people have been demonizing it for most of the AD years i think but it’s quite pleasant really. are there any proven negative effects?

  • Andy
    104•5 months ago

    I’d like to go a bit deeper.

    I don’t think people invented socially controlling practices because they found religion, I think they found religion to frame the invention of socially controlling practices.

    Masturbation is a gratifying act that relives pressure to settle into a rigid domestic arrangement that serves to make more workers and soldiers, and create dependents that need fed, and whose well-being would be threatened if a parent became defiant and provoked the ire of elites.

    Masturbation is good for the individual at the expense of the nation and its rulers. So it’s inevitable that priests would decry it as an affront against god, as that’s historically been their purpose.

      • Andy
        27•5 months ago

        Which part? I think this is all subjective opinion.

      • @AlexWIWA@lemmy.mlEnglish
        26•5 months ago

        Their statement started off with “I don’t think” which generally means it’s an opinion that may or may not have evidence. As long as they don’t present it as truth and fact, it doesn’t really need a citation.

        • XhieronEnglish
          -15•5 months ago

          That an opinion lacks evidence does not alleviate the requirement that its factual allegations be supported by evidence. “I don’t think the surface of the earth is curved” may be an opinion, but it’s a provably wrong assertion, and adding a disclamitory phrase to it doesn’t excuse the statement from evaluation.

            • XhieronEnglish
              -4•5 months ago

              Yeah, my bad. I forgot how cool it is to just spout whatever bullshit you want. Hurray for ignorance.

              No wonder humanity is doomed.

          • @AlexWIWA@lemmy.mlEnglish
            0•5 months ago

            Then you should simply call that person a dumb ass and move on in that scenario. And their statement was loaded with qualifiers that indicates to the audience to not take their claim seriously. This isn’t debate club or a Congressional hearing. It’s a niche internet forum.