Contrary to the advice given to generations of boy scouts, DAVID T EVANS suggests a rather more hands-on approach to sexual health.

Are you prepared to suggest a novel way to help prevent testicular and prostate cancer?

It comes as no surprise to hear that boys and men are often resistant to accessing appropriate and timely health promotion initiatives (Serrant-Green and McLuskey, 2008). Many will wait until their problems are chronic, severe or even past the point of no return before finally doing something about it (Evans, 2004; Roberts and Evans, 2007).

So how about bringing some fun into preventative health care, especially concerning testicular and prostate cancer?

Early detection of testicular cancer is key to the high success rates of treatment. Making testicular self examination (TSE) fun - say, as a part of self pleasuring and masturbation - will help shift the balance from all the heavy pathologisation of sex. The idea is to move away from what Michel Foucault (1984) calls the scientia sexualis and more towards the joys of sex, Foucault's ars erotica.

A bit of scientific research ...

More than this, two major studies indicate that masturbation, especially in the earlier years of life (that is, in the 20s) may help decrease levels of prostate cancer later in life. With headlines like "Masturbating may protect against prostate cancer" (Fox, 2003), Giles, Severi et al. (2003) concluded that "ejaculatory frequency, especially in early adult life, is negatively associated with the risk of prostate cancer". This was confirmed with an even larger study by Leitzmann, Platz et al. in 2004 when they stated that ejaculation frequency is not related to increased risk of prostate cancer.

Obviously, these studies explored a whole lot of methodological issues, such as how well a person remembers back to earlier decades, and they included frequency of masturbation as well as sexual intercourse.

Pardon?

But despite Dimitropoulou, Lophatananon et al. (2008) stating that "our findings ... [are] in agreement with Leitzmann and Giles," they go on to assert the exact opposite when they state: "the risk of prostate cancer ... is associated with high sexual activity in earlier life (20s)."

This confusing statement spawned the recent BBC News headlines "Sex drive link to prostate cancer" (BBC News Online, 2009). What's the bet that this is the message health carers cling to as their excuse for not promoting masturbation as a healthier life option!

Baden-Powell on 'beastliness'

Robert Lord Baden-Powell, who established the Boy Scouts in 1907, shared his views on masturbation, which he termed "beastliness", in scouting manuals during the first half of the 20th century. Here's an excerpt:

"Some boys, like those who start smoking, think it a very fine and manly thing to tell or listen to dirty stories, but it only shows them to be little fools.

"Yet such talk and the reading of trashy books or looking at lewd pictures, are very apt to lead a thoughtless boy into the temptation to self-abuse. This is a most dangerous thing for him, for should it become a habit, it quickly destroys both health and spirits; he becomes feeble in body and mind, and often ends in a lunatic asylum."

(Stengers and VanNeck, 2001)

References

  • BBC News Online (26 January 2009) Sex drive link to prostate cancer. Available from: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7850666.stm (Accessed 10 March 2009) (Internet).
  • Dimitropoulou P, Lophatananon A et al. (2008) Sexual activity and prostate cancer risk in men diagnosed at a younger age, British Journal of Urology International, 103, pp.178-185.
  • Evans DT (2004) The trouble with men is ... Raising the profile of men's sexual health, Nursing in Practice Journal 17, pp.36-38.
  • Foucault M (1984) The history of sexuality: an introduction, London: Penguin Books.
  • Fox D (2003) Masturbating may protect against prostate cancer, New Scientist, 16 July 2003. Available from: www.newscientist.com/article/dn3942 (Accessed 10 March 2009) (Internet).
  • Giles GG, Severi G et al. (2003) Sexual factors and prostate cancer, British Journal of Urology International, 92, pp.211-216.
  • Leitzmann MF, Platz EA et al. (2004) Ejaculation frequency and subsequent risk of prostate cancer, Journal of the American Medical Association, 291 (13), pp.1578-1586.
  • Roberts C and Evans DT (2007) "Male health" in Cross, S and Rimmer, M (editors) Nurse practitioner manual of clinical skills, pp.253-270, Edinburgh and London: Elsevier Publications.
  • Serrant-Green L and McLuskey J (editors) (2008) The sexual health of men, Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing.
  • Stengers J and Van Neck A (2001) Masturbation: the history of a great terror, New York: Palgrave/St. Martins.

David T Evans is an independent educational consultant in sexual health.