Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

THE SEXUAL IMPULSE IN YOUTHculties involved. Such a recommendation may be just asundesirable as the old-fashioned recommendations ofprostitution or of continence. The self-gratification ofshut-in solitude may not be an improvement on the eagerand active desires of the unsatisfied. The physician's attitudeshould be one of sympathetic comprehension, butonly the individual himself can decide what course ofaction best suits his temperament and circumstances.More reasonable, therefore, than the attitude of Robieisthat of Wolbarst who, while holding that masturbationshould not be actually encouraged, considers that a pointmay be reached when the impulse should not be restrained,and quotes a Chinese proverb, that "It is betterto satisfy the body than to discolor the mind." We shouldavoid any harsh condemnation of the practice when it isadmitted, especially when there is self-condemnation. Atthe same time, he properly adds, it is not possible to commendthose "moralists" who approve of masturbation asa method of preserving an imaginary "virtue." There ismore real virtue in cherishing the natural impulse tosexual love and in adventurously facingthe natural desiresborn of that impulse.We have to recognize that we are concerned with amanifestation which belongs to a vast group of autoeroticphenomena, and that, in some form or another,such manifestations are inevitable. It is our wisest courseto recognize this inevitableness of sexual and transmutedsexual manifestations under the perpetual restraints ofcivilized life, and, while avoiding any attitude of excessiveindulgence or indifference, to avoid also any attitudeof horror, for our horror not only leads to the facts beingeffectually veiled from our sight, but itself serves to manufactureartificially evils that may be greater.