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Acton was influenced by French physician [[Claude François Lallemand]], who recommended [[circumcision]] to prevent spermatorrhea (excessive, involuntary ejaculation), which was then believed to be a disease.
[[Category:UK]]
wikify puberty
{{PhotoMissing}}'''William John Acton''' <ref>{{REFjournal |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39445 |title=Acton, William John |last=Hall |first=Lesley A. |init=LA |publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2020-10-08 |DOI=10.1093/ref:odnb/39445 |accessdate=2022-07-04}}</ref> (1813–1875){{LifeData|birth=1813|birthplace=Shillingstone|birthcountry=UK|death=1875|deathplace=London|deathcountry=UK}}) <ref>{{REFweb |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=william+acton+death |title=william acton death |website=Google |accessdate=2022-07-04}}</ref> was an a nineteenth century English physician and author from Dorset. Acton was influenced by French physician [[Claude François Lallemand]], who recommended [[circumcision]] to prevent spermatorrhea (excessive, involuntary ejaculation), which was then believed to be a disease. Acton quoted Lalemand in his own books. Acton later devoted his efforts to the suppression of child [[masturbation]], which was then thought to produce phthisis, blindness, insanity, and other disorders. [[Robert Darby]] (2003) wrote:{{Citation |Text=William Acton's opinion that childhood ought to be a period of "absolute sexual quiescence" was an important influence here. If any manifestation of sexual capacity before [[puberty]] was pathological rather than normal, it had to be eliminated, and corrective surgery, including [[circumcision]], was one of the usual means. |Author=[[Robert Darby]] |ref=<ref>{{REFjournal |last=Darby |first=Robert |init= |author-link=Robert Darby |etal=no |title=The masturbation taboo and the rise of routine male circumcision: a review of the historiography |trans-title= |language= |journal=J Soc Hist |location= |date=2003 |season=Spring |volume= |issue=27 |article= |page= |pages=737-57 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/history/darby4/ |archived= |quote= |accessdate=2022-05-30}}</ref>}}
{{PUB}}
* {{REFbook
|last=Acton
|first=William
|init=W |author-link=William Acton
|year=1851
|title=A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Urinary and Generative Organs in Both Sexes
|scope=
|ISBN=
|location=London
|publisher=Churchill
|accessdate=2022-06-29
}}
* {{REFbook
|last=Acton
|first=William
|init=W
|author-link=William Acton
|year=1857
|title=Prostitution, Considered in Its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects, in London and Other Large Cities and Garrison Towns, with Proposals for the Mitigation and Prevention of Its Attendant Evils
|url=https://archive.org/details/b22650179/page/242/mode/2up
|scope=
|ISBN=
|location=London
|publisher=Churchill
|accessdate=2022-06-29
}}
|last=Acton
|first=William
|init=W |author-link=William Acton
|year=1862
|title=The Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs in Childhood, Youth, Adult Age, and Advanced Life: Considered in Their Physiological, Social, and Moral Relations
|scope=
|ISBN=
|location=London
|publisher=Churchill
|accessdate=2022-06-29
}}
{{SEEALSO}}
* [[United Kingdom]]
{{LINKS}}
* {{URLwikipedia|William_Acton_(doctor)|William Acton (doctor)|2022-07-03}}
{{REF}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acton, William}}
[[Category:Person]]
[[Category:Male]]
[[Category:Deceased]]
[[Category:Author]]
[[Category:Physician]]
[[Category:Promoter]]
[[Category:Victorian doctor]]
[[Category:PromoterUK]] [[Categoryde:AuthorWilliam Acton]]