Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 February 19

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February 19

The Maimonides position about the semen and intercourse is supported by the science?

I came across Mimondes' position about semen and intercourse, and it is interesting for me if it is supported by science, or it is anachronistic and not up to date? Here is what he says (Human dispositions 4,19):

"Semen is the strength of the body, its life [force], and the light of the eyes; the greater the emission [of sperm], [the greater] the damage to the body, to its strength, and the greater the loss to one's life [span]. This was implied by Solomon in his wisdom: "Do not give your strength to women" (Proverbs 31:3 . Whoever is steeped in sexual relations, old age springs upon him [before its time], his strength is depleted, his eyes become dim, a foul odor emanates from his mouth and his armpits, the hair of his head, his eyebrows, and eyelashes fall out, the hair of his beard, armpits, and legs grows in abundance, his teeth fall out and he suffers many pains beyond these. The wise of the doctors have said: One of a thousand dies from other illnesses and a thousand from excessive intercourse."

--ThePupil (talk) 01:15, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

We don't seem to have an article that character. But it sounds like he was the inspiration for General Jack Ripper. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:59, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

The "character" is Maimonides, the passage is from Mishneh Torah. I've had some difficulties trying to understand the structure of the thing, but it appears to be in the first book (HaMadda), section 2 (De'ot), and there in the 19th paragraph of chapter 4, see e.g. [1] or [2]. --Wrongfilter (talk) 09:35, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

It helps when the OP spells it right. Well, that's an interesting read. On some things he may be right, on others he missed the boat. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:13, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

(ec) No, this is not supported by science -- frequent sexual intercourse does not, in and of itself, harm the body (unless one catches venereal disease, which is a different matter altogether!) 2601:646:8A81:6070:21B3:46A0:D94F:FF3B (talk) 02:04, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

Oh, and for evidence, see Sexual_intercourse#Health_effects. 2601:646:8A81:6070:21B3:46A0:D94F:FF3B (talk) 02:07, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

While Maimonedes was surprisingly scientifically enlightened for the 12th century – the various authors of Proverbs (Ch 31 vv 1–9 are attributed to Lemuel (biblical king), not Solomon) in the 1st millenium BCE perhaps less so – such pronouncements around sexual activities are almost invariably concerned with social and moral control, rather than literal medical facts. Did your parents ever tell you that eating pure sugar gives one worms, or sitting on a radiator gives one piles? (Mine did.) Did you believe them then, and do you believe it now? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.198.55.125 (talk) 02:39, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

I never did reconcile "sitting on a radiator gives one piles" with "sitting on a cold stone wall gives one piles"! Perhaps they just didn't like boys sitting down? Goes along with "don't share caps or you can catch dandruff". Martin of Sheffield (talk) 08:01, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Reconciled with: prolonged sitting. Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:34, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

IMO Sexuality and superstitions is a good topic seems yet to be covered on WP Bookku (talk) 10:48, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

WP:WHAAOE: religion and sexuality. Tigraan^{Click here for my talk page ("private" contact)} 14:02, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Maimonides had many interesting things to say, some of them wise. This particular thing was nonsense. I have followed the exact opposite of his advice for 55 years or more, and I am in good health and several years older than Maimonides when he died. Frequent orgasms are good for human health. Cullen328 (talk) 08:37, 23 February 2023 (UTC)