Repressing Lust Will Lead To Masturbation and other Ailments

Or so according to Japanese Home Ministry official Yamazaki Dennosuke in 1931.

That year in the Land of the Rising Sun, Purity Society members introduced in the Lower House a bill which aimed to abolish licensed prostitution.

Responding with a speech laced with obscenities and graphic language, Yamazaki reportedly said that "since lust was absolute, to try to repress it would only bring on masturbation, the chief cause of respiratory problems." (Sheldon Garon, Moulding Japanese Minds The State in Everyday Life)

And I've always wondered why patients who sought medical attention for respiratory problems looked so breathelessly red-faced. Silly me.