This circa 1880 anti-masturbation device is currently up for auction on eBay. The starting bid is $1500. From the auction listing:
EXTREMELY RARE ANTI MASTURBATION DEVICE DATING FROM c1880. THE COPPER SHAPED DEVICE WAS ATTACHED TO A BELT AND WORN BY BOYS AS A MEANS OF PREVENTING NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS. VERY MUCH AN INDICATION OF SOCIETIES VIEWS ON ONANISM IN THE 19TH CENTURY. THIS IS THE FIRST EXAMPLE WE HAVE OFFERED FOR SALE IN 24 YEARS. THE CONDITION IS EXCELLENT 3 ½ INCHES TOP TO BASE.
Link (Thanks, Michael-Anne Rauback!)
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Is this a one size fits all?
I assume one size did not fit all!? Still, worn with a pair of snug pants, this might have impressed some of the ladies. "Are you glad to see me, or is that your brass, anti-wanking codpiece?"
it's a bit small isn't it???
*shudder*.. Funny today, but really, really creepy to think how society operated then.
At least there were air holes.
I guess it's small because it is to be used by young boys. I guess it prevented masturbation in exchange for causing weird psychological scars.
Now of course, you can purchase a modern version of the Device from Mr. S as a sex toy.
#7: My thoughts exactly. I would so buy this for my toybox.
@ #8: uh, yeah, ok. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
KINKY
now where is my yogurt enema?
Copper? Sweat? Green eggs and ham.
Anti-masturbation?
To me it looks ideal for the opposite purpose.
Fur lining optional??
#11 made coffee come out my nose.
I'm pretty sure by now most experts
feel all these chastity/anti-masturbation things
are jokes made up in the 19th or 20th century. (so yes, its old, but even then it was a joke). The problem is that its become such a popular culture thing they're almost impossible to research online.
Much like those "early batteries" found in Iraq that materials experts agree weren't batteries at all but all over the web, even on BBC sites, people still claim them as batteries. Feh.
I'm pretty sure by now most experts
feel all these chastity/anti-masturbation things
are jokes made up in the 19th or 20th century.
I have friends who grew up tucking in their shirts with a purity paddle and taking a bath with a float of talcum powder on the water so that they couldn't see their own naughty bits. I've also met a man whose father put him in four point restraints at night to safeguard his carnal treasure. I wouldn't dismiss these devices so easily.
@16: And thus I'm convinced that some conservatives get off on the idea of their kids having awkward, unhappy, creepy sex the rest of their lives. You'd think they'd realize that encouraging masturbating will curb sudden, guilt-ridden sex without sex-education that leads to teen pregnancy.
Hurr.
Study some of the artists of the 19th century, and you'll find a disturbing notion that masturbating and orgasm robbed you of "essence": your life force and your creativity. Many famous artists totally obsessed that if they played a little pocket pool, they would never produce good art and possibly endangered their health. And these were the liberals of the period...
I don't know if these devices were mainstream, but they seem like very plausible artifacts for a culture that was (and still is) obsessed with repressing sexuality.
In the immortal words of the great George Carlin;
"If God had intended us not to masturbate he would've made our arms shorter."
To add to #16 - I knew a girl who was made to sleep with her arms outside the covers. I have no doubt they were used for the stated purpose. Judging from some of the other posts, I'm not sure how well it worked. They certainly had chastity belts for women (still do).
But onanism is a sin, isn't it? I seem to recall poor Onan was smited or something.
@19: Carlin demonstrates proof of God's existence with that one, as well.
@20 Onanism is commonly used to describe masturbation, but the biblical Onan himself was smote by God not for masturbating, but from pulling out early after being ordered to have sex with his dead brother's wife. Kinky. Later on, some royally repressed fussbudgets decided Onan's sin was not, you know, disobeying a direct order from God to procreate, but actually spilling his seed upon the ground. So that is how it has come to be linked with masturbation today. Many biblical scholars think the whole thing is just an allegory for the decline of the Onam clan in the tribe of Judah.
I'm afraid this piece was mis-identified. The device is a hand-held urine strainer with carry ring. These copper devices were for use after a particularly nasty night on the town.
They were found in the late 1930's by the barrel-load in Dublin, but were cornered and held from the market by a South African dealer, I believe de Beers, though I might be mistaken.
#19, #21: "It's alright to prick your finger, but never finger your prick!" -- George Carlin
But God loves you!