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. There are also masturbation machines used to simulate intercourse. Masturbation and sexual intercourse are the two most common sexual practices.
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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.
Females commonly stroke or rub the vulva, especially the clitoris. Women may also use running water or a vibrator 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 as part of their masturbation technique. Many women are only able to orgasm by masturbation.
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 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 (controversially) as inducing a condition called Traumatic Masturbatory Syndrome which proponents believe causes 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] (http://users.bigpond.net.au/xeyr/circum/mast.htm)
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.
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 (see anal masturbation), 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.
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] (http://www.nowtoronto.com/minisites/loveandsex/2004/s_survey_results.php) 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.
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.
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] (http://www.tpe.com/~altarboy/nt010416.htm)
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 19th 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 (http://newadvent.org/summa/315400.htm)." 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 (http://newadvent.org/summa/315300.htm).) 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."
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] (http://users.bigpond.net.au/xeyr/circum/mast.htm) A survey in the United States has indicated the opposite [5] (http://www.cirp.org/library/general/laumann/), 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] (http://www.circlist.com/considering/masturbate.html)
Circumcision opponents like Paul M. Fleiss [7] (http://cirp.org/news/Mothering1997/) 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 has been observed in every species of mammal and some lower animals also; for example, it is a very common practice among Bonobos.
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.
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, firing the surgeon general, and spanking the monkey to describe male masturbation, and jilling off, flicking the bean, and polishing the pearl to describe female 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):
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.
Group sex is sexual behaviour involving more than two people at the same time.
Any sexual behaviour performed as part of "conventional" two-person sex can be a part of group sex, as well as a number of behaviors only possible with more than two people. Group sex involving a single female or male and multiple males is sometimes termed a gang-bang.
The same safer sex considerations that apply to normal sex apply here, for the same reason: any sexual partner in any kind of sexual activity may have a sexually transmitted disease, without it being obvious, either to them or others. People who have group sex tend to have higher numbers of sexual partners, and may for this reason be more likely to have STDs or to be at risk for STDs than other people who have fewer sexual partners.
Group sex can occur amongst people of any sexual orientation, whether homosexual, heterosexual (though, obviously, sex involving three or more people must involve multiple members of the same gender in some capacity), bisexual or pansexual.
In human cultures, group sex is a common sexual fantasy, predating the existence of pornography, and participation in it is more common than some want to admit. Despite the puritanical taboo against sexual pleasure for its own sake, even prominent intellectuals such as Catherine Millet have admitted to frequent participation in group sex.
There is a misconception that group sex practices are confined to enactment for the purposes of pornography. Since pornography is often amateur (i.e. made for fun rather than money), it is obvious that the same practices are at least as common outside of pornography.
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These acts may also be carried out with women wearing strap-on dildos substituting for the male participants.
Bukkake is a group sex practice seen in pornography where a series of men take turns to ejaculate on a kneeling woman (or man). At the end of the process, the recipient usually drinks the semen. There is a misconception that bukkake is a recent invention of the fetish pornography industry. In fact, much of the bukkake pornography consists of amateur home movies made by people who enjoy the sex act on or off camera. Many women have gone public regarding their sexual enjoyment of bukkake. Prominent examples include Dr. Susan Block and Catherine Millet. Note that this is an potentially unsafe practice: see the bukkake article for more.
A sexual fantasy is a fantasy of a sexual nature. A person may or may not wish to enact their sexual fantasies in real life; some may find their fantasies completely unacceptable were they to be transposed into real life.
Sexual fantasies may involve any human sexual practice or paraphilia. Common sexual fantasies include:
Unusual, but well-reported fantasies include:
Sexual fantasies that used to be common, but are not now:
Study suggests that distinct tendencies differentiate male and female sexual fantasies. These traits are hardly universal; just because a person happens to be male does not indicate he will have only "male" fantasies that night, let alone for the whole of his life. In general, however, male sexual fantasies tend to be shorter and imagistic, where female sexual fantasies tend to be longer and have more narrative, as well as a greater focus on the relationships between the characters in the fantasy. The essence of a "male" fantasy might be captured in a photographic moment or a seconds-long clip of film; a "female" fantasy might require pages of text to fully capture the key elements. Note that, contrary to popular expectation, there is little to no difference between the genders in the transgressive content of their fantasies; a female is just as likely to fantasize about group sex with an entire fraternity as a male is to fantasize about group sex with an entire sorority.
Many theories have been propounded to explain these relative gender differences, on both sides of the nature versus nurture debate. Theories that focus on nurture point to attitudes prevalent in Western societies, where men's sexual needs are assumed to be wholly physical, while women's are treated as both emotional and physical. Theories that focus on nature suggest that both males' and females' sexual fantasies, and their sexual behavior, are shaped by their respective hormones to reflect their roles in procreation: for men, the sex act may be over in a very short time, while for a woman, if the sex act leads to pregnancy, it is a months-long endeavor. As is often the case with competing nature vs. nurture theories, the likelihood is that both play a role.
George Bataille's 'The Story of The Eye' is one of the most explicit and creative documents of sexual fantasy.
My Secret Garden. A collection of Women's female sexual fantasies. Nancy Friday. http://www.drugstore.com/qxp87970_333181_sespider/my_secret_garden/womens_sexual_fantasies_by_nancy_friday.htm
My Secret Garden Shed. A collection of Men's sexual fantasies. http://www.passion8.com/acatalog/MySecretGardenShedMaleSexualFantasies.html
The Top Ten Sexual Fantasies of Men and Women http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Sex/sexpsych/sexual_fantasies/top10_female_sexual_fantasies.htm
http://www.guidetopsychology.com/sex_love.htm
Male Sexual Fantasy http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Sex/sexpsych/sexual_fantasies/male_sexual_fantasies.htm
LaPetiteClaudine http://www.lapetiteclaudine.com/
