Masturbation Myths

Masturbation is like tuning a radio: you don't know what frequencies you'll enjoy until you play with the knobs. Masturbation has a complicated stigma attached to it; everybody is doing it, but not everybody talks about it. Some were told that touching oneself would cause cute kittens to die, some were told masturbation led blindness.

Myths about masturbation are plentyful. Many originate from medieval superstitions and other folklore. The underlying idea is to stop people from having healthy fun. Sexually supressed people are easier to manipulate, so these myths were often created by religious leaders. They are all bogus lies, of course.

The simple facts are: Masturbation is very common among men and women of all ages, including mature people and the very young. In fact, it is the most frequent method used to produce an orgasm in the world. There are many ways it can be done. It is also true that there is nothing wrong with people who do not masturbate.

On this page, we try to investigate them as best we can. We explain why they are not the truth and why they are such popular rumors in the first place. Learn how these masturbation myths can hurt your sexuality.

If you have a question simply email us and we may have an answer for you.

MYTH: Masturbation causes Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD)

In order for a disease to be 'transmitted', you need two people. Mutual masturbation is actually taught in some sex education courses as a way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

MYTH: Masturbation causes Hairy Palms

About 98% of adults have reported that they've masturbated at some time in their lives. We don't know anyone with hair on their palms. How about you?

In general, there are no active hair follicles on the human palms. It is not a typical genetic feature at all regardless of masturbation.

This myth is a mix between a joke and a tricky way to see if a friend masturbates. This joke is especially common among young men. One guy says to the other, "Did you know masturbation causes hair to grow on your palms?" The other may respond (without thinking) by looking at his palms to check. If he checks, then he supposedly must be a masturbator. If he doesn't check, then he probably has not started masturbation yet or simply does not know what it is.

If he challenges the statement with an argument and proof that masturbation does not cause hair on the palms, then he may be someone who is willing to talk further about his own masturbation.

Some people just think this is a funny trick. Others use it to see if a person is willing to talk about their masturbation knowledge. Of course, it has been used a bit too much over the years. Most people have already heard of it.

MYTH: Everyone Masturbates

Like any other thing that people do, it is rarely true that "everyone" does it. It is true that the majority of people masturbate. It is also true that almost all people have done it at some point in their life. However, it is not true everyone masturbates regularly. The reasons for not masturbating range from spiritual inspirations to plain lack of interest in it (and many other reasons too).

There is an old joke that says: "95% of men masturbate. The other 5% are either lying or don't have hands". In reality, the majority of both men and women do masturbate, and most of them enjoy it. However, 95% is a very high and unlikely number. It is simply not true that 100% of people do it regularly. Additionally, it is also not true that you need hands in order to masturbate. Rubbing the sexual organs against a pillow, bed, or other object for the purpose of sexual stimulation also fits the definition of masturbation.

MYTH: Masturbation causes health problems or mental problems

The physical body and brain simply can not tell the difference from sex or masturbation. Generally speaking, if masturbation caused these problems, than sex would also cause them. Neither is true.

Lots of people suffer from health issues and there are many products on the market for problems they do not actually cure. Scammers know most people masturbate, so they figure they can sell you an "herbal pill" or some other substance that is supposed to help you stop masturbating in order to cure a problem that was never caused from masturbation in the first place.

Meanwhile, neither the masturbation or the unrelated health problem stopped, but the scammer has already spent your money. Nobody bothers to sue in a court of law because they are embarrassed, and the cost of litigation usually costs much more than the product scam.

MYTH: Masturbation causes Acne

Current research has found that there are no connections between masturbation and acne.

Pimples are mainly caused by a combination of natural skin oils and microscopic bacteria. Masturbation (or lack of it) does not cause a change in these two factors.

During puberty, the frequency of masturbation usually increases. It is just a coincidence that acne also tends to increase during puberty. They are usually fist noticed around the same time, but that does not mean one has anything to do with the other.

MYTH: Teenagers shouldn't masturbate often, as they will lose the ability to have children.

Teenagers will tend to masturbate more often than adults as their hormone levels are at the highest they will be in their lifetime. Remember to knock when their door is closed. And don't worry, they will still be able to give you grandchildren.

MYTH: Masturbation will make you to go blind

Stimulation of the sexual organs causes no deterioration of the ocular nerves or any other parts of the body involved in the function of eyesight.

The only correlation between the two is that semen contains a large amount of zinc and a deficiency in zinc (although nearly impossible to achieve solely by masturbating) may cause a decline in a your vision.

This myth goes back many years. Blindness used to be one of the ultimate forms of punishment. The further back in history we look, the more serious of an issue blindness was. The blind have a long history of mistreatment, institutionalization, superstition, and stigma.

It has only been in recent decades that societies realized there are ways for blind people to live normal lives with the use of adaptive inventions like Braille.