Clitoridectomy: A Nineteenth Century Answer To Masturbation by John

Clitoridectomy: A Nineteenth Century Answer to
Masturbation ~ by John Duffy

In the early 19th century perceptive physicians were becoming increasingly dubious of the
traditional medical theories and began turning to clinical experience. Unfortunately, lacking an
understanding of physiology and with no knowledge of bacteriology, they were frustrated in their
attempts to prevent or cure disease. In desperation, physicians intensified their use of the
traditional therapeutics--bleeding, blistering, vomiting, purging and sweating, heroic therapy
which only served to increase public suspicion of the profession. Seeking to compensate for their
inability to deal with disease, physicians increasingly began assuming the role of moral leaders.
In the process they seized upon issues such as abortion and masturbation.
The prudishness of Victorians and veil of silence they cast over sexuality is well known, but
what is not so well known is their preoccupation with masturbation. Little attention had been
given to masturbation until late in the 18th century, and it was not until the second half of the
19th century that the subject became one of general concern. It first came to public attention
through the efforts of a few moralists, but it was not until the medical profession, seeking to
bolster its status in society, transformed the moral question of masturbation into a medical
condition that it became a significant issue.
In the case of males, the apprehensions about masturbation were engendered by a widespread
assumption that the loss of semen endangered the brain and nervous system. In America the
superintendent of the Massachusetts Lunatic Asylum gave credence to this belief when in his
1848 annual report he asserted that 32 per cent of admissions were for "self-pollution", one of
several euphemisms for masturbation. Reflecting in part the Victorian preoccupation with
sexuality, by the late 19th century medical journals in Europe and America were attributing
almost every conceivable medical condition to this "secret vice."
Since loss of semen was considered a real danger to males, then it followed that nocturnal
emissions were equally hazardous. To solve both of these problems, a whole array of mechanical
devices were constructed. They included such items as strait jackets, genital cages, and penis
rings with sharp points on the inside. Most of these objects were devised by laymen, but the
medical profession, which has generally reflected prevailing beliefs, was not to be outdone.
Young men driven by guilt who sought a physician’s help, or who confessed to masturbation
under close questioning by their physician, were treated with blistering agents, mild acid
solutions, or leeches applied to the genitals. Bloodletting and cutting the foreskin were also used
in serious cases. In at least one extreme case, at the request of a desperate patient who feared for
his sanity, his physician castrated him. The physician in his report of the case declared that the
patient was gaining weight, somewhat lethargic, but morally sound.
Reprehensible as was masturbation among males, it was an even graver problem among
Victorian females, who were viewed as delicate, sensitive, frail, and emotional creatures. In
response to an article in a local paper urging the medical regulation of prostitutes, the editor of
the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal began by pointing out that the morality of
American women was much higher than that of women in other countries. Most prostitutes in
New Orleans, he observed, were foreigners. Having settled this point, he turned to "onanism" or
masturbation, a practice "very injudicious to the health of both males and females." Men, he
wrote, occasionally admitted to it, but the case with women was far different.
To ask for or expect information from adult females about this practice, he wrote, "is altogether
useless and vain, although many of their diseases, as leucorrhoea, uterine haemorrhage, falling of
the womb, cancer, functional disorders of the heart, spinal irritation, palpitation, hysteria,
convulsions, haggard features, emaciation, debility, mania--many symptoms called nervous--un
triste tableau, have been referred to masturbation as the cause." Even if these disorders did not
originate in masturbation, he continued, "its practice would certainly aggravate them." The
editorial concluded with a quote from a French physician: "In my opinion, neither the plague, nor
war, nor smallpox, nor a crowd of similar evils have resulted more disastrously for humanity,
then the habit of masturbation: it is the destroying element of civilized society."2
In 1866 an American medical journal discussed the work of a British physician, Dr. Isaac Brown
Baker, who claimed success in treating epilepsy and other nervous disorders in female patients-
by excising the clitoris. After noting that the great mass of English medical opinion was strongly
opposed to Baker's ideas and had "unqualifiedly condemned" his operation, the American editor
concurred with the English medical profession, declaring that to remove the clitoris "to allay
sexual irritability is about as unphilosophical as to remove the analogous organ of the male." (4)
While the clitoridectomy was only rarely performed in the English-speaking nations, the subject
of female masturbation continued to intrigue the public and the medical profession. As the
century drew on, more articles on the subject began appearing in medical journals and the
clitoridectomy was revived. In 1889, Dr. Joseph Jones, a former president of the Louisiana State
Board of Health and a medical professor, stated that "hopeless insanity" was one of the many
consequences of masturbation and that the child of a masturbator was liable to hereditary
insanity.(8).
In 1894, Dr A.J. Bloch of New Orleans in an article entitled "Sexual Perversion in the Female"
referred to female masturbation as a "moral leprosy." In one of his cases, he described how a
schoolgirl of fourteen suffering from nervousness and pallor had been cured by "liberating the
clitoris from its adhesions and by lecturing the patient on the dangers of masturbation.( 10).
As far as can be ascertained, Dr. Bloch was one of the last American surgeons to report taking
such drastic measures. By this date medical studies were beginning to demonstrate that
masturbation caused no serious functional disturbances and that the psychological problems
involved arose from the social attitude towards the practice rather than the act itself. As these
ideas gained medical acceptance during the next thirty years, the subject of masturbation in
normal individuals gradually disappeared from medical journals.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: John Duffy, Ph.D. is Clinical Professor Emeritus1 Tulane
University School of Medicine and Professor Emeritus of History, University of Maryland. Dr.
Duffy is a medical historian with some 9 published books and 50 articles. His newest book is
The Sanitarians: A History of American Public Health. University of Illinois Press to be released
in February 1990.
Haller, John S. and Robin M., The Physician and Sexuality in Victorian America,
Urbana, Chicago, and London, 1974, pp.195, 207-209.
Editorial: Review of European Legislation for Control of Prostitution, New Orleans
Med Surg J 11:700-705, 1854-1855.
Castellanos, J.: Summary Prepared from French Journals, South J Med Sci 1:495-96,
1866-1867.
Editorial: Clitoridectomy, South J Med Sci 1:794, 1866-1867.
West, D.C,: Clitoridectomy, Brit Med J 2:585, 1866.
Down J., and Langden, H.: Influence of Sewing Machine on Female Health, New
Orleans Med Surg J 20:359-360, 1867-1868.
Comment: New Orleans Med Surg J (new series) 9:67, 1881-1882.
Jones, J.: General Medicine--Diseases of Nervous System, Trans La Med Soc 1889,
pp. 170-171.
Tait, L.: Masturbation, Med News 53:1-3, 1888.
Block, A.J.: Sexual Perversion in Female, New Orleans Med Surg J (new series)
22:1-7, 1894-1895.
Duffy, J. Masturbation and Clitoridectomy. The Journal of The American Medical
Association. October 19, 1963, Vol. 186, pp. 246-248.
This article is (c) by the author. Unauthorized reproductions are prohibited.

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