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As an advocate of sexual abstinence, Kellogg devoted large amounts of his educational and medical work to discouraging sexual activity on the basis of dangers both scientifically understood at the time—as in sexually transmissible diseases—and those taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. [...]
Kellogg worked on the rehabilitation of masturbators, often employing extreme measures, even mutilation, on both sexes. He was an advocate of circumcising young boys to curb [[masturbation]] and applying phenol to a young woman's clitoris. In his "Plain Facts for Old and Young"<ref>Kellogg, J.H. (1888). name="Treatment for Self-Abuse and Its EffectsKellogg1888". Plain Facts for Old and Young. Ayer Publishing. pp. 294–296. ISBN 9780405058080.</ref>, he wrote:{{CitationREFbook | Texttitle=A remedy which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of [[phimosis]]. The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment, as it may well be in some cases. The soreness which continues Plain Facts for several weeks interrupts the practice, Old and if it had not previously become too firmly fixed, it may be forgotten Young: Natural History and not resumed.| Author=John Harvey KelloggHygiene of Organic Life (Sex, M.D.| ref=<ref>{{REFbookMarriage & Society Series) |titlechapter=Treatment for Self-Abuse and its Effects, Plain Facts for Old and Young
|last=Kellogg
|first=John Harvey
|author-link=John Harvey Kellogg
|location=Iowa
|publisher=F. Segner & CoAyer Publishing
|year=1888
|page=295
|ISBN=9780405058080}}</ref>, he wrote:{{Citation |Text=A remedy which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of [[phimosis]]. The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment, as it may well be in some cases. The soreness which continues for several weeks interrupts the practice, and if it had not previously become too firmly fixed, it may be forgotten and not resumed. |Author=John Harvey Kellogg, M.D. |ref=<ref name="Kellogg1888"/>
}}
He was an especially zealous campaigner against [[masturbation]]; this was an orthodox view during his lifetime, especially the earlier part. Kellogg was able to draw upon many medical sources' claims such as "neither the plague, nor war, nor small-pox, nor similar diseases, have produced results so disastrous to humanity as the pernicious habit of onanism," credited to one Dr. Adam Clarke. Kellogg strongly warned against the habit in his own words, claiming of [[masturbation]]-related deaths "such a victim literally dies by his own hand," among other condemnations. He felt that [[masturbation]] destroyed not only physical and mental health, but the moral health of individuals as well. Kellogg also believed the practice of this "solitary-vice" caused cancer of the womb, urinary diseases, nocturnal emissions, impotence, epilepsy, insanity, and mental and physical debility; "dimness of vision" was only briefly mentioned.