An interesting segment of lecture 23 was Dr. John Harvey Kellog’s view on masturbation. Kellog believed that masturbation, as well as sex, was bad for the human body. Many myths such as masturbation leading to blindness, stupidity, and more, because of its effect on the bowel, were all believed to be true by Kellog. However, he understood that sex was essential for procreation, but was firmly against sex as a source of pleasure. In an effort to stop masturbation, Kellog figured that circumcision was a very effective way to prevent children from doing this. He influenced and encouraged many to have circumcisions performed on children. His beliefs were later found to be untrue and merely myths.
Great lengths have been reached to try to stop masturbation, especially by Dr. John Harvey Kellog. He was firmly against sex as a form of pleasure due to mainly ignorance. Although masturbation may possibly have some negative effects on the human body, the extent of these effects, in which Kellog believed, were simply untrue. Although masturbation may be frowned upon by some people, it in no way causes stupidity, blindness, or any of the other extreme negative side effects that were believed by Dr. John Harvey Kellog.
