Solo Sex - The Cultural History of Masturbation

"While masturbation was a subject that was not much emphasized until the eighteenth century, it became an issue and came to the fore in 1712 with a booklet called Onania, published in a back street of London. The author of the booklet was about a man who had spilled his sperm into the ground instead of into his dead brother's wife and was punished for it." He made an ingenious connection between the Creation story of Onan and masturbation, and not only named a new disease, but also invented a new, highly original and almost universal machine of guilt, shame and anxiety. Therefore, the problem is medical, social and psychological. Both clergy and psychiatrists have something to say about the subject. And Onania, over a period of more than fifty years, moves beyond the borders of England to the Encyclopédie, the greatest summary of the knowledge produced by the Enlightenment, to protect people, especially young people, from the "disease" of masturbation. For this reason, science and morality must join hands and initiate an all-out struggle.

By the 1900s, along with all demands for freedom, demands for sexual freedom were also expressed, feminism was on the rise, and sexual diseases became a threat to societies. Moreover, market conditions require masturbation to be "justified".

Thomas W. Laqueur deals with the subject of masturbation, which is the most practiced sexual act but is the least talked about, almost taboo, in a wide range of topics, starting from the Bible, extending to Aristotle, Rousseau, Freud and even the internet age. is also carrying out the most comprehensive and serious study on this subject.



Number of Pages: 587

Year of Printing: 2007


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Literature Publishing

First Print Year: 2007

Number of Pages: 587

Language Turkish