the prevalence of the practice in a
well-known public school in the west of England. B.
said _all_
the boys at his school masturbated; G. stated that _most_ of his
schoolmates were onanists; L. said 'more than half'
was the
proportion.
"At my school, manual masturbation was both solitary and mutual;
and sometimes younger boys, who had not acquired the habit, were
induced to manipulate bigger boys. One very precocious boy of
fifteen always chose a companion of ten 'because his hand was
like a woman's.' Sometimes boys entered their friend's bed for
mutual excitement. In after-life they showed no signs of
inversion. Another boy, aged about fourteen, who had been seduced
by a servant-girl, embraced the bolster; the pleasurable
sensations, according to his statement, were heightened by
imagining that the bolster was a woman. He said that the
enjoyment of the act was greatly increased during the holidays,
when he was able to spread a pair of his sister's drawers upon
the pillow, and so intensify the illusion.
"Before puberty the boys appeared to be more continent than
afterward. A few of the older and more intelligent masturbators
regulated the habit, as some married men regulate intercourse.
The big boy referred to, who chose always the same manipulator,
professed to indulge only once in twenty days, his reason being
that more frequent repetition of the act would injure his health.
About twice a week for boys who had reached puberty, and once a
week for younger boys, was, I think, about the average
indulgence. I have never met with a parallel of one of those
cases of excessive masturbation recorded by many doctors. There
may have been such cases at this school; but, if so, the boys
concealed the frequency of their gratifications.
"My experience proved that many of the lads regarded masturbation
as reprehensible; but their plea was 'everyone does it.' Some,
often those who indulged inordinately and more secretly than
their companions, gravely condemned the practice as sinful. A few
seemed to think there was 'no harm in it,' but that the habit
might stunt the growth and weaken the body if practiced very
frequently. The greater number made no attempt to conceal the
habit, they enlarged upon the pleasure of it; it was
'ever so
much nicer than eating tarts,' etc.
"The chief cause I believe to be initiation by an older
schoolmate. But I have known accidental causes, such as the
discovery that swarming up a pole pleasurably excited the organ,
rubbing to allay irritation, and simple, curious handling of the
erect penis in the early morning before rising from bed."
I quote the foregoing communication as perhaps a fairly typical
experience in a British school, though I am myself inclined to
think that the prevalence of masturbation in schools is often
much overrated, for, while in some schools the practice is
doubtless rampant, in others it is practically unknown, or, at
all events, only practiced by a few individuals in secret. My own
early recollections of (private) school-life fail to yield any
reminiscences of any kind connected with either masturbation or
homosexuality; and, while such happy ignorance may be the
exception rather than the rule, I am certainly inclined to
believe that--owing to race and climate, and healthier conditions
of life--the sexual impulse is less precocious and less
prominently developed during the school-age in England than in
some Continental countries. It is probably to this delayed
development that we should attribute the contrast that Ferrero
finds (_L'Europa Giovane_, pp. 151-56), and certainly states too
absolutely, between the sexual reserve of young Englishmen and
the sexual immodesty of his own countrymen.
In Germany, Näcke has also stated ("Kritisches zum Kapitel der
Sexualität," _Archiv für Psychiatrie_, pp. 354-56, 1899) that he
heard nothing at school either of masturbation or homosexuality,
and he records the experience of medical friends who stated that
such phenomena were only rare exceptions, and regarded by the
majority of the boys as exhibitions of
"_Schweinerei_." At other
German schools, as Hoche has shown, sexual practices are very
prevalent. It is evident that at different schools, and even at
the same school at different times, these manifestations vary in
frequency within wide limits.
Such variations, it seems to me, are due to two causes. In the
first place, they largely depend upon the character of the more
influential elder boys. In the second place, they depend upon the
attitude of the head-master. With reference to this point I may
quote from a letter written by an experienced master in one of
the most famous English public schools: "When I first came to
----, a quarter of a century ago, Dr. ---- was making a crusade
against this failing; boys were sent away wholesale; the school
was summoned and lectured solemnly; and the more the severities,
the more rampant the disease. I thought to myself that the remedy
was creating the malady, and I heard afterward, from an old boy,
that in those days they used to talk things over by the fireside,
and think there must be something very choice in a sin that
braved so much. Dr. ---- went, and, under ----, we never spoke of
such things. Curiosity died down, and the thing itself, I
believe, was lessened. We were told to warn new boys of the
dangers to health and morals of such offences, lest the innocent
should be caught in ignorance. I have only spoken to a few; I
think the great thing is not to put it in boys'
heads. I have
noticed solitary faults most commonly, and then I tell the boy
how he is physically weakening himself. If you notice, it is
puppies that seem to go against Nature, but grown dogs, never.
So, if two small boys acted thus, I should think it merely an
instinctive feeling after Nature, which would amend itself. Many
here would consider it a heinous sin, but those who think such
things sins make them sins. I have seen, in the old days, most
delightful little children sent away, branded with infamy, and
scarce knowing why--you might as well expel a boy for scratching
his head when it itched. I am sure the soundest way is to treat
it as a doctor would, and explain to the boy the physical effects
of over-indulgence of any sort. When it is combated from the
monkish standpoint, the evil becomes an epidemic." I am, however,
far from anxious to indorse the policy of ignoring the sexual
phenomena of youth. It is not the speaking about such things that
should be called in question, but the wisdom and good sense of
the speaker. We ought to expect a head-master to possess both an
adequate acquaintance with the nature of the phenomena of
auto-erotism and homosexuality, and a reasonable amount of tact
in dealing with boys; he may then fairly be trusted to exercise
his own judgment. It may be doubted whether boys should be made
too alive to the existence of sexual phenomena; there can be no
doubt about their teachers. The same is, of course, true as
regards girls, among whom the same phenomena, though less
obtrusive, are not less liable to occur.
As to whether masturbation is more common in one sex than the other, there
have been considerable differences of opinion. Tissot considered it more
prevalent among women; Christian believed it commoner among men; Deslandes
and Iwan Bloch hold that there are no sexual differences, and Garnier was
doubtful. Lawson Tait, in his _Diseases of Women_, stated his opinion that
in England, while very common among boys, it is relatively rare among
women, and then usually taught. Spitzka, in America, also found it
relatively rare among women, and Dana considers it commoner in boys than
in girls or adults.[307] Moll is inclined to think that masturbation is
less common in women and girls than in the male sex.
Rohleder believes
that after puberty, when it is equally common in both sexes, it is more
frequently found in men, but that women masturbate with more passion and
imaginative fervor.[308] Kellogg, in America, says it is equally prevalent
in both sexes, but that women are more secretive.
Morris, also in America,
considers, on the other hand, that persistent masturbation is commoner in
women, and accounts for this by the healthier life and traditions of boys.
Pouillet, who studied the matter with considerable thoroughness in France,
came to the conclusion that masturbation is commoner among women, among
whom he found it to be equally prevalent in rich and poor, and especially
so in the great centres of civilization. In Russia, Guttceit states in his
_Dreissig Jahre Praxis_, that from the ages of 10 to 16
boys masturbate
more than girls, who know less about the practice which has not for them
the charm of the forbidden, but after 16 he finds the practice more
frequent in girls and women than in youths and men.
Näcke, in Germany,
believes that there is much evidence pointing in the same direction, and
Adler considers masturbation very common in women.
Moraglia is decidedly
of the opinion, on the ground of his own observations already alluded to,
that masturbation is more frequent among women; he refers to the fact--a
very significant fact, as I shall elsewhere have to point out--that, while
in man there is only one sexual centre, the penis, in woman there are
several centres,--the clitoris, the vagina, the uteru