在1716年於倫敦發表的小冊子《俄南之罪》(Onania),首次在英語中用「onanism」指代自慰(出自《聖經》,其記載猶大之子俄南(onan)的兄長去世,留下妻子,無子,俄南父親命令他與嫂子性交,以便為其兄傳宗接代。俄南不願意,與嫂子性交時中斷而泄精於地,使耶和華不悅,耶和華就把俄南殺掉[153]。),此一小冊子可能是荷蘭神學家巴爾薩澤·貝克(英語:Balthazar Bekker)博士所編的[154];並以可憎的罪去形容自慰,警告人們自慰會導致陽痿、淋病、癲癇和官能的浪費(包括從生病和受強迫性自慰影響的年輕男子收到的信件和推測)[155]:65。但《線上詞源學字典》(Online Etymology Dictionary)則宣稱早在1727年時就已有「onanism」的使用記錄。英國醫生羅伯特·詹姆斯(Robert James)於1743-45年對外發表《醫學詞典》(A Medicinal Dictionary)一著,當中將自慰形容為「最可悲和通常無法治癒的疾病的根源」,並指出「大概沒有哪一種罪會產生這麽多的醜惡後果」[156]。瑞士醫師薩繆埃爾·奧古斯特·蒂索亦對「自慰病」進行了諸多驚駭的描述:在1760年,他發表了關於所謂自慰的不良影響的醫學論文《自慰,或論自慰所導致的紊亂》(Onanism, or a Treatise Upon the Disorders Produced by Masturbation),在當中引用他在瑞士洛桑的年輕男性病例作為論證基礎,認為精液是「人體的精華」和能激發活力,當精存量不足時,「會導致體力、記憶力,甚至理解力明顯下降,引出視力模糊、神經痛、各類痛風和風濕病、血尿、食慾不振、頭痛及其他不必詳細列出的毛病」,並稱自慰是一種必須治療的病症,他認為流失一盎司的精液相當於失去四十盎司血液[155]:92、98。雖然蒂索的想法現在被認為只是猜測,他的論文發表時不存在現代的實驗生理學[155]:100-101。但蒂索的論點被許多人以至像康德和伏爾泰般的名人承認和回應[155]:107、120。
1897年,因哈維洛克·艾利斯所寫下的《性心理研究》(the Psychology of Sex),醫學界對自慰的態度開始改變,他在質疑蒂索的前提下,把該時代自慰的名人指出,然後去反駁每個據稱是自慰導致的疾病。他在書中寫下「一般性的結論……有節制的自慰對健康的人而言,並不會對健康造成嚴重損害。」[155]:164
20世紀
在1905年,西格蒙德·弗洛伊德在他的《性學三論》中寫到了自慰,並將其與上癮物質扯上關係。他描述了嬰兒時、4歲時和青春期時的人類的自慰。在同一時間,女性患上歇斯底里(hysteria,從希臘語「子宮」(hystera or uterus)演變而來)的醫療處方是要其自慰,包括使用最早期的按摩棒及以安慰劑藥膏摩擦其生殖器[163]。
在21世紀,自慰的實踐和文化觀點仍是不斷在變化,部分可歸因於科技的發展。例如數碼照片或實況影片使得人們可跟他人播送或互相直播自己的自慰經歷。跟遠程性愛有關的科技仍在發展[167]。在BBC的電視節目《21世紀的愛》(Love in the 21st Century)中,自慰仍能直接地用作當中一集的名字[168]。
在英國,2009年由謝菲爾德英國國家衛生服務(英語:National Health Service (England))發出的性教育小冊子的標語是「一日一高潮,醫生遠離我」。它還說:「專家主張每天5份蔬菜水果,和每週3天30分鐘的身體活動,那每週兩次性行為或自慰又如何?」這本小冊子已分發給家長、教師和青少年工作者,其目的是通過對年齡較大的學生講述愉快的性愛所帶來的好處來使性教育更合乎時代。它的作者曾經說過不少時間專家都集中在進行安全性行為的需要和關係的承諾,而忽略了主要的原因——「很多人發生性關係」。小冊子的題目是樂趣。其作者之一表示「相反,推動青少年的性生活,可以鼓勵年輕人推遲失去童貞,直到他們確信自己能享受這種經歷。」[77][188]
教科書《安寧療護的護理:為結束的生命狀態提供優質護理服務》(Palliative care nursing: quality care to the end of life states)指出:「身患絕症的人他們的自慰習慣很可能與一般人沒有什麼不同。安寧療護的從業人員應經常詢問他們的患者有什麼妨礙他們自慰,然後如果它的確被妨礙,就為患者解決此問題」[190]
Coleman, Eli. Masturbation as a Means of Achieving Sexual Health(PDF). Bockting, Walter O.; Coleman, Eli (編). Masturbation as a Means of Achieving Sexual Health. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 2012: 7 [2002] [2016-07-16]. ISBN 0-7890-2047-5. OCLC 50913590. (原始內容(PDF)存檔於2016-11-21). Despite the scientific evidence indicating that masturbation is generally a normal variant of sexual expression and that it does not seem to have a causal relationship with sexual pathology, negative attitudes about masturbation persist and it remains stigmatized.
Hallikeri, Vinay R.; Gouda, Hareesh.; Aramani, Sunil C.; Vijaykumar, A.G.; Ajaykumar, T.S. MASTURBATION—AN OVERVIEW. Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (New Delhi: Medicolegal Society). 2010-07-12, 27 (2): 46–49 [2014-02-26]. ISSN 0971-1929. (原始內容存檔於2016-08-21). Today, masturbatory act is considered as a healthy practice when done in private and an offence if done in the public in most of the countries.
McPartlin, Daniel; Adam P. Klausner, MD; Tristan T. Berry, MD. Case report: A foreign body in the urethra. Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. 2005-09-09. ISSN 2210-2612. doi:10.1016/j.ijscr.2013.07.017. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
Ellis, Havelock (1927), Studies in the Psychology of Sex (3rd edition), Volume I,; Auto-Eroticism: A Study of the Spontaneous Manifestations of the Sexual Impulse; section I; "The Sewing-machine and the Bicycle:" quotes one Pouillet as saying "it is a well-recognized fact that to work a sewing-machine with the body in a certain position produces sexual excitement leading to the orgasm. The occurrence of the orgasm is indicated to the observer by the machine being worked for a few seconds with uncontrollable rapidity. This sound is said to be frequently heard in large French workrooms, and it is part of the duty of the superintendents of the rooms to make the girls sit properly."
Advanced Masturbation. 2004-10-22 [2009-07-11]. (原始內容存檔於2016-06-12). "The Full Fist Masturbation Technique" and "The Thumb-Forefinger Masturbation Technique"
Penis circumcision. Plastic surgery abroad - Latvia. [2017-04-07]. (原始內容存檔於2017-04-07). Male circumcision is the removal of some or all of the foreskin (prepuce) from the penis.
See here [1] (頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館) and pages 47–49 (頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館) for views on what constitutes virginity loss and therefore sexual intercourse or other sexual activity; source discusses how gay and lesbian individuals define virginity loss, and how the majority of researchers and heterosexuals define virginity loss/"technical virginity" by whether or not a person has engaged in penile-vaginal sex. Laura M. Carpenter. Virginity Lost: An Intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences. NYU Press. 2005: 295 pages [2011-10-09]. ISBN 0-8147-1652-0.
Bryan Strong; Christine DeVault; Theodore F. Cohen. The Marriage and Family Experience: Intimate Relationship in a Changing Society. Cengage Learning. 2010: 186 [2011-10-08]. ISBN 0-534-62425-1. Most people agree that we maintain virginity as long as we refrain from sexual (vaginal) intercourse. ...But occasionally we hear people speak of 'technical virginity' … Other research, especially research looking into virginity loss, reports that 35% of virgins, defined as people who have never engaged in vaginal intercourse, have nonetheless engaged in one or more other forms of heterosexual activity (e.g. oral sex, anal sex, or mutual masturbation). … Data indicate that 'a very significant proportion of teens ha[ve] had experience with oral sex, even if they haven't had sexual intercourse, and may think of themselves as virgins'.
Mutual Masturbation. 2006-06-12 [2010-08-07]. (原始內容存檔於2016-05-22). — A biographical collection of data for a sociological repository on the topic of mutual masturbating to study changes on the activity over time.
De Alwis AC, Senaratne AM, De Silva SM, Rodrigo VS; Senaratne; De Silva; Rodrigo. Bladder calculus presenting as excessive masturbation. Ceylon Med J. 2006-09, 51 (3): 121–2. PMID 17315592.
Lopez-Meza E, Corona-Vazquez T, Ruano-Calderon LA, Ramirez-Bermudez J; Corona-Vazquez; Ruano-Calderon; Ramirez-Bermudez. Severe impulsiveness as the primary manifestation of multiple sclerosis in a young female. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2005-12, 59 (6): 739–42. PMID 16401253. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1819.2005.01446.x.
Porter, Robert S.; Kaplan, Justin L. (編). Chapter 165. Sexuality and Sexual Disorders. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis & Therapy 19th. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., A Subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. 2011 [2016-07-15]. ISBN 978-0-911910-19-3. (原始內容存檔於2015-02-20).
Hansen, J.K.; Balslev, T. Hand activities in infantile masturbation: a video analysis of 13 cases. European Journal of Paediatric Neurology (Elsevier). 2009-11, 13 (6): 508–10 [2008]. ISSN 1090-3798. PMID 19010071. doi:10.1016/j.ejpn.2008.10.007. Infantile masturbation is considered a variant of normal behaviour.
Giorgi G, Siccardi M. Ultrasonographic observation of a female fetus' sexual behavior in utero. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 1996-09, 175 (3 Pt 1): 753. PMID 8828451.
Heilborn, M.L., Cabral, C.S. Sexual practices in youth: analysis of lifetime sexual trajectory and last sexual intercourse. Cad Saude Publica. 2006, 22 (7): 1471–81. PMID 16791346. doi:10.1590/S0102-311X2006000700011.
Baker, Robin R.; Bellis, Mark A. Human sperm competition: Ejaculate manipulation by females and a function for the female orgasm.. Animal Behaviour. 1993-11, 46 (5): 87, 23p. doi:10.1006/anbe.1993.1272.
Baker, Robin R.; Bellis, Mark A. Human sperm competition: Ejaculate adjustment by males and the function of masturbation.. Animal Behaviour. 1993-11, 46 (5): 861, 25p. doi:10.1006/anbe.1993.1271.
Patton, Michael S. Masturbation from Judaism to Victorianism. Journal of Religion and Health (Springer Netherlands). 1985-06, 24 (2): 133–146 [2011-11-12]. ISSN 0022-4197. doi:10.1007/BF01532257. (原始內容存檔於2021-04-05). Social change in attitudes toward masturbation has occurred at the professional level only since 1960 and at the popular level since 1970. [133] … onanism and masturbation erroneously became synonymous... [134] … there is no legislation in the Bible pertaining to masturbation. [135]
Szasz, Thomas S.Sex. The Second Sin. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. 1974: 10 [1973] [2011-06-30]. ISBN 0-7100-7757-2. (原始內容存檔於2021-03-21). Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth, it's a cure.
Shpancer, Noah. The Masturbation Gap. The pained history of self pleasure. Psychology Today. New York City: Sussex Publishers. 29 September 2010 [2013-06-27]. (原始內容存檔於2016-07-31). The publication of Kinsey's and Masters and Johnson's research revealed that masturbation was both common and harmless. Many studies have since confirmed this basic truth, revealing in addition that masturbation is neither a substitute for "real" sex nor a facilitator of risky sex.參數|journal=與模板{{cite web}}不匹配(建議改用{{cite journal}}或|website=) (幫助)
Coon, Dennis; Mitterer, John O. 11. Gender and Sexuality. Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior 14. Cengage Learning. 2015-01-01: 363 [2016-07-15]. ISBN 978-1-305-54500-7. (原始內容存檔於2020-06-14). Is there any way that masturbation can cause harm? Seventy years ago, a child might have been told that masturbation would cause insanity, acne, sterility, or other such nonsense. "Self-abuse," as it was then called, has enjoyed a long and unfortunate history of religious and medical disapproval (Caroll, 2013). The modern view is that masturbation is a normal sexual behavior (Hogarth & Ingham, 2009). Enlightened parents are well aware of this fact. Still, many children are punished or made to feel guilty for touching their genitals. This is unfortunate because masturbation itself is harmless. Typically, its only negative effects are feelings of fear, guilt, or anxiety that arise from learning to think of masturbation as "bad" or "wrong." In an age when people are urged to practice "safer sex," masturbation remains the safest sex of all.
Sigel, Lisa Z. Masturbation: The History of the Great Terror by Jean Stengers; Ann Van Neck; Kathryn Hoffmann. Journal of Social History (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Summer 2004, 37 (4): 1065–1066. ISSN 0022-4529. JSTOR 3790078. doi:10.1353/jsh.2004.0065. Stengers and Van Neck follow the illness to its fairly abrupt demise; they liken the shift to finally seeing the emperor without clothes as doctors began to doubt masturbation as a cause of illness at the turn of the twentieth century. Once doubt set in, scientists began to accumulate statistics about the practice, finding that a large minority and then a large majority of people masturbated. The implications were clear: if most people masturbated and did not experience insanity, debility, and early death, then masturbation could not be held accountable to the etiology that had been assigned it. Masturbation quickly lost its hold over the medical community, and parents followed in making masturbation an ordinary part of first childhood and then human sexuality.
Wood, Kate. Masturbation as a Means of Achieving Sexual Health by Walter Bockting; Eli Coleman. Culture, Health & Sexuality (London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.). 2005-03, 7 (2): 182–184. ISSN 1369-1058. JSTOR 4005453. In the collection's introductory chapter, Eli Coleman describes how Kinsey's research half a century ago was the first in a series of studies to challenge widely prevalent cultural myths relating to the 'harmful' effects of masturbation, revealing the practice to be both common and non-pathological. Subsequent research, outlined by Coleman in this chapter, has shown masturbation to be linked to healthy sexual development, sexual well-being in relationships, self-esteem and bodily integrity (an important sexual right). As such, the promotion and de-stigmatization of the practice continue to be important strategies within sexology for the achievement of healthy sexual development and well-being.
The collection concludes with two surveys among US college students. The first of these was based on limited quantitative questions relating to masturbation. The findings suggest that masturbation is not a substitute for sexual intercourse, as has often been posited, but is associated with increased sexual interest and greater number of partners. The second of these surveys asks whether masturbation could be useful in treating low sexual desire, by examining the relationship between masturbation, libido and sexual fantasy.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Masturbation: From myth to sexual health. Contemporary Sexuality (Mount Vernon, IA: American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists). 2003-03, 37 (3): v. ISSN 1094-5725. OCLC 37229308. Finally, the American medical community pronounced masturbation as normal in 1972 American Medical Association publication, Human Sexuality (Rowan, 2000).
Diagnostic criteria for research(PDF). WHO. 1993: 213、215 [2016-07-23]. (原始內容存檔(PDF)於2016-06-18). Acute anxiety and somatic complaints such as fatigue and muscle pain, related to a fear of semen loss in men or women(also thought to secrete semen). Precursors are said to include excess coitus, urinary disorders, imbalances in body humours, and diet. The main symptom is a whitish discharge in urine, interpreted as semen loss. Traditional remedies focus on herbal tonics to restore semen or humoral balance.
Christoph U. Correll, MD;Bret S. Stetka, MD. 20 More Rare and Unusual Psychiatric Syndromes. medscape. [2017-01-02]. (原始內容存檔於2020-04-20). ...In shenkui, marked anxiety or panic symptoms are accompanied by somatic complaints, such as dizziness, backache, fatigue, and complaints of sexual dysfunction. The excessive loss of semen is feared because it is seen as the loss of one's vital essence.
Shuman, Tracy. Your Guide to Masturbation. WebMD, Inc./The Cleveland Clinic Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2006-02 [2006-07-29]. (原始內容存檔於2017-01-01).
Knowles, Jon. Masturbation — From Stigma to Sexual Health(PDF). Katharine Dexter McCormick Library/Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. 2002-11 [2006-07-29]. (原始內容(PDF)存檔於2016-12-01).
Sutherland, Tammy. Six healthy reasons to masturbate. Best Health Magazine. Reader's Digest Magazines (Canada). [2013-07-04]. (原始內容存檔於2014-12-17). Just as people fall into a deep sleep after sex with a partner, because blood pressure is lowered and relaxation is increased through the release of endorphins, masturbation is a good sleeping pill," says Golden. "It is relied on by many as a nightly occurrence.
Wenner, Melinda. Why do guys get sleepy after sex?. NYU Journalism (New York University). 2006 [2013-07-04]. (原始內容存檔於2016-12-23). The bottom line is this: there are many potential biochemical and evolutionary reasons for post-sex sleepiness, some direct and some indirect
Graber, Benjamin; Balogh, Scott; Fitzpatrick, Denis; Hendricks, Shelton. Cardiovascular changes associated with sexual arousal and orgasm in men. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment (Springer Netherlands). 1991-06, 4 (2): 151–165. ISSN 1079-0632. doi:10.1007/BF00851611.
Haake, Philip; Krueger, Tillmann H. C.; Goebel, Marion U.; Heberling, Katharina M.; Hartmann, Uwe; Schedlowski, Manfred. Effects of sexual arousal on lymphocyte subset circulation and cytokine production in man. Neuroimmunomodulation. 2004, 11 (5): 293–298. ISSN 1021-7401. PMID 15316239. doi:10.1159/000079409.
El Atat, R.; Sfaxi, M.; Benslama, R.; Amine, D.; Ayed, M.; Mouelli, B.; Chebil, M.; Zmerli, S. Fracture of the penis: management and long-term results of surgical treatment. Experience in 300 cases. The Journal of trauma. 2008-01, 64 (1): 121–125. ISSN 0022-5282. PMID 18188109. doi:10.1097/TA.0b013e31803428b3.
Asgari, S.; Roshani, A.; Falahatkar, S.; Mokhtari, G.; Pourreza, F. MP-21.01: Report on the early and late complications of 169 penile fractures. Urology. 2007, 70 (3): 160–161. doi:10.1016/j.urology.2007.06.119.
Postorgasmic illness syndrome. Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD). National Institutes of Health. 2015 [2015-07-30]. (原始內容(html)存檔於2016-03-05) (英語).
John E. B. Myers. Myers on Evidence in Child, Domestic and Elder Abuse Cases, Volume 1. Aspen Publishers. 2005: 385 [2011-08-27]. (原始內容存檔於2021-04-05). Jon Conte and his colleagues were interested to learn what factors are important to mental health professionals who regularly evaluate children for sexual abuse. The evaluators were asked to rank the importance of forty-one indicators of sexual abuse. The following indicators were thought important by more than ninety percent of evaluators: medical evidence of abuse, age-inappropriate sexual knowledge, sexualized play during the interview, precocious or seductive behavior, excessive masturbation, child's description is consistent over time, child's description reveals pressure or coercion.
Kathleen Coulborn Faller. Understanding and Assessing Child Sexual Maltreatment. Sage Publications. 2003: 39 [2011-08-27]. (原始內容存檔於2021-04-05). Six different types of sexual behavior that signal possible sexual abuse will be described in this section: (a) excessive masturbation, (b) sexual interaction with peers, (c) sexual aggression toward younger or more naive children, (d) sexual accosting of older people or adults, (e) seductive behavior, and (f) promiscuity.
Sex and Society. Marshall Cavendish Reference Books. 2010: 513 [2016-07-25]. ISBN 978-0-7614-7905-5. (原始內容存檔於2021-04-05). Masturbation in Ancient Cultures Masturbation has been depicted in ancient rock paintings in different cultures around the world.
Taylor, Timothy. Uncovering the prehistory of sex. British Archaeology. 1996-06, (15) [2016-07-21]. (原始內容存檔於2012-10-01). The Ħaġar Qim woman is... masturbating, with one hand languidly supporting her head.
See Traité contre l』impureté (1707) and The Nature of Uncleanness (1708); Ian McCormick ed. Sexual Outcasts: Onanism. Vol. 4. (London and New York: Routledge, 2000). pp. 1-10.
Strassberg, Donald S.; Mackaronis, Julia E.; Perelman, Michael A. Sexual dysfunctions. Blaney, Paul H.; Krueger, Robert F.; Millon, Theodore (編). Oxford textbook of psychopathology Third. NY: Oxford University Press. 2015: 441–442 [2015-10-21]. ISBN 978-0-19-981177-9. OCLC 879552995. (原始內容存檔於2021-04-05).
Catechism of the Catholic Church. [2007-10-08]. (原始內容存檔於2016-10-02). Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose". For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved".
Hewlett, B.S. Diverse contexts of human infancy. Ember, C.; Ember, M. (編). Cross-Cultural Research for Social Science. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall. 1996.
皮特·湯申德. Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy. Printed article. "Rolling Stone or one of the similar magazines (Melody Maker, NME, etc.)". 1971 [2009-01-09]. (原始內容存檔於2012-04-02). Merely a ditty about masturbation and the importance of it to a young man. I was really diggin' at my folks who, when catching me at it, would talk in loud voices in the corridor outside my room. 'Why can't he go with girls like other boys?'