How Erotic Media Facilitates Self-Familiarity

The absence of genuine rationalism in the evangelical world has resulted in a lack of self-awareness not only in a spiritual sense, but also in a sexual sense.  Evangelicals continue to largely discourage openness and Biblical honesty about sexuality, preferring to perpetuate traditions that ignore foundational truths ahout the matter.  It is not strange, then, that many of them are not necessarily aware of their own anatomies, sexual physiologies, and sexual triggers.  After all, legalism often creates a sense of shame around nonsinful sexual activities that help eliminate ignorance about such things, like masturbation.

A person who pleasures himself or herself is more likely to understand, appreciate, and accept their body.  This trio of potential benefits alone is reason enough to masturbate regularly, if one is subjectively interested in doing so, despite the reluctance of most Christians to openly admit the legitimacy of the practice.  However, these benefits can be amplified by coupling masturbation with sexual images or videos--an activity that would needlessly make many Christians very uncomfortable to engage in, much less to share with others!

The potential of erotic media for facilitating sexual self-discovery is even greater than that of mere masturbation.  Masturbation alone is capable of familiarizing men and women with their bodies and with the sexual functions of their bodies, but erotic media offers a further advantage: it can help reveal what scenarios or images are arousing to a particular individual.  On its own, self-stimulation is a sensual experience, but its capacity for exciting the senses is limited.

Additional stimuli appealing to the eyes or ears allow for a sexual experience with a depth that self-stimulation simply cannot provide, even if that self-stimulation is accompanied by mental imagery.  It is this fact that makes erotic media (of the Biblically legitimate kind [1]) an excellent way for people to explore the personal, psychological aspects of their sexualities.  After all, masturbation that does not involve sexual imagery lacks the same potential to illuminate one's sexual preferences for certain activities, situations, and bodily characteristics.

Not everyone has an interest in using erotic media either alone or with a partner, much less in pleasuring themselves to it, but those who do might discover benefits that go far beyond physical pleasure.  Many Christians have gratuitously deprived themselves of benefits like self-familiarity for years due to the erroneous, legalistic condemnation of all online erotica that is common in the evangelical community, as well as the general shame around activities like masturbation.  Nevertheless, it is not sinful to enjoy pleasure as long as one does not violate any Biblical obligations in the process.  It is sinful, however, to demand that another person avoid that which God does not condemn (Deuteronomy 4:2).

[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-truth-about-erotic-media-part-2_19.html