Category Archives: Masturbation

1884: Masturbators cured with electric shocks to the genitals

Dr Joseph Howe was a professor of surgery at New York University and one of many 19th century specialists in ‘self-pollution’. He claimed to have had success ‘treating’ habitual masturbators with a course electric shocks to the genitals. The Howe method involved an electrode inserted into the urethra while the other was held behind the scrotum.

In this extract from an 1884 book, Howe claims to have cured a 29-year-old book-keeper, ‘J.S.’. of the “foul habit” with electricity:

“He had indulged in onanistic exercises during his school boy days… His memory was not so good as in former years and his ability to endure mental and physical labour comparatively small. He received applications of electricity every other day for two months, took cold water sponge baths and tonics… He was discharged at the end of the period mentioned and entered the marriage state, feeling well and competent to perform all his functions properly.”

Despite Howe’s claims, he admits there are some ‘lost causes’ for whom masturbation is a daily occurrence; they are “nearly always beyond the reach of moral or medical treatment”:

“Use the baths, tonics and electricity for a few weeks, and then if there is no good result, the patient should be castrated without delay, and the penis, pubes and perineum covered with cantharadal collodion… If these measures fail, I see no objection to removing the whole of the external genital apparatus.”

Source: Dr Joseph Howe, Excessive Venery, Masturbation and Continence, 1884. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1657: Scot keeps masturbation diary

William Drummond was a Scottish gentleman of the 17th century. He was the son of William Drummond of Hawthornden, a prominent poet, historian and royal propagandist.

While Drummond lacked his father’s flair for writing, his diary entries from 1657 onwards offer terse but informative glimpses into his private life. No less than 38 of Drummond’s entries in that year record instances of masturbation, using the code word “fattall”. Some of the more interesting entries, complete with Drummond’s original spelling, include:

January 4th: I stayed at hom from church and red the Cyprian Grove… fattall.

January 28th: Solitaire, fattall.

February 4th: Solitaire, but yet fattall. Lay in my bed all day.

February 26th: All night fattall.

March 12th: Fattall thrice.

March 28th: Fattall fowre times.

April 15th: Solitaire, fattall most grivously.

May 8th: Began first to ride that book which is so much estim’d of, Arcadia, out of a curiositie, becawse everyon was perswaded that it cowld not be but I had red it before twentie times. Fattall twise.

July 13th: Fattall fowre times.

Drummond’s diary also reports sexual liaisons with an unnamed mistress (“Z”) and the consummation of his marriage on December 17th 1657. Understandably, his diary mentions masturbating much less frequently after this – however on February 7th 1659 he admits to “fattall” again while his wife was away in Pendrike.

Source: Diary of Sir William Drummond of Hawthorden, 1657-59. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

c.79AD: Man self-pleasures and stains statute

Ancient writers like Pliny the Elder often waxed lyrical about the statue of Aphrodite on the island of Knidos (now in south-east Turkey). Crafted in the 4th century BC by the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles, the Aphrodite of Knidos depicted the goddess of love fully naked and preparing to bathe – but demurely covering her genitals with one hand.

Historians believe that Praxiteles’ Aphrodite might be one of the most influential sculptures of ancient times, shaping later and more famous works like the Venus de Milo. But in its own time, the perfect form and erotic beauty of the Knidos Aphrodite was legendary, drawing crowds of people each day.

According to Pliny, one man was so besotted by the Aphrodite that he purposefully remained with the statute overnight, using it for his own pleasure – and leaving his mark:

“There is a story that a man once fell in love with [the Aphrodite] and, hiding by night, embraced it, and that a stain betrays this lustful act.”

Source: Pliny, Natural History XXXVI.iv.21, c.79AD. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1903: Army officer confesses to fornicating with fruit

Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) was a London-born physician and author who specialised in research into human sexuality, particularly sexual behaviours that departed from what was considered normal, at least in Ellis’ time. His interest and specialisation in sexuality was ironic, given that Ellis’ own marriage (to suffragist and women’s rights campaigner Edith Lees, an open lesbian) was largely sexless.

Writing in 1903, Ellis detailed his interviews with “GR”, an unnamed officer who had served with the Indian colonial army. “GR” admitted to an active bisexual sex life: from interaction with other boys at school, to encounters with a host of foreign prostitutes, to affairs with his fellow military officers.

Much more peculiarly, when partners were unavailable and “GR” turned to self pleasure, he confessed to making “carnal use” of fruit, specifically, melons and papaya. According to “GR”, masturbating with tropical fruit was “most satisfactory”.

In the same work, Ellis also details his discussions with Captain Kenneth Searight, a notorious pederast who was also stationed in India. Searight kept a diary listing his sexual liaisons with no less than 129 local boys, describing their ages, appearance and the number of orgasms with each.

Source: Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, 1903. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.