a review of a classic text on masturbation

Masturbation- 100 years ago and now – Journal of Sex Research – Find Articles at BNET

… Stekel was a part of the Vienna psychoanalytic circle organized by Sigmund Freud, and Stekel participated in the original discussion the group had on onanism in 1910. This first discussion lasted for three evenings and contained so much disagreement that they dared not publish their proceedings. The group returned to the subject two years later and, although they agreed that masturbation was representative of the conflict between instinct and repression, they also agreed that the topic was quite inexhaustible.

Almost alone among the psychoanalytic group, Stekel argued that, if masturbation was entirely suppressed, the number of sexual misdeeds would increase to an immeasurable extent. He held that all sorts of forbidden yearnings that might have led to rape or pederasty found a healthy outlet in masturbation. In Stekel’s view, masturbation was entirely harmless or even benign, a position with which Freud disagreed. …