Written By: Jenne
Hands up all those of you who have heard these statements before; Masturbation:
- Will make you go blind.
Will stunt your growth.
Will make you go insane.
Will give you hairy palms
Will give you acne.
Most of us now recognize that the above were just myths but as teens we may well have believed them. Of course if they were true then half the world’s population would be blind dwarfs with acne and hairy palms because surveys suggest that over 80% of women and 99% of men masturbate or have masturbated at sometime in their lives.
Many of the sexual myths that survive today have deep roots. For example, around the turn of the century, many adults were so against masturbation that they forced girls to wear gloves made of a wire wool substance at night and would put powder on their genitals that made them painful to touch. Boys were often forced to wear chastity belts at night so that an erection would cause pain. Sex was not meant to be pleasurable, it was only for making babies. Self-gratification was seen as the lowest form of pleasure back in those days and the foundation for that belief had been laid thousands of years before.
Okay, so I know we, thankfully, don’t torture our kids in order to curb what is a natural instinct but masturbation is still seen as wrong by many people. Many of us still feel uncomfortable masturbating into adulthood because of what we were taught or told in those early years by our parents or peers. Those fears still persist even if we logically know that many are unfounded.
Even between adults many masturbation myths abound. Ever heard the one about how only losers masturbate as they can’t get the real thing? Or the one that states that couples never masturbate? In both cases neither is true. Many people masturbate for many reasons the most common ones being:
- It’s pleasurable.
- It helps them relax. It’s safer than using tranquilizers and has no side effects.
- It is always available when sexual tensions need releasing.
- It allows them to have as much gratification as they want, when they want it, and at their own speed.
- It is the one form of sex with no risk of disease, pregnancy or emotional upset.
- No partner/audience (usually) means they can be less inhibited in their use of toys and any other item they may personally find erotic.
- It helps them get to sleep if they are suffering from insomnia.
- It gives a degree of relief from the physical discomforts many feel during periods.
- It’s free!
There are many, many more reasons why people masturbate, the above are just the most common ones. To be fair there are also people that do not masturbate either for religious or moral reasons. There is absolutely nothing wrong with abstaining from masturbation on any grounds. The act of masturbation by its very definition is about pleasure. If doing it makes you feel guilty or doesn’t give you pleasure then please don’t feel that you have to do it.
Some people maintain the belief that if you masturbate you will no longer be a virgin. This is another falsehood. Masturbation will not take away your virginity. A virgin, by definition, is someone who has not had sexual intercourse. Masturbation isn’t sexual intercourse. If you insert your fingers or other objects into your vagina, you may disrupt your hymen (the membrane that stretches across the opening and is typically broken during first-time sex). But if you have not had sex, then you are still