Member-only story
The Science of Masturbation
You won’t become addicted to your vibrator — in fact, it’s probably good for you
In the 1950s, people were told that masturbation could cause blindness, fatigue, and disease, sapping a man’s strength and turning him feeble-minded. John Kellogg and Sylvester Graham even developed their eponymous corn flakes and crackers in the 19th century as part of a bland diet to reduce men’s sex drives and discourage them from masturbating.
Today, we recognize these claims as an absurd campaign stemming from moral judgments rather than legitimate health risks. And yet, movements opposing masturbation persist, most notably with the “NoFap” community. (Fap is a British slang term for male masturbation.) This latest trend has risen out of concerns around the easy accessibility and variety of internet porn, and it has led to some men swearing off masturbation because of worries they’ll become addicted.
But many experts say the current anxieties around masturbation and internet porn are overblown. Instead, they believe problems related to masturbation are largely due to underlying depression, anxiety, or relationship issues. In fact, studies have shown that masturbation has a number of benefits, including increasing sexual satisfaction, sex drive, and self-confidence, and it can be an easy solution to different…
