Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-ErotismEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
In the human species these phenomena are by no means found in civilization
alone. To whatever extent masturbation may have been developed by the
conditions of European life, which carry to the utmost extreme the
concomitant stimulation, and repression of the sexual emotions, it is far
from being, as Mantegazza has declared it to be, one of the moral
characteristics of Europeans.[184] It is found among the people of nearly
every race of which we have any intimate knowledge, however natural the
conditions under which men and women may live.[185] Thus, among the Nama
Hottentots, among the young women at all events, Gustav Fritsch found that
masturbation is so common that it is regarded as a custom of the country;
no secret is made of it, and in the stories and legends of the race it is
treated as one of the most ordinary facts of life. It is so also among the
Basutos, and the Kaffirs are addicted to the same habit.[186] The Fuegians
have a word for masturbation, and a special word for masturbation by
women.[187] When the Spaniards first arrived at Vizcaya, in the
Philippines, they found that masturbation was universal, and that it was
customary for the women to use an artificial penis and other abnormal
methods of sexual gratification. Among the Balinese, according to Jacobs
(as quoted by Ploss and Bartels), masturbation is general; in the boudoir
of many a Bali beauty, he adds, and certainly in every harem, may be found
a wax penis to which many hours of solitude are devoted. Throughout the
East, as Eram, speaking from a long medical experience, has declared,
masturbation is very prevalent, especially among young girls. In Egypt,
according to Sonnini, it is prevalent in harems. In India, a medical
correspondent tells me, he once treated the widow of a wealthy Mohammedan,
who informed him that she began masturbation at an early age, "just like
all other women." The same informant tells me that on the _façade_ of a
large temple in Orissa are bas-reliefs, representing both men and women,
alone, masturbating, and also women masturbating men. Among the Tamils of
Ceylon masturbation is said to be common. In Cochin China, Lorion remarks,
it is practiced by both sexes, but especially by the married women.[188]
Japanese women have probably carried the mechanical arts of auto-erotism
to the highest degree of perfection. They use two hollow balls about the
size of a pigeon's egg (sometimes one alone is used), which, as described
by Joest, Christian, and others,[189] are made of very thin leaf of brass;
one is empty, the other (called the little man) contains a small heavy
metal ball, or else some quicksilver, and sometimes metal tongues which
vibrate when set in movement; so that if the balls are held in the hand
side by side there is a continuous movement. The empty one is first
introduced into the vagina in contact with the uterus, then the other; the
slightest movement of the pelvis or thighs, or even spontaneous movement
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