Voluptuousness
Voluptuousness was once a discreet term for auto-eroticism, currently referred to as “self-cultivation” - if you watch Oprah, or self-pleasuring, although it is more commonly known as masturbation. In the past, the sexual practice has also been called self-abuse or onanism - now usually considered archaic by many.
In fact, it seems the majority of health professionals, in both the medical and mental health fields, discard the notion there is anything wrong with masturbation. Indeed, many Catholics since the late ’70’s and ’80’s were often taught masturbation is not a sin. Progressive theologians and scripture scholars taught there is no evidence in the Bible which would condemn it as a sin, insisting the Church was wrong in the way various scriptures had been interpreted. In addition, some consecrated persons, those who professed a vow of chastity, came to the conclusion they too can indulge in masturbation without incurring sin or violating their vow of celibacy. (Just so long as they didn’t do it too much. Whatever too much means?)
(1) While admitting that certain texts cited as condemning masturbation may have another interpretation (Gen. 38:8-10; 1 Cor 6:9; Rom. 1:24), Holy Scripture does include in its condemnation an irresponsible use of sex, and that would certainly apply to masturbation. The Vatican Declaration says that even if Scripture does not condemn this sin by name, “the tradition of the Church has rightly understood it to be condemned in the New Testament when the latter speaks of ‘impurity’, ‘unchasteness’ and other vices contrary to chastity and continence.” - Fr.John Harvey
Nevertheless, the Roman Catholic understanding and teaching on chastity and celibacy, has not changed, no matter what the Dr. tells you. Celibacy or virginity is understood to mean a person voluntarily renounces marriage and sexual activity for the sake of the Kingdom of God. All Catholics are called to chastity according to their state in life, even married people. For unmarried people to live chastely, it is necessary to abstain from all deliberate sexual behavior, including autoeroticism or masturbation.
Catholic Sexual Ethics also responds to the objection that masturbation is not a grave moral disorder in certain circumstances. Adolescent masturbation is given as one of the circumstances. The response is that the Church has always acknowledged that circumstances alter cases, and that there are degrees of responsibility in the different kinds of masturbation. But the Church holds that the act of masturbation remains OBJECTIVELY SERIOUSLY WRONG. Rightly she distinguishes between the objective gravity of the masturbatory act and the personal responsibility of the agent.- Fr. John Harvey
Interesting background on the term “voluptuousness”:
“Moral authorities grudgingly acknowledged sex to be not inherently sinful, but very strictly delineated the ways in which sex could be used without spiritual consequences. Medical authorities, by contrast, considered sex to be an essential part of bodily health, noting that abstention could lead to a dangerous buildup of the “seminal humor.” As a preventative measure, physicians recommended regular, but not excessive, sexual intercourse (too little being as bad as too much). However, they took into account that not all people had a morally acceptable way of engaging in sex, and to this end recommended masturbation, drawing on the authority of Late Classical writers such as Galen, who suggests that physicians or midwives “place hot poultices on the . . . genitals” of a celibate woman and “cause [her] to experience orgasm, which would release the retained seed” (Murray, 201). Unfortunately, this was an area in which the medical and the moral definitely clashed. Moral authorities such as the theologian Thomas Aquinas considered masturbation (also known as “onanism” from the Biblical story of Onan; see Genesis 38:7-10) to be “the sin of uncleanliness, which some call voluptuousness” and an “unnatural vice” because it is “contrary to the natural ordering of the sexual act that is proper to human beings” (Summa Theologica 154.5). The only way that moral authorities would excuse masturbation was when it was unintentional, as was the case with nocturnal emissions, because “there [may be] an excess of the seminal humor in the body” which needed to be expelled in order to keep the body in balance. Thomas assumes that the body will take care of this balance itself, and lumps all intentional masturbation under the rubric of voluptuousness.” - Sex, Society and Medieval Women
Useful Links:
Fr. John Harvey - Good moral theology.
Cosmos, Liturgy, and Sex - Excellent posts dealing with the issue.
Catholic Education and Masturbation
Debate On the Morality of Masturbation
Lolo was a young man of “Acción Católica” (A.C.) He was born in Linares (Jaén, Spain) in 1920. At the age of 22, a creeping paralysis sat him on a wheelchair. Total blindness stuck him for his last nine years.