Self-Pleasure – Past and Present

Self-pleasure can be seen as a form of women’s sexuality that has evolved since the Victorian era. Originally seen as a moral disgrace and shunned by the majority of society, it was blamed as the cause of diseases such as heart disorders, cancer and hysteria.

The editor of the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, went so far as to say that even if masturbation wasn’t the cause of the diseases, that engaging in it would further the disease.

According to the website, Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Circumcision, and Dr. Joseph Jones, a former president of the Louisiana State Board of Health, masturbation resulted in ‘hopeless insanity.’

This insanity could also be inherited from the offspring of a person that masturbated. As a result, many females thought to be masturbating were subject to a clitoridectomy, or removal of the clitoris. Although this was often a drastic measure and by no means the norm, it still shows the strict code of virtue imposed on sexuality in the Victorian age.

Nowadays, masturbation has become less of a social illness and more accepted. According to the Transformation of Intimacy by Anthony Giddens, 90 percent of men and 40 percent of women have admitted to masturbating at some point in their life.

Masturbation is encouraged as a way to seek sexual stimulation without the aid of a partner. This is most important in females because often times a woman’s first orgasm will be experienced during masturbation. This helps women become more familiar with their bodies and more apt to achieve sexual gratification or orgasm during intercourse.