|
|
|
|
Anti-masturbation devices
1 + 2 “Chastity belts” preventing erections (the second allows for urination)
3 + 4 Spiked penis rings preventing erections
|
|
|
In the course of the 19th century, more and more doctors linked masturbation to severe mental illness. As explained in 1867 by Henry Maudsley, the greatest British psychiatrist of his time, masturbatory insanity was "characterized by ... extreme perversion of feeling and corresponding derangement of thought, in earlier stages, and later by failure of intelligence, nocturnal hallucinations, and suicidal and homicidal propensities." In other words, masturbators were mad potential killers, and it seemed only prudent to have them locked up in an asylum.
To make matters worse, in its later stages the disease was considered incurable. All medical science could really do was to concentrate on the prevention and early detection of the disease. Parents were therefore advised to tie the hands of their children to the sides of the bed, or to make them wear mittens spiked with iron thorns. Special bandages and "chastity belts" were to render the sex organs inaccessible. Doctors with a knack for mechanics invented ingenious contraptions that would "protect" people from "abusing themselves". Finally, if everything else failed, surgery was recommended. The most popular surgical treatments were infibulation for males (i.e., putting a metal ring through the foreskin, thus preventing an erection) and clitoridectomy for females (i.e., cutting out the clitoris). However, cauterization and denervation of the sex organs and even castration were sometimes also deemed necessary.
Needless to say, all of these mechanical devices and surgical procedures constantly focused attention on the sex organs and their functions. Thus, it became nearly impossible for the "patients" to forget their "problem" even for a moment. Small wonder, then, that for many the concern with masturbation turned into a complete obsession.
|
