It's Normal, Healthy and Okay to Masturbate!

It's Normal, Healthy and Okay to Masturbate!

Masturbation can be defined as self-stimulation to cause sexual sensations. The use of the word masturbation usually suggests that the person is manipulating his or her genitals to the point of intense pleasure or orgasm. (Orgasm refers to a period of intense excitement in which genital muscles enter in to a series of highly-pleasurable contractions or movements).
While masturbation can involve another person, most of us think of it as a very private act. According to some health care providers masturbation allows a healthy way to express & explore your sexuality and to release sexual tension without all the associated risks of sexual intercourse. Health professionals generally agree that this private touching is a natural, normal mode of self-exploration and sexual expression. Unfortunately, after the excitement of the moment has passed, many people find themselves filled with guilty and or shame.

Why all this guilt and shame? Actually, from American History.

A little bit of American History:
Our attitudes about masturbation have deep roots for sure. Around the turn-of-the-century, some adults were so against masturbation that they forced their daughters to wear gloves made of a steel-wool-like material (like Brillo pads) at night and to put a powder on their genitals that made them painful to touch. They made their sons wear metal chastity belts at night that made it painful to have an erection. During the 1820s male masturbation was prevented by piecing the foreskin with a wire and soldering the ends together. Boys and girls were discouraged from masturbation by the threat of blindness, madness and illness. Of course, all of these are not true.

Of course, the subject of masturbation was taboo years before the United States was created. All kinds of chastity belts and other devices were used to prevent masturbation, probably as far back in history as you can go. This will vary from culture to culture.