The Demonization

Masturbation is derived from the Latin words for hand (manus) and defilement (stupratio).^[1] That the word is generally used without thought given to the defilement origins highlights that culturally we have moved on from a time when the act was inextricably linked to filth. While attitudes towards sex may have liberalized, masturbation is still routinely thought about—and portrayed—as something negative. While it is effortlessly detected in a wide range of screen narratives, the most obvious depiction—and the focus of this chapter—is its presentation as something negative; as behavior worth mocking and laughing at, to be pitied or considered embarrassing. Attitudes may have softened since the Victorian heyday of demonization, but the screen routinely presents variants of the idea that autoeroticism is taboo. This taboo—reflecting entrenched disgust about bodily fluids, discomfort centered on genitals and distaste for solo sexual behavior—provides a starting point for a discussion about masturbation as bad. Bad, of course, covers the spectrum from something uncomfortable to discuss through to it being construed as a gateway to madness, criminality and illness, and it is the gamut of bad media portrayals that are examined in this chapter.

The Language of Sin

Euphemism and circumlocutions have long been used to discuss difficult topics^[2]: their regular deployment in the context of masturbation helps to exhibit our discomfort. Such discomfort may stem from the word’s clinical mouth feel but is likely also connected to embarrassment and shame: the famous masturbation-themed “The Contest” episode of the sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998) offers a particularly good example of this. The entire episode was about masturbation and yet the word itself was never used. The episode opened with George (Jason Alexander) admitting, “My mother caught me . . . I was alone . . . ” The character didn’t need to say anything else—nor be more explicit about his actions—George’s circumlocutions provided sufficient information to inform the audience about his shameful experience.^[3] The large number of euphemisms that exist for masturbation^[4] achieve a variety of different ends ranging from buffering personal shyness, avoiding offence and even soliciting humor. In my book American Taboo: The Forbidden Words, Unspoken Rules, and Secret Morality of Popular Culture I discussed stacked euphemisms used on screen to add a madcap, hyperbolic feel to a scene. Specifically, I discussed stacked euphemisms in the context of penis references whereby a barrage of euphemisms were used in monologues for comic effect. Stacked euphemisms for masturbation are also readily apparent on screen. In the comedy There’s Something About Mary (1998), for example, Dom (Chris Elliott) asked his friend (Ben Stiller) about his pre-date self-stimulation plans:

In the suburban-drama American Beauty (1999), when Lester (Kevin Spacey) was caught masturbating by his wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), a similar stacking of euphemisms transpired:

Stacked euphemisms were also used in an episode of the fantasy series Game of Thrones (2011–) when Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) confessed to the masturbation of his childhood:

In an episode of the medical-drama House (2004–2012) female masturbation euphemisms were stacked when the titular doctor (Hugh Laurie) tried to explain childhood masturbation to an anxious mother, delicately detailing that her daughter had been, “Saying yoo hoo to the hoo. . . . Marching the penguin. Ya-ya-ing the sisterhood. Finding Nemo.”

The sheer number of different euphemisms for masturbation were also well illustrated by the puritanical father character, Harvey (Steve Pemberton), in the British sketch-comedy series The League of Gentlemen (1999–2002). Harvey was obsessed with preventing his nephew, Benjamin (Reece Shearsmith), from masturbating and would frequently mention it: “forever indulging himself in the pleasures of the palm,” “cavorting with Madam Palm and her five daughters” and “spraying your belly with hot white love piss.”

Whether their use is motivated by shame, coyness, conservativism or humor,^[5] euphemisms in these scenes stimulate a wider range of emotions than the word masturbation could on its own: clean the pipes, making the bald man cry and white hot love piss for example, each explicitly reference ejaculation in a way that the more clinical term does not. Equally, and something discussed later in this chapter, many euphemisms involve reference to animals: a subtle way to demonize the practice. While the negativity of a euphemism like choking the chicken reiterates the idea that masturbation is widely considered embarrassing (if not also immature as discussed in chapter 2), others such as self-abuse more explicitly spotlight the negativity and demonization.

In a scene from the period-drama The Road to Wellville (1994)—a film about Doctor John Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins), who in real life was known for his strident anti-masturbation views^[6]—masturbation was declared as “the silent killer of the night! The vilest sin of self-pollution! It is the sin of Onan!” Similar verbal disparaging transpired in another period-drama, The Ice Storm (1997), when Ben (Kevin Kline) gave his adolescent son, Paul (Tobey Maguire), a brief lecture about “self-abuse.” The “dangers of self-abuse” were also identified in the school-drama The History Boys (2006), as well as in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–). In one episode, Leonard (Johnny Galecki) attempted cybersex with his girlfriend Priya (Aarti Mann) but was interrupted when his roommate, Sheldon (Jim Parsons), called out from another room: “Please let me know when you and your girlfriend are done hogging the bandwidth for your self-abuse. I’m trying to stream a movie on Netflix in here.” Sheldon used the same phrase in another episode when he tried to coerce Leonard to have sex with a university benefactor, arguing, “Given how much time you spend engaging in pointless self-abuse, you might consider just this once using your genitalia to actually accomplish something!” Monica (Courteney Cox) in an episode of the sitcom Friends (1994–2004) used a similar term of disparagement when telling her friend, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), that she had sprung her boyfriend masturbating: “I caught him molesting himself!” After Carolyn caught Lester masturbating in American Beauty, she similarly branded the act as “disgusting!”

While The Road to Wellville was set in the early twentieth century and was explicitly about the puritanical views of Kellogg and the Victorian era, and while The Ice Storm was set in the 1970s and Ben was only just adjusting to changing sexual mores, The History Boys, The Big Bang Theory, Friends and American Beauty are contemporary narratives that are each abreast of comparatively more liberal views on sexuality and yet also highlight that autoeroticism has not yet been absolved of stigma, embarrassment, nor can it easily be spoken about frankly.

While euphemisms are a subtle way to frame masturbation negatively, the act can also be demonized more explicitly through dialogue. In an episode of the animated series Futurama (1999–), during a scene where a robot sex education documentary was screened, the narrator reassured the class, “everything your body does is natural”—two teen robots in the class high-five each other—“Except masturbation. That’s just wrong.” The teen robots hung their heads in shame. As in The Big Bang Theory and Friends, Futurama is a contemporary comedy and thus such a scene delivers dual messages of a) everybody masturbates—even robots!—but b) reminds audiences that the practice is not without baggage, shame nor vocal detractors.

Throughout this chapter I examine a variety of ways that the evils of masturbation—mostly, but not exclusively male masturbation—get presented on screen. The starting point is religion: many depictions are grounded in the idea that self-stimulation is a sacrilege.

The Masturbatory Sacrilege

In The Road to Wellville, Dr. Kellogg condemned masturbation by referencing the sin of Onan. In an episode of the detective-series Elementary (2012–), Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) described serial killers as “chronic Onanists the lot of them.” Onan was also mentioned by Harvey in The League of Gentlemen who, in one episode, insisted on having a few words with his nephew “on the subject of Onanism.” While comprehensive cultural histories of masturbation exist elsewhere,^[7] suffice it to say, Kellogg, Sherlock and Harvey were referencing the Genesis story, centered on Onan, a man “who spilled his seed upon the ground rather than into the wife of his dead brother and was struck down.”^[8] As historian Thomas Laqueur explained in his book Solitary Sex, the Onan story formed the basis for a highly influential eighteenth century book titled Onania and, resultantly, “A new, secular morality was thus forged, articulated, amplified and legitimated in the language of medicine.”^[9] Kellogg, along with many doctors and influential thinkers of the time, embraced Onania’s ideas that masturbation was inextricably bound to physical and mental illness and was thus condemnable.

While today, the vast majority of health practitioners consider masturbation fine, healthy and completely untroublesome (chapter 9), Christian literature is still the go-to place to witness masturbation described as “one of the most powerful demons.”^[10] On screen and narratives frequently exploit faith-based disapproval. A relatively tame example transpired in the series Gossip Girl (2007–2012). Blair (Leighton Meester) was lying in bed masturbating when she was interrupted by her maid, Dorota (Zuzanna Szadkowski), who warned her, “Don’t forget, God is always watching, Miss Blair.”^[11] Such themes are taken substantially further in the horror film The Exorcist (1973). The film included one of cinema’s most famous and controversial scenes where the demonic possession of adolescent Regan (Linda Blair) was demonstrated when she thrust a crucifix between her legs. In line with some fundamentalist Christian thinking—alleging that the devil seizes the opportunity to enter a body during “sinful” acts such as masturbation^[12]—in The Exorcist autoeroticism was presented as disconnected to pleasure and simply, and crudely, indicative of a devil presence. Such devil-made-me-do-it/possession themes are identifiable elsewhere. In the Hungarian drama Ópium: Egy elmebeteg nö naplója (Opium: Diary of a Madwoman) (2007), the asylum’s new doctor (Ulrich Thomsen) first met the madwoman of the title, Gizella (Kirsti Stubø), when he saw her alone in her cell masturbating and screaming about the “evil one.” These themes were also evident in the French film Les démons (She-Demons) (1973), the English film Cruel Passion (1977), the Italian film La profezia (Obscene Desire) (1978) and the New Zealand film The Ferryman (2007). In each narrative, a character’s possession was proven via a horrific public autoerotic display. More common however, are religious-themed narratives where masturbation is simply named as sinful.

In the thriller Camp Hope (2010), the head priest (Bruce Davison) harangued the campers about the evils of masturbation, warning them that doing so provides a portal for the devil. In the Catholic-themed films Angela’s Ashes (1999) and Heaven Help Us (1985), boys formally confessed to their masturbatory “sins.” In the comedy-drama Don Jon (2013), the Catholic porn-addicted title character (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) repeatedly confessed his masturbation to his priest. Such confessions also transpired in the Irish drama Calvary (2014). In episodes of the animated series The Simpsons (1989–) and The Drew Carey Show (1995–2004) male characters referenced being sent to hell for their masturbation. In the drama Saint Ralph (2004), Catholic schoolboy Ralph (Adam Butcher) was caught rubbing his genitals against a rope; a priest punished him by forcing him to join the track team. In the Mexican thriller El quinto mandamiento (The Fifth Commandment) (2012), Victor (Guillermo Iván) recounted a story about being taken to a priest after his devout mother had caught him masturbating.

While The Exorcist, Ópium, Les démons, Cruel Passion and La profezia offered simplistic examples of Catholic anti-masturbation messages—and while Saint Ralph perfectly illustrated the Catholic idea of channelling energies into physical activity to thwart sexual impulses—in the other narratives the position on autoeroticism is less dogmatic. In Angela’s Ashes, Heaven Help Us and Don Jon for example, that the boys continued to masturbate despite Catholic orthodoxy subtly implies that religion and prohibitions on self-stimulation are futile in the face of raging hormones. In fact, two of these films presented the abolitionist stance as inextricably linked to hypocrisy. In Heaven Help Us, the priest—on hearing the confessions of his students—fled from his confessional box, seemingly very hot and bothered by their accounts. In El quinto mandamiento, the priest to whom Victor was sent for absolution, actually molested him. These films both articulate the Church’s anti-masturbation message, but also offer a subtle sermon about the potentially abusive downside of repressed sexuality.

One interesting element to these films is the role of gender. While the masturbation of the boys in Angela’s Ashes and Heaven Help Us was presented as technically sinful it was also presented as pretty much normal male behavior. The idea of masturbation depicted as normal is addressed further in chapter 10, but worth noting here is the gender difference in these religion-themed examples. In The Exorcist, Ópium, Les démons, Cruel Passion and La profezia—examples where females masturbated—instead of the act being portrayed as normal or inevitable, the undercurrent was that the act was the devil’s work. Such presentations reference pervasive ideas about women’s sex drives presumed as lower than men’s and thus imply that a woman needs a good reason to masturbate such as devil possession. A variant on this interpretation is that possession grants women the opportunity to masturbate—something otherwise unavailable to them in their repressive cultures—by virtue of it not being their fault; the devil made me do it.^[13]

While likely originating in the idea that masturbation is unholy is a more common presentation that it is—as physician John Meagher noted in his 1936 book on the subject—routinely considered “unclean.”^[14]

Dirty Masturbation

In an episode of the sitcom Roseanne (1988–1997)—centered on the masturbation of the youngest son DJ (Michael Fishman)—the family were about to sit down for dinner. Dan (John Goodman) asked his son, “DJ, did you wash your hands?” to which sister Darlene (Sarah Gilbert) interjected, “God, I hope so.” This scene provides a literal and humorous presentation of masturbation as dirty: that hands would be unclean and that the masturbator is unclean; spiritually and literally.^[15] In his book on disgust, cultural theorist Winfried Menninghaus provided an overview of the kinds of bodily attributes that conjure disgust: “Folds, wrinkles, warts, excessive softness, visible or overly large bodily openings, discharge of bodily fluids (nasal, pus, blood), and old age are registered . . .”^[16] In line with such disgust triggers, it is no surprise that Darlene—who is likely thinking about the end result of successful male masturbation: ejaculation—would find its presence at the dinner table abhorrent. A different spin on disgust was apparent in an episode of the satirical show Jon Stewart (1996–) when the host quipped, “Nothing promotes abstinence as well as the image of [political commentator] James Carville masturbating.” Stewart’s comment, while facetious, implied that watching someone—notably a man—masturbate is unpleasant; that the act is somehow too horrible to be exposed to. This situation reflects an interesting double standard discussed throughout this book: there are innumerable examples of sexualized female masturbation but a noticeable paucity of equivalent male presentations. When men masturbate on screen there is frequently an undercurrent of revulsion.

In Roseanne and Jon Stewart, the disgust is spoken about. In other examples however, the horror is actually explicitly shown. In line with the tendency for comedies to solicit laughter from bodily fluids,^[17] scenes exist where disgust centers on public ejaculation and the horror of semen-made-visible. In an episode of the British teen-series The Inbetweeners (2008–2010) for example, Jay (James Buckley), was volunteering at a nursing home. The character soon got bored and snuck into a tenant’s room to masturbate. Jay thought the room was unoccupied, he was wrong, and after being sprung by the tenant who was actually lying in her bed, a nurse and the tenant’s son entered the room just as he finished. Jay shook hands with the son and in doing so transferred the semen from his hand. Mentioned earlier was Something About Mary. In one of the film’s most famous scene, Ted’s ejaculation, unbeknownst to him, landed on his ear: his date, Mary (Cameron Diaz), removed the white substance and spread it through her hair under the impression that it was styling gel. Along similar lines, in the Canadian romantic-comedy Love, Sex and Eating the Bones (2003), Michael (Hill Harper) and Jasmine (Marlyne Barrett) were having phone sex. Michael was at work and just as he ejaculated he accidentally did so over his colleague who had unexpectedly entered the office. The same thing happened in the teen-comedy Grandma’s Boy (2006): Alex (Allen Covert) was masturbating in the bathroom at his friend’s house when his friend’s mother entered. Alex turned to her and—seemingly unable to halt his momentum—ejaculated all over her as she screamed in horror. Semen-made-visible is often framed as funny in teen comedies; in American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (2006), for example, Erik (John White) was masturbating when his parents and grandmother unexpectedly walked in on him and got hit with his semen. In each scene, the comedy centered on the “grotesqueness” of a private—a sexual—substance being made public and worse, being put onto the body of someone else.

The mere presence of semen in public space can also be the basis for comedy. In the black-comedy Happiness (1998), Allen (Philip Seymour Hoffman) ejaculated onto his bedroom wall. He ended up leaving his semen there and affixing a postcard.^[18] In another scene adolescent Billy (Rufus Read) masturbated standing on the balcony while staring at a woman sunbathing: he ejaculated onto the balcony rail. Billy’s semen was then licked up by the family dog who then licked Billy’s mother on the mouth. In the suburban-drama The Squid and the Whale (2005), young Frank (Owen Kline) masturbated by rubbing himself against a shelf at the school library; afterwards, he wiped his semen on the books. In an episode of the animated series South Park (1997–), Randy masturbated to Internet porn. His loud moans attracted attention: when he was sprung, he—and his computer and the walls—were covered in semen. Randy tried to argue that “a spooky ghost” had slimed him. More than simple amusement, these scenes boast numerous layers of negativity. Firstly, visible semen can be interpreted as referencing the masturbatory sin of spilled—or wasted—semen.^[19] Secondly, they each link with Menninghaus’ ideas about disgust centered on bodily fluids. A third element is underpinned by some of the key anxieties about male masturbation: in this case, the inevitable tell-tale signs of the act. While women can disguise their arousal as well as their orgasms,^[20] men cannot and thus are acutely aware of the capacity for their bodies to betray them and expose their sins.^[21] Also apparent in both scenes—and a theme explored later in this chapter—is that Frank in The Squid and the Whale and Allen and Billy in Happiness were both socially awkward: that in each narrative their masturbatory grotesqueness helped prove their weirdness.

In this section I have discussed presentations of masturbation that I interpret as being illustrations of disgust. While such themes might be construed as testimony to moralistic undercurrents, another explanation is that the screen simply reflects real life anxieties: that despite a general liberalizing of attitudes towards sex, that some people do still find autoeroticism disgusting. A woman for example, was quoted in sex researcher Shere Hite’s work claiming, “When I masturbate I psychologically feel guilty or disgusted with myself.”^[22] In public health researchers Nathalie Bartle and Susan Abel Lieberman’s book Venus in Blue Jeans, a similar position was expressed by a girl who had just learned about masturbation at school: “it’s disgusting—people who sit around and play with themselves.”^[23] While it is difficult to gauge how widespread such disgust is, it seems unsurprising that some people, both off screen and on, would feel varying degrees of discomfort with it, in line with deeply embedded negative cultural attitudes.

Discussed earlier in the context of the demonic-possession narratives was masturbation functioning as a reveal to an audience that a character is dangerous: that they are perhaps possessed by the devil as in The Exorcist or sexually maladjusted like the characters in Happiness and The Squid and the Whale. Masturbation serving as a red flag to a character’s problems is also widely identifiable.

Masturbation and a Sexuality Most Dangerous

While The Exorcist, Les démons, Cruel Passion, La profezia and The Ferryman presented extreme—and rather literal—examples of masturbation connoting the presence of evil, for most narratives, the undercurrent is less about devil possession and more generally a way to cast a character, particularly a woman, as troubled. In Cyndi Lauper’s masturbation-themed song “She Bop” (1984), the singer lamented that she needed to “stop messin’ with the danger zone.” The idea of female genitals as a kind of danger zone—and of women’s sexuality as something to fear—is certainly not a new presentation: the genre of horror, for example, is arguably premised on men’s fears of female sexuality.^[24] More so than just generalized fears of mysterious bleeding and cavernous, penis-devouring/baby-making bodies, masturbation showcases a woman’s ability to sexually pleasure herself without a man. That women can get themselves off without a penis—and in turn be sexually independent—can be read as threatening to men who attach value to their prowess as lovers.^[25] Taken further, the idea of a woman bucking expectations of chastity and decorum and instead electing to indulge in carnal pleasures conveys to the audience that at best, the female character is not “normal” (at least not normal in the context of the screen’s parameters), and at worst, that she is a threat to the very fabric of society.^[26]

The scariness of the masturbating woman is depicted in a variety of ways. At a tame level is the simple threat of her being sexually knowledgeable; that she is worth fearing because she knows as much—if not more—about sex and pleasure as a man; that in turn, any of his prowess-shortcomings will soon be exposed.

On screen and the threat of the sexually self-sufficient woman was illustrated well in the love triangle film An American Affair (1997). While Sam (Corbin Bernsen) was in the bedroom with Geneveve (Maryam d’Abo), Barbara (Jayne Heitmeyer) phoned him and spoke seductively as she masturbated. Her sexuality—her brazenness and bravado—was presented as an assault to Sam’s relationship with Genevieve: there was Barbara, sexually self-sufficient and subtly sexually aggressive, tempting Sam into a world of sin and sexual excess. Barbara in fact, can be likened to Alex (Glenn Close) in the thriller Fatal Attraction (1987): the affair-partner-who-wants-more and is using her sexuality as a tool of manipulation.^[27] (Such ideas are discussed further in chapter 6).

Female sexuality as dangerous is also alluded to via self-stimulation scenes in dramas The Safety of Objects (2001) and Ashes and Sand (2003) as well as in the British series Skins (2007–), whereby masturbation connotes that a female character has become wayward, deviant. In The Safety of Objects, early into the film adolescent Julie (Jessica Campbell) lay in her backyard masturbating. Her masturbation—alongside behavior such as sneaking out of her window at night—was a shorthand way to frame her as wild. In line with research indicating that adolescents sometimes sexually act out for attention and because they lack other kinds of affection^[28] —and also illustrative of the show-don’t-tell mantra of the screen—Julie’s masturbation functioned to reveal that she was on a path to “ruin”. Something similar transpired in the British film Ashes and Sand when teenager Hayley (Lara Belmont) masturbated alone in her bedroom. Hayley was in a violent girl gang and in this scene her self-stimulation worked to present her, like Julie, as out-of-control. In Skins, adolescent Lucy’s (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) growing obsession with Maxxie (Mitch Hewer) reached an apex when she broke into his home while he was out and masturbated on his bed. The masturbation established Lucy as being without appropriate social and sexual boundaries; her self-stimulation was indicative of just how far she had “fallen.” Each example presents an interesting, and notably gendered idea, that when a girl masturbates it is often symptomatic of personal characteristics other than merely horniness. A theme identifiable throughout this book is that male characters are routinely allowed to masturbate simply because they are horny, but that sane and well-adjusted women don’t masturbate, and that those who do are often on a path to self-destruction.

Taking things a few steps further is the female masturbator presented as explicitly dangerous; that masturbation is a clue to her forthcoming worse behavior. In a 1993 newspaper article, Ryan Murphy referred to this issue in his discussion about the thriller The Temp (1993):

In a scene from The Temp, the title character, Kris (Lara Flynn Boyle) masturbated; she turned out to be a serial killer. Kris’ autoeroticism was an early sign that she was not merely a little weird but dangerous. Murphy also mentioned Single White Female, a film that utilized depictions of masturbation similarly. Allison (Bridget Fonda) advertised for a roommate and got Hedra (Jennifer Jason Leigh). In one scene Allison heard noises in the night; she approached Hedra’s room and saw her new roommate masturbating. While Allison stood at the door nursing a puppy—looking every bit the picture of innocence—her new roommate’s autoeroticism functioned as an early clue to both Hedra’s madness (addressed in the next section) and notably her dangerousness; Hedra became, predictably, an obsessive stalker. In the thriller Stoker (2013), in an early scene, teenager India (Mia Wasikowska) was seated on a piano stool close to her seemingly dangerous uncle Charles (Matthew Goode). India was clearly aroused by her uncle’s physical presence and squeezed her thighs together in a subtle allusion to self-pleasuring. Later in the film, after Charles killed India’s would-be rapist, India masturbated in the shower to thoughts of the death. Her masturbation was key in the revelation of India’s own penchant for violence (as well as her sexual interest in her uncle). The theme of masturbation being entwined with female scariness—of the woman-out-of-control—is widely identifiable. In the French horror film Regarde la Mer (See the Sea) (1997), Sasha (Sasha Hails) was a sociopathic drifter: a scene where she masturbated “proved” her evil. In the horror film The Captives (2011), Sandy (Emily Haack) masturbated with a broom handle. Sandy was a murderer and torturer so her masturbation was simply an extension of her badness. For a woman to prioritize her own pleasure—without involvement of a man—casts her as unusually brazen, and most notably, as potentially threatening to social order in ways in-synch with the violence she commits.^[30] For a woman to allow herself to let this private act become public—even if it is only “public” because it is on screen—proves her evil.

Masturbation of course, can similarly be used to cast a male character as bad. Quoted earlier was Sherlock in Elementary linking serial killers to masturbation by describing them as “chronic onanists the lot of them.” In the aforementioned episode of Roseanne, Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) warned her daughter Darlene not to tease DJ about his masturbation: “I don’t want you to give him any grief about this you know, because you can traumatize him and turn him into a serial killer.” In the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), the masturbation/murder link was again made in a metanarrative scene where Sarah (Kristen Bell)—playing a detective on a crime-themed television show—mentioned a hunch that the killer masturbated prior to his crimes. While humorous in these scenes, the link between male masturbation and criminality is widely identifiable. Film theorist Greg Tuck describes them as “mad male masturbators” and referenced scenes from Silence of the Lambs (1991), Quills (2000) and Psycho (1998). A particularly good example transpired in the Spanish thriller Matador (1986). The film opened with the protagonist Diego (Nacho Martinez) masturbating while watching slasher films. Matador’s director, Pedro Almodóvar, explained that he chose such an opener because “[t]hat way, I’m already linking him to death. . . . In this sequence, I’m also explaining that what turns him on the most is the woman about to die from a violent death. This preference will be reinforced later in the film.”^[31] Later, it is discovered that Diego had murdered several young girls and, as Almodóvar noted, his masturbation was an early clue to his violent turn-ons. The thriller The Cell (1999) was also about a serial killer, Carl (Vincent D’Onofrio), who abducted, murdered and then bleached the bodies of young women. Carl in fact, masturbated over the corpses while watching video recordings of their murders. In the Irish mystery series The Fall (2013–), the serial killer (Jamie Dornan) masturbated to photos he had taken at crime scenes. In the opening scene of the mystery Afterschool (2008), Robert (Ezra Miller) masturbated to porn involving strangulation; by the end of the film he had committed murder. In a scene from the suburban-drama Little Children (2006) similar ideas are apparent: at their end of their first date, Sheila (Jane Adams) and registered sex offender, Ronnie (Jackie Earl Haley), were in her car, parked outside a school playground. Ronnie had asked Sheila to turn off the car lights, and Sheila spoke at length about the last guy she had gone out with, commenting, “I don’t want to be dating some psycho.” It was at her mention of the word psycho that Sheila—and the audience—became aware that Ronnie was masturbating; doing so while on a date rendered him bad, if not—as addressed in the next section—psycho too. In these examples, the characters aren’t just presented as a little weird, rather, their masturbation is what frames them as truly creepy and dangerous; that they might be a murderer or power-drunk or a pedophile, but it is their masturbation that truly proves their loathsomeness.

Apparent in the examples discussed in this section are not just themes of masturbation being a red flag to forthcoming danger and violence, rather, of evidence that a character is both a masturbator and dangerous; a toxic combination and one likely indicative of madness: that more than just criminals, these characters are kooks.

Masturbatory Madness

In a scene from the teen-comedy American Pie: The Wedding (2003), Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) commented, “Oh, Jim . . . you gotta stop masturbating . . . it’s melting your brain.” In the Seinfeld masturbation episode discussed earlier, Estelle (Estelle Harris)—after catching her son George masturbating—announced, “I want you to go see a psychiatrist.” These examples tap into an idea apparent in both historic literature and contemporary popular culture about masturbation and madness being entwined.

Reflecting the kinds of sexually repressive attitudes prominent in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Christian founder of the Boy Scout movement, Robert Baden-Powell—noteworthily, a contemporary of, and sharing similar anti-masturbation views to Dr. Kellogg, discussed earlier—told his regiment that masturbation “brings with it weakness of head and heart, and if, if persisted in, idiocy and lunacy.”^[32] Along similar lines, Meagher discussed the “minor nervous and moral upsets”^[33] that patients often attributed to their masturbation. Laqueur summarized the logic:

In an episode of the crime-drama The Bridge (2013–), after a suspect was apprehended, Detective Tim Cooper (Johnny Dowers) despondently mused, “that dude is going to plead insanity and spend the rest of his days beating off and knitting socks.”^[35] While this remark highlights the often hypothesized connection between masturbation and mental illness, in many other examples an act of autoeroticism actually does prove mental illness. In the Australian family-drama The Black Balloon (2008), Charlie (Luke Ford) randomly started masturbating at the dinner table: this was, seemingly, a display of his autism. In the thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Kevin (Ezra Miller) masturbated in his bedroom with his door open: he knew that his mother could see him but he continued, a devilish smirk on his face. While Kevin wasn’t diagnosed in the film, his masturbation was “proof” that he had some kind of mental condition; by the end of the film, it is revealed that he was responsible for a high school shooting. In the drama A Dangerous Woman (1993), the intellectually-challenged Martha (Debra Winger) masturbated alone in her bedroom. In the crime-drama Happy Face Murders (1999), the intellectually-challenged Tracy (Emily Hampshire), did so on a beach: her madness was illustrated by her doing it in public (and then barking like a dog). In the opening scene of the drama The Master (2012), Freddie (Joaquin Phoenix) was introduced as a drunk, shown crazed and roaming the beach; he eventually stopped to masturbate. In an episode of the biker-drama Sons of Anarchy (2008–), the following exchange transpired between Clay (Ron Perlman), Chuck (Michael Marisi Ornstein) and Piney (William Lucking):

Black Balloon, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Happy Faced Murders, The Master and Sons of Anarchy each presented masturbation as linked to mental illness but more than just the mere act, the madness-aspect was proven by the public nature of it: that Charlie in The Black Balloon, Kevin in We Need to Talk About Kevin, Tracy in Happy Face Murders, Freddie in The Master and Chuck in Sons of Anarchy each masturbated in front of other people made it explicit just how foreign their social mores are and how threatening such characters are to social order.^[36]

Laqueur made specific mention of the connection between incarceration and masturbation and this is something that the screen showcases via scenes where locked-up characters—both in asylums as well as in prisons—masturbate, thus providing subtle justification for them being kept away from sane and polite society. While prison masturbation is discussed in chapter 5, the idea of asylum masturbation is focused on here. The Italian horror film La bestia uccide a sangue freddo (Slaughter Hotel) (1971) for example, was well summarized by communications theorist Danny Shipka: “Get a bunch of whack jobs in an asylum run by Club Med who are prone to masturbation and perverse sexual impulses . . .”^[37] In one scene, a patient—Anne (Rosalba Neri)—“suffering” from incest fantasies, masturbated. In the Italian biopic Prendimi l'anima (The Soul Keeper) (2002), Sabina (Emilia Fox)—also a patient at a mental institution—masturbated while crying. In the Japanese romantic-drama Veronika wa shinu koto ni shita (Veronika Decides to Die) (2005), as well as in the U.S. version (2009), the title character masturbated while in a mental institution. The second series of the television series American Horror Story (2011–) was set in an asylum and one of the characters, Shelley (Chloë Sevigny), was a nymphomaniac who masturbated compulsively. In the comedy-drama Secretary (2002), Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) lay on her bed masturbating: she had only just been released from a mental institution.

In each of these examples, a subtle message is conveyed that autoeroticism is the behavior of a crazy person: that the mentally ill are erratic, have different values to sane society and are less able to control themselves, akin to animals.

While thus far I have implied that presenting “crazy” people masturbating is a way to demonize masturbation, this is only one explanation. Historian and sexologist Vern Bullough addressed the masturbation/madness link and contended, “Undoubtedly, masturbation filled the time of people confined with other mentally ill and mentally compromised persons.”^[38] The idea that the incarcerated simply have time to fill, is worth examining. Masturbation is rarely something that can drive a narrative and is usually included to reveal something about a character; i.e., that they are mad or bad. Worth considering however, is that it can also say something about a character’s circumstances: being incarcerated is likely a situation that is boring and thus autoeroticism can occupy time, depict the tedium of circumstances and also work to display uncouthness (Masturbation and boredom are explored further in chapter 10).

Even without formal diagnoses, the screen frequently offers examples where the strangeness of a character is conveyed through self-stimulation. In discussing the comedy The Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) for example, Tuck referenced the character Rita (Marisa Tomei) who dubbed her vibrator as her “boyfriend”: “This clearly links masturbation with the mentally unstable Rita.”^[39] Comparatively subtle forms of crazy conveyed through masturbation are identifiable in numerous narratives. In a scene from the historical-drama Manderlay (2005) for example, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) masturbated and the narrator mentioned the character’s madness:

Vague madness also transpired in a scene from the romantic-drama Hollywood Dreams (2006): aspiring actress Margie (Tanna Federick) masturbated to a local newspaper article about herself. While not explained in the narrative, Margie’s behavior presented her as vain to the point of mild madness. In an episode of the sitcom Louie (2010–), Jeanie’s (Chloë Sevigny) madness was illustrated similarly when, after a brief argument with the title character (Louis C.K.)—and while still seated with him in a bar—masturbated to orgasm. In the Chinese action film Xia dao Gao Fei (Full Contact) (1992), the nymphomaniac character “Virgin” (Bonnie Fu) was a passenger during a car chase. She, laughingly, masturbated throughout, trying to get the driver, Gou Fei (Yun-Fat Chow), to participate. Unlike the examples discussed earlier—where characters had diagnosed mental issues—Grace, Margie, Jeanie and the Virgin weren’t officially crazy but their masturbation certainly gave hint to it.

Something uniting many of these mad masturbators is that in most examples masturbation is the only sex we see them engaged in. In my book Part-Time Perverts: Sex, Pop Culture and Kink Management, one definition of perversion I examined was it being a constant preference for the kinky; a position explained by psychiatrist Mervin Glasser:

Psychiatrist Thomas Hora connected the same definition to autoeroticism contending that “masturbation as a substitution for intercourse with a beloved person when the opportunity for intercourse is not available is unhealthy and inauthentic.”^[41]

Masturbation as a preference—as a character’s chosen sexual expression—highlights another way to read these scenes as indicative of madness; that to actively choose sex with yourself is “crazy.” A comic discussion of this idea transpired in the teen-comedy American Pie (1999). Jim’s dad (Eugene Levy) was reassuring his son (Jason Biggs) that masturbation was completely normal. At one point however, Jim’s dad hesitated and said, “You do want a partner, don’t you son?” According to his reasoning, masturbation is only okay if it is transitional and not the constantly chosen or preferred sexual conduct: choosing or preferring it raises maladjustment concerns.

While thus far I have focused on psychological sickness, masturbation has an equally strong screen connection to more physical maladies.

Masturbation and Sickness

Mentioned earlier was Laqueur’s post hoc, ergo propter—after this, therefore because of this—explanation about masturbation and sickness, i.e., self-selecting individuals who are already ill mention masturbation in consultations. Amongst the conditioned linked to autoeroticism, Laqueur identified “spinal tuberculosis, epilepsy, pimples, madness and other infirmities, general wasting, and hundreds of other diseases.”^[42] Historian Alexandra Lord similarly identified a range of health complaints frequently connected to the activity:

In an 1887 issue of the British Gynaecological Journal, it was alleged that masturbation caused women’s pubic hair to lose its curliness,^[44] and in feminists Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English’s work on sickness they summarized alleged health consequences including menstrual dysfunction, uterine disease, and lesions on the genitals.^[45] Martha Cornog in her Big Book of Masturbation went so far as to contend that there are, in fact, no diseases that masturbation has not been linked to.^[46]

While the belief in masturbation’s harmful side effects subsided in the last decades of the twentieth century,^[47] the screen showcases strong familiarity with the practice’s troubled past. In extreme examples it is even linked with death—in comedies Clerks (1994) and Idiocracy (2006) for example, male characters died during heart attacks had while masturbating—but more common are less fatal maladies such as weakness, blindness and palm hair.

In Heaven Help Us discussed earlier, Williams (Stephen Geoffreys)—the chronic masturbator—was presented as twitchy and excessively nervous and in one scene even collapsed during church after getting too aroused watching the priest give communion to young women. This presentation can be read as a subtle demonstration of masturbation as connected to wasting. The same link was made more explicitly in the crime-drama Papillion (1973) when Warden Barrot (William Smithers) warned the title character (Steve McQueen)—just as he was about to go into solitary confinement—“Put all hope out of your mind. And masturbate as little as possible, it drains the strength.” While subtle, masturbation and weakness were linked in the made for television drama Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life (2005). Justin (Jeremy Supter) was a star swimmer. Once he got addicted to Internet porn however, his performance plummeted. Strength depleted through spent semen was also comically alluded to in the drama Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). When it was discovered that Mickey (Woody Allen) was infertile, the following conversation transpired between he and his wife Hannah (Mia Farrow):

The sitcom Mike & Molly (2010–) presented the same idea when Vince (Louis Mustillo) asked Mike (Billy Gardell) whether too much masturbation was why he and Molly (Melissa McCarthy) hadn’t conceived. The same link was also made in an episode of CSI (2000–) when a semen sample from a peeping tom was tested. Investigator Greg (Eric Szmanda) remarked on the low sperm count and his colleague Nick (George Eads) suggested, “That’s probably from excessive masturbation. Guy’s outpacing his ability to produce . . . ” In Papillion, Hannah and Her Sisters, Mike and Molly and CSI, the undercurrent is that semen is a precious fluid, in limited supply, and that its waste negatively impacts on the body. While this idea may seem farcical, it nevertheless retains contemporary real life repetition. In 2013 for example, Damien Hardwick—the coach of an Australian Football League team that had been underperforming—commented, ”It happens all the time; sometimes I like to make love to my wife, I don’t (always) perform at a high standard.”^[48] This is a modern, subtle example of the belief that semen release can have a detrimental effect on a man’s health and performance.^[49] (The capacity for masturbation to actually improve performance is addressed in chapter 9).

In the romantic-comedy Jersey Girl (2004), after the video store clerk Maya (Liv Tyler) admitted to masturbating “like, twice a day”, her customer Ollie (Ben Affleck) commented, “You’re gonna get carpal tunnel syndrome.” In the drama Nymphomaniac (2013), Joe’s (Charlotte Gainsbourg) sex addiction led to friction wounds on her inner thighs following excessive masturbation. These scenes, along with Hannah and Her Sisters, Mike & Molly and CSI, allude to health consequences of masturbation which appear to have a vague physiologic logic: in most other examples however, the maladies are instead premised on scare-mongering, vague punishments and, most notably, urban legends.

In Lauper’s “She Bop” the singer warned I better stop or I’ll go blind. In Green Day’s “Longview” (1994) and Alanis Morisette’s “Forgiven” (1995), masturbation is also linked to blindness; the most often repeated health consequence and one widely identifiable on screen. In the teen-comedy John Dies at the End (2012), Dave (Chase Williamson) jeered that, “John [Rob Mayes] has some vision problems caused by his constant masturbation.” In the musical-comedy Paint Your Wagon (1969), Horton (Tom Ligon) confessed that he had never been with a woman and Ben (Lee Marvin) lamented, “That’s terrible! Did you know you could go blind?” In the family-comedy A Christmas Story (1983), Ralphie (Jean Shepherd)—narrating as an adult—reflected on his childhood and commented, “There has never been a kid who didn’t believe vaguely but insistently that he would be stricken blind before he reached twenty-one . . .” In an episode of the sitcom Wilfred (2011–), a joke was made about singers Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles’ blindness being caused by them walking in on each other masturbating. In the Italian romantic-drama Malèna (2000), Renato’s father (Luciano Federico) reprimanded his son (Giuseppe Sulfaro) for his constant and loud masturbation: “You are going to go blind!” In the romantic-comedy Love Don’t Cost a Thing (2003), Paris (Christina Milian) suggested to Alvin (Nick Cannon) that he might be feeling himself a little too much: he denied this, claiming that his mother told him it would make him go blind. A mother’s warning was also mentioned in the sitcom Perfect Strangers (1986–1993) when Balki (Bronson Pinchot) admitted, “Momma told me never to do the dance of joy alone, or I would go blind.” In The History Boys, Timms (James Corden) complained about his teacher’s handwriting. His teacher, Mr Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore), responded, “It’s your eyesight that’s bad, and we know what that’s caused by.” In the comedy Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985), prankster Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg) swapped a colleague’s shampoo with superglue. Later, when the colleague had hair stuck to his hands (referencing another masturbation myth)—Mahoney remarked, “if you don’t stop, you’ll go blind.” Blindness and palm hair were also connected in an episode of House as well as in the adventure film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006). In House, the title character commented, “I think I’m going blind.” His colleague Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) countered, “Hairy palms too?” In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, when a hairy black spot appeared on Jack’s (Johnny Depp) palm—the mark of a curse—the character was quick to reassure his associates, “My eyesight’s as good as ever.” A similar exchange happened in an episode of Supernatural (2005–): Dean (Jensen Ackles) showed his brother, Sam (Jared Padalecki), his newly hairy palm and explained: “I got bored, that nurse was hot.” Sam warned, “You know, you can go blind from that too.” Akin to the anti-masturbation message video shown in Futurama discussed earlier, a similar video was shown to Steve in the animated series American Dad! (2005–): in it, a boy screamed “Noooo!” as hair grew out of his palms and his eyes melted. Pimples, as well as deafness, were also referenced as consequences in the teen-comedy Zits (1988) and in the sitcom Maude (1972–1978).

While the negative health consequences/punishments might no longer be believed, these scenes demonstrate that masturbation—even in contemporary examples—is still haunted by many myths which work to demonize it and present is as connected to sin and evil.

An extension of masturbation as unholy and as connected to madness is the allusion that doing so makes a person animal-like.

The Behavior of Animals

In historian Jean Stengers and Anne Van Neck’s cultural history of masturbation, they quoted a nineteenth century physician who, of the masturbator, wrote: “He violated the laws of the Creator, disfigures the image of God in his person, and changed it into that of a beast.”^[50] This idea—identifiable in both Victorian era anti-masturbation literature as well as contemporary fundamentalist Christian texts—is that masturbation likens a person to an animal. While this could be explained as premised on the simple idea that masturbation is defiling and dirty in ways that, apparently, animals are, another explanation centers on impulse control and self-restraint; if this doesn’t occur, evidently a person is less human. The repetition of the hair-on-the-palms consequence is undoubtedly a nod to fur and the framing of the act as animalistic. In his work on sexuality, historian Jeffrey Moran discussed early sex education and the apparent necessity to steer boys away from masturbation: “Of all the animalistic urges the young man faced, masturbation threatened most powerfully to overrun the boundaries of civilized restraint.”^[51] Sexologist Mels van Driel quoted from a 1925 book on sexuality which also made this link:

Philosopher Alan Soble, discussing the work of philosopher Immanuel Kant, raised similar issues in his summary of the popular conservative criticism of masturbation as “a failure of self-denial, as a giving-in to distracting temptations, an immersing of the self in the hedonistic and animalistic excess of self-gratification.”^[53] Evidently submitting to our animalistic instincts makes us less human. Incivility was specifically mentioned in an episode of the sitcom Veep (2012–), where the title character (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), explained her understanding of obesity as an impulse control problem akin to public masturbation: “It’s weakness, that’s all it really is. Pure and simple. It’s weakness. It’s about self-control. You don’t masturbate in the subway, do you, Amy [Anna Chlumsky]? No you don’t. Do you shit in the street, Amy? No, of course you don’t. Because you’ve gotten hold of yourself.” Such examples frame being human and being self-controlled as inexplicably linked: to masturbate apparently is to be out of control. Such ideas of course, tie into Victorian approaches to sexuality—many which still stand today—whereby civility and class^[54] are entwined with sexual restraint.^[55] The self-control idea was explicitly referenced in an episode of the British sitcom Extras (2005–2006) when Andy (Ricky Gervais) caught his manager Darren (Stephen Merchant) masturbating. When Darren explained himself, he said: “the moment took me and I just went, you know, crazy.” Darren submitted to his base impulses rather than observing social mores.

More so than just being uncouth however, is the behavior explicitly named as animalistic. In an episode of the sitcom That 70s Show (1998–2006), after catching Eric (Topher Grace) masturbating in the bathroom, Donna (Laura Prepon) was mortified and described him as “an animal.” In the comedy You, Me and Dupree (2006), Molly (Kate Hudson) accidentally walked in on her house guest Dupree (Owen Wilson) masturbating. Shamed, Dupree lamented, “lonely old Dupree just whaling away on himself. . . . An animal wouldn’t debase himself thus.” In a scene from the romantic-comedy She’s the One (1996), Renee (Jennifer Aniston) threatened that unless her husband Frances (Mike McGlone) had sex with her, she was going into the bathroom to masturbate with a vibrator. To this, Francis retorted: “We have sex like normal people. In a bed, lying down. We don’t masturbate like animals in bathrooms with vibrators.” Briefly mentioned earlier was Silence of the Lambs which presented a physical display of this idea: in one scene, Miggs (Stuart Rudin)—an insane inmate—masturbated furiously and then hurled semen at Clarisse (Jodie Foster). This scene recalls apes in zoos throwing excrement: Miggs was framed in this scene as explicitly animal-like.

These examples, in varying degrees of seriousness, present the idea that to masturbate is to be uncivilized. Evidently the human way to have sexual needs sated is through intercourse: that to touch one’s own genitals is bestial.

Like anything framed as tempting, there are often assumptions that not only will we be unable to restrain ourselves in the face of the great delight of masturbation, but that once we get a taste for it we will like it too much and become addicted: as Laqueur explained: “From the eighteenth to the twentieth century, modern masturbation, like moderate heroin use, seemed impossible. To masturbate was to masturbate excessively, to be in the throes of unquenchable desire.”^[56] In the horror film Bad Biology (2008), the drug addiction/masturbation parallel was made explicit when Jennifer (Charlee Danielson) remarked—prior to self-stimulating—“I need a dick like a junkie needs fix.” In most other examples however, the connection is more subtle.

Masturbation and Addiction

In Emmanuel Ekwo’s self-published Christian manifesto, he posed the challenge: “I encourage any masturbator who doubts that masturbation is addictive to see how many weeks or months they can go without masturbating.”^[57] This idea of addiction being connoted by a character’s inability to refrain is perfectly illustrated in the Seinfeld episode when the four central characters bet on who could last the longest without indulging: Jerry teased Kramer (Michael Richards), “you’ll be out before we even get the check!” Kramer, predictably, did lose almost instantly; the undercurrent being that he had no self-restraint. Comedy is, of course, a common vehicle through which masturbation addiction is portrayed. Earlier I discussed the Sons of Anarchy scene where the inappropriateness of Chuck’s hand on the dick framed the scene as humorous. A similar presentation occurred in the sports-comedy Slap Shot (1977), when Joe (Strother Martin) recalled, “I was coachin’ in Omaha in 1948 and Eddie Shore sends me this guy who was a terrible masturbator, you know, couldn’t control himself. Why, he would get deliberate penalties so he could get over in the penalty box all by himself and damned if he wouldn’t . . . you know . . .” These scenes aren’t about the seriousness of addiction so much as the comic idea that a man who can’t restrain himself is immature and worth laughing at.

In the aforementioned episode of American Dad!, Stan decided to teach his son, Steve, sex education himself rather than have him learn at school. In the process Stan demonized masturbation. Later, Stan got injured in the crotch and his doctor gave him some lotion. Stan apparently hadn’t masturbated previously: through application of the lotion however, he inadvertently self-stimulated and got addicted. The comedy here lies not only in the absurdity of Stan never having masturbated before but that in just a few applications of lotion—that in just a few instances of self-stimulation—he got addicted: evidently to masturbate is to masturbate excessively.^[58] In line with assumptions made about teenage boys’ autoerotic predilections (discussed further in chapter 2), such compulsiveness is identified widely. Darlene in Roseanne informed her parents that her brother DJ had been in the bathroom “for like an hour . . . He’s got the door locked and it’s like the third time today.” American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile opened with Erik feigning illness so that he could stay home and masturbate. In an episode of the sitcom The War At Home (2005–2007), thirteen-year-old son Mike (Dean Collins) described his own masturbatory activities as “chronic.” An outlier example of female masturbation addiction transpired in Sex and the City (1998-2004): following her acquisition of a vibrator, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) became addicted to using it.

Pornography in real life is often considered as inextricably linked to sex addiction^[59] and it is no surprise that on screen the addiction to masturbation is often synonymous with an addiction to porn; reflective of how, curiously, the images that inspire masturbation are still seemingly less taboo than the self-stimulation that follows. At the tame end of the spectrum is an episode of the British series Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012): Eddie (Jennifer Saunders) called out, “Mother, are you still on the computer?” to which her mother (June Whitfield) responded, “Yes, dear. Sometimes you get into a porn loop and just can’t get out.” The same idea was depicted in an episode of the sitcom The Office (2005–2013): Meredith (Kate Flannery)—while drunk at the Christmas party—divulged, “I don’t mind telling you that I have an addiction. I do. To porn.” In an episode of the animated series Family Guy (1999–), Quagmire discovered Internet porn. Days later the character finally exited his home looking dishevelled, one of his arms—presumably the one used for masturbation—was noticeably more muscular. Quagmire was only able to stand outside for a couple of moments before retreating back inside: the call of porn—of the masturbation—was too strong. In an episode of House, Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer) asked his boss, Dr. House, why he wasn’t in his office. House’s response similarly alluded to a porn addiction: “Because there is a computer in my office. If I log on, romance will ensue. My wrist might fall off.” The temptation of the Internet was similarly referenced in The Inbetweeners when Neil (Blake Harrison) commented: “I don’t think I’ve ever been on the Internet and not ended up having a wank.” While in these examples, porn addiction is presented as funny, others explore the topic with comparatively more seriousness. In an episode of the American version of Queer as Folk (2005–2005), Ted (Scott Lowell) was fired for browsing porn sites at work. This also happened in Californication (2007–), after Charlie’s (Evan Handler) workplace autoeroticism was exposed. In a later episode—after he failed to seduce his son’s babysitter Lizzie (Camilla Luddington)—Charlie admitted, “I have been watching so much porn on the Internet lately that I’ve been seeking so much sexual gratification that it’s like I don’t even know how to relate to real women anymore.” Like the Absolutely Fabulous and The Office scenes, it was initially funny that Charlie lost his job because of his predilections, but it was much less amusing in the scene with Lizzie when he went from “kissing to finger banging” in mere seconds, so out-of-touch he was with real life sexual interactions.

The gravity of the porn/masturbation link was explored with much more seriousness in Don Jon, the drama Shame (2011) and the romantic-comedy Thanks for Sharing (2013) where sex addiction was exhibited through compulsive porn use. Mentioned earlier was the institutionalized nymphomaniac, Shelley, in American Horror Story: she admitted to having masturbated since she was five. Female sex addiction was also explored in the Spanish drama Diario de una ninfómana (Diary of a Sex Addict) (1998): Valérie’s (Belén Fabra) addiction manifested in intercourse and prostitution and in several scenes she masturbated. In the dramas Nymphomaniac, Bad Biology and Autoerotic (2011), excessive masturbation was similarly a key outlet for female sex addiction.

In a letter from psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud to his physician friend Wilhelm Fleiss, he wrote, “It has occurred to me that masturbation is the one great habit that is a “primary addiction,” and the other addictions, for alcohol, morphine, etc., only enter life as a substitute and replacement for it.”^[60] While the idea of masturbation as a primary addiction is not the dominant way of thinking about autoeroticism today, the connection between masturbation and addiction is not in the same realm of ridiculousness as say masturbation and blindness: for some people, participation does become compulsive. Masturbation, for example, is frequently discussed in volumes on sex addiction where, akin to excessive intercourse, it is used to escape and avoid.^[61] While the addiction narrative seems, on the surface, as simply another negative frame, many of these presentations are in fact reflective of a real life condition which is getting increased attention. Such presentations can be construed as less about demonizing masturbation and more so about spotlighting contemporary sexual excess (often, but not always, connected to Internet porn).

Earlier I quoted Lord who outlined the hyperbolic slippery slope reasoning of masturbating boys becoming men who visit prostitutes and go blind. With this in mind, another negative frame addressed in this chapter is masturbation as a gateway: that getting involved in masturbation puts a character on a path to other bad behavior.

A Gateway to Sin

The masturbation-gateway idea is effortlessly detected in fundamentalist Christian literature. In John Harvey’s Linacre Quarterly article for example, he contended that masturbation “renders many homosexual persons vulnerable to promiscuity. First, fantasy and masturbation, then cruising the haunts, and later, finding someone for a one night stand.”^[62] In his self-published fundamentalist tome Eric Davis similarly claimed, “[m]asturbation is a metaphorical “gateway drug” that leads people to homosexuality and bestiality.”^[63] Christian scholar Steve Farrar in his book King Me quoted from an “unforgettable interview” that he conducted with a college-aged Christian who detailed his understanding of the masturbation/gateway process:

The supposed gateway is also identifiable in Victorian literature. In her discussion of sexuality in nineteenth-century Germany, historian Isabel Hull wrote, “Masturbation was heir to the panoply of associations that had traditionally been thought to link different kinds of immorality, on the one hand, and immoral behaviour and health and social consequences on the other.”^[65] Hull discussed excessive drinking, gluttony, sexual excess, laziness etc., as behaviors with assumed origins in masturbation. Education theorist Nancy Lesko discussed neo-Victorian approaches to masturbation similarly identifying it as a “gateway to degeneration.”^[66]

Radical feminist Robin Morgan’s quote “pornography is the theory, rape the practice”^[67] provides a useful starting point for examining the slippery slope theory.^[68] In Happiness, Bill (Dylan Baker) masturbated in his car to a youth-oriented magazine featuring adolescent boys. Later he raped two young boys. Bill’s masturbation established him as deviant; the content of what he was masturbating to made it more so. Autoeroticism was presented as a gateway to Bill’s more physical acts; his masturbation was training for the rapes he later acted out. While Morgan was discussing porn in the generic, there is indeed literature that offers a theoretical basis for the connection presented in Happiness. Psychologist Anna Salter for example, argued that there is a link between perpetrators of sexual abuse against children and a prior history of masturbation while thinking about criminal acts.^[69] Elisabeth Auclaire in her United Nations work on child abuse presented a similar contention:

While Bill’s actions in Happiness were extreme (and uncommon for the screen), masturbation is indeed portrayed as a gateway to other sexual behavior. In his summary on Freud’s thoughts on masturbation, Laqueur wrote that, “Masturbation is a developmental stage, in the sense of both something to go through and something to build on.”^[71] This idea implies that masturbation in fact should be a gateway: that masturbation should be a stage passed through and that it only becomes problematic if it, as discussed earlier, becomes an adult’s sole sexual outlet. Certainly on screen and masturbation as a lead-in to other sexual behavior is identifiable. An extreme example transpires in the comedy-drama Spanking the Monkey (1994), Ray’s (Jeremy Davies) masturbation early into the film served as a clue to his forthcoming even-more-sinful behavior: sex with his mother. At the more tame end of the spectrum, in The Slums of Beverly Hills, it was only after Vivian (Natasha Lyonne) masturbated that she then decided that she was ready to lose her virginity. Similarly, in the Italian coming of age drama Melissa P. (2005), the teenage title character (Maria Velverde), experienced sexual pleasure through masturbation and soon after progressed to oral sex, intercourse and a threesome. If teen and premarital sex are considered as bad, then these presentations might be considered as negative, however, that the characters simply moved onto other sexual behavior could equally be considered as comparatively positive: i.e., masturbation is not lingered on, but rather, serves as a stepping stone to more “mature” sexual behavior.

The final negative frame discussed in this chapter is self-stimulation presented as punishable: that there are negative consequences to sin.

Masturbation and Punishment

Just as there exists a long history of health consequences connected to masturbation, of equal length is a history of treatments and aversion therapies used to eliminate it.^[72] In physician Morris Sorrell’s work on circumcision for example, he discussed “doctors who advocated unanaesthetised circumcision to punish boys suspected of engaging in masturbation.”^[73] In Ehrenreich and English’s work, they identified clitoridectomies performed to thwart masturbation into the early twentieth century.^[74] Public health researcher Ornella Moscucci also discussed clitoridectomies, along with the application of caustics to the urethra, inducement of blisters, vasectomy and castration.^[75] Sociologist Véronique Mottier noted both the innocuous as well as the more invasive therapies: “rest, mountain walks, health spas, vigorous exercise, and cold baths to chastity belts and complex devices intended to discourage masturbation by delivering electric shocks upon perpetrators.”^[76] Stengers and Van Neck discussed the eighteenth century work of physician Bernard de Mandeville who advocated for brothels to be established to keep youth from masturbating,^[77] as well as the nineteenth century work of physician Monsignor Bouvier, who suggested marriage for the same reason.

The Road to Wellville presented many of the “cures” discussed in the literature, both the fresh air options as well as the more brutal. Other screen examples also showcase punishment. In the biopic Kinsey (2004), as a child, the title character (Liam Neeson) was punished for masturbating by his father (John Lithgow) who made him wear a confining genital strap. In an episode of the period-drama series Mad Men (2007–), after Sally (Kiernan Shipka) was caught masturbating, her mother threatened to cut off her fingers. In American Horror Story, Shelley mentioned that her mother made her wear mittens. In Nymphomaniac, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) put masturbation-preventing mittens on her own hands.^[78] In the Australian comedy series Angry Boys (2011–2012), adolescent Daniel (Chris Lilley) was so annoyed by his twin’s constant masturbation that he “solved” this by fastening plastic bottles over his brother’s hands. Another patient in American Horror Story—a male chronic masturbator—was “treated” through caning.

While these examples centered on physical punishments, the screen also offers negative social consequences. An obvious example is humiliation where characters—invariably men—get sprung. While embarrassment is discussed further in chapter 2, one scene where humiliation is a component of punishment transpired in the comedy Hall Pass (2011). After his wife (Christina Applegate) advised him that sex was off the agenda for the evening, Fred (Jason Sudeikis) masturbated in his car. The police secretly observed him, laughed, and then made a display of escorting Fred home with his neighbors watching. A humiliation-based punishment was also referenced in an episode of the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010): Daniel (Blair Underwood) told a story of being caught masturbating as a child so his mother removed his bedroom door from its hinges.^[79]

Other social punishments have far more serious consequences. Mentioned earlier was Charlie getting fired for masturbating in Californication. In an episode of Family Guy, Opie similarly got fired from his brewery job for the same thing, as did Ted in Queer as Folk. In the teen-drama series Dawson’s Creek (1998–2003), Pacey (Joshua Jackson) was given detention after getting caught masturbating in the school locker room. Mentioned earlier was Little Children: in one scene Sarah (Kate Winslet) caught her husband Richard (Gregg Edelman) masturbating to Internet porn: they slept separately from them on. In the French drama À l’aventure (2009), Fred (Jocelyn Quivrin) moved out after his girlfriend Sandrine (Carole Brana) masturbated in the next room after they had sex. In Don Jon, Jon and Barbara’s (Scarlett Johansson) first fight transpired after he left the bed to watch porn. In the British drama Velvet Goldmine (1998), Arthur (Christian Bale) was caught by his father masturbating to a photo of two men kissing. Arthur was then thrown out of the house. (While undoubtedly the homosexual element played a part, Arthur’s masturbation made this a much more egregious offence.)

Punishment can also be less explicit where instead of leading directly to embarrassment, employment termination, eviction or abandonment, the audience is left to piece together the negative ramifications. In the British teen movie The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) for example, Jay was masturbating while watching porn when he was interrupted by his mother and sister and told his grandfather has just died. In American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (2006), Erik was masturbating when his parents and grandmother unexpectedly walked in; his grandmother then died of a heart attack. In the British drama The Cement Garden (1993), Jack (Andrew Robertson) was supposed to return home straight after school to help his father. Instead, he stopped to read a porn magazine and masturbate. As Jack masturbated, his father died of a heart attack. While the autoeroticism and deaths in these examples could simply be considered temporal coincidences, filmmaking is not an act of accident. One interpretation therefore is that the masturbation was connected to bad happenings, if not necessarily the cause of bad happenings. More so however, these scenes are reflective of the anxieties that Ralphie mentioned in A Christmas Story: that boys simply grow up being paranoid about their masturbation and thus, in line with internalized guilt, they link bad happenings to their autoeroticism.^[80]

Punishment is taken further in horror films; a genre with extensive history in disciplining female sexuality. In Alive or Dead (2008) for example, Maria (Ann Henson) used her phone charger to masturbate with while driving at night on an isolated road. Later, when she tried to charge her phone to call the police, the charger didn’t work. In The Cook (2008), Brooke lay in a bubble bath masturbating. At orgasm she was visited by the serial killer (Mark Hengst). In the French horror film Haute tension (Switchblade Romance) (2003), Marie (Cécile De France) lay in bed masturbating as the killer entered her property. In each example—and in line with some of the key themes of the horror genre—female sexuality was portrayed and then punished. Female sexuality—exhibited through self-stimulation—is identifiable even outside of horror. In the espionage thriller The Osterman Weekend (1983) for example, Zuna (Merete Van Kamp) was masturbating when she was interrupted and then murdered by KGB officers. In the Australian drama Lilian’s Story (1996), Lilian (Toni Collette) touched her body admiringly in front of a mirror and then masturbated. Her father (Barry Otto) saw her, whipped her, and then raped her. In the thriller Tainted (1988), Cathy (Shari Shattuck) masturbated in front of a mirror. An intruder then entered, seemingly intent on raping and murdering her.

In their discussion of masturbation-themed urban legends, Mariamne Whatley and Elissa Henken discussed punishment noting, “Women get punished in these stories for attempting to find pleasure outside vaginal-penile intercourse.”^[81] The punishment of female sexuality, of course, has a well-established history both off screen and on. On screen and I have written about screen narratives where women’s sexuality is punished through pregnancy and botched abortions.^[82] Certainly this idea is one of the undercurrents of these examples: that punishment stems from women disrupting both the heteronormative script as well as gender norms.

While these examples can be construed as female sexuality being chastised, it is worth noting that they can also be construed more simply as examples of sexualized violence. Sexualized violence—where images of alluring women are juxtaposed with depictions of them brutalized—delivers a very troubling message for feminists whereby the scopophilic pleasure of female sexiness becomes inextricably connected to abuse.^[83]

This chapter has focused on the demonization of autoeroticism through a variety of different devices and in varying degrees of subtly, brutality and comedy. In many of these examples the masturbating character is young. Chapter 2 delves deeper into the connection between age and self-stimulation.

Notes

Ilgi Ozturk Ertem and John M. Leventhal, “Masturbation,” Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics for Primary Care, eds. Marilyn C. Augustyn, Barry S. Zuckerman and Elizabeth B. Caronna (Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer, 2011), 268.

Lauren Rosewarne, “The Euphemisms Chapter,” American Taboo: The Forbidden Words, Unspoken Rules, and Secret Morality of Popular Culture (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013).

This idea of being “caught” is inextricably bound to the male masturbation experience on screen (and is a topic returned to throughout this book).

Jordan Tate, The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007); Martha Cornog, The Big Book of Masturbation: From Angst to Zeal (San Francisco, CA: Down There Press, 2003); Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, Euphemism & Dysphemism: Language Used as Shield and Weapon (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).

In my book American Taboo I noted that sometimes the euphemisms chosen are simply funnier than the more clinical descriptions (Lauren Rosewarne, American Taboo: The Forbidden Words, Unspoken Rules, and Secret Morality of Popular Culture (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013)). Another good masturbation-themed example of this—discussed further in chapter 2—transpired in Weeds (2005–2012) when Uncle Andy (Justin Kirk) spoke to his nephew, Shane (Alexander Gould), about masturbation and used a very wide variety of euphemisms, not out of awkwardness or embarrassment, but simply to add humor to a scene (if not also to reflect Andy’s madcap personality).

In sex researcher Nancy Friday’s book, Women on Top, she discussed Kellogg and his contemporary, Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham: “Graham and Kellogg shared an aversion to masturbation, and both believed in a mysterious connection between food and sex. Applying a certain Yankee ingenuity to their fanaticism, each in his turn came up with a best-selling antimasturbation food: Graham invented the Graham cracker and Kellogg his famous cornflakes, snacks guaranteed to stave off the longing for the ‘secret sin’ of self-abuse” (Nancy Friday, Women on Top: How Real life Has Changed Women’s Sexual Fantasies (London: Arrow Books, 1991), 30).

Paula Bennett and Vernon A. Rosario II, “Introduction: The Politics of Solitary Pleasures,” Solitary Pleasures: The Historical, Literary and Artistic Discourses of Autoeroticism, eds. Paula Bennett and Vernon A. Rosario (New York: Routledge, 1995): 1–18; Jean Stengers and Anne Van Neck, Masturbation: The History of a Great Terror (New York: Palgrave, 2001); Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003).

Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003), 15.

Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003), 186.

10.

Vaughn Allen, The War is Real (Ringgold, GA: TEACH Services Inc. 2004), 44.

11.

Another example of a maid catching masturbation transpired in an episode of Weeds (2005–2012) when Lupita (Renee Victor) walked in on Andy (Justin Kirk). It also recalls the scene from the period-drama series, The Tudors (2007–2010), when King Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) masturbated over a bowl held by his servant. One interpretation of these scenes is that unlike other embarrassing sprung scenes, the exposure of domestic staff to masturbation is perceived as less humiliating by the masturbator simply because such staff are often not seen as equals and are essentially employed to cater to personal, domestic needs.

12.

Pastor Rhonda Travitt for example, bluntly claimed, “To masturbate is to have sexual intercourse with demons” (Rhonda Travitt, Rejection and Rebellion the Twin Towers (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2012), 65).

13.

A very different kind of reference to God transpired in an episode of the medical drama Nip/Tuck (2003–2010). Manya (Aisha Tyler) was a Somalian model who had had a cliterodectomy and had not previously experienced an orgasm. After her reconstruction surgery she was able to have her first orgasm. Afterwards, while crying in joy and relief, Manya contended: “It was so beautiful . . . It was like God was waking up inside me.”

14.

John F. W. Meagher, The Study of Masturbation and the Psychosexual Life (London: Bailliére, Tindall and Cox, 1936), 114.

15.

A more serious—and literal—example of the fears of masturbatory dirtiness transpired in an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–). After being told that an arrest had been made in a case of a man masturbating on the midtown bus, the Police Commissioner (John Driver) remarked, “Well, let’s hope they clean the seats.”

16.

Winfried Menninghaus, Disgust: Theory and History of a Strong Emotion, translated by Howard Eiland and Joel Golb (New York: State University of New York Press, 2003), 7.

17.

Lauren Rosewarne, American Taboo: The Forbidden Words, Unspoken Rules, and Secret Morality of Popular Culture (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013).

18.

A similar semen-on-the-wall portrayal was apparent in an episode of Weeds (2005–2012) when Uncle Andy (Justin Kirk) mused about the bedroom of his adolescent years: “Silas [Hunter Parrish] found one of Judah’s Playboys from 1979 under the mattress. Candy Loving on the cover, Dorothy Stratten centerfold. It’s beautiful. I’m having jerk-off flashbacks. My old stains are still on the wall.”

19.

Laqueur attempted to rationalize one of the theories as related to the taboo of spilt semen: “semen, money, and energy are all in short supply and are profligately expended at the wastrel’s peril” (Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003), 194).

20.

In political scientist Ingrid Makus’ discussion of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, she identified Rousseau’s concern that women had a “biologically grounded ability to conceal” and thus that this allowed them to “deceive men about sexual desire.” (Ingrid Makus, “The Politics of “Feminine Concealment” and “Masculine Openness” in Rousseau,” Feminist Interpretations of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, ed. Lynda Lange (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University, 2002): 187–211, 189.

21.

One way that masturbatory “sins” are exposed on screen is via reference to semen-stained sheets. In an episode of the sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–) for example, Jeff’s (Jeff Garlin) semen was found on the spare room sheets in Larry’s (Larry David) home, in turn exposing his masturbation. Similarly, in an episode of the British series Queer as Folk (1999–2000), Hazel (Denise Black) justified her need for buying the big box of detergent by claiming, “I’ve got double the laundry. It’s all bed sheets, I’d forgotten how much teenage boys masturbate.” In music, “stained sheets” in the context of masturbation are mentioned in the Violent Femmes’ song “Blister in the Sun” (1983). The drama Afterschool (2008) offers a slightly different masturbation reveal when a classmate walked into Robert’s (Ezra Miller) room and said, “I small cum.”

22.

In Shere Hite, The Hite Report: A Nationwide Study of Female Sexuality (New York: Seven Stories Press, 1981), 58.

23.

Nathalie Bartle and Susan Abel Lieberman, Venus in Blue Jeans: Why Mothers and Daughters Need to Talk About Sex (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), 2.

24.

Stephen Neale, Genre (London: British Film Institute, 1980).

25.

Lauren Rosewarne, American Taboo: The Forbidden Words, Unspoken Rules, and Secret Morality of Popular Culture (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013).

26.

Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality. Volume 1: An Introduction (New York: Vintage, 1980); Amy Lind and Stephanie Brzuzy, Battleground: Women, Gender, and Sexuality (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008); Ellen Essick, “Eating Disorders and Sexuality,” Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia, Volume 2, eds. Shirley R. Steinberg, Priya Parmar and Birgit Richard (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006): 276–279.

27.

In my book Cheating on the Sisterhood I discussed a theme readily identifiable in sociological research of “affair partners being more sexually adventurous [than wives]” (Lauren Rosewarne, Cheating on the Sisterhood: Infidelity and Feminism (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2009), 52).

28.

Eric Griffin Shelley, Adolescent Sex and Love Addicts (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994).

29.

Ryan Murphy, “Cutthroat Competition,” The Inquirer (February 16, 1993). Retrieved April 13, 2013 from http://articles.philly.com/1993-02-16/entertainment/25956728_1_fatale-movie-west-hollywood-hotel.

30.

Women prioritizing their own pleasure on screen of course, is an unusual presentation, as noted by a number of theorists (Deborah L. Tolman, Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls Talk about Sexuality (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002); Suchi P. Joshi, Adolescent Sexual Socialization and Teen Magazines: A Cross-National Study Between the United States and the Netherlands (Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers, 2012)).

31.

In Pedro Almodóvar and Paula Willoquet-Maricondi, Pedro Almodóvar: Interviews (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2004), 78.

32.

In Peter L. Allen, The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 111.

33.

John F. W. Meagher, The Study of Masturbation and the Psychosexual Life (London: Bailliére, Tindall and Cox, 1936), x.

34.

Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003), 253.

35.

While this scene from The Bridge highlights the popular connection between masturbation and madness, it also subtly references the connection between male masturbation and socks (where men are assumed to do so in them, or at least clean up using them); something identifiable in episodes of Weeds (2005–2012) and Misfits (2009–) and in the film American Reunion (2012). Masturbating into socks also gets mentioned in the Nerf Herder song “Doin’ Laundry” (1999).

36.

Another example of semen-centered historic confusion was discussed by Martha Cornog: “in the past, semen was sometimes thought to originate elsewhere: from bone marrow, spinal fluid, or brain tissue-therefore to lose semen was to lose something vital indeed, maybe even your mind” (Martha Cornog, The Big Book of Masturbation: From Angst to Zeal (San Francisco, CA: Down There Press, 2003), 28).

37.

Danny Shipka, Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France 1960–1980 (Jefferson, NC: MacFarland and Company, 2011), 108.

38.

Vern L. Bullough, “Masturbation: A Historical View,” Masturbation as a Means of Achieving Sexual Health, eds. Walter O. Bockting and Eli Coleman (Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press Inc. 2002), 29.

39.

Greg Tuck, “Orgasmic (Teenage) Virgins: Masturbation and Virginity in Contemporary American Cinema,” Virgin Territory: Representing Sexual Inexperience in Film, ed. Tamar Jeffers McDonald (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2010), 161.

40.

Mervin Glasser, “Aggression and Sadism in the Perversions,” Sexual Deviation, ed. Ismond Rosen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 279.

41.

In Vincent J. Genovesi, In Pursuit of Love: Catholic Morality and Human Sexuality (Wilmington, DE: M Glazier, 1987), 317.

42.

Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003), 185.

43.

Alexandra M. Lord, Condom Nation: The U.S. Government’s Sex Education Campaign from World War I to the Internet (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), 41.

44.

Charles H.F. Routh, “On the Aetiology and Diagnosis Considered Specially from a Medico-legal Point of View for Those Cases of Nymphomania Which Lead Women to Make False Charges Against Their Medical Attendants.” British Gynaecological Journal, 2(8) (1887): 485–511.

45.

Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness (Old Westbury, NY: Feminist Press, 1973).

46.

Martha Cornog, The Big Book of Masturbation: From Angst to Zeal (San Francisco, CA: Down There Press, 2003).

47.

Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003).

48.

Greg Denham, “Tigers Only Human, Like Me: Damien Hardwick,” The Australian (April 24, 2013). Retrieved May 10, 2013 from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-only-human-like-me-damien-hardwick/story-fnca0u4y-1226627396422.

49.

In Paul Abramson and Steven Pinkerton’s work on human sexuality, they discussed different views on the harms of semen depletion. In an American context they referred to the work of health zealot Sylvester Graham who “thought it wise for men, whether married or single, to avoid intercourse altogether . . . because intercourse drained men of masculine essence.” They similarly discussed the presence of this idea in other cultures, for example, “the Etoro of New Guinea believe that the masculine life force, or hame, is concentrated in semen, and that heterosexual intercourse robs a man of this essence” (Paul R. Abramson and Steven D. Pinkerton, With Pleasure: Thoughts on the Nature of Human Sexuality (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 174). The same idea is apparent in Chinese medicine as well, where it is commonly believed “that people with high reserve levels of semen are energetic, healthy, sexually vital, and less vulnerable to diseases” (Henry B. Lin, Chinese Health Care Secrets: A Natural Lifestyle Approach (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2000), 161). This idea also has a presence in sports medicine: “It is easy to see how this concern with the dangers of sexual behavior became an issue for those involved in athletics. If all but the most circumscribed expenditure of semen could have serious effects on physical and mental well-being, it could certainly also take its toll on athletic performance. It would therefore, be important to keep sex and sport as temporally separate as possible” (Michael Gordon, “College Coaches’ Attitudes Toward Pregame Sex,” The Journal of Sex Research, v. 24 (1988): 256–262), 257).

50.

In Jean Stengers and Anne Van Neck, Masturbation: The History of a Great Terror (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 4.

51.

Jeffrey P. Moran, Teaching Sex: The Shaping of Adolescence in the 20th Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), 8 [My emphasis].

52.

In Mels van Driel, With the Hand: a Cultural History of Masturbation (London: Reaktion Books, 2012), 30.

53.

Alan Soble, “Masturbation: Conceptual and Ethical Matters,” The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings, ed. Alan Soble (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002), 81.

54.

A good example of class connected to masturbation transpired in the comedy-drama Ruling Class, where a class-conscious family covered up an autoerotic asphyxiation death to make it look like a suicide; the latter, apparently, construed as less humilating.

55.

Such ideas also help to explain the woman-out-of-control examples discussed earlier, where for a women to masturbate presents her as less refined, less civilized and less respectable.

56.

Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003), 243 [My emphasis].

57.

Emmanuel M. Ekwo, Homosexuality: Explaining the Zeitgeist (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2010), 114.

58.

While comparatively more subtle, in a number of narratives—for example in American Horror Story (2011–), Thanks for Sharing (2013) and Nymphomaniac (2013)—adult female sex addicts mention early childhood masturbation experiences. While their childhood masturbation isn’t presented as causing the sex addiction, the possibility is certainly hinted at.

59.

Paula Hall, Understanding and Treating Sex Addiction (New York: Routledge, 2013); Patrick Carnes, Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2001).

60.

In Jerome David Levin, Introduction to Alcoholism Counselling: A Bio-Psycho-Social Approach (Philadelphia, PA: Taylor and Francis, 1995), 154.

61.

Paula Hall, Understanding and Treating Sex Addiction (New York: Routledge, 2013); Patrick Carnes, Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2001).

62.

John F. Harvey, “The Pastoral Problem of Masturbation,” Linacre Quarterly 60 (May 1993), 41.

63.

Eric N. Davis, House of Faith, House of Cards (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2010), 300.

64.

In Steve Farrar, King Me: What Every Son Wants and Needs From His Father (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2005), 181.

65.

Isabel V. Hull, Sexuality, State, and Civil Society in Germany, 1700–1815 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1996), 277.

66.

Nancy Lesko, Act Your Age: A Cultural Construction of Adolescence (New York: Routledge Falmer, 2001), 59.

67.

Robin Morgan, “Theory and Practice,” Take Back the Night: Women on Pornography, ed. Laura Lederer (New York: William Morrow, 1980): 187–203.

68.

Historian Thomas Laqueur also discussed the anti-pornography work of radical feminists Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, noting that male masturbation “figured prominently as a fantasy-driven rehearsal for real sexual aggression” (Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003), 80).

69.

Anna C. Salter, Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders (New York: Basic Books, 2003).

70.

Elisabeth Auclaire, “Paedophilia: the Work of Associations and the Role of the Media and Research,” Child Abuse on the Internet: Breaking the Silence, ed. Carlos A. Arnaldo (Paris: Berghahn Books, 2001), 59.

71.

Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation (New York: Zone Books, 2003), 392.

72.

In my book Part-Time Perverts I discussed “treatments” used to cure sexual perversions that were more akin to punishment. In Edward Shorter and David Healy’s book on the history of electroshock therapy for example, they quoted a psychologist from the 1940s who noted that for many patients in asylums, “The words ‘punish’ and ‘shock treatment’ were often synonymous” (Edward Shorter and David Healy, Shock Therapy: A History of Electroconvulsive Treatment in Mental Illness (Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007), 93).

73.

Morris L. Sorrells, “The History of Circumcision in the United States: A Physician’s Perspective,” Circumcision and Human Rights, eds. George Denniston, Frederick Hodges, and Marilyn Fayre Milos (London: Springer, 2009), 332.

74.

Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness (Old Westbury, NY: Feminist Press, 1973).

75.

Ornella Moscucci, “Clitoridectomy, Circumcision, and the Politics of Sexual Pleasure in Mid-Victorian Britain,” Sexualities in Victorian Britain, eds. Andrew H. Miller and James Eli Adams (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996): 60–78.

76.

Véronique Mottier, Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 28.

77.

Jean Stengers and Anne Van Neck, Masturbation: The History of a Great Terror (New York: Palgrave, 2001).

78.

In her Mother Jones article on masturbation, Mopsy Strange Kennedy discussed aluminium mittens as a punishment for masturbation (Mopsy Strange Kennedy, “The Sexual Revolution Just Keeps on Coming,” Mother Jones (December, 1976): 25–29).

79.

This scene is an interesting illustration of Michel Foucault’s ideas about the inextricable link between the nineteenth century prohibition against masturbation and the mainstreaming of the surveillance of young people (Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality. Volume 1: An Introduction (New York: Vintage, 1980)).

80.

Physician John Meagher briefly alluded to this issue writing, “All physicians have noted how many neurotic individuals in giving their life history, often connect their difficulties with masturbation” (John F. W. Meagher, The Study of Masturbation and the Psychosexual Life (London: Bailliére, Tindall and Cox, 1936), 91).

81.

Mariamne H. Whatley and Elissa R. Henken, Did You Hear About the Girl Who? Contemporary Legends, Folklore, and Human Sexuality (New York: New York University Press, 2000), 135.

82.

Lauren Rosewarne, “The Abortion Chapter,” American Taboo: The Forbidden Words, Unspoken Rules, and Secret Morality of Popular Culture (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013).

83.

The problematic fusion of sexuality and brutality is a topic frequently discussed in work on media representations of rape. Film theorist Sarah Projansky for example, contended that, “rape is one of contemporary U.S. popular culture’s compulsory citations . . . embedded in all of its complex media forms, entrenched in the landscape of visual imagery. . . . [T]he pervasiveness of representations of rape naturalizes rape’s place in our everyday world, not only as real physical events but also part of our fantasies, fears, desires and consumptive practices” (Sarah Projansky, Watching Rape: Film and Television in Postfeminist Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2001), 2–3). Here, Projansky identifies that rape has become an entertainment product and thus, consumed as such. Communications theorist Jyotika Virdi made a similar point, spotlighting the “scopohilic pleasure in rape representations” (Jyotika Virdi, The Cinematic imagiNation: Indian Popular Films as Social History (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003), 173). Cultural theorist Tony Perrello in his discussion of representations of rape in horror films also explored this issue noting, “Rape in cinema would seem to be the logical end of a system designed to please the gaze of men and that shows a fascination with the female form” (Tony Perrello, “Ocular Horror in the Films of Alexandre Aja,” American Horror Film: The Genre at the Turn of the Millennium, ed. Steffen Hantke (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2010: 15–34), 27).