Masturbating. Jacking off. Flicking the bean. Jerking the chicken. Manual overriding. What you and you friends call it, masturbation is for everyone!
Regardless of what your beliefs on masturbation are, masturbation is one of those activities that everyone should do. Why?
Masturbation, and masturbation alone, is the direct stimulation of one's own personal sex. As socialized beings we are often taught to view masturbation as taboo--its not something that we should be doing and it sure isn't something that we should be teaching our children. So we mask that natural urge to give ourselves pleasure. It's not okay... or so they say.
After one of my famous night conversations with my friends, I was in complete shock when someone said "it is not my job to pleasure myself--that's the man's job."
You have got to be kidding me, right!?
Oh, but she wasn't. The seriousness that came out of that question was a seriousness that I fear a lot of women identify with. I fear that women feel as though their sex (their organ and their sexuality) does not belong to them; that their vagina, clitoris, breast, vulva, ass, thighs, etc. are body parts that are there to be pleasure by someone else other than themselves.
In this blog, I want to highlight some of the benefits of masturbation (or self-pleasure) and argue that the act of masturbation yields to personal and sexual agency.
BENEFITS OF MASTURBATION
- It feels great!
- Helps you sleep.
- alleviates urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- prevents prostate cancer (for you men)
- boost your immunity
- improves sperm motility
- relieves cramps
- makes sex better
- helps you last longer
- manages premature ejaculation
- improves cardiovascular health
- lowers risk of type-2 diabetes
- prevents pregnancy and STDs
- increase pelvic floor strength
- improves mood
- increases phallic hardness
- relieves stress and depression
- strengthens relationship with your partner/s
- strengthens relationship with yourself
Sexual agency is the ability and/or right to choose and then exert your feelings pertaining to your gender, orientation, sexual activity, and language in regards to your own sexuality. Having sexual agency means determining what you want to happen in and outside of the bedroom and having the power to speak and/or act to achieve a certain outcome. This is why everyone should masturbate.
When masturbating, particularly in women, one tends to fantasize and imagine scenarios that she wants to happen to her sexually. She thinks about the soft caressing kisses trickling the nape of her neck and the sweet whispers of "I love you" as he/she plunges into her--but only during masturbation. The woman does not voice to her partner that what she fantasizes about is what she actually wants in the bedroom, this inaction ultimately leaves her unsatisfied. In women, masturbation creates a connection with her body that in the makes her confident and a bit arrogant about her body. Through masturbation, women can be on top in mind, spirit... and body. How do you think men get to be so cocky? When men discovered their bodies, they explore it--when females discovered their bodies they covered them up and hid from the corporeal differences that led to the hierarchic gender system in which we live in today.
Men, on the other hand, believe that they have the home-field advantage to a women's body because they have been being told for centuries that a women's sexuality belongs to him; that it is his job to "ease the woman out of her panties" and make her feel like she has never felt before. I think it's time for women to reclaim their home-field! During their lifetime, 86.1 percent of all men masturbate (Link). Meaning, approximately 8 out of 10 men that you encounter in a day has masturbated in his life! Ladies, men have been masturbating for a while now; they have jerked their way to the top now it's time for us to play catch-up. Once everyone has mastered their sexual agency, I believe that agency in other diameters of our personal will be mastered as well. Masturbation isn't just for men--it's for everyone.
DISCLAIMER: This blog will feature my personal OPINIONS on the quality of Liberal Arts education, the challenges that college students face, my perspectives on traditionally taboo and conventional topics (i.e. sex, homosexuality, gender issues, porn, etc.), and just a peek into my unconventional thought processes! It is no way related to or affiliated with my institution of higher education.
