Medical Benefits of Masturbation
Despite all information affirming masturbation is harmless, normal
and under no circumstances hair growth on your palms, many people
in our culture still consider it a taboo. People believe masturbation
a somewhat seedy thing to do to yourself, or something that only
happens during a weak moment or extra-long showers. During the latter
part of the 60's the slogan "Make love not War" abounded,
groundbreaking sexual researchers Masters and Johnson were proponents
of masturbation as a relaxation technique and an important part
of healthful, stress-free living. At about the same time, many organized
religions were condemning masturbation as an evil temptation and
encouraging parents to discipline their children against it. The
good news is that thanks to Masters and Johnson and 20th Century
researcher Dr. Robin Baker we now know that masturbation is as good
for us as eating our Wheaties or taking our vitamins. So why are
we still uncomfortable with the subject matter?
The old adage about male masturbation still seems to be true that
99% of men engage in it and the other 1% lie about it. For women
the numbers are slightly lower, but the landmark "Sex in America"
study put the numbers of female masturbators at about 85%. These
studies also go on to reveal that 54% of men and 62% of women won't
admit to a partner that they do actually masturbate. So the majority
of the population it seems, are chronically taking advantage of
themselves even if they still believe there is something wrong with
this behavior
Sex therapists have long proposed regular masturbation as a way
of learning about your bodies and keeping the equipment from going
rusty in a "use it or lose it" sort of fashion. Woody
Allen called it "Sex with someone you love". Either way
masturbation is intrinsic to understanding your own sexuality. What
I say to my patients is, "if you can't play with your own equipment,
then you shouldn't be playing with someone else's". How can
you tell someone how you would like to be touched if you've never
touched yourself? Masturbation teaches you what you love, what makes
you uncomfortable and all the things in between.
It's also fun! Masturbation can give you the most powerful orgasms
of your life and give you the chance to relax at the end of a busy
day. Masturbation is however, more than just learning how to give
yourself a quick climax, releasing sexual tension or getting a good
rush of endorphins. The urge to masturbate stems from powerful physiological
factors that have evolved as a way to keep us healthy. Evolutionary
biologist Robin Baker details the medical necessity of both male
and female masturbation in his landmark book about sexual response
called "Sperm Wars" and the recently published follow
up "Baby Wars".
Continue
|