Ellen White Investigation

Solitary Vice [masturbation]

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This article contains mature (adult) historical subject matter, including sexual topics. Reader discretion advised.
It [masturbation] is practiced to an alarming extent, and brings on disease of almost every description.
Ellen G. White, Special Testimony for the Battle Creek Church (1869), 1

Picture a world where self-proclaimed "health reformers" peddled the terrifying notion that a private pleasure could drain your life force, rot your spine, and plunge you into madness. The 18th and 19th centuries were such an era, where a wave of these "reformers" manufactured a crisis around masturbation, conjuring up dire consequences for this supposed vice. Fueled by a potent blend of religious fervor and pseudo-scientific nonsense, pamphlets detailing horrifying physical deformities circulated even within churches, portraying masturbation as a sinister force—a catastrophic drain on vital life force. Terrified individuals, burdened by self-shame and guilt, desperately sought deliverance from this "soul and body-destroying vice."

Historical Background

Before 1700, masturbation was not regarded as a health concern. The anti-masturbation movement kicked around the year 1712 when an anonymous book was published in London: Ononia: Or the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution, and All its Frightful Consequences Considered. "Onania," a highly influential and popular book, condemned masturbation as a dangerous and sinful act, blending religious objections with purported physical consequences. The book detailed a wide array of terrifying physical and mental ailments allegedly caused by masturbation, contributing significantly to widespread fear and anxiety surrounding the practice. These included conditions like epilepsy, consumption, blindness, insanity, and impotence. "Onania" played a crucial role in shaping both moral and medical discourse around masturbation, framing it as a serious threat to individual and societal well-being. The book was a bestseller, going through numerous editions and translations, ensuring its widespread dissemination and influence across Europe and America. "Onania" contributed to a deep and enduring stigma surrounding a natural human behavior.

"Onania" directly influenced later writings on the subject, most notably Swiss physician Samuel-Auguste Tissot's 1758 book, L'Onanisme: Dissertation sur les maladies produites par la masturbation (Onanism: Dissertation on the Diseases Produced by Masturbation). This book further entrenched the belief in the harmful effects of masturbation within the medical community for decades. Tissot detailed a wide range of debilitating and often terrifying health consequences that he attributed to this "heinous habit," including:1  

Several "reformers" in America picked up the anti-masturbation crusade with fervor in the 19th century, often blending religious and pseudo-scientific arguments, much like their European predecessors. Following are some key individuals:

Sylvester Graham

Sylvester Graham, American health reformer

Presbyterian minister and health crusader Sylvester Graham viewed physical pleasure, especially sexual stimulation, with suspicion. Graham believed that diet directly influenced sexual urges and considered masturbation ("self-pollution" or "self-abuse") a grave evil leading to numerous physical and mental ailments, including blindness and early death.2 His infamous Lecture to Young Men, published in 1834, significantly contributed to the American masturbation scare. His dietary recommendations, including the famous graham cracker, were partly intended to suppress sexual desires. In his book Graham noted that masturbators could be identified by their symptoms:

...a body full of disease, and with a mind in ruins, the loathsome habit still tyrannizing over him, with the inexorable imperiousness of a fiend of darkness.3

Graham told readers that acne was caused by masturbation and it could leads to morbid results:

...ulcerous sores, in some cases, break out upon the head, breast, back and thighs; and these sometimes enlarge into permanent fistulas, of a cancerous character, and continue, perhaps for years, to discharge great quantities of foetid, loathsome pus; and not unfrequently terminate in death.4

Graham was quite popular, especially in the 1830s and 1840s. He toured America, often drew significant crowds to his lectures, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or even thousands. Under his leadership, the anti-masturbation movement in America gained a wide-following among Protestant Christians.

Mary Gove Nichols

Mary Gove Nichols, American female health reformer

Mary Gove Nichols was a disciple of Graham. She was a health reformer who advocated hydrotherapy and a vegetarian diet. She lectured throughout the Northeastern United States, including Ellen White's home town of Portland, Maine. In 1839, she published an 18-page pamphlet, Solitary Advice: An Address to Parents, describing the many dangers of masturbation. In addition to causing insanity, she claimed the following diseases were caused by solitary vice:

Dyspepsy, spinal disease, headache, epilepsy... Impaired eyesight, palpitation of the heart, pain in the side, and bleeding at the lungs, spasm of the heart and lungs, and sometimes sudden death... almost every form of disease may be produced by it.5

Perhaps Nichol's pamphlet helped to inspire Ellen White's first book on health reform, Appeal to Mothers, where on page 27 she warns mothers that masturbation causes many similar diseases:

The results of self-abuse in them is seen in various diseases, such as catarrh [excessive mucus], dropsy [edema usually caused by heart disease], headache, loss of memory and sight, great weakness in the back and loins, affections of the spine, the head often decays inwardly.

William Alcott

William Alcott, American health reformer

Another influential American health reformer, William Alcott, like Graham, had strong religious views on health. Alcott considered masturbation a major threat to health and advocated for a holistic approach to prevent it, encompassing diet, exercise, and moral habits. He claimed secret vice caused a host of medical problems:6

James C. Jackson

James Caleb Jackson, American health reformer

The health reformer with perhaps the greatest influence upon Ellen White was Dr. James Caleb Jackson. The Whites spent considerable time at Jackson's health institute and were familiar with his writings. In 1862, he wrote prolifically on the subject of masturbation in his book The Sexual Organism and its Healthy Management. Mrs. White had a copy of this book.

Jackson regarded masturbation as debilitating to the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Jackson, like nearly all "health reformers," believed masturbators could be identified merely by observing the appearance of the body, face, and head. He warned that the masturbator "pursues his courses until he is incurably diseased or irretrievably depraved."7 Among the many ailments caused by masturbation, Jackson listed the following:8

Jackson wrote that masturbators "are proverbial for sieve-like conditions of memory."9 Two years later, Ellen White wrote that even when masturbators studied hard, what they learned was "lost through their sieve-like memory."10

To prevent children from becoming masturbators, Jackson encouraged parents to do the following:11

Other Health Crusaders

Reformers were greatly concerned that the expenditure of vital force when masturbating would rapidly deplete the body causing physical, mental, and spiritual decline.12 In 1839, Léopold Deslandes published a book warning that masturbation can cause "pains in the body, neuralgia, impairment of memory, and insanity."13

American physician Samuel Gregory, in his 1847 book, Facts and Important Information for Young Women on the Subject of Masturbation, warned that "Masturbation does more than any other cause, perhaps than all other causes combined, to people our lunatic asylums."14

Hydropathic physician R.T. Trall, writing in 1854, explained that masturbation caused "an immense expenditure of nervous or vital energy," and that "no act or function is so exhausting to the whole system as this."15

O.S. Fowler also wrote extensively on the subject in his book, Creative and Sexual Science.

Thus, by the mid-1800s, without any actual medical evidence, a large number of Christians had come to assume that masturbation was harmful to both the body, the mind, and the spirit.

Enter Ellen White

After Seventh-day Adventist prophetess Ellen White learned the supposed dangers of masturbation from Jackson, she jumped on the anti-masturbation bandwagon with all her energy. She proclaimed solitary vice (masturbation—sometimes she referred to it as "secret vice," "self-indulgence," or "self-abuse") caused a wide range of dangerous diseases and serious afflictions:

Children who practice self-indulgence [masturbation] previous to puberty, or the period of merging into manhood or womanhood, must pay the penalty of nature's violated laws at that critical period. Many sink into an early grave, while others have sufficient force of constitution to pass this ordeal. If the practice is continued from the age of fifteen and upward, nature will protest against the abuse she has suffered, and continues to suffer, and will make them pay the penalty for the transgression of her laws, especially from the ages of thirty to forty-five, by numerous pains in the system, and various diseases, such as affection of the liver and lungs, neuralgia, rheumatism, affection of the spine, diseased kidneys, and cancerous humors [tumors]. Some of nature's fine machinery gives way, leaving a heavier task for the remaining to perform, which disorders nature's fine arrangement, and there is often a sudden breaking down of the constitution; and death is the result.16

Some who make a high profession do not understand the sin of self-abuse and its sure results. Long-established habit has blinded their understanding. They do not realize the exceeding sinfulness of this degrading sin, which is enervating the system and destroying their brain nerve power.17

I saw that the family of Brother G__ need a great work done for them. H__ and I__ have gone to great lengths in this crime of self-abuse; especially is this true of H__, who has gone so far in the practice of this sin that his intellect is affected, his eye-sight is weakened, and disease is fastening itself upon him.18

He had practiced self-abuse until he was a mere wreck of humanity. This vice was shown me as an abomination in the sight of God. ... The results of self-abuse in them is seen in various diseases, such as catarrh, dropsy, headache, loss of memory and sight, great weakness in the back and loins, affections of the spine, the head often decays inwardly. Cancerous humor [tumor], which would lay dormant in the system their life-time, is inflamed, and commences its eating, destructive work. The mind is often utterly ruined, and insanity takes place.19

According to the above quotes, the following health problems are caused by masturbation:

  1. Brain weakened
  2. Cancerous tumors
  3. Catarrh (inflamed mucous membrane)
  4. Dropsy (edema)
  5. Eye-sight weakened
  6. Headache
  7. Head decay
  8. Insanity
  9. Kidney disease
  10. Liver disease
  11. Lung disease
  12. Memory loss
  13. Nervous system damage
  14. Neuralgia (nerve pain)
  15. Pains in the system
  16. Premature death
  17. Rheumatism (arthritis)
  18. Spinal weakness/problems

What Was the Source of Inspiration for Ellen White's Warnings about Solitary Vice?

Appeal to Mothers, Ellen White's First Book on Health Reform
Mrs. White's First Book on Health Reform

In 1864, Mrs. White published her first book on health reform, Appeal to Mothers. The SDA people were no doubt looking forward with great anticipation to learn what "light from Heaven" they would receive on health. Imagine their disappointment when they discovered the entire book was devoted to warning SDA parents of the dire consequences of masturbation! In this book Mrs. White claimed her medical knowledge on the dangers of "self-abuse" came from visions she "saw":

The state of our world was presented before me, and my attention was especially called to the youth of our time. Everywhere I looked, I saw imbecility, dwarfed forms, crippled limbs, misshapen heads, and deformity of every description. Sins and crimes, and the violation of nature's laws, were shown me as the causes of this accumulation of human woe and suffering. I saw such degradation and vile practices...20

There can be no doubt Mrs. White claimed her knowledge came straight from heaven. Attached to the same book was an essay on "Chastity" quoting various "health reformers." Those quoted included Sylvester Graham, L.B. Coles, James Jackson, Mary Gove Nichols, and the phrenologist O.S. Fowler. Ronald Numbers explains: "So closely did the views of these individuals parallel those of Ellen White, the publishers felt it necessary to add a note denying prior knowledge on her part!"21 The publishers explained:

...she had read nothing from the authors here quoted, and had read no other works on this subject, previous to putting into our hands what she has written. She is not, therefore, a copyist, although she has stated important truths to which men who are entitled to our highest confidence, have borne testimony.22

Given the fact she plagiarized many of her other writings, and given the fact that her writings on masturbation so closely mirrored the views of the others, it is probable those other authors were the real source of inspiration for her writings on this subject. Here are a couple of examples from the book A Treatise on the Cause of Exhausted Vitality, which was in Ellen White's private library:23,24

Ellen G. White Treatise
Moral pollution has done more to degenerate the race than every other evil. It is practiced to an alarming extent, and brings on disease of almost every description. Even very small children, infants, being born with natural irritability of the sexual organs, find relief momentarily in handling them, which only increases the irritation, and leads to a repetition of the act, until a habit is established which increases with their growth. These children are generally puny and dwarfed, and are prescribed for by physicians, and they are drugged. (Special Testimony for the Battle Creek Church (1869), p. 1) Self-abuse is practiced in almost every country, and by persons of all ages and both sexes. Many children are born with this propensity, and the habit is commenced in infancy, or in early childhood, by handling the genital organs ; the friction and irritation giving rise to a peculiar kind of excitement which they are unable to resist. The habit formed at this early age is usually kept up till after puberty, if the system does not earlier succumb to its ill effects. The little, puny, sickly, dwarfed, and diminutive men -and -women -looking children that we sometimes see are many of them examples of this habit. (p. 35)
Adam and Eve in Eden were noble in stature, and perfect in symmetry and beauty. They were sinless, and in perfect health. What a contrast to the human race now! Beauty is gone. Perfect health is not known. Every where we look we see disease, deformity and imbecility. (Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4a, p. 120) ...man came forth pure and perfect from the hands of his Creator; symmetrical in proportions... Let us contrast this beauty, order, and perfection, with the deranged conditions in which we at present find the race. ... Everywhere we see deformity and disease. (p. 18)

Modern Medical Perspective on Masturbation

Beginning in the mid-1960s with Masters and Johnson, researchers have found that masturbation is the most common form of human sexual activity. More recently, research has confirmed that masturbation "is nearly universal among males and...a majority of females."25 Recent surveys suggests 95% of men and 92% of women have masturbated.26 In those same surveys, people self-reported these benefits:

In addition to being practiced by nearly all humans, no scientific evidence has been produced to suggest that masturbation causes blindness, insanity, or any of the diseases named by Ellen White. Anyone with common sense can reason that masturbation can be no more harmful than the act of sex itself!

Dr. Michael Ashworth explains:

With so many people doing it, medical science would certainly have had a lot of opportunity to determine if the practice causes any medical problems, and in fact, no blindness...infertility, mental illness or other problems large or small have ever been attributed to masturbation.27

Dr. Bill Lloyd explains the modern medical perspective on masturbation:

The old myths that masturbation leads to insanity, stunts your growth, [etc...] are simply that, myths, which probably originated in the puritanical atmosphere of the Victorian age. Not only does masturbation have no bad effects, it is probably much healthier than trying to suppress the strong sexual impulses that many men, particularly adolescents, feel. Masturbation provides an important, safe outlet for these impulses, and may well keep men from unsafe practices, such as sex with prostitutes, adulterous affairs, or coercive sex, that is to say rape.28

Physicians at the highly regarded Cleveland Clinic explain the health safety of masturbation:

In general, the medical community considers masturbation to be a natural and harmless expression of sexuality for both men and women. It does not cause any physical injury or harm to the body, and can be performed in moderation throughout a person's lifetime as a part of normal sexual behavior.29

Even among Seventh-day Adventist physicians (with the exception of a few) there is now a near universal belief that masturbation does not cause the above illnesses.

Health Benefits of Masturbation

Substantial scientific evidence collected over the last half-century has indicated that masturbation has substantial positive health benefits:

  1. Having at least two orgasms a week can increase a person's life span. Every time a person reaches orgasm, the hormone DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone) increases in response to sexual excitement and ejaculation. DHEA can boost the immune system, repair tissue, improve cognition, keep skin healthy, and even work as an anti-depressant.30
  2. The hormone oxytocin secretes within the body whenever a person engages in sexual activity. Because of this secretion, endorphins (hormone-like chemicals that bear a close functional resemblance to morphine) are released. Studies have shown that a rise in oxytocin levels can relieve pain; everything from headaches, cramps and overall body aches.30
  3. Both testosterone and estrogen levels experience a boost through regular sexual activity. Testosterone does more than just boost your sex drive, it can help fortify bones and muscles, and keep your heart in good working condition as well. In women, sexual activity increases estrogen levels, which protects them against heart disease.30 A large study from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project found that older men's levels of testosterone increased with higher frequency of masturbation.31 Testosterone has a host of health benefits especially for aging men.
  4. Orgasms boost infection-fighting cells up by 20% according to gynecologist Dr. Dudley Chapman. Orgasm boosts levels of T3 and T4 lymphocyte cells—a type of white blood cell which produces antibodies. Psychologists at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania found that students who had regular sexual activity had a third higher levels of IgA (immunoglobulin A—an antibody which boosts the immune system and keeps you healthy).32
  5. For men, masturbation or regular sex is good for the prostate and can prevent painful prostate blockage. Storing seminal fluids for long periods can also cause prostate congestion, which in turn can lead to urinary and ejaculatory pain. Regular ejaculations can help ward off this condition, also called nonspecific prostatitis A study by Dr. Michael Leitzmann (from the National Cancer Institute) of 29,000 men found "higher elevations of ejaculation appear to protect men from developing prostate cancer." The study suggested that frequent ejaculations may decrease the concentration of "chemical carcinogens which readily accumulate in prostatic fluid."33,34
  6. In addition to the hormones already mentioned, masturbation triggers the release of many other beneficial hormones in both men and women:35
    • Releases dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins, and seratonin in the brain. These can improve mood and reduce stress and blood pressure.
    • Releases endocannabinoids which can help reduce pain and inflammation and boost the immune system.
    • Releases prolactin which a 2016 study found to improve mental function in older adults.
  7. Masturbation may improve the sex lives of women. One study of women found that "masturbators had significantly more orgasms, greater sexual desire, higher self-esteem, and greater marital and sexual satisfaction, and required less time to sexual arousal."36
  8. In men, Healthline has reported that a "2016 study found the risk of prostate cancer decreased by about 20 percent in men who ejaculated at least 21 times a month."37

Unless one is riddled with guilt by being placed under the heavy burden of false teachings about masturbation, there are no significant health risks associated with masturbation. In fact, evidence strongly suggests that masturbating is a healthy activity.

Mrs. White Was Completely Wrong about Masturbation

For a period of time (1700-1900), the Western medical establishment regarded masturbation as draining vital energy from the body and a potential cause of mental illness. The tide started to turn in 1898, when Dr. Hoisholt and Dr. J.W. Robertson dismissed "masturbational insanity" as a "popular superstition" at a meeting of the medical society of California.38 During the 20th century, medical and scientific research proved the concerns over masturbation to be unfounded. Despite numerous research studies, no link has ever been found between masturbation and the diseases cited by Ellen White, Graham, and others.

One proof of the harmlessness of this practice can be found in Ellen White's Battle Creek neighbors, the Daigneau family. She wrote a public testimony to the entire Battle Creek Church warning them that the Daigneau boys, Charles and Samuel, "have gone to great lengths in this crime of self-abuse; especially is this true of Charlie, who has gone so far in the practice of this sin that his intellect is affected, his eye sight is weakened, and disease is fastening itself upon him."39 While this must have been a severe embarrassment to the family, the health of the boys did not appear to be impaired. Charles managed to live to age 71 without going blind or insane. This is impressive given that the life expectancy for men was less than 60 years in that era. For example, James White, died at the age of 60. Charles' borther Samuel became a Michigan state senator, enjoyed a life of "remarkably good health," and died at the ripe age of 82!40

Is Masturbation Really an "Abomination?"

By characterizing solitary vice as an "abomination" and highlighting its "exceeding sinfulness," Ellen White introduces a specific condemnation not explicitly found within the biblical text. While the Bible broadly addresses impure thoughts and sexual immorality, its pronouncements do not directly target masturbation. In the catalog of sexual abominations presented in Leviticus 18—where acts like adultery, homosexuality, incest, and bestiality are unequivocally condemned—masturbation is nowhere to be found. This absence is telling. If this act were indeed the "abomination" White describes, its exclusion from the Bible's list of such offenses seems a significant oversight, suggesting her judgment far exceeds Scripture. The Bible's silence on masturbation speaks volumes regarding its false classification as an "abomination."

Conclusion

Ellen White was completely wrong about masturbation and led her people astray, causing many to feel terrible guilt and shame for what is actually a normal human behavior. Examine the evidence:

  1. Mrs. White claimed solitary vice causes a wide spectrum of deadly health problems, including blindness, insanity, and even death.

  2. Mrs. White claimed she "saw" the dangers of solitary vice in vision from God.

  3. Her sentiments on solitary vice appear astonishingly similar to those of other health reformers she admired. So similar, in fact, that the editors of her book felt compelled to put out a statement insisting she was not a "copyist."

  4. Although writing often on solitary vice during her early ministry, she is strangely silent on the subject during the last 40 years of her life.

  5. Long ago the SDA Church stopped publishing Appeal to Mothers, Ellen White's first book on health reform. One would think a prophet's first book containing "light from Heaven" on health reform would be treasured by her followers! Imagine all the disease and suffering this book could save the world from! Why is it not required reading for all newly converted Seventh-day Adventists?

  6. Mrs. White added words to the Bible, by calling masturbation an abomination. She had no right to define it as such because the Bible does not (Prov 30:6).

  7. Her teachings on this subject prove definitively that she was not divinely inspired in picking out which health reforms to plagiarize from others, but was blindly echoing what other health reformers were teaching.

In conclusion, even the title of her 1864 book is a White lie: "Ellen G. White, An Appeal to Mothers, the Great Cause of the Physical, Mental, and Moral Ruin of many of the Children of our time."

See also

Category: Myths Mrs. White Versus Science