The control of sexuality in the early British Boy Scouts movement

Abstract

This article looks at the way in which the early (1907–1922) British Boy Scouts movement attempted to control sexuality through archival examination of the organization's preoccupation with preventing masturbation or, as it was generally referred to, ‘self abuse’. Having briefly outlined the origination and nature of the Scouts, it considers why Baden‐Powell and others thought masturbation to be such a dangerous practice and how they proposed to prevent boys from doing it. It then locates the fears of those in charge of the movement in its historical context, arguing that the warnings of the Scouts that masturbation led to insanity and moral ruin went further than other Edwardian youth organizations and even social purity bodies. Finally, the article attempts to understand the place of masturbation in a wider ethos of continence and health, things that were thought to benefit both a boy and his nation.