ONAN ESCHEWED - Rick Grunder

abuse is but one of many instances which follow in the wake of Christian
idolatry. The carnage of the World War is of little consequence when compared
with the carnage due to Christianity in general. [pp. 518-19]
But if the author favors easier access to sex, then why would he be so opposed to
masturbation? Because he subscribes to some of the same nonsense articulated
half a century earlier by Dr. Foote (see entry 27) . . .
While normal sex relations involves the electrification of two human bodies of
opposite polarity, the practice of self-abuse is maintained through the generation
of energy through unnatural channels, having a detrimental influence upon the
form of matter which retains the intellect. It is through this degenerating
influence that the practice of self-abuse brings about an abnormal condition of
the mind. . . . The reproductive cells spent through self-abuse, not being charged
with electrical energy generated through natural sources, would not enable a
union of male and female cells, to produce the mean vibration necessary to life.
The carnage of self-abuse is the result of Christian stupidity. . . . This carnage
will continue until Nature Suffrage is established, and sexology is taught in our
educational institutions. [p. 519]
70 MACFADDEN, Bernarr. WOMANHOOD AND MARRIAGE. . . . New York:
Macfadden Publications, Inc., 1923 [c. 1918 by Macfadden Publications, Inc.].
19 cm. [3]ff.; xi-xvi, 388 pp. + frontispiece family group photograph of the
happy-looking Macfadden clan of parents, six daughters and baby boy. Pages
305-20 are printed on semi-glossy paper to accommodate thirteen full-page
photograph illustrations of women performing rehabilitative exercises.
Original blue cloth. Binding dull and very shaken; generally very good
internally. $20
OCLC shows editions of 1918, '22, '23, '24, '29, followed by a German translation
in 1932. FEMALE MASTURBATION, pp. 246-65. Macfadden attempts a somewhat
more positive approach than most of his contemporaries. Instead of the "holy
horror" expressed by some people, we should turn away from "extreme condemnation"
by either the girls themselves, or those about them. "The first great
essential, in enabling them to secure self-mastery, is to rid them of their terrible
sense of shame." (p. 247). Masturbation is naturally very harmful for so many
reasons (pp. 250-53), and the writer hardly transcends the "wisdom" of his and
preceding generations. Yet I think we must applaud the tone he tries to assume
when dealing with a girl who, for perhaps perfectly innocent reasons in
ignorance, has fallen into the habit . . .
72
There is all the hope in the world, if she will but make up her mind to break it. It
will not be an easy conquest, but in the process she will build so much of strong