Tied to the bed


Even if that kind of thing happened back then, it's still mind blowing.

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Yeah, what if the kid had to pee during the night?
I thought they used saltpeter back then to keep boys from having erections?

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A part of me wants to see this movie but I think I won't. I don't know if I can take all the abuse towards the children in the movie.I can usually take anything as far as movies go but after reading some things about the movie it kind of creeps me out.

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My advice is to never read anything about a film before you see it. Just watch it and make your own mind first before reading what others have to say about it.

The scenes are not graphic at all, the context is a bit harsh but the way it's portrayed makes it rather easy to swallow.

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"I thought they used saltpeter back then to keep boys from having erections?"


During my healthy childhood, I enjoyed my life. I find that statement so wrong!

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Masturbation hysteria ran through much of the Western world during the latter 19th-early 20th centuries. Any number of books touching on the subject were available in the U.S., and undoubtedly in other countries as well. A personal favorite is the 1894 volume: "Wise Counsel, or: Light In Dark Corners", which purports to be a sex manual. The author, however, is so repressed or afraid of censorship that he never manages to state directly what he is writing about, though he fills several hundred pages with his attempts!

He does, however, manage a rousing condemnation of "that worst of temptations....the solitary vice". Which, if he is to be believed, is the cause of acne, insanity, ill health, alcoholism, mental retardation, and just about every other ill under the sun. This was in fact common medical parlance in the 1890s and for some time thereafter.

A number of medical quacks of the time sold items including heavy mittens that were placed on children's hands at bedtime but could not be removed except by another. Some medical books of the time did indeed recommend the use of restraints, including tying the hands to the bed. A friend recalls being tucked into bed during the mid-1950s and his mother tucking the blankets in very firmly with his hands outside, undoubtedly a holdover from an earlier time and perhaps quite innocently intended, but still....

Some of the characters in "The White Ribbon" could have benefited considerably from a few good orgasms. Unfortunately, I fear that they would have felt so guilty over them that any benefit would have been lost.

Much of Sigmund Freud's contribution to psychology, I suspect, was due to his obsession with sexual matters. Those who came to him completely messed up as the result of a lifetime of being unable to do what comes naturally were encouraged to discuss matters they had hardly dared to think about before coming to see the doctor. After overcoming what must have been their most deeply-rooted taboo, Freud's patients undoubtedly found the daily troubles of life veritably trivial by comparison.


The last resort of one who cannot think is to argue that another cannot feel.

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yes that kind of thing really happenned, and even worse. There were all kinds of metal contraptions for boys, and "chastity belts" for girls.

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Yikes, that scene freaked me out! I can truly say that life during this time was not fun. No iPhone, no Xbox, and now you're telling me I can't wank to fill the void! Just chop my head off with a scythe and put me out of my misery.

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Wow. Wish you would have

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Yes, some terrible things happen to the characters in this movie. And what I found equally terrible was the torturously slow pace.

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Do aliens not have the futuristic technology required to turn off movies they aren't enjoying?

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theseventhguest: Do aliens not have the futuristic technology required to turn off movies they aren't enjoying?


I'm not allowed to express a negative opinion concerning this movie? That attitude doesn't seem very advanced either.

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I never said that. I was just remarking upon the technological marvels of being forced to watch something you're not enjoying.

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I was just remarking upon the technological marvels of being forced to watch something you're not enjoying.



Even movies we aren't enjoying can get better the further into them we get. And they can grow on you, too after they've ended. This one did have some interesting moments, so I am glad I stuck with it to the end. I consider it flawed, but by no means a complete failure either.

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It's an enthralling masterpiece. Not sure what's not to enjoy.

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It did happen. Parents were given that advice against their sons masturbation. The speech that his father gave to him, the scolding about his masturbation is literarily taken from a very popular book about raising children.

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