The Role of Masturbation in Healthy Sexual Development: Perceptions of Young Adults

Abstract

Despite efforts to identify masturbation as a strategy to improve sexual health, promote relational intimacy, and reduce unwanted pregnancy, STIs, and HIV transmission, masturbation as a context for healthy sexual development has been met with silence or trepidation in the scientific and educational communities. Relegated to the realm of commercial media, rather than rational discourse in families, schools, and the general public, young people receive mixed messages about this non-reproductive sexual behavior. In order to explore how young adults have learned about masturbation and currently perceive masturbation, we conducted a grounded theory study of 72 college students (56 females; 16 males) enrolled in a human sexuality class. Findings revealed that a young adult's perceptions of and feelings toward masturbation were the result of a developmental process that included: (1) learning about the act of masturbation and how to do it, (2) learning and internalizing the social contradiction of stigma and taboo surrounding this pleasurable act, and (3) coming to terms with this tension between stigma and pleasure. Although nearly all participants learned about masturbation through the media and peers (not parents or teachers), gender was salient in coming to terms with the contradiction of stigma and pleasure. Most of the women reported either still struggling with the contradiction or accepting it as normal. Most of the men recognized the beneficial aspects for healthy sexual development that result from masturbation. Both male and female participants identified differential sexual scripts as contributing to the double standard.

Masturbation Among Sexually Active Young Women in Croatia: Associations with Religiosity and Pornography Use

“…Some scholars suggested that reporting masturbation, particularly among women and adolescent men, may not be entirely honest due to the social pressure that study participants may feel when reporting sensitive sexual behaviors (Béjin, 1996;Halpern, Udry, Suchindran, & Campbell, 2000;Petersen & Hyde, 2010). Related to that, it has been argued that self-pleasuring among women remains a stigmatized activity that is often accompanied by feelings of shame and guilt-as demonstrated in recent U.S.-and UK-based qualitative research (Hogarth & Ingham, 2009;Kaestle & Allen, 2011). This may explain a relatively high proportion of missing responses (17%) to the question about frequency of masturbation observed in our sample.…”

Trajectories of intimate partnerships, sexual attitudes, desire and satisfaction

“…As research results often point out the fact that attitudes toward sexuality are associated to sexual behavior (Lefkowitz et al, 2004;Luquis et al, 2012;Nikken & Graaf, 2013;Weeden & Sabini, 2007), solitary and dyadic sexual desires might be also related to specific sexual attitudes as well as to trajectories of partnerships. For instance, solitary sexual desire and activities are perceived as positive by some individuals, while for others, they are perceived as negative or even shameful sexual activities (Carvalheira & Leal, 2013;Costa, 2012;Davidson & Moore, 1994;Gerressu et al, 2008;Jaspard, 2005;Kaestle & Allen, 2011). Therefore, we expect that individuals who have developed intimate trajectories characterized by numerous partnerships facilitating permissive attitudes toward sexuality have greater solitary and dyadic desires, while those with few partnerships, which supposedly are associated with more conservative attitudes toward sexuality, might have lower solitary and dyadic desires.…”

Is the definition of masturbation clear or can it change?

“…Fakat özellikle ergenlik çağlarında insan gelişimi-ne, vücut bütünü farkındalığına ve cinsel arzulanımlarda oto-kontrole destek sağlar. Bu nedenle, mastürbasyon açıkça cinsel sağlık için gereklidir, [2] öyle ki bazı cinsel terapilerde etkili olan bir tedavi şeklidir. [3] Bağımlılık veya sapkınlık olduğunu iddia edenler de yok değildir.…”