Masturbation: A Brief History Of Masturbation

Masturbation is universal. We all do it. Even those of us that say we don’t. Old and young, gay and straight, male and female and everything in between. A recent survey found 80% of men and 70% of women regularly indulge in the solo dance, telling us that if there’s one thing that connects us all as humans it’s the ability to put one’s hands on one’s bits and fiddle for fun.

Click here to get more info about: male masturbation toys

This has, since the dawn of time, always been the case and throughout history our attitudes and ideas of self pleasuring have changed, evolved, grown and shrunk depending on which part of the planet you’re from, what culture or religion you grew up in, and what era you were doing it in. To write an entire history would be book-sized, so instead here is a brief history looking at the different ways masturbation has been viewed and practiced throughout history.

The Life, The Universe, And Everything
In the beginning there was nothing… And then the God Atum had a big ol wank and splodged his gunk into the universe and low and behold the world was born! This is the creation myth as told by the ancient Egyptians and, if you think about it, it kind of makes a bit more sense than just “wishing” the world into existences like some other Gods have been known to do. In fact, masturbation was so important to life and living in ancient Egypt that it was the duty of the Pharaoh to wank into the Nile every year to bring fertility and prosperity to the land.

However it wasn’t for everyone. Some of the earliest arguments against masturbation stem from the idea that self gratifying was a “divine” thing that only Gods and their advocates could do, so while it was all fine and dandy that the Pharaoh was pleasuring himself into the river of life, no-one else was really allowed to do it. But that isn’t necessarily the case for all ancient cultures, starting off with the most primitive of them, our cave dwelling ancestors.

Primitive Playing
Yeah there wasn’t much to do back in those cave days apart from spearing mammoths and inventing fire and stuff. The people had a lot of time on their hands to fiddle with, and fiddle they did!

In 2005 a group of archaeologists stumbled across what they believe is the world’s oldest dildo! A beautifully smooth and carved phallus made of stone which dates back to around 28,000 years old! Cave paintings also suggest that not only masturbation, but group sex, casual sex, oral sex, and even sex with animals was a normal part of everyday life, and while it was understood that sex between a man and a woman created life, these primitive pornos prove it was also done for fun as well.

Ancient Wanking
So we already know about the Egyptians but almost every ancient culture on earth has their own stories about and attitudes towards masturbation and, surprisingly, it quite often focused on women with statues and depictions of women masturbating being quite common in places like Maltese and Sumerian temples of worship.

The Sumerians, like the Egyptians, believed their life source rivers (the Tigris and Euphrates) were created by the god Enki ejaculating into the dry beds and they also believed that masturbation was a healthy and vital part of both single and partnered life.

As a little aside, in ancient Sumer all the records and writing was kept by women in the temples, it was called cuneiform, and their writing was created by carving little triangles and mounds, similar to vulvas, into stone and is one of the ancient etymological bases of my favourite word: cunt… But I digress…

Masturbation
Butt Plugs and Balls
Similar to the stone dildo found in those caves in Germany, the ancient practice of using jade eggs and ben-wah balls was well documented in ancient Asian cultures to be used as sexual intercourse enhancers, solo pleasure enhancers for women, and also in helping to strengthen the pelvic floor after birth.

There have also been discoveries of 5000 year old bronze and jade butt-plugs and hollow dildos in China, but these (the butt plugs) were thought to be more about preserving the “chi” of a deceased person (inserted after death so nothing leaked out) and the hollow dildos have been theorised to be both female masturbation implements and hollow strap-ons for men to wear.

To The Left, To The Left
In Ancient Greek cultures male masturbation was celebrated and encouraged as something to do when you couldn’t get a girl, and to also stave off sexual frustration. Women were expected to be a little more reserved, but that basically just meant they didn’t do it in public and instead went to special spas and saunas where they used dildos and other implements to get themselves off with their friends.

Both men and women were depicted in artwork and decorations having a good ol’ fiddle, however in some “elite” factions it was seen as something a bit “low class”, a waste of time (and semen) and the practice of slaves with too much time on their hands.

The Romans also had similar thoughts but still loved to stick their hands down their pants, although it was generally relegated to the left hand, as depicted in some ancient graffiti found in Pompeii that reads: “When my worries oppress my body, with my left hand I release my pent up fluids”. Which just goes to show that writing dick jokes on walls is a practice far older than the toilets at your local pub.

Spiritually Talking
In ancient India sex, pleasure, masturbation, love, spirituality, all of that was celebrated as the force of life with the Kama Sutra and Tantra being part of their religion, lifestyle and culture.

For more info visit here: adult sex toys australia

In a bit of a change, however, in these practices the idea of male ejaculation was actually often thought to take away from the pleasure of women, which they viewed as an essential part of sex and spirituality, and so male orgasms with ejaculation was shunned (Tantra practices actually teach men how to orgasm without it).

Male masturbation was seen as a bit disrespectful and could possibly be the reason why male masturbation was later looked at as a crime that needed to be atoned for by cleansing and/or prayer.

About This Author

Dildo Store Online Joined: December 5th, 2019