Sex

[stu]

So I'm in a class called Human Sexuality at school this semester. Over all it's a pretty good class with a bunch of interesting things in the text book. Here is my favorite so far:


In the 1800s sexual abstinence, simple foods, and fitness were lauded as crucial to health. The Reverend Sylvester Graham, who promoted the use of whole-grain flours and whose name is still attached to graham crackers, wrote that ejaculation reduced precious "vital fluids." He beseeched men to abstain from masturbation and even marital intercourse to avoid moral and physical degeneracy. John Harvey Kellogg, a physician, carried Graham's work further and developed the cornflake to help prevent masturbation and sexual desire (Kellogg believed that bland food dampened sexual interest and that spicy goods excited sexual desires). Other techniques to control masturbation included bandaging the genitals, tying one's hands at night, clitoridectomy, applying carbolic acid to the clitoris, and suturing foreskins shut, as well as employing mechanical devices (Hamilton, 2002; Planned Parenthood Federatioin of America, 2003a).


Discuss.

[chris_venturini]

I shouldve eaten cornflakes in highschool.

[chris_venturini]

According to Kellogg, 90 percent of all human ills originated in the stomach and bowels. One would think however that all 90 percent originated in masturbation,considering the approach that Kellogg attacked the humble practice of masturbation. In Plain Facts for Old and Young , he advised that the the first line of defense was keeping children busy (i.e. daily working them to the point of exhaustion) and constantly under surveillance. "The vigilant parent must especially be aware of children’s goings on in the bathtub, on the toilet, or in bed for solitude was a temptation to vice." Furthermore, all parents were urged to watch for such tell-tale “symptoms” of masturbation as bad posture (slumped shoulders), a fear of the opposite sex, or wanting to hang out in groups with other children of the same gender. Stiffness in the hips and a stiff-legged gate in boys or a wiggly walk in girls were also clues. Also a child who suddenly became more bold – or more timid – was surely a masturbator as well. To stop these hideous acts of depravity, Kellogg strongly advocated circumcision of young boys (note that, up until this era, most non-Jewish American boys were not circumcised), saying that the operation should be done without anesthesia because the remembered pain (and the soreness which followed for several weeks) would serve as a punishing reminder that would discourage the boy from masturbating ever again. Another deterrent recommended by Kellogg was to wire a boy’s foreskin together at the end such that mere erection would become very painful. The wire was of course to be attached by piercing the foreskin with a needle, with the wire following along in place of thread. For the multitude of American males who do not (thanks to Kellogg and his ilk) have a foreskin, it may be worth mentioning that the foreskin is considered to be much more sensitive to pain and pleasure than the bald penis you may currently own. Kellogg did not single out only boys for torment, perish the thought. He was out to save the entire nation from evil. Girls too must be prevented from self-pleasuring, at all costs. For girls Kellogg recommended the application of carbolic acid directly to the clitoris as: an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement, and preventing the recurrence of the practice in those whose will-power has become so weakened that the patient is unable to exercise entire self-control. The worse cases among young women are those in which the disease has advanced so far that erotic thoughts are attended by the same voluptuous sensations that accompany the practice. The author has met many cases of this sort in young women, who acknowledged that the sexual orgasm was thus produced, often several times daily. The application of carbolic acid in the manner described is also useful in these cases in allaying the abnormal excitement, which is a frequent provocation of the practice of this form of mental masturbation. Of course now medical doctors know that carbolic acid is extremely poisonous. When applied to the tissues, and when applied directly to muscle or nerve, it causes instant paralysis. And when swallowed undiluted, it produces violent gastro-enteritis, with vomiting and purging, followed by collapse, delirium, and often by convulsions and death. Nonetheless, if carbolic acid did not do the trick, Kellogg reasoned it was necessary to surgically remove the clitoris. He cites one such surgery, performed by him, at the request of the girl’s father. Sure that his 10 year old would go to hell for her sinful indulgence, the father had resolved he would rather take her out in the wilderness and leave her to die rather than have her infect the minds of her siblings with her evil ways. Kellogg and cliterodectomy were her only hope for continued life and salvation. The good doctor happily obliged. Although it is hard to judge whether Kellogg and similar theorists were the cause or merely the voice of 19th century Americans’ surging hysteria over masturbation, we can certainly see that the shadow of this era has lingered in our culture for over a century. Only now with the threat of HIV looming more menacingly, has our society begun to switch gears and tout masturbation as a good complement to abstaining from premarital sex. (But only because horny teens were having trouble abstaining without jacking off.) And Christian bible scholars are revealing the all new politically correct truth that the bible (gasp!) doesn’t really condemn masturbation at all. It was all a big mistake. Surely Kellogg is rolling over in his grave at this latest theological development. But at least people still like his cornflakes. But wait! The cornflakes we consume today are not John Kellogg’s corn flakes. They are actually an adulterated version of his original creation, spiked with sugar and who knows what else. In fact the Kelloggs’ breakfast cereals were manufactured by his brother Will Kellogg, whom he sued for trotting out the Kellogg name on something much more palatable than the original crap served up at his Battle Creek Sanitarium. No doubt this insidious corruption of American breakfast cereal explains why Americans are the horny bastards they are today.

[stu]

Nice, I'll read it later. :)

[Weston]

That's way to much reading, Chris. Anyway, historical people are stupid, but I don't see how it's a good use of your time or money to take a class on this subject.

[-=[Juztin]=-]

w3rd

[Dave_L]

cliff notes?

[Talus]

cliff notes?
Masturbation is bad, so you should shove wires through your dick and burn of the clit with carbocilic acid so it hurts so much you wont want to do it.
And corn flakes used to be less tasty than they are today.

[Dave_L]

Masturbation is bad, so you should shove wires through your dick and burn of the clit with carbocilic acid so it hurts so much you wont want to do it.
And corn flakes used to be less tasty than they are today.
Thanks!

[nxbrennan]

Masturbation is bad, so you should shove wires through your dick and burn of the clit with carbocilic acid so it hurts so much you wont want to do it.
And corn flakes used to be less tasty than they are today.
hahaha those cliff notes are friggin awesome

[stu]

He missed the whole point of the article on the cliff notes. Both Graham crackers and Kelloggs Corn Flakes are namd after people who believe this type of thing in the 1800s, and is the whole entire existance of those two products in the first place. They thought that by eating boring foods, you wouldn't want to masturbate.

[oldskoolracer]

:king: frosted flakes made me masturbate,hehe