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{{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> ({{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 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
{{SEEALSO}}
* [[United Kingdom]]
{{LINKS}}
* {{URLwikipedia|William_Acton_(doctor)|William Acton (doctor)|2022-07-03}}
{{REF}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acton, William}}
[[Category:Person]]