For ages, solo sex was hardly taboo. What led to its centuries-long dry spell?

Name: For ages, solo sex was hardly taboo. What led to its centuries-long dry spell? | Aeon Videos
Uploaded: 2023-12-11
Duration: 4 min
Description: For millennia, humans masturbated without shame. How did this pastime become a taboo? And how has it since been reclaimed?

For the vast majority of humans throughout history, masturbation has been a natural norm rather than a taboo. The brief animation ‘Masturbation: A Short History of a Great Taboo’ (2022) traces much of the blame for ‘the offensive against solo sex’ across the past several centuries back to a curious pamphlet titled Onania: Or, the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution (c1712), which, written by a now-unknown author, attributed both moral injury and physical malady to self-pleasure. The short is part of the documentary series Magical Caresses, dedicated to ‘solo sexuality’, by the Canadian filmmaker Lori Malépart-Traversy, who previously employed her charming animation style to explore sexuality with Le Clitoris (2016).

Director: Lori Malépart-Traversy

Producers: Julie Roy, Christine Noël

Website: National Film Board of Canada

11 December 2023

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