The Resume

(March 20, 1728-June 13, 1797)
Born in Grancy, Switzerland
Physician and Vatican advisor
Wrote ‘Traité des nerfs et de leurs maladies’ (‘Treatise on the Nerves and Nervous Disorders), ‘Avis au people sur sa santé’ (‘Advice to the Public about Their Health’), and ‘L’Onanism. Dissertation sur les maladies produites par la masturbation’ (‘On the Diseases Caused by Masturbation: Or, Onanism’)

Why he might be annoying:

He claimed that masturbation would cause ‘a perceptible reduction of strength, of memory and even of reason; blurred vision, all the nervous disorders, all types of gout and rheumatism, weakening of the organs of generation, blood in the urine, disturbance of the appetite, headaches and a great number of other disorders.’
He almost single-handedly transformed masturbation from a sin to a debilitating illness.
His views on masturbation would hold sway for nearly two centuries, until the Kinsey era.

Why he might not be annoying:

He was the leading authority on migraines of his day.
He advocated for exercise and against wearing tight corsets.
His ‘Advice to the Public,’ written for people who lived outside the cities and had no access to doctors, was probably the first medical self-help book and the best-selling health manual of the 18th century.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 74]
• Cracked's 5 Sex Experts Who Made the World a Worse Place (To Do It)
• I Get Migraines
• Look at Me, I'm Writing
• Look at Me, My Picture Is Art
• Profiles 46251-46500 (Ranked: 46369)
• Sex Professors

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 19 Votes: 68.42% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying