Ideas come flying in at the strangest moments - usually when I can't jot them down; and by the time I get the opportunity, I've forgotten. This is one of the few that didn't get away.
We all know the myths surrounding masturbation, they've been around for eons (see link for some of them). Throughout the generations, these 'threats' of various weird and wonderful things happening to your body should you succumb to the pleasures of your own flesh have been passed on. Even though these myths have their roots well and truly embedded in history, could one reason for using them be for getting out of a tricky situation for parents? The first time you see your offspring doing things to themselves, they're probably too young to even understand what it's all about. As a parent, you don't really want to explain, so you implant the taboo by saying that something dreadful will happen if they don't stop it. That way, it becomes a secret activity that the parents can't witness. Problem solved, no confrontation.
The myth about growing hairs on the palm of your hand is a strange one. I was always told as a kid that the first sign of madness was looking for hairy palms, and the second sign was finding them. That sort of ties in nicely with the idea that masturbation is a form of insanity, madness, lunacy, call it what you will. Before you start thinking that it was told to me in the context of me 'gusset surfing', then no, it wasn't!!
Question of the Week #71
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