Sunamitism
As Shunammitism a previously popular "therapy" is male against old age and declining potency called. Here an aging, weak man lies in bed with a young but already sexually mature girl without having sexual intercourse with her. Their physical "vapors" were considered rejuvenating. The term goes back to the Bible.
This practice was widespread and recommended by medical professionals until the Renaissance . In England the philosopher Francis Bacon is said to have been a supporter of this method, which from today's point of view is to be regarded as superstition . Sunamitism has been almost completely forgotten today.
There were supposedly own houses for Sunamitism, but they were not brothels. On the contrary, the “client” usually had to deposit a fairly high deposit , which would have been lost if the “service provider” had lost her virginity.
Virginity was considered to be a prerequisite for high therapeutic effectiveness; bedfellows who were not virgins were considered an ineffective rejuvenating agent.
Sunamitism in the Bible
Sunamitism goes back to the Bible. King David, who has grown old, does not "recognize" (that is, asleep) the bed companion Abishag von Sunem and thus gains new strength, so he loses his impotence :
“But when King David was old and advanced in years, he could not get warm if he was covered with clothes. Then his commanders said to him, Look for a virgin for our lord the king to stand before the king and look after him and sleep in his arms and warm our lord the king. And they looked for a beautiful girl all over Israel and found Abisag of Shunem and brought her to the king. And she was a very beautiful girl, and she cared for and served the king. But the king did not recognize them. "
literature
- Daniel Schäfer: Age and Illness in the Early Modern Age. The medical view of the last phase of life , 2004
- Johann Heinrich Cohausen : The reviving Hermippus or curious physical-medical treatise , 1750