"A drawing of a “habitual masturbator” from the 1847 book The Silent Friend.

Published in 1847 by the infamous Perry family of quack practitioners, the medical guide The Silent Friend contained a famous medical illustration labeled “Fig. 2” depicting a supposed habitual masturbator.

Depicting a gaunt man with sunken eyes, slack features, and visible drooling, the portrait was manufactured to instill severe moral anxiety and fear regarding self-solitary sexual practices.

By falsely framing masturbation as a destructive medical affliction leading directly to physical decay and insanity, the authors targeted vulnerable readers to profit immensely through selling bogus herbal remedies and expensive secret cures."