GYMNASTICS AS AN ANTI-ONANISTIC TOOL IN SHAPING SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN 19TH CENTURY SPAIN. DISCOURSE RECEPTION

Abstract

Nineteen-century hygienist-health discourses referred to masturbation as an illness whose effects were related to social degeneration since early life. Some studies have highlighted that relation as a factor that conditioned pedagogic ideas by pointing out gymnastics’ popularity as an anti-onanistic practice in childhood. However, no research has considered the importance of that practice as an instrument in the shaping of school Physical Education. This article is based on a more extensive genealogical research about the anti-onanist crusade influence in the institutionalization of Physical Education in Spain during the nineteenth century. The article is part of broader genealogical research about the anti-onanistic crusade in institutionalization of Physical Education in nineteen-century Spain.