PeterFiles #13: Aunt Emily’s Boarding House
(Editor’s Note: Extensive clinical experience teaches the importance of early intervention in the treatment of compulsive masturbation. As soon as signs of pubertal excess are noted, steps must be taken to prevent self abuse from becoming habitual. Although we prefer that an incipient masturbator be referred to a professionally trained therapist, we acknowledge that the wisdom and skills needed to treat youthful self abuse are not confined to the professional caste. Many young boys have been rescued from vicious habit by the dedicated efforts of a strong caring female in his environment — an aunt, a neighbor, a teacher — capable of intervening and rigorously enforcing standards of decency and self control. Often these women employ traditional methods of shaming and corporal punishment, which, when intelligently administered in an intimate familial setting, can be remarkably successful. Peter was fortunate to have an aunt extraordinarily capable to address his situation. That Peter received such early attention and yet failed to benefit can be charged only to his unusual predisposition towards masturbatory addiction.)
One summer early in Peter’s teen years, his mother sent him to stay with his Aunt Emily, who ran a boarding house for young men in the north of England. Peter was quite excited, both at the novelty of the trip and at the prospect of being more “on his own” for the summer. He had only recently discovered the boyish pleasures of masturbation, and he was looking forward to having opportunity to explore them out of the supervision of his parents. Little did he know that his mother’s suspicion of his secret activities was the prime motivation for sending him to the care of his aunt.
