Obelisks of Erotic Gratification from 1930s Gernsback magazine, Sexology
William Smith, an online bookseller and blogger at Hang Fire Books, acquired a stack of old Sexology magazines. Sexology was one of publisher Hugo Gernsback's many titles (his most famous being Amazing Stories). Here's an illustration using obelisks to compare the difference between the "auto-erotic act" and the "normal marital act."
You can easily see--through the dramatic difference in "the height and girth of the obelisk[s]"--that the "gratification derived from the auto-erotic act is only about 60% as much as that of the normal marital act". But hey, I'm an obelisk half-full kind of guy.Obelisks of Erotic Gratification from 1930s Gernsback magazine, Sexology
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Y'know, I kind of agree with it on some level. But the thing is, I can have a whole lot of those little obelisks for every one of those big obelisks. So I guess it's an argument of quantity vs. quality, right?
How come there isn't one for "Abnormal Marital Act?"
Since I feel no guilt, shame nor self-reproach, my autoerotic act is as tall as the normal marital act.
Funny how only MARITAL act accounts for two-person sex.
@hukes #3
Well, do remember that premarital/extramarital sex wasn't really invented until the 1940's when an Austrian scientist stumbled upon it. The CIA conducted clandestine experiments on it in the 1950's.
It wasn't until the 1960's that it became popular with the counterculture.
I'm not here for the act, I'm here for the play.
Time for a little post-lunch Guilt, Shame, and Self-Reproach.
Sounds like a good name for a band. Or an album.
Interesting that it is phallic. I'm thinking the tower didn't have much to do with the wife's satisfacation. I'd have been more impressed had it been ribbed-for-her-pleasure!
Is it possible that a chart created this year will seem so silly in seven decades? I imagine the subject matter would have to be finance, not sexuality. That seems to be where the naïvité is lately.
and based on the relative height of each stage of the sex-rocket, our grandparents either enjoyed powerfully extended orgasms or suffered disappointingly brief intercourse.
Instead of 'Relaxation and Spiritual fusion", I think they really meant
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...
those mountains are actual size, not very far away.
Pffft. . . mine's bigger. . . and it's called "EXTRA-marital act."
Damn, I'm doing them both wrong.
I won't decide until I meet that certain 'Phantom'.
New fetish: Phantom Love. Just trying to (cough) extend the Halloween theme.
Wow, I'd better stick with the auto-erotic self-gratification. If my obelisk gets any bigger I'm not going to be able to wear normal trousers.
*rimshot*
Seriously folks, that's all well and good for the ancient Egyptians- what about the rest of us?
"New fetish: Phantom Love."
Wolfiesma, I knew there was a reason to hang onto my purple leotard and domino mask.
You know, it's not the size of the obelisk, it's what you do with it.
So your "obelisk" gets bigger if you don't pull on it?
That marital obelisk is missing the "weeks of begging" segment.
just growing mushrooms.
@ Someguy: Good point. Seeing that marriage has taken on a totally different light in the past half-decade, I think that it is time for Gernsback to revise his sexual cartoon.
My favorite part is in the auto-erotic act obelisk, in the "self-gratification" section where it specifies parenthetically "No union". If they hadn't pointed that out I might have been confused!
"Guilt, Shame, Self-Reproach"
Someone's doing it wrong.
Cool @22,
I'm almost afraid to ask, but how has the institution of marriage taken on an entirely new light in the last half decade?
Also, does the name Jocelyn Elders ring a bell for anyone? Do you not remember how she was fired (!) for suggesting masturbation as a form of safe sex? I hope Obama hires her back.
Sixty percent of something is more than zero percent of it.
An obelisk is an obelisk. I'm not one to pick and choose.
Well, it's absolutely right. Jerking off all day will leave you drained, with no energy, and more succeptible to illness. Sex can also leave you this way, if your partner is voracious, but it is easier to moderate and you receive something in exchange. It's all about yin yang polarity. Flushing your yang energy down the toilet without receiving anything in exchange impoverishes you over time. At least women provide yin energy in exchange, which can be very healing. The best path is to find a sexual partner who you can practice the supremely pleasurable art of non-ejaculatory orgasms with.
I really do feel that a lot of what the ancient books refer to as "sin" or "immorality" is just there way of expressing that a certain habit will damage your health. Back when people didn't have indoor heating and had to tough it out through bitter cold all winter, they couldn't afford to jerk off. They needed to conserve their energy.
#28 So I am left to "assume" that it is:
1) All or nothing, either an all day (you eat and work when?) occupation or perfect celibacy.
2) You have never experienced the joy of marriage to an emotionally challenged person who treats sex as something to be earned, with them as the sole judge of worthiness (what some might consider having to beg).
3) The little dots in your yin yang are missing and in your view point, the world is always black white.
4)The bell curve is a bogus hypothesis and there is no variation in human nature that could ever impact the black/white ethics of behavior. Your shame "of course" is always my shame. And you aren't about to let me forget it.
I used to care about what the moralists thought (including my ex) till I decided "Judge not least ye be judged." was an easier way to live.
"...the supremely pleasurable art of non-ejaculatory orgasms..."
I've heard this all my long life. I even tried it a few decades ago. And after much thought, experimentation, and deliberation, I arrived the opinion, one that I still hold, that it's absolutely full of shit.
it's absolutely full of shit.
Try harder.
#29 Sorry you had a crappy marriage. It's important to know a partner's sexual habits before marrying them. All people have both yin and yang, but a man usually should have more yang and a woman more yin. This polarity creates attraction.
Your comment is somewhat unintelligible, but I believe you miss my point entirely. Morality is bollocks. The important thing is to be healthy, full of energy, and happy. Mostly, morality drags down on these things. But it doesn't mean that the lessons behind "moral" teachings don't have some inherent value. You just have to decouple the centuries of moral manure piled on top of them to see what they were originally trying to communicate thousands of years ago.
#30 "I even tried it a few decades ago." A few decades is a long time ago. I am 27, and I have become confident enough in it that my last girlfriend and I never used protection, in almost two years of being together. And yet, it was an amazingly sexually satisfying relationship. After we were done making love, my desire for her did not subside. It takes practice and some discipline, but it's a wonderful exercise for getting more in touch with your body and your energy, and makes lovemaking much more enjoyable and sustained. I respectfully suggest trying again.
Wow. I don't understand why the self-gratification/coitus block is so small relative to the climax block.
I thought it was CGI.
#30, #32 —
Hey, it's easy now. Non-ejaculatory sex comes with the territory of old age. No discipline necessary. I hope you guys live long enough to find out.
Maybe I missed something, it's possible, but I sure as hell know and fondly remember what I didn't miss.
bloody mammals
obviously photoshopped. the shadows are all wrong and the head doesnt quite match
If you're in a relationship worth having, presumably the sex would be fun, frequent and dirty. But masturbation is a lot of fun if you're in the mood, and no less satisfying. Also fun with the other person watching, which isn't exactly coital, but not alone, either.
I've found masturbation to be spiritually fulfilling, especially the part where I fall asleep afterwards and have sweet dreams (sometimes you need to relax and that's what does it.)
It is interesting to me that a graph made at the beginning of the twentieth century would still be something debatable in the beginning of the twenty first. After as many things that have changed in rapid succession in the last century, how funny that this would not change as much as, say, the way society responds to technology.
Wow, some very bizarre mythology surrounding sex. Spiritual energy? Really? Hey, whatever gets your rocks off. I think you may be over-complicating things, however.
A little advice, though - there are a few terms used for people who use non-ejaculatory practices as a form of birth control. The more polite ones are "lucky" or "parents" depending on the circumstances. Just know that sperm can leave the penis without there being ejaculation, and it only takes one. If that little swimmer makes it upstream, no amount of crystals, yoga, or sitar music is going to stop Mother Nature from doing her job.