A few sites in the Internet claim that masturbation can cause hair loss.

Does masturbation really cause a man to go bald? This question has been haunting me for more than a few years.

No, absolutely not! The modern-day version of the traveling snake-oil salesman is the creep who sets up a Web site, sells an herbal concoction, and then convinces everyone who visits that they have problems they didn't know they have – problems only their herbal concoction can remedy. A classic case is the Web sites that have recently sprung up with articles about so-called "over-masturbation," linking the practice to such things as hair loss and chronic fatigue. These articles often sound scientific and are written by someone with "Dr." in front of his name – but understand that someone with a Ph.D. in comparative literature (or any other field) is a Doctor, and there are also plenty of actual, licensed medical doctors out there who are unscrupulous enough to write a phony article for a few extra bucks. The bottom line is that masturbation, no matter how frequent, has no internal long-term physiological effects on the body. If it did (hey, nearly all men have been "over-masturbating" for centuries!), we'd all know about it. A little Web site somewhere wouldn't have this secret if it were really true.

Folks, any time you see an outrageous claim – and this goes far beyond "over-masturbation" or even Web sites in general – ask yourself if the person has something to gain by making this claim. In the case of the sites in question, they definitely do: They scare people into thinking that their problems are caused by an activity they may very well already feel deeply guilty about, in the interest of selling bogus herbal pills (pretty much the same ones that are advertised to enlarge your penis). And in the process, the sites spread misinformation and make masturbation even more shameful than it already is. These people suck! They don't deserve your money!