Health Guide

Masturbation

Written by Mystic on Thursday, January 31, 2008

What is masturbation?
Masturbation is the deliberate stimulation of one's sex organs to achieve pleasure. A natural and healthy method of sexual release engaged in by most people of both sexes, it is a good way of learning one's own sexual response, and an extremely practical way to ease sexual tension. It is an act, which not only the Homo sapiens enjoy, but other species also take pleasure in. Those who observe animal life keenly know that apes and simians enjoy it much the same way as men do.

Does everyone masturbate?
Most males masturbate. Data collected by researchers such as Kinsey, Morton Hunt and Shere Hite indicates that men generally masturbate more than women, and over 90 per cent men accept that they had masturbated to orgasm at some point in their lives.

Isn't masturbation bad for health?
No. The old idea that masturbation is harmful'that it weakens you, stunts your growth, impairs your memory or even drives you insane'is now entirely discredited. The simple truth is: Masturbation is the first and best way for young people to learn about their new identity as sexually responsive human beings.

Can you masturbate too much?
Masturbation can become compulsive. While it doesn't hurt, it can make things go awry and cause psychological disturbances like any other compulsion.

How does a man masturbate?
The most common method is by wrapping the fingers around the erect penis and then stroking it up and down until ejaculation. Another common method is to rub the erect penis against something, like a mattress, a pillow, or a sex toy, until ejaculation.

Should one use a lubricant while masturbating?
That depends on personal preference. Many men use lubricants because they find the friction of masturbating a dry penis too uncomfortable. Yet others never do because they began without using a lubricant.

My penis goes off at an angle! Is this from masturbating?
No. The changes that sexual activity brings about are always temporary. During the stage of sexual excitement, sexual parts experience certain changes, mostly swelling and change in colour. But these changes are entirely normal and never permanent. The organs return to their usual appearance shortly after the sexual activity stops.

In particular, masturbation never affects:

• Curves in the penis. Masturbation cannot change the shape of the penis. If many penises have some greater or lesser degree of curve in them when they are erect, and particularly in younger men, if the erect penis tends to point upwards (toward the belly) rather than outward, it is just natural and nothing to worry about. A few penises also have sharp angles when erect. The differences are not caused by masturbation, and unless the abnormality in shape is serious, there is nothing that needs to be done.

• Color of the skin of the sexual areas. Very commonly the colour of the skin of the sex organs differs from the colour of skin of the rest of the body. In light-skinned people, the sex organs often are darker than the rest of the body, while the opposite is often true of dark-skinned people.

• Position and size differences of the testicles. It is normal for one testicle to be slightly larger than the other and for one to hang slightly lower than the other. If not for this latter, men would have constantly anguished themselves when they walked with the testes banging against one another painfully!

Does masturbation cause any change in the size of the penis?
No, except temporarily during excitement, when it does get larger. But per se, masturbation neither retards nor accelerates the growth of the penis.

Can masturbation cause any disease?
No.

Will I go blind, bald, and insane, grow hair on my palms or would my penis turn black and fall off from masturbating?
No. These are just old scare tactics to discourage people from doing it. Men's sexual organs are built to do two things: make sperm and semen, and ejaculate it out of the body. Once the semen and sperm are out of the penis, the body ceases to care what happens. The sex organs pretty much don't know and don't care what the source of the sexual stimulation is.

Will I lose my ability to perform with a partner if I masturbate?
Not likely. Only those adolescents who learn to get it over quickly, to minimize the chance of being 'discovered'' may need to learn to 'delay' orgasm in later life. When they wish to acquire the ability to delay orgasm in order to maximize sexual pleasure, they must unlearn all the 'quickie'' techniques.
For most others, masturbation actually helps a person develop a sense of stimulus he needs to have an orgasm. This helps them develop a better control.

Masturbation is only for people who can't get laid, right?
While it's true that some people masturbate just because there is no sexual partner in their lives, there are many who are married or involved in other fulfilling sexual relationships and still masturbate. For them, masturbation is just another form of sex play, which they can do all by themselves. It is an act that permits a person complete and utter control.

Is there any treatment for masturbation?
Masturbation is not a disease! And requires no treatment. Only if it were to become an obsession or compulsion, does it need medical help. In that case, the problem is psychological and it is the underlying psychiatric disorder that merits therapy.

What should be the parents' reaction to their child's masturbation?
Parents should understand that this is simply a normal stage of psychosexual development. They must never scold the child nor make any anxiety-provoking statements such as masturbation will damage his sex life or make him insane or lead to genital dysfunction or deformity. They should provide constructive support and permit the child a natural expression of sexuality without causing any embarrassment.