性行为的基本类型

中世纪对自我性刺激的认识

在基督教里，对可能存在精液“浪费”的担忧也导致普遍反对男性手淫。然而，真实的情形是在《圣经》里，手淫从未被提及，基督徒只不过采用了犹太教传统的负面态度。

尽管如此，在中世纪的欧洲，手淫并未被当作一个不得了的问题。虽然它在各种各样的忏悔里被人责难，但是同一时期的其它神学和牧师的作品里几乎根本未曾提及它，或者以颇为婉转的风格有所涉及。甚至兴起于16世纪的普及性的教义问答手册也未曾刊载这个主题。乍一看，这种疏忽显得好生奇怪，但是当我们回溯中世纪有关性的概念仍旧比较狭义的时候，我们就能够明白这种疏忽的原委了。的确，那个时候，手淫这个特别的术语尚闻所未闻。而人们唯一公认的和确切的性活动类型：成人间的性交。因而，看起来至少妇女和儿童对于手淫还没有不得了的内疚感，只不过把它认作弛缓身体激惹现象的一个途径，把它类比于挠痒痒而已。

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.