This
write-up does not in any way advocate for masturbation or try to justify why
people do it but rather it is written to clear the medical misconceptions or
myths about it.
Masturbation
involves sexually arousing yourself by touching your genitals. Both men and
women can masturbate, and you can masturbate yourself or someone else.
It is often called wanking, jerking off,
rubbing one out, twirling the pearl, onanism, self-loving, going solo, spanking
the monkey, fapping, self-servicing.
Masturbation
is arguably one of the most commonly practised sexual activities on the planet
and there are so many myths associated with this art.
According
to the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, 80 percent of males have
masturbated by age 17, as opposed to 58 percent of females — and those who do
are more likely to have sex and use condoms.
Sex experts say masturbation is harmless, but
if you do it a lot your genitals may feel sore. If men do it a lot in a short
space of time, they can get a slightly alarming looking swelling of the penis,
called oedema, caused by fluid in the tissues. The swelling does disappear
within a day or two.
There
are many bizarre claims about masturbation, for example that it causes
blindness, insanity, acne and even hair growth.
Wanking
yourself doesn't cause blindness or make you insane in any way and won't make
hair grow on your palms. There's no risk of pregnancy or catching a sexually
transmitted infection (STI) from masturbating, although there is a risk of
infection if you touch someone else's genitals and then touch your own. This is
because STIs can be passed on through infected semen or vaginal fluid.
No medical science or research has attributed
blindness, misshapen penises, infertility, mental illness or other problems large
or small to masturbation in fact urologists and other sex experts consider masturbation
normal. They believe that regular sexual activity is beneficial for the
prostate gland for men, and it doesn’t matter if that is activity with a
partner, or solo.
It
is also believe that apart from the pleasure it gives, masturbating can help
you learn what you like and don't like sexually. Men can also use masturbation
to learn how to control their orgasms, while women can find out what helps them
to achieve an orgasm. Many couples masturbate together and find it a very enjoyable
part of their relationship. Other people don't and that's fine: it's a personal
choice.
On whether pleasuring yourself as man and the
subsequent ejaculation will affect a man's ability to produce sperm. Men continuously
produce semen and never will they run out of sperm. After a man has ejaculated,
it will take some time before he can ejaculate again. This is normal and
doesn't mean there is anything wrong with his sperm.
