How Often do People Masturbate?
In a general survey of all people regardless of age or gender, the
responses showed that:
29% of people masturbate more than
once a day
20% masturbate daily
29% masturbate almost daily
18% masturbate two or three times a week
3% masturbate once a week
0% only masturbate once a month or once a year
1% never masturbate.
In a survey conducted by
Discovery Health about masturbation, 11,309 respondents
answered:
Men: How often do you
masturbate?
Never (416) 5%
One or more times a day (2443) 29%
A few times a week (3691) 44%
A few times a month (1764) 21%
Women: How often do you masturbate?
Never (815) 15%
One or more times a day (826) 15%
A few times a week (1840) 33%
A few times a month (2039) 37%
Other surveys and studies on
the frequency of masturbation show that:
On
average women between the ages of 18 and 30 masturbate 8 to
10 times a month.
On average men between 18 and 40
masturbate 15 to 30 times a month.
On average women over
30 masturbate 8 to 12 times a month .
On
average men over 40 masturbate 8 to 12 times a month .
When trying to
narrow down the frequency of masturbation by age and gender on a weekly
basis, it wasn't quite as easy to get
such specific numbers in an open discussion. In an open forum
setting rather than multiple choice survey, people were asked "How
often do you masturbate?". Both men and women
reported they didn't masturbate on a regular basis. It's wasn't
uncommon for a group of young men between the ages of 19 and 21 to
report that they masturbate anywhere from once a month to five times a
day. This type of variation was found in the responses from young
women between the ages of 19 and 21 as well.
Another problem in
narrowing down the frequency of masturbation on a weekly basis when
people are free to give any answer they want is that most individuals
say they don't masturbate on a regular weekly basis. Many people
reported that they might masturbate three or four times in a single day,
or once or twice a day for a week straight, but then over the period of
a month they might only masturbate once or twice each week, or not at
all. The only pattern was that most people don't have a pattern
when it comes to masturbating. In fact, this pattern of no regular
pattern for masturbation continued for women in all age groups
under the age of 30 and for men in all age groups under the age
of 40.
It was interesting to find out that the frequency
of masturbation started to stabilize on a weekly basis in women
over 30 and men over 40. Women and men respondents over
the ages of 30 and 40 respectively showed a consistency of
masturbating 2 to 3 times a week. This means the monthly
average for women over 30 stayed the same compared to younger
women, but the monthly average for men over 40 decreased
compared to younger men.
The one consistency for women of
all ages is that almost all women said they masturbated
more the week before their period. This was expected because
science has already made us aware of the fluctuation in hormone levels
that occur in a woman's body during this time.
Remember, these numbers are the overall
averages. Each person is different, and if you're a woman that
masturbates on a daily basis, there is nothing wrong with you.
Your sex drive is probably higher than the average woman's, and I doubt
you'll find very many men that will complain about that.
Masturbation is still a taboo for many people. Childhood
phobias from being told masturbating is bad, nasty, naughty or
other comments with negative connotations still plague many
people. There are a lot of couples that will never
masturbate for each other, or even mutually masturbate each
other because of these phobias. But research has
shown that masturbation becomes more likely with increased education,
greater frequency of sexual thoughts, sexual experimentation before
puberty, and larger number of lifetime sexual relationships. This study
agreed for both sexes.
This means that as our society progresses
and more sexual taboos are broken, if we approach the subject of
sex and masturbation more honestly with our children, it's
possible that in a few generations we may not only see an
increase in mutual masturbation between couples, more couples
will be comfortable with their sexuality, and the subject of
masturbation may not be taboo any longer.
Myths About Masturbation
There have been a number of human ailments blamed on masturbating, and
not just the hairy palms stories we were told as kids. According to
works like Onania, circa 1712, male masturbation was said to lead to
disease or disorder with the loss of semen. Likewise, in losing vaginal
fluid, a female who masturbated was supposedly at risk for hysteria,
jaundice, epileptic fits, and other negative health conditions. Of equal
concern, self-pleasuring was thought to send her down the road to sodomy
as well.
Some common myths about masturbation include:
Only people who cannot find sexual partners; or who are socially
inadequate masturbate.
Masturbation leads to physical problems such as mental illness and
growing hair on your palms.
Masturbation “ruins” a person for partner sex.
Men will run out of semen or sperm if they masturbate excessively.
Other people will be able to tell if you masturbate.
Masturbation has also been said to cause blindness, feeblemindedness,
madness, physical decrepitude, sexual perversion, reduced sexual
function, and neurotic disorders. |
