this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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[–] iamkindasomeone@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Who (and when) was the first person in history to wank? And how did they find out?

[–] arken@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Genesis 38:8-10

Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother’s wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother. He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing[.]

In all seriousness, since apes do it (a lot), I don't think there ever were a "first person in history". It's more just a consequence of having long enough arms.

[–] iamkindasomeone@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

But could an elephant also have done it first?

[–] arken@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

An elephant? Why not the wooly mammoth?

All I know is that I now completely understand why the T-Rex was so aggressive all the time.

[–] Ceruleum@lemmy.wtf 1 points 2 days ago
[–] YMS@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Probably like probably most people still do find out nowadays.

[–] iamkindasomeone@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I doubt there was porn at that time!

[–] Opisek@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

You'd be surprised

[–] ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I want to know how they figured out shagging and how that creates babies.

[–] arken@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

how that created babies

Exactly how wasn't known anywhere before1875, however most humans through history seem to have had some idea of there being a connection between sex and pregnancy. I remember reading about isolated island peoples having other ideas, like the Trobriand people who believed that an ancestral spirit entered the woman's body and that sex had nothing to do with it. However this article claims those reports are half-true at best; the Trobriand people apparently considers sex necessary for the formation of the fetus, even if it's not the primary cause. There's also some speculation that humans became aware of the relationship between sex and pregnancy after the domestication of dogs because of their shorter gestation period. Ultimately, we'll never know...