The interesting, sometimes nutty history of human masturbation

Originally published on: Lioness's (S)explore

An Ancient Egyptian myth would have it that the god Atum created the universe by masturbating – and every year, the pharaoh would ritually masturbate into the Nile to pay homage to the Creator.

In other cultures, such as the Sambia tribe in New Guinea, masturbation is viewed as a rite of passage to manhood. The Ancients Greeks upheld masturbation as a normal part of being an adult, and those who masturbated regularly were seen as better family men.

Masturbation is pervasive throughout human history -- and is sometimes even venerated or hailed as a creative act. Why then in our modern world do we (especially women) feel so giggly, awkward or ashamed when it comes to pleasing ourselves?

The answer can perhaps be found by looking to the past. Let’s take a look at how humanity's perception of masturbation has transformed over time so that we can more deeply understand our current mores -- and uncover ways to overcome stigma for the future.

The Ancients

The myth of Atum ejaculating the world into existence is hardly the only account of masturbation in ancient times. While our knowledge of ancient history is only intact as the limited items that have been preserved, excavated and restored, there are nonetheless instances of masturbation referenced throughout.

Something to note: as most historical accounts were written by men, their contents naturally reflect male habits more so than they do female habits. That is not to say ancient women didn’t masturbate, there are simply far less historical accounts.

One memorable anecdote of ancient female ingenuity that was recorded had to do with Queen Cleopatra. The Egyptian Queen is said to have used a sort of “vibrator”, made from a hollowed gourd filled with angry buzzing bees. I’ll leave the rest to the imagination.

In ancient Greece, male masturbation was thought to be a natural remedy for frustration, especially when women were unavailable. And they weren’t shy about it. From vases to frescoes, men were depicted casually masturbating in Greek visual art. Additionally, masturbation made many appearances in theater comedies, such as one Aristophanes play in which a slave character states that he indulges so frequently that his foreskin resembles the back of a whipped slave.

The philosopher Diogenes once masturbated before an audience while saying: “Would to Heaven that by rubbing my stomach in the same fashion, I could satisfy my hunger.” If only.

While masturbation was openly considered commonplace for the men of ancient Greece, it was not so for the women. Women were considered intrinsically asexual unless semen was entering their bodies. The notion of a woman pleasing herself would have gone against the ancient Greek’s understanding of sexuality and was not generally talked about.

As we can infer, this hardly means that ancient Greek women did not masturbate. In fact, women would often visit the spa -- a cornerstone of ancient life -- and were able to please themself in private using an olisbos, or an ancient dildo.

The ancient Romans were also typically accepting of male masturbation, though there was some debate as to whether or not wasting one’s seed was a productive act. Notoriously, poet Marcus Valerius Martialis said to his patron: “What you are losing between your fingers, Ponticus, is a human being.”, though he also said Veneri servit amica manus, or “thy hand serves as the mistress of thy pleasure”.

Though he spoke of masturbation openly, it seems like he didn’t quite know where he stood on the matter. This general indifference mirrors the overall attitude about masturbation at the time; overindulging might become a problem, but in large part no one was going to stop you.

The East: from Tantra to Ben Wa

Tantra, or a sexual philosophy founded in ancient India around 6000 years ago, has informed Asian sexual mores throughout recorded history.

In Asia, most forms of sexuality (including masturbation) were tolerated and sometimes even celebrated depending on what religion you belonged to. The illustrious “Kamasutra” was assembled in its most recognized form in around 200 CE, and offered India’s highest caste, the Brahmins, a guide to rough, erotic sex.

However, the Tantra does have a stipulation when it comes to masturbation. It was thought that a man should refrain from masturbation so that he may be a better lovemaker for his woman. It’s perhaps because of this stigma that masturbation (including wet dreams) eventually became a forbidden act for men that required atonement.

This advice was given to those men who had trouble shaking the habit: “If he is in great erotic straits, then let him put himself in water. If he is overwhelmed in sleep, then let him whisper in his soul thrice the prayer that cleanses sin away.”

Even today in yogic circles, masturbation is condemned as ejaculation is considered to be spiritually draining.

Outside of India, Tantric missionaries spread their sexual knowledge and mores to other parts of Asia. This transference of ideas can be clearly observed when taking a look at Taoism during China’s Han Dynasty (200 BC — 220 CE).

The Taoists went on to be the first Asian culture to produce a sex manual for everyday men and women (remember, the Kamasutra was originally only for the elite). Much like Tantra, Taoism permissed sexuality en masse, though it largely frowned on masturbation because ejaculation outside of a woman’s body was viewed as a loss of vital essence.

The Chinese painter Zhou Fang (c. 730–800 CE) created a set of scrolls which depicted an array of sexual acts and situations. These scrolls influenced Japan’s courtly art of the time and, by the 19th century, artists were producing woodblock-stamped erotica. It wasn’t uncommon for the stamped porn to depict male and even female masturbation.

Regarding female masturbation, Japan might be best known for the invention of the Ben Wa balls. These small balls could be inserted into the vagina for discreet masturbation. Some Ben Wa were hollow and held small, moving beads to create a light vibrating sensation that could be enjoyed when taking a walk or completing other physical tasks.

Ben Wa, perhaps better known today as kegel balls, are used for a variety of reasons besides masturbating, including strengthening the pelvic floor muscles.

Western World

The Western world enjoyed little of the sexual freedom that the East enjoyed, due in large part to varying religious beliefs. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, masturbation was viewed as sinful -- they lived by the mantra: “be fruitful and multiply.” In fact, St. Thomas Aquinas believed that masturbation was exponentially worse than rape, incest, and adultery, because at least those sins could result in procreation.

The Old Testament of the Bible (or the Torah, for Jews), is where we first see some notable masturbation shame. In Genesis 38, God demands that Onan marry the widow of his dead brother. Despite what God said, Onan did not “raise up seed to thy brother” -- he instead “wasted his seed on the ground”. For defying his command, God killed Onan for his wastefulness. There are, however, alternative interpretations of this text, as some historians believe Onan simply employed the “pull out” method.

Regardless of the true intent of the story, a masturbation ban was instituted in Jewish society, though, as we know, a ban hardly means no one is doing it.

Eventually in the Christian church, the moralists became more consumed by avoiding the perceived sinfulness of fornication than they were masturbation. In 1644, an anonymous medical tract actually encouraged masturbation, stating that it was an effective method in avoiding the temptation of women.

During the Enlightenment period in France, influential philosophers like Voltaire and Rousseau attributed many physical and mental diseases to masturbation. In Germany, Emanual Kant stated that masturbation was worse than suicide.

In Victorian England, masturbation was thought to lead to impaired morals, depression, social failure, epilepsy, tuberculosis, blindness, insanity, sterility, and early death. Since masturbation was thought to be so dangerous, many “cures” were developed to eliminate its practice.

Fear of masturbation became so prevalent that men would wear chastity belts or penis rings (the kind with spikes facing inward) so that they would be unable to achieve an erection. As a last resort, some chronic masturbators had their foreskin stapled shut, or were castrated. Yikes.

In the 19th-century, the sex research pioneer Richard von Krafft Ebing stated that masturbation was tied to homosexuality and other “deviances”. Around the same time, cornflakes were invented by John Kellogg, who believed them to be a part of a diet that decreased sex drive and masturbation. He viewed the latter as “doubly abominal”.

Women in Europe and the U.S. who suffered from “hysteria” -- or what we would later call sexual frustration -- were essentially given hand jobs by their doctors with placebo creams to bring about a “paroxysm” (because no one believed women could achieve orgasm without a penis present).

Interestingly enough, this process actually fortified trust for the medical system. Back then, medicine was primitive at best and seeing a physician was sometimes risky business. For the women who suffered from hysteria, it was often an easy-to-fix situation, and they would happily return as repeat patients.

Perhaps no one was more vocally opposed to masturbation than the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Freud “traced anxiety neurosis, obsession, narcissism, hysterical vomiting, repressed memories of infantile sexuality, and, arguably, guilt itself to the psyche's confrontation with its primal source of sexual satisfaction." Let’s just say, if you were a patient or follower of Freud, you probably weren’t engaged in care-free masturbating.

Modern Masturbation

It’s ironic that masturbation, which is arguably the safest, healthiest sexual act, wasn’t established as a normal adult activity in the West until the 1940s and 50s by Dr. Alfred Kinsey. Even now, we are not collectively free from the effects of hundreds of years of sexual repression and fear of masturbation.

Orthodox and Hasidic Jews still consider masturbation a sin, and wear undergarments which allow them to urinate without physically touching themselves. There is still some debate in Islam as to whether or not masturbation should be viewed as preferable to premarital sex.

But for most of us, we’ve come a long way from spiked cock rings.

Today, 1 in 3 women own at least one sex toy. In the United States, most people have reported masturbating -- the frequency of which depending on age, sex, health and sexual habits.

Studies conducted in the last 20 years have exposed that masturbation actually lowers a man’s risk of prostate cancer. For women, the positive benefits of masturbation are seemingly endless.

It’s important to note that even today, the gender-masturbation gap still persists; 95% men report masturbating to completion before the age of 20, while only 60% of women can say the same.

Is this because of internalized feminine shame? Is it because our genitals are debatably less accessible? Or is it because, for hundreds of years, women had little-to-no recorded history detailing the tradition of their masturbation. Even in our liberated modern moment, it seems that there are lingering impacts of historically being perceived to solely have a sexuality tied to men.

This is exactly why as women, continuing to learn about our bodies and sexual

function is an inherently radical act – we must express our history for ourselves and for the generations to come. And there’s a lot of lost time to account for.