All this writing about deterrents brought Menninger to the topic of masturbation.  The history of attitudes towards masturbation parallels the disappearance of “sin” and the criminalization of “sin”.

The 1716 book, Onania, or The Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution, went through 80 editions.  Publications decrying masturbation were published all the way to Tissot in 1901.  Freud viewed it as an addiction, second only to “smoking”.  Ok, maybe “smoking” was the second (31-36).

Yet, after the turn of the 20^th century, this ancient taboo – “the sin of youth” – suddenly seemed no longer sinful, no longer dangerous, and no longer a vice.

“This sudden metamorphosis in an almost universal social attitude is more significant of the changed temper, philosophy, and morality of the twentieth century than all other phenomenon that comes to mind (36).”

Menninger wondered (36) whether the fall of this taboo was the “cause” for the upcoming disregard for all “sin”, asking “Can all sin have been repudiated as such because one behavior once considered evil is now no longer condemned? (37).