The Disease of Masturbation

The Disease of Masturbation

In his text, The Disease of Masturbation, Tristam Engelhardt puts fourth the notion that vice and virtue are not the exact same thing as disease and health, but instead they bear a direct relation to these concepts. When we apply this idea to the topic of masturbation it means that the act of masturbation itself is not a disease, but rather by having this vice one is failing to cohere with the norms of society and can be viewed as “ill”.

Throughout the text Engelhardt uses numerous historical sources and references to show us three views on masturbation related to being a disease. The first is the 19^th century view that masturbation led to the development of an “authentic disease”. The second view is that guilt, not excitation, was what led to the occurrence of masturbation. This position was what led to the third view on masturbation as a disease. The third view is that people believe in the idea that masturbation does have negative effects on one’s health, but that those effects come from society’s condemnation of masturbation as opposed to coming from a disease.

Based on the first view that Engelhardt presents to the audience, we are led to believe that masturbation was a serious disease that led to numerous illnesses such as blindness, vertigo, epilepsy, impotency, and even death. A few deaths were recorded and the killer was said to be masturbation.

The second view shows the audience that the masturbators were not performing the act of masturbation because of a sense of euphoria but from a sense of guilt. Engelhardt refers to an outside resource and mentions that “the masturbator feels that his act degrades his manhood, while the man who indulges in legitimate intercourse is satisfied that he has fulfilled one of his principal natural functions” (16).

The third view shows us the most modern belief: that the negative effects of masturbation aren’t necessarily from the “disease” of masturbation but rather from the guilt of performing an act that is condemned by society and does not follow the norm.

Engelhardt proves his point that disease and health have a direct relation to vice and virtue by showing us these three models of masturbation as a vice and how it has been turned into a disease based on a society’s beliefs.

Works Cited

Engelhardt, Tristram. "The Disease of Masturbation: Values and the Concept of Disease ." Sickness and Health in America. n. page. Print.

Revisions:

In his text, The Disease of Masturbation, Tristam Engelhardt reflects on the idea of masturbation being viewed as a disease through out history in order to put fourth two of his arguments. The first argument Engelhardt makes is that vice and virtue are not equivalent to disease and health, they bear direct relation to these concepts. When we apply this idea to the topic of masturbation it means that the act of masturbation itself is not a disease, but rather by having this vice you are diseased. His second argument is that “one chooses concepts for certain purposes, depending on values and hopes concerning the world”. When we apply this idea to the topic of masturbation it means that people in society believe certain things are diseases based on their values and beliefs.

To accredit his first argument, Engelhardt provides us with three views on masturbation. The first is the 19^th century view that masturbation led to the development of an “authentic disease”. This argument was first put fourth by an anonymous writer in 1700 but later S. A. Tissot published a book on masturbation as well. In his book, Onanism, Tissot states that “If one examines the world with a tacit presupposition of a parallelism between what is good for one’s soul and what is good for one’s health, then one would expect to find disease correlates for immoral sexual behavior”. This concept is what supports Engelhardt’s belief that “vice and virtue are not equivalent to disease and health, they bear direction relation to these concepts”.

The second view is that guilt, not excitation, was what led to the occurrence of masturbation and this position is what led to the third view on masturbation as a disease. The third view shows us the most modern belief: that the negative effects of masturbation aren’t necessarily from the “disease” of masturbation but rather from the guilt of performing an act that is condemned by society and does not follow the norm.

Engelhardt’s second argument is that “one chooses concepts for certain purposes, depending on values and hopes concerning the world” and he supports this argument by presenting evidence from the past. The idea that people in the 19^th century believed masturbation was a disease is due to their beliefs and what they valued. People in the 19^th century saw masturbation as being “unnatural” and “less satisfying” than intercourse with a partner. Engelhardt presents to us the disease that appeared in the South known as “Drapetomania, the disease causing slaves to run away”. At the time, society viewed the idea of slaves running away from their land as going against their system of value and belief and invented a disease for it.

Engelhardt’s text The Disease of Masturbation is a very complex work with many arguments but his two main arguments were that “vice and virtue are not equivalent to disease and health, they bear direction relation to these concepts” and “one chooses concepts for certain purposes, depending on values and hopes concerning the world”. He proves his points by showing us three views on masturbation being considered a disease and historical evidence that demonstrates how crucial a system of beliefs and values can be.