Masturbation

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Masturbation is when a person touches their own sex organs to gain pleasure. It often results in an orgasm. Some religions say it is bad, but the modern view is that it is a normal and healthy thing to do.

Almost all boys and most girls masturbate in the United States. A U.S. nationally representative survey of 5865 men and women ages 14–94 said that 28% of men ages 70 + , 43% of men ages 14–15 and 60–69, and more than half of men ages 16–59 reported that they masturbated in the last month (Herbenick et al., 2010).^[1]

Starting in puberty if not earlier, both teenage boys and girls masturbate daily on average according to one survey. Studies have shown that many people, including adults with sex partners, masturbate regularly. There are many slang words and expressions for masturbation. Among the most common, at least in the United States and Canada, are: jacking, jacking off and jerking off. Those are usually just used for males and are generally considered slang. A teenage boy might say, "I've got to jerk off." Some words or expressions can be for anyone and are reasonably polite: playing with yourself, touching yourself, pleasuring yourself, self pleasure and solo sex. Those expressions might be used on TV or radio talk shows. In comics, the words fap fap fap mean the person is masturbating (but it is not pictured, but rather implied).

Masturbating can be done alone, but can also be done with another person. This is called "mutual masturbation". This is fairly common among pre-teen and early-teenaged boys regardless of sexual orientation. Usually, it is done out of curiosity so boys can educate themselves about whether their sexual responses are similar. Girls may also masturbate together, regardless of sexual orientation. Girls and boys who are starting a relationship, who are worried about pregnancy, or who are just curious about sex may begin with mutual masturbation. Two people can also masturbate together over the internet or with phones, although that is usually called cybersex or phone sex rather than mutual masturbation. That can be a good way for two people who are in love but are far away from each other to keep their romantic relationship alive. It can also be a way for people who have not met in person to build a relationship. Even for two people who do not plan to have a romantic relationship with each other, it can be more enjoyable to masturbate with someone else than to masturbate alone.

Group masturbation (most commonly done by pre-teen or teenage boys) is known as a circle jerk. It used to be considered a normal and common thing for boys to do and not a problem.^[2] Today, however, people worry that group masturbation among boys can involve bullying and can have lifelong negative consequences for some people.

Vibrators and dildos can be used to make masturbation easier or feel better, but it is often done with just a person's hand.

Animals can masturbate too.^[source?]

1. ↑ Herbenick, Debby (2023). "Masturbation Prevalence, Frequency, Reasons, and Associations with Partnered Sex in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a U.S. Nationally Representative Survey". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 52 (3): 1317–1331. doi:10.1007/s10508-022-02505-2. ISSN 0004-0002. PMC 9794105. PMID 36575264.
2. ↑ Peter Francis Murphy (12 February 2001). Studs, tools, and the family jewels: metaphors men live by. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-0-299-17130-8. Retrieved 20 February 2011.