Spermatorrhea: The Victorian Era's Male Hysteria Regarding Seminal Leakage

The disease spermatorrhea, which is the excessive sperm discharge brought on by illicit or excessive sexual activity, caused hysteria in the 1800s, and there were some severe and drastic “cures” for this condition. Is the reason you are unlikely to hear about this illness these days that we have found a cure? No, that's not the case since it never was.

The cause of the spermatorrhea

Spermatorrhea was not a disease during the Victorian era; rather, it was more of a cultural phenomenon. The 1840s saw the first public and professional references to this illness. Claude Francois Lallema was the original trendsetter, with his translation of "A Practical Treatise on the Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment of Spermatorrhea" appearing in 1847.

It was later identified as a sign of excessive seminal discharge after it was first believed to be a distinct sexual illness with distinct symptoms. It was believed to consist of two stages overall. The first was excessive leakage (from ejaculating too soon and having wet dreams), and the second was the body's reaction to exhaustion (depression, impotence, shrinking testicles, urine containing semen).

The causes of illness differed greatly and occasionally had something to do with what was thought to be an" overly domesticated" way of life at the time. Among the suspected causes were:

flannel trousers

full bladder

Dozing off on one's back

Comfortable mattresses

seated in front of the flames

overindulging in sentimental reading

Seated on a train car (a passenger once ejaculated twice on a train because he was sitting rather than standing). Nevertheless, the majority of "experts" at the time determined that masturbation was the primary cause

The peculiar thing about this "disease" was that middle-class men were the ones who were most affected. These individuals were frequently well-off enough to pay for healthcare, but they were also easily influenced by any widespread sexual anxiety in middle-class society. At the time, men with spermatorrhea were frequently seen as having high-status occupations, such as lawyers, military officers, or even doctors.

What "cure" was there?

Surgeons took the lead in treating the condition rather than typically practicing mainstream medicine physicians. Surgeons were not as well-regarded as they are now, so this illness gave them a chance to establish themselves as authorities in the field and raise their social status.

The treatments differed, but in comparison to others, some were incredibly intrusive. Anal leeches, enemas, laxatives, diuretics, and suppositories were a few examples of "kinder" remedies. One particularly horrifying-sounding remedy involved piercing the penis with metal rings coated in irritating chemicals. This, predictably, usually indicated that the patient was unwilling to repeat the procedure because they were so sore that they would not want to masturbate.

Cauterization was another common treatment that tried to kill and deaden the penis's nerve endings so they could no longer be excited. During the procedure, a thin metal instrument called a bougie—which has a ball on the end—was coated with a caustic material such as silver nitrate and inserted through the urethra. This treatment generated some debate; some claimed it was risk-free and brave, while others reported terrible side effects like "visible agony," which is not shocking at all.

Success stories?

Even with the availability of treatments akin to torture, a tiny minority managed to generate a few anecdotes of successful sexual encounters. The characters in this section of the narrative were Milton, Dawson, Culverwell, Courtenay, and the Royal College of Surgeons. Using a more comprehensive approach, this group talked about sexual experiences within the framework of relationships, paying particular attention to the psychological and emotional aspects of erotic life.

Their goal was to assist nervous men in regaining their sexual potency by trying to soothe and counsel them. They also used less terrifying remedies than those mentioned above, recommending tonics, frequent exercise, cold baths, and "moderate sexual intercourse"—a term that sounds a lot more like a luxurious night of self-care in the present era.

As the illness progressed, this group of surgeons started to ease their patients' discomfort and reduce their anxiety instead of passing judgment on them. Spermatorrhea, despite being a fictional condition, did assist some groups of surgeons in beginning to realize how closely psychology and sexuality were related.

A period coming to an end

Naturally, the surgeons were accompanied by quacks who preyed on men in need of assistance so much that they were too scared to question their expertise or, more crucially, their fees for fear of being exposed as sex addicts.

However, as soon as the quacks joined the field, surgeons began to declare that the disease was, in fact, extremely rare, instead of emphasizing its prevalence and dire consequences. Surgeons later called for "false spermatorrhoea" to be identified as the real epidemic. Still, the phenomenon did begin to shed light on the relationship between psychology and sexuality for certain groups of surgeons.