Discourses of Masturbation

Abstract

As an aspect of medieval sodomy, masturbation is often ignored or dismissed by medievalists. Although its status within medieval discourse on sex and gender is multiple and contested, this article demonstrates that it does have a recurrent cluster of associations, and it offers an important perspective on medieval masculinities and male sexuality. Moreover, far from constituting a meaningless, solitary act in medieval literature, on the contrary, masturbation is both overdetermined and always already relational.