The Solitary Virtue
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solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
The Solitary Virtue
@solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
80 followers 190 following 40 posts
Old books had a lot to say about masturbation, and most of it was terrible. I find the worst of it and post it here.

There will never be porn on this account.
#historyofsex
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solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
In 1907, the interview for those hoping to join the US Navy or Marine Corps included questions about your siblings' masturbation habits.

—
archive.org/details/unit...
Uncles and aunts. — How many living? How many dead, and cause of death in each case? Nervous, mental, and constitutional diseases? Brothers and sisters. — How many living? How many dead? Cause of death in each case? General condition of their health? Nervous, mental, and constitutional diseases? Have any of them been inmates of insane asylums, reform schools, or sanitariums for the trestment of nervous or mental diseases? Are any of them congenitally deformed? Have any of them been considered dull, stupid, feeble-minded, or "queer" at school? Their habits (masturbation, alcohol, and drugs)? Any of them criminals or degenerates? Any of them blind, deaf, or dumb?
July 30, 2025 at 12:07 AM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
"I hereby certify that though the said recruit is perfectly sane on many points, that he is given to masturbation probably, and that his mind is by no means steady enough to enable him to be a good soldier, or properly amenable to discipline."

Via catalog.archives.gov/id/145680749
Boston, July 5th 1863 Having at the request of Lieut J Prewitt Recruiting Officer examined recruit John D Dale who has since his enlistment showed evidence of an unsound mind, I hereby certify that though the said recruit is perfectly sane on many points, that he is given to masturbation probably, and that his mind is by no means steady enough to enable him to be a good soldier, or properly amenable to discipline. M. E. Townford M D 8 Cambridge Street
April 13, 2025 at 9:38 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
According to this 1909 pamphlet from the American Medical Association: if one of your friends talks to you about masturbation, you should beat the crap out of him.
archive.org/details/boys...
Another boy, in an unguarded moment, may try to entice you to rub your genitals to produce the tickling mentioned before. That boy is insulting your manhood. Strike him at once, beat him as long as you can stand; pursue him if he runs away and whip him as thoroughly as you can. After you have punished him to the best of your ability, forgive him in your mind, but do not allow him ever to speak to you again. If he is a better fighter than you, he will beat you. Very well, take the beating; you received it in a good cause. But be done with him forever.
March 10, 2025 at 10:22 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
Some of you are having more fun listening to sermons than anyone realised.

(From "Woman: A Treatise on the Normal and Pathological Emotions of Feminine Love." Bernard Simon Talmey, 1908. archive.org/details/woma... ) #historyOfSex #sexuality #sermons
Besides the masturbation by means of tactile excitation, there is an auto-erethism which may be called an ideal one. The votaries induce sexual excitation by lustful conceptions and thoughts. The thought of coition in the imagination induces orgasm and ejaculation in such women. These individuals are, therefore, able to practice their masturbation at all times and in all places. While riding in crowded cars and upon the most serious occasions, in theatres, churches or other sacred places, the mere libidinous thought of being in the act of coition induces orgasm. These voluptuous day-dreamers, not needing any self-manipulations, may masturbate while conversing with their friends or listening to a sermon.
March 10, 2025 at 1:30 AM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
Bonus: the list of illustrations.

(Apollo?)
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS In half-tone APOLLO THE MALE SEXUAL ORGANS THE FEMALE SEXUAL ORGANS DIAGRAM OF THE REPRODUCTIVE ACT In the text CONTRACEPTIVE APPLIANCES TYPES OF VAGINAL PESSARIES METHOD OF INSERTING VAGINAL DIAPHRAGM METHODS OF CONTRACEPTION
December 14, 2024 at 2:05 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
"Immunisation by Semen, Heat to Testicles, X-rays"

Did you know people used X-rays for contraception? Because I didn't.

5/5
Part III SEXUAL HYGIENE 20. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX Puberty— The Male Sexual Organs— Seminal Emissions— The Female Sexual Organs— Ovulation— Menstruation— Sexual Union— Fertilization— Pregnancy— Childbirth— Predetermition of Sex— Heredity. 21. THE SEXUAL ACT . The Reproductive Processes— The Artistry and Technique of Coitus— Frequency of Coitus. 22. PERSONAL PREVENTION OF VENEREAL DISEASE Cause of Venereal Diseases— Methods of Prevention— Early Symptoms— Technique of Personal Prophylaxis. 23. MODERN METHODS OF CONTRACEPTION . Definition of Birth Control and Contraception— Physiological Methods, Abstinence, Safe Period, Lactation, Special Methods of Coitus— Biological Methods, Immunization by Semen, Heat to Testicles, X-rays— Mechanical Methods: Condom, Pessaries, Tampon and Sponges— Technique of Pessary and Tampon Contraception— Chemical Contraception, Principles and Methods— Combined Methods— Summary. APPENDIX: COMPOSITION OF PROPRIETARY CONTRACEPTIVES GLOSSARY
December 14, 2024 at 2:04 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
"The Artistry of Love" is a fine phrase.

4/5
13. YOUTH AND MASTURBATION . Definition— Sequelae— Mutual Masturbation— True Significance— Morality— Mastery of Masturbation 14. THE SEXUAL TRENDS OF ADOLESCENCE . Masturbation — Homosexuality — Bisexuality— Fixation of Developmental Trends— Sex Adjustment. 15. SEX AND ITS MASTERY . Libido— Repression and Sublimation — Continence and Health— The Power of Religion. 16. SEX EXPRESSION BEFORE MARRIAGE Erotic Relief: Auto-erotism, Bisexuality, Homosexuality, Heterosexuality— Maturity and Sex Indulgence— Sex Difficulties of Adolescence. 17. PREPARATION FOR MARRIAGE . Christian Ideals— Love, Knowledge and Health— Medical Examination before Marriage. 18. POTENCY AND FRIGIDITY Potency — Fertility — Frigidity — Maladjustments of Marriage. 19. SEXUAL HARMONY IN MARRIAGE . Coitus, an Expression of Love— Conjugal Adjustment— The Artistry of Love— Happiness in Marriage.
December 14, 2024 at 2:02 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
How to tell you're in the early twentieth century: there's always a chapter on eugenics. 😟

3/5
Part I SEXUAL ETHICS 1. THE MODERN ATTITUDE TO SEX Science and Truth— The Bogey of Sex— Repression and Personality— Attitudes in Sex Education— Our Sry at Morals— Sex and Obscenity— The Need for Tolerance. 2. SEX THROUGH THE AGES Primitive Man in Love and Faith— Phallic Worship— Taboo— Sex Mythology— The Sex Act and Childbirth— Sex and Science— Sex and Christianity. 3. SEX IN ANCIENT GREECE Hedonism— Love and Marriage in Ancient Greece— Pederasty and its Place in Greek Education— Male Homosexuality— Female Homosexuality— Masturbation— Prostitution — Sexual Customs: Infibulation, Love Potions, Nakedness. 4. PARENTS AND SEX INITIATION The Mystery of the Adolescence of Christ— Modern Tendencies in Sex Education— The Passing of Prudery— Need for a Sane Attitude towards Sex.
December 14, 2024 at 2:02 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
"The Mystery of the Adolescence of Christ" is a rather unconventional way to begin the sex education chapter.

2/5
Part I SEXUAL ETHICS 1. THE MODERN ATTITUDE TO SEX Science and Truth— The Bogey of Sex— Repression and Personality— Attitudes in Sex Education— Our Sry at Morals— Sex and Obscenity— The Need for Tolerance. 2. SEX THROUGH THE AGES Primitive Man in Love and Faith— Phallic Worship— Taboo— Sex Mythology— The Sex Act and Childbirth— Sex and Science— Sex and Christianity. 3. SEX IN ANCIENT GREECE Hedonism— Love and Marriage in Ancient Greece— Pederasty and its Place in Greek Education— Male Homosexuality— Female Homosexuality— Masturbation— Prostitution — Sexual Customs: Infibulation, Love Potions, Nakedness. 4. PARENTS AND SEX INITIATION The Mystery of the Adolescence of Christ— Modern Tendencies in Sex Education— The Passing of Prudery— Need for a Sane Attitude towards Sex.
December 14, 2024 at 2:01 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
This boils down to "masturbation might have got this child pregnant, although tbh if she was masturbating she was probably having sex too."

3/3 #histsex
Indeed, the egg appears to have a certain capacity for unorganized development without impregnation, and certain diseases, as chronic inflammation of the ovaries, or long-continued sexual excitement, coupled with inability of the ovary to expel the matured egg, may sometimes result in such development. Thus various foetus-like growths have been observed in the ovaries of persons who never knew sexual intercourse, even in those of children. Hufeland mentions the case of a young girl who died at the age of thirteen years in consequence of self-abuse, practiced from her infancy, and in whose left ovary was found a sac containing hair, bones and teeth. It would appear that the parts so produced were those in which the nerve supply is least, which seems to corroborate the statement that the male. seminal animalcula is alone the germ of the nervous system. It must be said, however, that many physiologists deny the possibility of even the development above mentioned, without impregnation by the male semen, and, where such growths appear, insist that intercourse with a male of some kind has been had. And reason and analogy seem to be on their side, while the lascivious and morbid sexual passion of the Masturbating girl of even the tender age of thirteen years would leave her open to the suspicions those physiologists entertain.
December 4, 2024 at 3:30 AM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
The chapter on castration claims that "some nations accomplished [castration] by putting the person who was to be eunuchized through a course of persistent virility-destroying Onanism, or masturbation."

2/3
The purpose was usually accomplished by the removal of the testicles only, though some nations, the Chinese for example, make a clean sweep of testicles, scrotum and penis. Sometimes nothing was removed, but the Vas Deferens was severed, or tied by a strangulating cord so as to prevent the passage of semen from the testicles, and in some cases the organs were merely tightly bandaged, and kept so until they atrophied or shrunk away into worthlessness. Some nations accomplished the same result by putting the person who was to be eunuchized through a course of persistent virility-destroying Onanism, or masturbation.
December 4, 2024 at 3:29 AM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
1897: "The Science of Generation: the anatomy, physiology, and hygiene of the generative organs of the human species of both sexes."; anonymous.

That's quite an opening sentence, and the rest of the book lives up (well, down) to it.

archive.org/details/scie...

1/3
The Science of Generation. Chapter I. PROCREATION, OR HOW YOUNG ARE PRODUCED: GENERAL OUTLINE. A great physician has said, “ A woman is a womb with other organs round it.” Certainly, though the organs of generation are in themselves distinct from the others, they have in both sexes, but especially in woman, a very strange and mysterious influence upon the whole system, both of body and mind, every part seeming to be in the closest nerve connection with them.
December 4, 2024 at 3:28 AM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
Old books had a lot to say about touching yourself. Most of it was terrible. We find the worst bits and share them here.

There will never be porn on this account.

We are also elsewhere: linktr.ee/solitaryvirtue

#introduction
…student, died through excess in those de- baucheries. So affected was his mind with this idea of his, that he died in a delirium of despair, imagining he saw hell open beside, and ready to receive him. A boy of that town, six or seven years of age, tutored, I believe by a servant girl, masturbated himself so frequently, that the slow fever it occasioned, soon carried him off. So great was his fury for that act, that he could not be prevented from it to the last day of his life. A boy, not yet sixteen, had abandoned himself to masturbation with such fury, that at length, instead of sperm, he only forced out blood, which was soon followed by excessive pains, and inflammation of all the organs of generation. Being by chance in the country, I was called in, and ordered extremely emollient cataplasms which produced the effect I expected from them; but I have since learnt that he died a short time after of the small pox, and I have no doubt but that the shocks he had given his tem- perament by his infamous mania, greatly contributed to render his illness mortal. Some women have frequently been seen to love girls with as much ardor as the most impassioned men, and even to conceive the greatest jealousy against those who seemed to have an affection for them. These unnatural desires are produced by excessive masturbation. [Picture of someone looking very sickly, captioned "The Last Stage".]
November 28, 2024 at 12:39 AM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
That young lady deserves some kind of enterprise award.

5/6
In women solitary self-abuse may be vaginal or clitorian. In the former case the finger, a candle, carrot, needle-box or other cylindrical object serves the purpose. Here again, ingenuity designs cunning means. A peeled banana is a curious but apt artifice, being soft, round, pointed and slippery. A young girl confessed to using a rubber tube tied at each end and made large and elastic by being filled with water. This girl had contaminated a whole school, first by initiating the individual by lending one of these articles to her with liberal instructions and selling it if it was liked. The clitoris, analogue of the penis, and endowed with even more susceptibility, naturally attracts the greatest attention in self-abuse. The woman has only to stroke and tickle it gently with the finger, or rub it between the thumb and finger to excite the sexual spasm.
November 27, 2024 at 9:18 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
Trachea: well, if it's getting thrown away anyway…

The other person sounds like he's living in a sitcom.

4/6
Queer expedients are made known to us in practice ; thus, one of my young patients, son of a butcher, used the œsophagus or trachea of slaughtered animals, while another wound elastic page cord around the penis, another used a flexible coiled spring, one end being fastened to a large iron ring which was immovably tied close to the body, surrounding the root of the penis and the scrotum, the other end being made fast to a cord, which was, in turn, tied fast to some object; by an up and down movement of the body this artificial vagina determined an ejaculation similar to the natural act. This latter method dispensed with the hand, and introduces to our notice other solitary man-made methods, such as friction of the penis between the body and mattresses. One little patient had bored a hole in a partition and used this as an excitant. He was discovered by getting caught in the hole, necessitating a little carpentering for his relief, which was accomplished much more easily than in the more common cases of a metal ring which necessitates more severe remedies for immediate and safe relief.
November 27, 2024 at 9:15 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
Apparently some people use egg white!

3/6
Methods of Abuse. — Masturbation or manustupration is the most common form of solitary vice. In man the penis is rubbed between the fingers until it enters erection and by a to and fro motion, the skin being held between the thumb and finger, the prepuce slipping over the glans, an ejaculation is produced. The penis may be rolled between the two hands or excited by surrounding it with the fore-finger and thumb, making a ring or constriction, the remaining fingers grasping the organ loosely thus forming a sort of artificial vagina. The hand in this case is often lubricated with soap, or oil, or white of egg to reduce unpleasant friction and increase the pleasure.
November 27, 2024 at 9:14 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
The strange sub-headings of chapters 4, 5, and 6 of "The abuses, abberrations [sic] and crimes of the genital sense" by Dr Jacobus X, 1900.

As usual, women are treated as a special case of humanity, but men as the general case.

archive.org/details/in.e...
CHAPTER IV Genital Abuses [continued] On Onanism in general Definition of Onanism of Mauby Souillet — Forms and processes of Genital Pollution in Man. — Classification by Garnier — Solitary Pollution — Pollution in Common — Observations on Pollution, Personal and in Common — Manual Pollution — Rubbings and Compression of the Penis on or in any body — Instances of Pollution through Compression of the Penis — through Rubbing of the Penis — Shape of the Penis revealing the mode employed for Masturbation — Pollution by the tickling of the gland with the end of the fingers — Pollution by the introduction of the Penis into some Body, or by a Constrictory Band round the Penis. — Observations on Pollution relating to these different ways — Pollution by special movements of the Body or by general Shock — Observations on Pollution by Hanging — Pollution by the Introduction of Foreign Bodies into the Canal of the Urethra — Incomplete Pollution — Various Instances — Pollution with manoeuvres on the neighbouring Organs, principally the Scrotum and Rectum [The Postilion of Marseille and the Commissionary's Hat) — Posterior Pollution — This is in the Domain of Pederasty — Curious case of Posterior Pollution — The Height of Ingratitude CHAPTER V Genital Abuses [continued] Causes, Signs and Consequences of Onanism in Man Causes of Onanism in Man. — Table of Classification of the causes of Onanism — Different opinions upon the causes of Onanism — Selected Observations on Pollution relating to the causes of Onanism — Syndromes and Signs of Onanism in Man — Comparison of the Effects of Coition with those of Onanism — Diseases produced or maintained by Pollution — Local and adjacent Affections — General Affections — Consequences to the other organic apparatus — Observations upon Pouillet's Classification — The Consequences of Onanism and Poetry — Selected Observations on Pollutions relating to the Consequences of Onanism CHAPTER VI Genital Abuses [continued] Onanism In Woman Frequency of Onanism in Women — Classification of the forms of Feminine Onanism — Vaginal Masturbation — Observations relating to various Instruments extracted from the Vaginas of Onanists — A) Vagino-uterine Masturbation — B) Clitoridian Masturbation — Observations on Clitoridian Masturbation — C) Urethral Masturbation — Observations on Urethral Masturbation — Causes of Onanism in Women — A) Physical Causes — B) Social Causes — C) Moral and Intellectual Causes — Observations relating to the causes of Feminine Onanism — The Godmichès of the Great Ladies of the French Court — Syndromes and Signs of Masturbation — Consequences of Onanism in Women — Affections resulting from Masturbatory Manoeuvres in Women — A) Local and adjacent — B) General — Observations relating to the Consequences of Onanism — Treatment of Onanism in Women
November 18, 2024 at 3:36 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
This is fascinating stuff, and I have two goals for it:
1) post interesting bits here, and build @solitaryvirtue up to have many followers
2) make the index itself an academic resource somehow

I need advice on both!
An emaciated man is lying on a couch. He stares into the distance. In one hand he holds a handkerchief. Caption: "Representing the last stage of mental and bodily exhaustion from Onanism or Self-pollution."
July 3, 2024 at 9:06 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
A general question for
1) bloggers and
2) #historyOfSex academics
— please share and tag people!

We now have a few hundred documents about historical attitudes to masturbation; mostly these are electronic copies; almost all are pre-1930.

🧵
"Chapter XIV: of secret vice with the female sex." [Picture of someone. I don't know how to describe it.] "The female is exposed to the same danger in practicing masturbation as the male, with many troubles to which the man is not liable, as hysteria, vapors, cramps in the stomach..."]
July 3, 2024 at 9:05 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
"It is at just such a time that the temptation to self-abuse becomes greatest and it is just at these times that the young man needs to get a grip on himself and control his inclinations."

– "Developing into manhood", W. S. Hall, 1911; babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uv...
This accounts for the fact that most young men will every two to four weeks expe- rience strong sexual desires and inclinations. It is at just such a time that the temptation to self- abuse becomes greatest and it is just at these times that the young man needs to get a grip on himself and control his inclinations.
June 24, 2024 at 2:44 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
Found in an old medical thesaurus:

MASTURBATION
Synonyms: Edeogargalismus, Ductio præputii, Manustupration, Confrication, Mentulomania.
- one who practises m.: Masturbator; Mascarpio.
- female who practises m.: Confricatrix.

archive.org/details/thes...

#sexuality #historyOfSex
Screenshot of link
April 15, 2024 at 1:44 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
"The face of the boy who practices Masturbation will soon have a peculiarly old look, and the skin will assume a dull, greenish, and wrinkled appearance." (1896)

archive.org/details/life...

#sexuality
screenshot of link
April 13, 2024 at 2:08 PM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
For those of you who followed me on Twitter: I'll be doing the back catalogue again here first.

I loved Twitter in its heyday. It's unsafe for me now.

Just so this isn't a boring text-only post, here's a photo of a particular town: it's a small place, and you might not have heard of it.
Google Street View of a sign saying "Clit". (This is a town in Romania.) The road is labelled "DN2E", which is its highway designation.
December 19, 2023 at 1:36 AM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
Excuse me, but this book isn't about masturbation.
an archive.org copy of a manual for the kind of vice you use to crush things ("vise" in the States)
December 19, 2023 at 1:21 AM
solitaryvirtue.bsky.social
"…a large income is derived from the sale of a rubber machine, made for the purpose mentioned. They are said to be manufactured in some of the prominent factories in the country, and sold by means of unscrupulous female agents." (1887)

Source: archive.org/details/6602...

#historyofsex
Screenshot of the text quoted
December 19, 2023 at 1:19 AM