Openness About Masturbation

Because masturbation is such a personal act in the sense that it reduces down to self-inflicted sexual pleasure, many people are reluctant or unwilling to discuss the personal or intellectual aspects of masturbation as openly as they might discuss basic sexual attraction or even interpersonal sexual acts.  It is more likely that one would hear many people talk in detail about what they find sexually attractive in the bodies of the opposite gender than hear them talk about if or how they pleasure themselves to the sight of those same body parts!  Prudery particularly discourages comfortable, casual discussion of masturbation as a general subject.

The reason why is simple.  Self-pleasuring involves the manual stimulation of the only parts of one's body that are almost always covered by clothing in the presence of others.  For this reason, in a prudish society, masturbation is one of the most intimate acts a man or woman could indulge in.  It rejects the prudery, at least for a moment, that might otherwise deter someone from exploring their body.  To masturbate is to bare one's own capacity for physical and psychological pleasure to oneself regardless of how secretive the act is treated as in one's culture as a whole.

Masturbation has the potential to be one of the most individualistic expressions of sexuality--it is an act that does not need to involve anyone else and it can be enjoyed with or without mental imagery or sensual pictures/videos in accordance with a person's preferences.  In fact, masturbation can be an act of emotional self-exploration rather than only an act of physical self-pleasuring.  When people are more open about acknowledging the personal pleasures of masturbation, the sense of shame around it can retreat.

There is no need to never speak of one's masturbation practices in front of friends, including friends of the opposite gender.  There is no need to shy away from treating masturbation as a serious act with many of the same philosophical dimensions as other sexual acts.  In fact, there is no better way to celebrate the Biblical legitimacy of masturbation [1]--including masturbating to images of the opposite gender--than by openly affirming the nonsinful ecstasy of pleasuring one's genitalia until orgasm.  Doing so is not an invitation to others for shared sexual behaviors; it is an expression of honesty.

Open discussion of masturbation--both in a personal and intellectual sense--is only one way to weaken the hold prudery has on the church and on Western culture in general.  However, it might be a crucial step to making Christians feel comfortable engaging in a practice that is not sinful whatsoever in itself.  Silence does nothing to challenge assumptions and uproot errors.  Even though a handful of individuals may realize there is no disparity between Christian ethics and a love of masturbation on their own, prudery will keep others chained to legalism unless they see someone treat self-pleasuring with rational and Biblical honesty.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/sexual-self-stimulation.html