Friday Dinner Party Conversation Stopper

So, you know, I think in the case of masturbation, although it was called the solitary vice in the eighteenth century, it's much more difficult to imagine the moral arguments against it. In fact, all of the compelling arguments in previous historical epochs were ultimately theological in nature, not even moral arguments--so while a moral argument against sadism would be the evil of inflicting harm on someone, in the case of masturbation, it's difficult to discern what the moral argument is supposed to be, which is why you find theological arguments that if you masturbate you'll destroy your own soul and behaior and have to confront the physiological signs of that destruction.

-Arnold Davidson, from an interview in the May 06 The Believer.