DIVISIONS OF REFORM PHYSIOLOGY
By: Vincent Bohnert
Some
people in the 18th century were very conservative when it came to
sex. These people thought sex before
marriage was a sin and that even masturbation was unethical. On the other hand, there were also more than
a fair amount of people who thought oppositely, claiming that sex was in fact
normal, ethical, and morally acceptable.
These two vastly different views became the extremity divisions of
reform physiology and influenced many people’s beliefs.
The
Christian Reform Physiology, which held more of a traditional perspective on
sex, based their ideals on religious practices.
Sylvester Graham, a noteworthy person of this division, wrote A Lecture to Young Men (1832), which
argued that there are two kinds of appetites that young males and females can
have: an appetite for nutrition (hunger and thirst), and an appetite for
reproduction (sex). To help these young
men and women out with both of their appetite types, Graham invented what he
called the Graham cracker. This snack
was produced in part to get Americans back to eating whole grain foods and as a
way to fulfill sexual impulses that will inevitably arise. Graham thought that masturbation damaged
people’s health in general so he launched an anti-masturbation campaign in
which he trained adolescents not to masturbate by telling them to exercise
constantly, and by conforming them to a non-spicy, low meat diet. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, another advocate for
this trending anti-masturbation crusade, believed that a remedy for male
masturbation was circumcision. He, like
Graham, also created a food to help with inappropriate urges: corn flakes.[1] The similarity between corn flakes and graham
crackers is that they are both plain foods which these two gentlemen idealized
as the perfect diet in order for young men and women to have self-control.
 |
 |
| Dr. John Harvey Kellogg |
On
the more radical side of reform physiology were a group of people known as the
Free Thinkers. The Free Thinkers thought
sex was perfectly natural and healthy, contraception and abortion were both
ethical, and that interracial sex was moral.
Robert Dale Owen wrote Moral
Physiology; or a Brief Plain Treatise on the Population Question (1831),
which became the first American work to offer arguments for decreasing births
and it also offered practical advice on contraception.[2] Another man, Charles Knowlton wrote Fruits of Philosophy (1832) which
described sex as pleasurable and it also contained many birth control methods
that couples could use if necessary.[3] Both of these men expressed their viewpoints
in a more philosophical and logical fashion which is more or less the
definition of a Free Thinker.
 |
| Robert Dale Owen http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/D/Robert-Dale-Owen-9431081-1-402.jpg |
[1] Soniak,
Matt. Mental Floss, "Corn Flakes Were Invented as Part of an
Anti-Masturbation Crusade." Last modified December 28, 2012. Accessed
March 30, 2014.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/32042/corn-flakes-were-invented-part-anti-masturbation-crusade.
[2]Encyclopædia
Britannica Online, s. v. "Robert Dale Owen", accessed March 30,
2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/436270/Robert-Dale-Owen.
[3] Horowitz,
Helen. History Engine Tools for Collaboration Education and Research,
"Charles Knowlton and The Fruits of Philosophy." Last modified 2006.
Accessed March 30, 2014. http://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/4762.
No comments:
Post a Comment