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Masturbation

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Masturbation is the manual excitation of the sexual organs, most often to the point of orgasm. It can refer to excitation either by oneself or by another (see mutual masturbation), but most commonly it is restricted to refer only to such activities performed alone. It is part of a larger set of activities known as autoeroticism, which also includes the use of sex toys and non-genital stimulation. Masturbation and sexual intercourse are the two most common sexual practices.

Etymology

The word masturbation is believed by many to derive from a plural Greek word for penis (μεζεα-- mezea) and the Latin verb turbare, meaning to disturb. A competing etymology based on a Latin expression manus turbare meaning "to defile with the hand" is regarded by most dictionaries as "an old conjecture". The esoteric and little-used synonym manustupration derives from a similar etymology, manus stuprare.

The word onanism was formerly used as a synonym because it was linked to a Biblical story (Genesis 38:7-9) in which a man called Onan "spilled his seed upon the ground" to avoid impregnating his dead brother's wife (see levirate marriage) and, because "the thing which he did displeased the Lord", Onan was killed. It is now generally agreed that the passage refers to the sexual contraception method of coitus interruptus but not to masturbation, and so the term is not used anymore with that meaning in English.

Masturbation among human females

Females commonly stroke or rub the vulva, especially the clitoris. Women may also use running water to stimulate the vulva. Many women enjoy stimulation of the vagina by inserting fingers or an object. Some women can experience sexual stimulation just by crossing their legs tightly. Women may use lubrication to improve masturbation technique. Many women are only able to orgasm by masturbation.

Masturbation among human males

The most common form of masturbation in uncircumcised males is gripping the skin of the penis and moving it up and down, resulting in repeated sliding of the foreskin back and forth over the glans penis (the head of the penis) until orgasm is achieved. Circumcised men, who lack a foreskin, may instead either directly massage the glans with one or both hands, often with the aid of a sexual lubricant, or, apparently more commonly, slide the skin of the shaft up and down beneath the glans. Although the skin may in doing so touch the corona of the glans, in most men, this method results in no direct stimulation of the upper glans surface (as in uncircumcised men) and ejaculation is achieved almost entirely from stimulation of the shaft and its contact against the underside of the corona only. Another method is to lie face down on a smooth surface of comfortable material like a bed mattress and rub the penis against it until orgasm is achieved, although this method has been described as inducing Traumatic Masturbatory Syndrome which is believed to cause severe sexual dysfunction in most males who practice it.

A 1989 Australian survey of 85 men found that nearly two-thirds of circumcised men masturbated with the help of a lubricant, while almost all intact men used the foreskin and the shaft skin to do so. [1]

More so than in the past, some men use an artificial vagina for masturbation. Men who can reach their penis with their tongue sometimes also perform autofellatio, in which the man licks or sucks his own penis. Ejaculation of semen is sometimes controlled by wearing a condom or by ejaculating into an artificial vagina or even into a sock or rag. It may also be wiped up with a tissue.

Methods common to both human genders

Ways of masturbating common to members of both sexes include pressing or rubbing the genital area against an object, such as a pillow, inserting fingers or an object into the anus, and stimulating the penis or vulva/clitoris with electric vibrators, which may also be inserted into the vagina or anus. Members of both sexes may also enjoy touching, rubbing, or pinching the nipples while masturbating. Both sexes sometimes use lubricating substances to improve the sensation available.

Reading or viewing pornography, or sexual fantasy, are common adjuncts to masturbation in adolescence and adulthood. Masturbation activities are often ritualized. Various fetishes and paraphilias can also play a part in the masturbation ritual; potentially harmful or fatal activities include autoerotic asphyxiation and self-bondage.

Masturbation frequency, age and gender

It is generally assumed that most people begin masturbating when reaching adolescence. While few serious studies have been done on the matter, lots of informal surveys have asked the question. A 2004 survey by Toronto magazine NOW was answered by an unspecified number of thousands. [2] The results show that an overwhelming majority of the males – 81% – begun masturbating between the ages of 10 and 15. Among females, the same figure was a more modest majority of 55%. It is not uncommon however to begin much earlier, and this is more frequent among females: 18% had begun by the time they turned 10, and 6% already by the time they turned 6. Being the main outlet of child sexuality, masturbation has been observed in very young children. In the book Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America, by Strong, Devault and Sayad, the authors point out, "A baby boy may laugh in his crib while playing with his erect penis (although he does not ejaculate). Baby girls sometimes move their bodies rhythmically, almost violently, appearing to experience orgasm."

Masturbating is often seen as an adolescent phenomenon, but few people stop altogether as they leave puberty. According to the Canadian survey cited above, it is however true that the frequency generally declines after the age of 17. The nature of this decline is more drastic among females, and more gradual among males. While females aged 13-17 masturbated almost once a day on average (and almost as often as their male peers), adult women only masturbated 8-9 times a month, compared to the men's 18-22. (It should be noted that the survey results do not include a demographic breakdown of the respondents, so it is uncertain how reliable these results are.) In part this is due to the fact that females are less likely to masturbate while in a sexual relationship than men. Both sexes occasionally engage in this activity, however, even when happily married.

Health and psychological effects

It is being increasingly recognised in mental health circles that masturbation can relieve depression and lead to a higher sense of self worth. Masturbation can also be particularly useful in relationships where one partner wants more sex than the other - in which case masturbation provides a balancing effect and thus a more harmonious relationship.

Both from the standpoint of avoiding unwanted pregnancy and that of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, masturbation is the safest of sexual practices. There is no credible scientific or medical evidence that manual masturbation is damaging to either one's physical or mental health, with the exception of some cases of Peyronie's disease. In such instances, aggressive manipulation (e.g. inversion during adolescence, bending or twisting) of the penis and subsequent injury to the tunica albuginea or corpus cavernosus results in a localised fibromatosis, distorting the erectile appearance. Contrary to popular myth, masturbation does not make the palms hairy, cause blindness or genital shrinkage. The only side-effects recorded are that repeated masturbation may result in tiredness or soreness, which tend to make repeated masturbation self-limiting in any case, and that the volume of ejaculate is temporarily reduced in men after multiple ejaculations until normal seminal volume is regained in a day or so. Nevertheless, people from a socially conservative or religious background may experience attendant feelings of guilt during or after masturbation.

Solitary masturbation carries no risk of pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. Masturbation with a man and a woman can result in pregnancy only if semen contacts the vulva. Any masturbation with a partner can theoretically result in transmission of sexually transmitted disease by contact with semen or female sexual fluids, and such contact should be avoided with any partner whose disease-negative status you are not sure of. Objects inserted into the vagina or anus should be clean and of a kind that will not scratch or break. Care should be taken not to fully insert anything into the anus - any object used should have a flared or flanged base; otherwise retrieval can require a visit to the emergency room. Most modern dildos and anal plugs are designed with this feature.

On July 16, 2003, an Australian research team led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council published a medical study which concluded that frequent masturbation by males may help prevent the development of prostate cancer, and that it would be more helpful than ejaculation through sexual intercourse because sex can transmit diseases which can increase the risk of cancer instead.

Masturbation in history and society

Prehistoric rock paintings from around the world evidently depict male masturbation, though these are entirely matters of interpretation. Most early people seem to have connected human sexuality with abundance in nature. A clay figurine of the 4th millennium BC from a temple site on the island of Malta, depicts a woman masturbating. However, in the ancient world depictions of male masturbation are far more common. Male masturbation became an even more important image in ancient Egypt. When performed by a god it could be considered a creative or magical act. The ancient Greeks had a more natural attitude toward masturbation than the Egyptians did, regarding the act as a normal and healthy substitute for other forms of sexual pleasure. They considered masturbation a safety valve against destructive sexual frustration. The Greeks also dealt with female masturbation in both their art and writings.


Excerpt from United States patent number 745,264, filed on May 29, 1903 by Albert V. Todd. It describes a device designed to prevent masturbation by inflicting electric shocks upon the perpetrator, by ringing an alarm bell, and through spikes at the inner edge of the tube into which the penis is inserted. View the complete patent: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4. Patents of this kind were filed from c. 1850 to c. 1920. [3]

Modern medicine as mentioned before, recognizes that there is no significant harm (short term or long term) caused by the practice of masturbation, and regards it as a normal practice. In past times, however, some medical professionals taught that all sorts of deleterious effects could occur as a result of masturbation. Since the 18th century, many "remedies" have been devised for masturbation, including regularly eating corn flakes, physical restraint, electric shock, treating the genitalia with stinging nettles, or surgically removing them entirely. In later decades, the more drastic of these measures were increasingly replaced with psychological techniques, such as telling children they will get hairy hands or that their face will turn green from masturbating. In the United States and other English-speaking nations, routine neonatal circumcision was widely adopted in part because of its believed preventive effect against masturbation.

Many conservative religious groups teach masturbation to be a sinful practice. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2352, lists masturbation as one of the "Offenses Against Chastity" and calls it "an intrinsically and gravely disordered action" because "use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." It goes on to caution that extenuating factors could exist, such as immaturity, habitual, or psychological problems.

St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians of the Catholic Church, went so far as to teach that masturbation is a graver sin than rape. In his masterwork, the Summa Theologica, he addresses the sin of lust under the heading of "Secunda Secundae Partis, Question 154." Under Article One, he divides the sin of lust into six categories: "the vice against nature," simple fornication, incest, adultery, seduction and rape. Under Article Eleven, the Angelic Doctor divides "the vice against nature" into four sub-categories: masturbation, zoophilia, homosexuality and non-procreative heterosexual sex. Finally, under Article Twelve, he explains that "the vice against nature," including masturbation, is clearly worse than the other five types of lust-based sins, for it is a sin against both nature and reason, whereas rape is merely a sin against reason alone. (See also II-II 153.) This hierarchy of sin was repudiated by the Catholic Church fairly recently; Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) praised Aquinas' "invincible" arguments in his 1879 encyclical Aeterni Patris, claiming that "reason, born on the wings of Thomas, can scarcely rise higher, while faith could scarcely expect more or stronger aids from reason than those which she has already obtained through Thomas."

Masturbation and circumcision

It has been argued that the practice of circumcision for non-religious reasons, still wide-spread in some countries, arose originally as one of the most popular remedies against masturbation. See circumcision and female circumcision for a detailed discussion. Extreme male circumcisions, where much of the penis' skin is removed, are in fact effective against masturbation because erections can become very painful, severely restricting the sexual use of the organ.

As noted above, even routine male circumcision complicates masturbation, because the glans penis, which is keratinized and less sensitive in circumcised males, cannot be massaged with the help of the foreskin. Masturbation can become more difficult to learn and may be experienced as more troublesome. Several surveys indicate that uncircumcised men and boys masturbate earlier and more frequently than circumcised men. [4] A survey in the United States has indicated the opposite [5], but that has been attributed to strong sociodemographic difference between the two groups of circumcised and uncircumcised men in that country in particular. Even in pro-circumcision circles, the negative effect on masturbation, through the painful aftereffects of the operation and the complication of the process, is sometimes cited as an advantage. [6]

Circumcision opponents like Paul M. Fleiss [7] also refer to the over 20,000 nerve-endings in the removed tissue, which are believed to contribute to a loss of pleasure. While foreskin restoration can alleviate keratinization and make masturbation using the foreskin possible, it cannot regenerate the lost nerve-endings.

In males with phimosis, frenulum breve and other similar rare conditions, circumcision was once, and continues to be to some extent, the remedy prescribed. Now, however, depending of the severity of these conditions, they are increasingly likely to be alleviated by foreskin stretching - with or without steroid creams - or with frenoplasty or frenectomy if necessary. If these conditions interfered with masturbation or coitus, successful treatment would help to remedy the situation.

Masturbation in animals other than humans

Masturbation has been observed in every species of mammal and some lower animals also; for example, it is a very common practice among Bonobos.

Law

Masturbation tends to be legal, even by children, as long as nobody else is involved and no image is made.

Masturbation in a public place, and in cases where somebody else is unexpectedly confronted with it, is indecent exposure. According to some historic chronicles, it has not always been so.

Laws may vary for masturbation as part of a performance, as visitor of a live or screen performance, as participant in a sex party, etc.

Euphemisms

Because masturbation is often an uncomfortable topic among peers, a huge variety of euphemisms and dysphemisms have been invented to describe it. Some of the more common euphemisms are self-pleasuring, playing with oneself, and self-gratifying, all of which are gender-neutral, and fingering oneself, which is exclusively female. Common dysphemisms include wanking, jerking off, jacking off, pulling off, choking the chicken, jerking the gherkin, shaking hands with shorty, punching the clown, whacking off, killing some kittens, and spanking the monkey to describe male masturbation, and jilling off, flicking the bean, and polishing the pearl to describe female masturbation.

Humor and masturbation

Masturbation, mainly male masturbation, has long been the subject of humor. Even in the early Twentieth Century, Mail Pouch Tobacco advertisements in some cases featured a boy baby reaching into his diaper, with the caption, "He's found his mail pouch."

In 1879, Mark Twain gave a humorous talk at the Stomach Club in Paris entitled Some Thoughts on the Subject of Onanism, which concluded with the thought "If you must gamble your lives sexually, don't play a lone hand too much." This talk was not published until 1943.

Some famous wits have commented on masturbation, as in P. J. O'Rourke's quote: "Sophisticated persons masturbate without compunction. They do it for reasons of health, privacy, thrift and because of the remarkable perfection of invisible partners."

Humorous songs have been written about masturbation, such as Chuck Berry's hit song, My Ding-a-ling. This song has no sexually explicit lyrics, but is clearly intended as a double entendre. Also note the song "I Touch Myself" by DiVinyls, sung in one of the final scenes in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, and the Cyndi Lauper song "She Bop".

There are much older songs on the subject, including this old parody on a classic operatic tune (sing to the tune of Funiculi, funicula):

Last night, I lay my head upon my pillow,
But stayed up late, to masturbate,
Last night, I lay myself upon my bed, but
I stayed awake, for pleasure's sake.
You should see me working on the short strokes,
It's really grand, I use my hand;
You should see me working on the long strokes,
It's really neat, I use my feet.
Smash it! Bash it! Pound it on the floor!
Smite it! Bite it! Ram it through the door!
Oh, it's so neat to beat your meat while sitting on the toilet seat,
Isn't life divine,
Funiculi, funicula.

In recent years, there have been many masturbation jokes in movies, such as in American Pie, where the pie (more or less of the title) is used as a masturbation object to generate humor.

See also

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