Read this on wikipedia today, found it thought provoking:

"The Catholic Church disapproves of masturbation. Thomas Aquinas, ... wrote that masturbation was an 'unnatural vice' ... 'By procuring pollution [i.e., ejaculation apart from intercourse], without any copulation, for the sake of venereal pleasure [...] pertains to the sin of 'uncleanness' which some call 'effeminacy' [Latin: mollitiem, lit. 'softness, unmanliness'].'"

Also,

"During the Middle Ages, prostitution was commonly found in urban contexts. Although all forms of sexual activity outside of marriage were regarded as sinful by the Roman Catholic Church, prostitution was tolerated because it was held to prevent the greater evils of rape, sodomy, and masturbation (McCall, 1979)."

There have been many discussions on this sub regarding the apparent similarities between Red Pill truths and Biblical truths. I contend that marriage may not have been such a risky engagement for men during the Middle Ages (although, admittedly, I know very little about society in the Middle Ages). Regardless, it's interesting that the Catholic Church, which initially forbade prostitution, eventually changed its mind and basically said, no, hang on, masturbating is worse than seeing a prostitute.

Thomas Aquinas referred to masturbation as somehow being spiritually linked to effeminacy, softness, unmanliness. And, how fascinating is it that many people here on this sub have discovered that, through nofap (aka no-sinning, haha), what happens? Greater mental focus, more energy, deeper voice, etc etc. It's been said already on this sub, but this stuff is not new at all! Even the Catholic Church writers were writing in their own reddit forum (see Catechism) about true masculinity and male sexuality.

Additionally, if you look up other major religions (e.g. Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc), they all have a particular point of view. Most of them, though, tend to forbid masturbation. (Interestingly, Hinduism doesn't seem to have any problem with masturbating, but they do tend to forbid violence against animals, and therefore most Indians are vegetarian).