A Short History of a Small Act
In
this modern world that celebrates the freedom of the individual, do we still
carry the stigma of the solitary, defiling act?
The autonomy of
independent self-expression, be it auto-eroticism, autobiography,
self-indulgence, solitary living, or even creativity itself, has long been seen
as a threat to the fabric of any society dedicated to duty and coherence.
Perhaps the act of providing one’s self with independent sexual pleasure has
been vilified as the most dangerous of these. To take charge of one’s own
gratification and to be free of control by the ruling body, be that social
authority or spouse, was too subversive to be tolerated.
Ever since the
Biblical story of Onan “spilling his seed on the ground” was interpreted as a
condemnation of masturbation, - religious, cultural and medical doctrines have
been employed in an attempt to control the purportedly polluting effects of
this solitary activity. The word masturbation derives from the Latin manu-stuprare meaning to defile with the
hand, and the practise was originally linked with the wasting of vital energy,
or humours; the God-given bodily fluids.
In the late 1700’s a
Swiss clinician named Tissot began to identify the “solitary vice” as the
direct cause of certain behavioural and physical anomalies and as such
instigated a pervasive and lasting dogma that both socialised and medicalised
morality. As the distribution of ideas through printing and the press became
easier, this model of how clean lives should be lived gained the overwhelming
acceptance of generations of 20th century parents through the much
publicised work of the American health guru, John Harvey Kellogg.
Yet not even Dr.
Kellogg’s dire warnings of the physical and mental deformities that would
befall the perpetuator, nor his daubings with caustic soda, or his development
of the curative corn flake would shake the population from their natural bent.
It was only in 1972 that the American Medical Journal declared masturbation to
be “normal” and the guilt of generations might even begin to lift.
The internal world of
fantasy and subversive thought fuels the autonomous self. It might be said that
masturbation rarely occurs without recourse to the self-constructed, internal
world of the imagination, generating a suspicious link between creative thought
and the visceral body. In the 18th century the over exertion of
literary or exotic imaginations was thought to cause softening of the muscles
and effemininity. The writer and philosopher Rousseau feared the polluting
effect of civilisation in his upholding of the ideal of the noble savage, and
even warned of the dangers of books, pointing out the dreadful temptations they
offered when read with one hand.
It is the imagination
that drives the hand to self-pleasure and it is the same imagination that
guides the hand to embroider the flower with “ the rounding cheek of each bud great to bursting grown” - each act, rich with the power of the
creative process. The image of the deft hand comes from the poem
“Pomegranate-Flowers” written in 1861 by Harriet Prescott Spofford, and stands
as an allegory for female pleasure. In this space the woman reaffirms her
independent sexual identity. There’s nothing like independence and going it
alone for teaching us about choice and responsibility; about what we want from
the world, and our relationships within it.
So perhaps acts of self-determination can also be seen as a vital part
of understanding the self, and of the personal growth necessary for a healthy
and mature society. In the introduction to the book “Solitary Pleasures – The
Historical, Literary, and Artistic Discourses of Autoeroticism” the authors
write that acts of self-determination are “deeply
implicated in the creative process” reflecting the “emerging autonomous
subject in the democratic era.”
The Enlightenment saw
the gradual emergence of ideals based on a liberal, secular and democratic
society that looked towards the experience of the individual. At this time,
autobiography appeared as a new genre in writing, sometimes in the form of the confessional
diary, which blurred the boundary between the public face of the individual and
the private internal drive of the imagination. In the west since the 18th century the development of the
importance of the individual, both politically and socially, has promoted a
dialogue which continues to this day about our rights and responsibilities
within society and the balance between the public and the private.
This exhibition
engages with our uneasy response to personal pleasures, which still implies an
ambiguous choice between celebration and censorship.