性行為的基本類型

中世紀對自我性刺激的認識

在基督教裏，對可能存在精液“浪費”的擔憂也導致普遍反對男性手淫。然而，真實的情形是在《聖經》裏，手淫從未被提及，基督徒只不過採用了猶太教傳統的負面態度而已。

儘管如此，在中世紀的歐洲，手淫並未被當作一個不得了的問題。雖然它在各種各樣的懺悔裏被人責難，但是同一時期的其它神學和牧師的作品裏幾乎根本未曾提及它，或者以頗為婉轉的風格有所涉及。甚至興起於16世紀的普及性的教義問答手冊也未曾刊載這個主題。乍一看，這種疏忽顯得好生奇怪，但是當我們回溯中世紀有關性的概念仍舊比較狹義的時候，我們就能夠明白這種疏忽的原委了。的確，那個時候，手淫這個特別的術語尚聞所未聞。而人們唯一公認的和確切的性活動類型：成人間的性交。因而，看起來至少婦女和兒童對於手淫還沒有不得了的內疚感，只不過把它認作弛緩身體激惹現象的一個途徑，把它類比於撓癢癢而已。

1. Sexual Self-stimulation: History

Middle Ages

The concern over the possible "waste" of semen also led to a general disapproval of male masturbation in Christianity. While it is true that masturbation is never mentioned in the Bible, the Christians later simply adopted the traditional negative Jewish attitudes.
Still, in medieval Europe masturbation was not seen as much of a problem. While it was condemned in various penitential, the other theological and pastoral writings of the time hardly mentioned it at all, or referred to it in a rather oblique fashion. Even the popular catechisms that began to appear in the 16th century contained nothing on the subject. This omission may appear strange at first glance, but it becomes understandable when we remember that the medieval concept of sexuality was still relatively narrow. Indeed, the very term was unknown. Instead, people recognized only one kind of activity as being strictly sexual: coitus among adults. It seems, therefore, that at least women and children had no great feelings of guilt about masturbation, but simply thought of it as a way of relieving physical irritations, comparable to scratching.