Masturbation Madness. 
 Written By: Jenne 
Masturbation was considered a life threatening affliction in the 1800s. So just how did the medical profession choose to cure the afflicted? Some of the prescribed treatments were to say the least barbaric but are well documented. 
The course of treatments in the 1800's falls into three distinct and progressive periods. Up until the 1850s, Doctors emphasized the use of hydrotherapy, diet and drugs. Between 1850 and 1880 the majority of the literature found advocated the use of surgery for curing the curse as it was often referred to. Then between the 1880s and the turn of the century Doctors turned more towards physical restraint and psychic terrorization. 
If you think that it was only males that were focused upon during this time you would be very wrong. Some of the treatments prescribed to cure women we more barbaric than those commonly used on men. In order to numb the sexual orgasms many doctors would use a variety of anesthetics. Many women were forced to take cold baths and adhere to special bland diets. As Kelloggs and his elk cited spicy and hot foods as a source of the cause of masturbation it followed that cold showers and a bland diet would be all that was needed to cure the patient. 
By the 1850s the cures had become much more brutal, ranging from blistering and cauterizing the genitals, clitoridectomy, sectioning of the penile nerves in men and in severe cases even castration. The most common method to treat women for the affliction was the use of caustic chemicals to sear the skin, hot irons and electric cauterization of the clitoris were very common. They didn't just stop at the clitoris though often blistering the patients thighs and spinal region in order to cure and beat back the impulses in someway.
Clitoridectomy was the preferred method of treatment for females in the mid eighteen hundreds. Dr. Isaac Baker Brown in England and members of the Orificial Surgical Society in the U.S. were avid proponents of this procedure. Baker Brown, in order to prevent what he modestly called “peripheral excitement,” founded the London Surgical Home where many female patients - adults as well as children - were operated on to free them from sexual slavery. In the U.S., Dr. M. Landesburg published his novel findings: that a number of women suffering from upper respiratory infections were cured when their masturbation was stopped through the use of the knife. In all cases, he found that the “morbid condition” was healed by surgery.
Remember this was a time of huge social structure, many women and children were now working as the industrial revolution took place. With this change came a heightened sexual anxiety among the rulers and owners. A perfect example of this is shown by “Influence of Sewing Machines Upon the Health and Morality of Females Using Them.” The authors of this article found that sweatshop seamstresses often suffered from heart palpitations, severe back pain, headache, eye strain and exhaustion. The cause? Not miserable working conditions but secret sexual pleasure from pumping the sewing machine treadles all day. Women, as cogs in the vast industrial system, were thought to be masturbating and many were “forced to quit the establishment on account of the fatigue, lassitude, pains, etc. superinduced by the venereal excitement incident to setting the machine in motion.” 
Upper class women too were afflicted by masturbational symptoms. Nubile daughters resistant to arranged marriages and wives who were unsatisfied with their lot in life were often brought to doctors for treatment. No surprise: masturbation was often discovered to be the cause of their “unsteady and peevish disposition tending toward anger, exaggerated timidity in the presence of parents, surly attitude toward strangers, profound idleness and tendency toward lying.” In short, authorities' obsession with masturbation was a symptom of their anxieties and a tool for social control.
As the twentieth century approached many began to question the often sadist practices used and a much greater emphasis began to be placed on psychological causes and also on physical restraint. Dr. I. Bloch, in The Sexual Life of Our Time, recounts with some fondness the technique of doctors “who appeared before the child armed with great knives and scissors and threatened a painful operation or even to cut off the genital organs” as an efficient way of preventing self-abuse. Thousands of children in this era where threatened with sexual mutilation if caught masturbating. 
Many devices to help a parent whose child was afflicted were sold and marketed and proved very popular. The hardest time for any parent to be vigilant was during the night, most of the devices sold were to catch out the persistent child during the night. More often than not they consisted of bells and buzzers that warned and alerted parents to the child's abuse. Others were cruder, but maybe more effective and took the form of toothed or spiked rims worn around the penis, so if a nocturnal erection occurred the patent would receive severe pain and sometimes bleeding. 
Another common method employed was to simply restrain the hands of the self abusers. It was not uncommon for a young girl to be made to sleep in sheepskin pants and jacket made into one garment, with her hands tied to a collar about her neck; her feet were tied to the footboard and by a strap about her waist she was fastened to the headboard so she could not slide down the bed and use her heels; she had been scolded, reasoned with and whipped, and in spite of it all she managed to keep up the habit. 
If this failed to cure the girl more drastic measures would be taken, she would be completely bound in canvas and splints as she slept. As late as 1928, The Mothercraft Manual read: “untiring zeal on the part of the mother or nurse is the only cure: It may be necessary to put the legs in splints before putting the child to bed.” 
Many girls and women were forced to wear what can be called chastity belts. Although commonly associated with the middle ages there is little fact to support the notion that Knights and Kings locked up their ladies in order to curb sexual impulses. The truth is these devices were invented in an era where Doctors were trying every method possible to stop girls from exploring their genitals with their fingers. 
One popular and well documented chastity belt design consisted of a cushion made out of rubber or some other soft material and suitably covered with silk, linen or soft leather. This cushion or pad formed the base into which was fixed a kind of grating, and this part of the apparatus rested upon the vulva, the pad being large enough to press upon the mons veneris. The lower part of the pad rested upon the perineum, being curved so as to fit the parts enclosed. The bars of the grating were to be made of ivory or bone. The whole apparatus was affixed by means of a belt to a pair of tight-fitting drawers and secured by a padlock, a secret flap closing over the key hole. 
As late as the 1930's medical equipment catalogues carried pictures of such devices. Just how many of them were sold is unknown but the very fact that reputable medical supplies made them available, that they were mentioned in so many textbooks and articles of the time indicates that they are probably among the most common and best kept secret of Victorian sexual life. 

It wasn't until the 1940's when the acceptance of theories such as those put for forward by Freud became more widely accepted that the belief that masturbation was bad began to fade. Even now though many of the myths of that era still pervade out culture. Fortunately the medical profession now looks for answers, scientific ones and ones not backed by hysteria and half known truths as was the case back in Kelloggs day. 
So next time you decide to pleasure yourself just think yourself lucky that you didn't live in many cases less than a hundred years ago!!