From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Sex education is education about sexual reproduction in human beings, sexual intercourse and other aspects of human sexual behavior.
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Overview
Education on reproduction typically describes the process of a new human being coming into existence in stages including conception, the development of the embryo and fetus, and the birth of the new baby. It often includes topics such as sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and how to avoid them, as well as methods of contraception.
Although some sort of sex education is part of many schools' curriculum, it remains a controversial topic in several countries as to how much and at which age schoolchildren should be taught about contraception or safer sex, and whether moral education should be included or excluded (see sexual morality).
In the United States in particular, the topic is the subject of much contentious debate. Chief among controversial points is whether sexual freedom for minors is valuable or detrimental, as well as whether instruction about condoms and birth control pills reduce or increase out-of-wedlock or teenage pregnancy and STDs.
The existence of AIDS has given a new sense of urgency to the topic of sex education. In many African nations, where AIDS is at pandemic levels, sex education is seen by most scientists as a vital strategy for preserving the health of citizens. Some international organizations such as Planned Parenthood see worldwide benefit to sex education programs, such as the control of overpopulation and advancement of the rights of women.
Morality of sex education
One viewpoint on sex education, historically inspired by sexologists like Wilhelm Reich and psychologists like Sigmund Freud and James W. Prescott, holds that what is at stake in sex education is control over the body and liberation from social control. Proponents of this view tend to see the political question as whether society or the individual should dictate sexual mores. Sexual education may thus be seen as providing individuals with the knowledge necessary to liberate themselves from socially organized sexual oppression and to make up their own minds. In addition, sexual oppression may be viewed as socially harmful.
A more common approach to sex education is to view it as necessary to reduce risk behaviours such as unprotected sex (these views sometimes are an element of those mentioned above), and equip individuals to make informed decisions about their personal sexual activity. Additionally, proponents of comprehensive sex education contend that education about homosexuality encourages tolerance, but does not "turn students gay" as some conservatives believe.
To another large and vocal group in the sex education debate, the political question is whether the state or the family should dictate sexual mores. They believe that sexual mores should be left to the family, and sex-education represents state interference. They also claim that some sex education curricula are intended to break down pre-existing notions of modesty and encourage acceptance of practices they deem immoral, such as homosexuality and premarital sex. They cite web sites such as that of the Coalition for Positive Sexuality as examples.
If a person explains sexual matters to a child without a formal education program and without consent from the parents this may be considered inappropriate, and may in some cases be interpreted as suspicious child grooming.
Debate in the United States
Most parents in the U.S. feel that teenagers should remain sexually abstinent, but should have access to contraception. Ninety-five percent of adults in the United States and 85 percent of teenagers think it's important that school-aged children and teenagers be given a strong message from society that they should abstain from sex until they are out of high school. Almost 60 percent of adults also think that sexually active teenagers should have access to contraception. (Source: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy). A 1997 study found that about 48 percent of high school students are sexually active.
In the U.S. some advocates including President George W. Bush have successfully worked toward the introduction of "abstinence-only" curricula. Under such instruction, teens are told that they should be sexually abstinent until adulthood and/or marriage, and information about contraception is not provided. Opponents argue this approach denies teens needed, factual information and could lead to unwanted pregnancies and propagation of STDs.
Some curricula are advocated on the grounds that they are intended to reduce sexual disease or out-of-wedlock or teenage pregnancy, but no abstinence-only program has ever been shown to reduce teen sexual activity, pregnancy, or STDs. A curriculum ostensibly aimed at reducing pregnancy among high school students, which advocates the use of condoms, could potentially lower the pregnancy rate. Proponents of this view argue that sexual behaviour after puberty is a given, and it is therefore crucial to provide information about the risks and how they can be minimized. They hold that conventional or conservative moralising will put off students and thus weaken the message.
In turn, opponents of comprehensive sexuality education object that curricula which fail to teach moral behaviour actually serve to prevent children from making informed decisions; they maintain that curricula should include the claim that conventional (or conservative) morality is "healthy and constructive", and that value-free knowledge of the body may lead to unhealthy and harmful practices.
In December of 2004 Henry A. Waxman, a United States Congressman from California, released a report that provides several examples of inaccurate information being included in federally funded abstinence-only sex education programs. This report bolstered the claims of those Americans arguing that abstinence-only programs deprive teenagers of critical information.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth
From the Haft Awrang of Jami, in the story A Father Advises his Son About Love. His counsel is to choose that lover who desires him for his inner beauty. See Sufi outlook on male love Freer and Sackler Galleries, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are often ignored in sex education classes. This means that information about safer sex practices for oral sex and anal sex are not discussed nor are their different risk levels for diseases. Some people do not support including this additional information because it might be seen as approving of their lifestyle. Supporters of including LGBT issues as an integral part of comprehensive sexuality education argue that this information is still useful and relevant.
Supporters of comprehensive sex education programs argue that abstinence-only curricula that advocate that youth should abstain from sex until marriage ignore and marginalize lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, who might not be able to marry their partner due to legal restrictions. Proponents of abstinence-only education often have a more conservative view of homosexuality and are against it being taught as a normal, accepted lifestyle, or placed on the same platform as heterosexual relations, and so they generally do not see this as a problem.
Scientific study of sex education
The debate over teenage pregnancy and STDs has spurred some research into the effectiveness of different sex education approaches. In a meta-analysis, DiCenso et al. have compared comprehensive sex education programs with abstinence-only programs. 1 Their review of several studies shows that abstinence-only programs not only did not reduce the likelihood of pregnancy of women who participated in the programs, but that 'abstinence- only' actually increased it. Four abstinence programs and one school program were associated with a pooled increase of 54% in the partners of men and 46% in women (confidence interval 95% 0.95 to 2.25 and 0.98 to 2.26 respectively). The researchers conclude:
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"There is some evidence that prevention programmes may need to begin much earlier than they do. In a recent systematic review of eight trials of day care for disadvantaged children under 5 years of age, long term follow up showed lower pregnancy rates among adolescents. We need to investigate the social determinants of unintended pregnancy in adolescents through large longitudinal studies beginning early in life and use the results of the multivariate analyses to guide the design of prevention interventions. We should carefully examine countries with low pregnancy rates among adolescents. For example, the Netherlands has one of the lowest rates in the world (8.1 per 1000 young women aged 15 to 19 years), and Ketting & Visser have published an analysis of associated factors. 2 In contrast, the rates are:
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42.7 per 1000 in Canada
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We should examine effective programmes designed to prevent other high risk behaviours in adolescents. For example, Botvin et al. found that school based programmes to prevent drug abuse during junior high school (ages 12-14 years) resulted in important and durable reductions in use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana if they taught a combination of social resistance skills and general life skills, were properly implemented, and included at least two years of booster sessions.
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Few sexual health interventions are designed with input from adolescents. Adolescents have suggested that sex education should be more positive with less emphasis on anatomy and scare tactics; it should focus on negotiation skills in sexual relationships and communication; and details of sexual health clinics should be advertised in areas that adolescents frequent (for example, school toilets, shopping centres)." 5
Also, in answer to the criticism of conservatives, a US review, "Emerging Answers", by the National Campaign To Prevent Teenage Pregnancy examined 250 studies of sex education programs. 6 The conclusion of this review was that "the overwhelming weight of evidence shows that sex education that discusses contraception does not increase sexual activity". Regarding abstinence-only programs, the summary notes:
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"Emerging Answers says that the jury is still out about the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs. That is, current evidence about the success of these programs is inconclusive. This is due, in part, to the very limited number of high-quality evaluations of abstinence-only programs available and because the few studies that have been completed do not reflect the great diversity of abstinence-only programs currently offered. However, the early evidence about abstinence-only programs is not encouraging. Fortunately there is currently a high-quality, federally-funded evaluation of abstinence-only programs under way which should offer more definitive results soon."
There is a movement separate from school-based programs to encourage sexual abstinence; scientific research on these programs indicates decreased use of contraceptives among participants (see sexual abstinence).
See also
Sexual abstinence or chastity is the practice of voluntarily refraining from sexual intercourse and (usually) other sexual activity. Sexual abstinence is typically considered a subset of behavior in the context of chastity as the latter refers also to attitude and intent and not mere mechanics. Sexual abstinence is typically advocated in the categories of religious/moral concerns and health/social concerns, with a significant overlap between the two.
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Pre-marital chastity
Many moral or religious advocates believe people should refrain from sexual activity before marriage, because they believe exercising such restraint is virtuous. So they urge children, teens, young adults and other unmarried people to abstain from premarital sex and to prepare for marriage and a life of fidelity to one's spouse. In many past and some present cultures, minors (particularly females) are expected to abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage and to remain faithful to their spouse thereafter. Thus, being "chaste" in these cultures means sexual abstinence for unmarried persons or those separated from their spouses.
The groups that propose it commonly consider that purity has to be part of what the consorts have to bring in their new common life, leaving the intimate experience of sex as a means to enforce the tie between husband and wife. Sometimes this concept is part of a wider concept allowing sexual activity for the sole purpose of biological reproduction, therefore limited to fertile age only.
The concept has not always been used in the same way for males and females, women often being more deeply conditioned than men — also due to factors of anatomical evidence, sometimes subject to formal, and even public, examination in the imminence of the marriage. Abstinence before marriage has been idealized more consistently for women than for men. Some theorize this derives from the risk of pregnancy, which poses a threat to patrilineal inheritance. In some cultures, proof of virginity, often in the form of a bloodied sheet from the conjugal bed, is demanded as part of the marriage contract. Some cultures take the infringement of rules of chastity so literally that ostracism (or even accusations of adultery, which in Sharia law can result in death by stoning) may result from cases of rape.
Western attitudes
Historically, there has been a swing from the sexually free end of the Industrial Revolution to the often degenerate values of the early Victorian period. This was then followed by a new puritanism from the late Victorian era to the early 1900s. This important transformation often colours discussion of sexual behaviour in the later 20th century period. The First World War began a return to sexual freedom and indulgence, but more often than not the appearance of conforming to the earlier moral values of abstinence before marriage was retained. With the conclusion of the Second World War, the importance of abstinence declined swiftly. The advent of the oral contraceptive pill and widely available antibiotics removed the consequences of wide and free sexual behaviour, while social mores were also changing. By the 1970s, such restrictions were no longer expected in the majority of western societies; perhaps even the reverse: that members of both sexes would have experienced a number of sexual partners before marriage. Some cultural groups continued to place a value on the moral purity of an abstainer, but abstinence was caught up in a wider re-evaluation of moral values.
Anthropologists and social historians have noted that many cultures such as Victorian Britain or the rural areas in the modern United States, which formally place a high value on abstinence until marriage, actually have a large amount of pre-marital sexual activity in which there is no actual sexual intercourse and which preserve a state known as technical virginity.
In some cultures, those who infringe the rules regarding chastity may be ostracized. Social reacceptance can sometimes be regained by marriage between the two. In the West, even as late as the mid-20th century, there was a stigma attached to being a 'one-parent family' and an illegitimate child could be legitimized by the marriage of the parents. (This latter is still the case in many Western countries, though the lifting of legal penalties and social stigma regarding illegitimacy has rendered this irrelevant to social acceptance.)
Abstinence
Lifelong (or at least long-term) abstinence, often associated with religious ascetism, is distinguished from chastity before marriage. Abstinence is often viewed as an admirable act of self-control over the natural desire to have sex. The display of the strength of character allows the abstainer to set an example for those not able to contain their "base urges." At other times abstinence has been seen as a great social ill practiced by those who refuse to engage with the material and physical world. Some groups that propose sexual abstinence consider it an essential means to reach a particular intellectual or spiritual condition, or that chastity allows one to achieve a required self-control or a self-consciousness.
In many religions chastity is imposed to the respective sacerdotal orders. In some religions, including some branches of Christianity such as Roman Catholicism, celibacy is required for priests and/or monks.
Critics of abstinence on moral or religious grounds generally say that restrictions on sexual activity are emotionally or spiritually harmful, and the ever increasing cases of pedophilia in religious practitioners seems to reinforce such theories. Some psychological theories hold that sexual oppression leads to various behavioral problems. Additionally, as sexual skills are learned over time, there may be long term consequences to a practice that deprives people of experience they may need in order to form an understanding of their own feelings and their compatibility with others.
While there have been cultures which achieved total sexual abstinence, such as castration cults, it is unlikely that any of them survived for a substantial period of time due to their lack of reproduction. Regardless, the arrival of technology like in vitro fertilisation allows reproduction without sexual intercourse.
Abstinence as a lifestyle
Although many individuals abstain from sex for complex reasons such as religion or morality, for some individuals sexual abstinence is simply a lifestyle choice. Those individuals who fall into this category may have a dislike of sex, or are simply not interested in it. They may view sex as an unnecessary part of human life. As with other lifestyle choices, this attitude toward sex and relationships can vary greatly. Some who choose such a lifestyle still accept sex for reproduction, some engage in romantic relationships, and some engage in masturbation.
Religious views
Chastity is a virtue expected of the faithful of many religions, including Christians and Muslims. This usually includes abstinence from sex for the unmarried, and faithfulness to a marriage partner. In many religions some groups of people are expected to practice celibacy — to abstain from sex completely, and remain unmarried. These groups include most monks and nuns in Christianity, and priests in the Roman Catholic church. From the Roman Catholic perspective everyone is called to chastity be they married, single, or in a religious order. Chastity is a function of one's respect for the dignity of another especially in a sexual context. Sex with one's spouse in not against chastity so long as both remain open to the gift of children -- contraceptives violate true chastity.
In Christianity, sexual intercourse is described as "becoming one flesh" and is meant to take place within the context of marriage; abstinence is therefore expected of unmarried people. But for married couples, the apostle Paul wrote that they should not deprive each other except for a time for devotion to prayer.
Judaism forbids intercourse outside marriage (which is termed zenuth or promiscuity), but has no ideal of abstinence for particular clerical groups. In fact, it is practically expected of men in religious functions (e.g. rabbis) to be married. Abstinence is practiced while a woman is menstruating (in Islam also) and the week after cessation of flow (the law of niddah), as well as a set period after childbirth.
Modern abstinence movements
Abstinence advocates recommend it as a way to avoid pregnancy and venereal disease. Without sexual contact, it is virtually impossible to conceive a child other than through artificial insemination. By avoiding exposure of the sexual organs to other people, one will also avoid the sexual transmission of many diseases (STDs). Note, however, that many STDs, including AIDS, can also be transmitted non-sexually. Some STDs (including genital warts due to human papillomavirus) are passed through skin-to-skin contact and are not prevented by using a condom. Advocates also claim other benefits, such as the freedom from teenage pregnancy and resulting ability to focus on education and preparing for their future.
Pregnancy can also be avoided (though with low reliability) through only periodic sexual abstinence. This method is generally known as natural family planning, and involves various methods of determining when a woman is fertile and abstaining during that time only.
Many critics of abstinence promotion programs claim that these programs are not an effective way to decrease the occurrence of diseases and unwanted pregnancies. While some teens may have weak sexual desire or few sexual opportunities and thus be able to maintain it successfully, others will have stronger desires, more opportunities or act under the influence of drugs, and will in these situations not be prepared to take precautions (using condoms or other contraceptives). Worse, they may consider the independent acquisition of information about precautionary measures shameful and avoid it altogether.
Organizations such as SIECUS have called abstinence-only programs "fear-based", "designed to control young people’s sexual behavior by instilling fear, shame, and guilt." [1] Author Judith Levine has argued that there might be a natural tendency of abstinence educators to escalate their messages: "Like advertising, which must continually jack up its seduction just to stay visible as other advertising proliferates, abstinence education had to make sex scarier and scarier and, at the same time, chastity sweeter." (Harmful to Minors, p.108)
In spite of these criticisms, abstinence has become the de facto focus of sex education in the United States, so that opponents frequently adopt the line that abstinence education is acceptable only if it is combined with other methods, such as instruction in the use of condoms and easy availability thereof. Most nations of Western Europe use more comprehensive measures, and in sharp contrast to the heated discussion in the US, abstinence is hardly discussed as an educational measure.
Popularity and effectiveness
The advent of AIDS helped restore the momentum of the favourable view of abstinence. But currently there are issues as to what abstinence means: is it an abstinence from sexual intercourse or from sexual behaviour? Movements such as True Love Waits in America which asks teenagers to refrain from sex before marriage are heavily subscribed but surveys of sexual behaviour indicate an increase in the popularity of oral sex. Oral sex is not perceived as being "real sex." Teenage girls are able to indulge in sexual practices while claiming the traditional virtues of the virgin in cultures that admire it.
The effectiveness of abstinence programs and movements remains doubtful. The study "Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and First Intercourse" by Peter Bearman and Hanna Brückner examined the relationship between virginity pledges and first sexual intercourse. From the abstract [1]:
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Since 1993, in response to a movement sponsored by the Southern Baptist Church, over 2.5 million adolescents have taken public virginity pledges, in which they promise to abstain from sex until marriage. This paper explores the effect of those pledges on the transition to first intercourse. Adolescents who pledge are much less likely to have intercourse than adolescents who do not pledge. The delay effect is substantial. On the other hand, the pledge does not work for adolescents at all ages. Second, pledging delays intercourse only in contexts where there are some, but not too many, pledgers. The pledge works because it is embedded in an identity movement. Consequently, the pledge identity is meaningful only in contexts where it is at least partially nonnormative. Consequences of pledging are explored for those who break their promise. Promise breakers are less likely than others to use contraception at first intercourse.
The effects observed in this study (and a followup [2] study) could be explained as mere correlations: Adolescents who feel the desire to take part in the virginity movement are more likely to remain abstinent for a variety of reasons, and less likely to have knowledge about contraception. Critics of abstinence-only education point to studies tht show that teens who take virginity pledges are just as likely to have sex, but are more likely to do it without protection. Some studies have found that school-based abstinence programs actually increase the incidence of pregnancies (see sex education).
See also
Masturbation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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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 commonly refers 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, but they are not mutually-exclusive (for example many people find the sight of their partner masturbating highly erotic). Some people are able to achieve orgasm only by masturbation and not by sexual intercourse. In the animal kingdom, masturbation has been observed in many mammalian species, both in the wild and in captivity.
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Etymology
The word masturbation is believed by many to derive from the Greek word mezea (μεζεα, "penises") and the Latin turbare ("to disturb"). A competing etymology based on the Latin manu stuprare ("to defile with the hand") is said by the Oxford English Dictionary to be an "old conjecture". The esoteric and little-used synonym manustupration is similarly derived from manus stuprare.
Masturbation techniques
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 ritualised. Various fetishes and paraphilias can also play a part in the masturbation ritual; potentially harmful or fatal activities include autoerotic asphyxiation and self-bondage.
Female
Female masturbation techniques are numerous and perhaps more varied than those of males. They are influenced by a number of factors and personal preferences.
Techniques include stroking or rubbing of the vulva, especially the clitoris with her middle or index fingers, or even index and second fingers. This is pleasurable for most, especially when rubbing the breast and nipples concurrently. Sometimes one or more fingers may be inserted into the vagina to repeatedly stroke the frontal wall of the vagina where the g-spot is located. Masturbation aids such as a vibrator, dildo or Ben Wa balls can also be used to stimulate the vagina and clitoris. Anal stimulation is also preferred by some because of the thousands of sensitive nerves located in the anus. Lubrication is sometimes used to facilitate masturbation, especially when penetration is involved.
Some prefer to masturbate in a bathtub, shower, or even hot tub by using warm running water to stimulate the clitoris; or others may straddle a pillow, stimulating the clitoris through the labia and clothing in a manner similar to frottage. Some reach orgasm by crossing their legs tightly and clenching the muscles in their legs, which creates friction. It could potentially be done in public without observers noticing.
Those who have difficulty reaching orgasm through sexual intercourse may find it easier to achieve an orgasm through masturbation.
Male
Males tend to use fewer masturbation techniques. These too are influenced by a number of factors and personal preferences. Techniques may also differ between circumcised and uncircumcised males, as some techniques which may work for one can often be quite painful for the other.
The most common technique is to simply hold the penis with a loose fist and then to move the hand up and down the shaft until orgasm is achieved. When uncircumcised, stimulation to the penis comes from the pumping of the foreskin up and down the length of the shaft, which usually uncovers and covers the head in the process. This gliding motion of the foreskin reduces friction. When circumcised, on the other hand, the stimulation is from direct contact with the hand; many massage (with some using a personal lubricant to reduce friction) the glans, the rim thereof and the notched indent left over from the removal of the frenulum.
Another technique is to place the index finger and thumb around the penis about halfway along the shaft and move the skin up and down to produce a pleasureable sensation leading ultimately to orgasm and ejaculation. A variation of this technnique is to place both index fingers and thumbs on the penis in a position similar to playing a flute. The person then shuttles the penis back and forth. This technique is known as the "shuttle cock" and can produce very powerful orgasms.
A less common technique is to lie face down on a comfortable surface such as a mattress and rub the penis against it until orgasm is achieved. However, some clinicians have claimed that this is potentially harmful. Some people claim such masturbation may result in pain, irritation, or abrasion if performed too roughly. (See Traumatic masturbatory syndrome for more details) Other techniques include the use of an artificial vagina or simulacrum for masturbation. Many fondle their testicles or other parts of their body while masturbating.
The prostate gland is one of the organs that contributes fluid to semen. As the prostate is touch-sensitive, some directly stimulate it using a well-lubricated dildo inserted through the anus into the rectum. Pressure applied to the prostate from the outside can be pleasurable as well. Similarly, a partner may provide the masturbation by hand and/or mouth and tongue, or by inserting a well lubricated finger into the anus for direct stimulation of the prostate.
Ejaculation of semen is sometimes controlled by wearing a condom or by ejaculating into an artificial vagina, a sock, a tissue, regular underpants, male guard, a folded tee shirt, disposable diaper, or the toilet. A controversial ejaculation control technique is to put pressure on the perineum, a spot about half way between the scrotum and the anus, just before ejaculating. This can redirect semen into the bladder. However, the technique may cause long term damage due to the pressure put on the nerves and blood vessels in the perineum. A dry orgasm is one that is reached by withholding ejaculation (or by those too young to ejaculate). Proponents of tantric sex say that this is a learnable skill that can shorten the refractory period.
Males who can reach and stimulate their penis with their tongue or lips are said to be capable of autofellatio.
Historically, some have seen a connection between circumcision and masturbation frequency, which remains a debated topic. In a 1410-man survey in the United States in 1992, Laumann found that: "A total of 47% of circumcised men reported masturbating at least once a month vs 34% for their uncircumcised peers."
Masturbation frequency, age and sex
It is understood that most people begin masturbating when reaching adolescence. Many scholarly and clinical studies have been done on the matter, and many informal surveys have asked the question. A 2004 survey by Toronto magazine NOW was answered by an unspecified number of thousands. [1] The results show that an overwhelming majority of the males – 81% – began 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."
According to the Canadian survey of Now magazine readers cited above, the frequency of masturbation declines after the age of 17. 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 18-22 among men. It is also apparent that the ability to masturbate declines with age. Adolescent youths report being able to masturbate to ejaculation six or more times per day, while men in middle age report being hard pressed to ejaculate even once per day, on a daily basis. The survey does not give a full demographic breakdown of respondents, however, and the sexual history of respondents to this poll, who are readers of an urban Toronto lifestyle magazine, may not extend to the general population.
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 in sexually active relationships (or happily married). In general, individuals of either sex who are not in sexually active relationships tend to masturbate more frequently than those who are.
Health and psychological effects
It is held in many 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, notwithstanding the aformentioned Traumatic Masturbatory Syndrome, that manual masturbation is damaging to either one's mental or physical health.
Men whose penis has suffered "an invasive procedure, blunt trauma or injury during intercourse"[2] may suffer later in life from Peyronie's disease. Phimosis is "a contracted foreskin (that) may cause trouble by hurting when an attempt is made to pull the foreskin back"[3]. In either of these cases, any overly aggressive manipulation of the penis can be problematic.
Contrary to popular myth, masturbation does not cause blindness. There is some basis, however, to the myth: zinc is required both to transport vitamin A from the liver to the retina and is excreted in relatively high amount in semen. Thus, it is not inconceivable that in zinc-deficient or vitamin A-deficient environments excessive masturbation could have caused night blindness (in which case sexual intercourse has an equal probability of causing blindness). Given a normal contemporary diet, however, this is extremely unlikely to happen.
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 and other sensitive persons may experience 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 bodily fluids, and such contact should be avoided with any partner whose disease status is uncertain. 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.
In 1994, when the first woman appointed US Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, mentioned as an aside that perhaps it ought to be mentioned in school curricula that masturbation was safe and healthy, she was forced to resign, with opponents asserting that she was promoting the teaching of how to masturbate. Many believe this was the result of her long history of promoting controversial viewpoints and not due solely to her public mention of masturbation. Her case led to the coining of a new and humorous slang term for masturbation: Firing the surgeon general.
On July 16, 2003, an Australian research team led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council published a medical study [4] which concluded that frequent masturbation by males may help prevent the development of prostate cancer. The study also indicated that this would be more helpful than ejaculation through sexual intercourse because intercourse can transmit diseases that may increase the risk of cancer instead. Another study came to similar conclusions in April 2004 [5].
Masturbation in history and society
Antiquity
There are depictions of male masturbation in prehistoric rock paintings around the world, though these are all 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 god Atum was believed to have created the universe by masturbating to ejaculation. 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.
Religion
In many religions, such as Catholicism, Mormonism, Judaism and Islam, masturbation is regarded as a sinful practice. The Catechism of the Catholic Church 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.
There is no unambiguous mention of masturbation in the Bible. The word "onanism" refers to the biblical story of Onan, who was obliged but refused to consummate a levirate marriage with his dead brother's wife:
The interpretation of early Christianity is that Onan transgressed by shirking his duty in using coitus interruptus to avoid impregnating his brother's wife. Later Christian interpretation, however, appears to have changed considerably over the centuries to focus on the physical act of Onan spilling his seed. This is also the traditional Jewish interpretation.
The first divergence appears in the early doctrine put forth by St. Augustine, who argued that sexual intercourse for pleasure was an exercise in the sin of lust. Normally a mere venial sin within the context of a marriage open to children, he argued that a contraceptive act rendered it grave and mortal, removing it from the extenuating context of marriage altogether (On Marriage and Concupiscence).
St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians of the Catholic Church, went further and taught that masturbation was a graver sin than rape. In his masterwork, the Summa Theologica, he divides the sin of lust into six categories: simple fornication, incest, adultery, seduction and rape and "the unnatural vice", further subdivided into masturbation, zoophilia, homosexuality and non-procreative heterosexual sex. He then explains that "the unnatural vice," 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.
The "sin of Onan"—by way of Aquinas and those who followed him—became both synecdoche and euphemism for the many forms of non-procreational sex that were deemed sinful, an association that followed other attitudes toward sexuality across the Reformation and into the Protestant faiths.
Protestant theologians only began shunning these teachings toward the middle of the 20th century, with some today even taking pro-masturbation viewpoints. Masturbation, however, is still viewed in Catholic dogma and by many denominations as an act of self indulgence and a sin of the flesh, making it a contentious issue to this day.
Some scholars of Islam consider masturbation to be haraam (forbidden) in Islam, making its acceptability within Islamic societies uncertain. [6]
It has been reported by Rolling Stone[7] that a small Christian-right group in America is enouraging people to wear a masturband to indicate a commitment to abstinence from masturbation.
Masturbation as fast-breaker in Islam
Sometimes, masturbation is considered to be something that breaks a fast. For example, according to Sheikh Hamed Al-Ali "Masturbation during the daytime of Ramadan breaks the fast, based on the Hadith that a fasting Muslim gives up eating, drinking, and sexual desire for the sake of Allah. Since masturbation is a kind of sexual desire, a fasting Muslim must avoid it. The Prophet’s mention of 'sexual desire' after 'eating and drinking' is evidence that it breaks the fast if one does fulfill his or her sexual desire during the daytime of Ramadan. Therefore, masturbation does invalidate the fast, as it is one of the sins that if someone does it he or she would be violating the sanctity of this month."
Philosophical arguments regarding masturbation
Immanuel Kant notoriously regarded masturbation as a violation of the moral law. In the Metaphysics of Morals (1797) he made the a posteriori argument that 'such an unnatural use of one’s sexual attributes' strikes 'everyone upon his thinking of it' as 'a violation of one’s duty to himself', and suggested that it was regarded as immoral even to give its proper name (unlike the case of the similarly undutiful act of suicide). He went on, however, to acknowledge that 'it is not so easy to produce a rational demonstration of the inadmissability of that unnatural use', but ultimately concluded that its immorality lay in the fact that 'a man gives up his personality ... when he uses himself merely as a means for the gratification of an animal drive'.
Subsequent critics of masturbation tended to argue against it on more physiological grounds, however (see medical attitudes).
Medical attitudes
The first use of "onanism" to consistently and specifically refer to masturbation appears to be Onania, an anonymous pamphlet first distributed in London in 1716. In it was a bombastic but novel tirade, drawing on familiar themes of sin and vice, this time in particular against the "heinous sin" of "self-pollution". After dire warnings that those who so indulged would suffer impotence, gonorrhea, epilepsy and a wasting of the faculties (included were letters and testimonials supposedly from young men ill and dying from the effects of compulsive masturbation) the pamphlet then goes on to recommend as an effective remedy a "Strengthening Tincture" at 10 shillings a bottle and a "Prolific Powder" at 12 shillings a bag, available from a certain shop in London.
One of the many horrified by the descriptions of malady in Onania was the notable Swiss physician Samuel-August Tissot. In 1760, he published L'Onanisme, his own comprehensive medical treatise on the purported ill-effects of masturbation. Citing case studies of young male masturbators amongst his patients in Lausanne, Switzerland as basis for his reasoning, Tissot argued that semen was an "essential oil" and "stimulus" that, when lost from the body in great amounts, would cause "a perceptible reduction of strength, of memory and even of reason; blurred vision, all the nervous disorders, all types of