Masturbation can be defined as a self-stimulation that brings out sexual sensations. The use of the word masturbation usually refers to a person manipulating genitals to the point of intense pleasure or orgasm.

Orgasm refers to a period of intense excitement in which the genital muscles come to a series of highly pleasurable contractions or movements.

Masturbation according to some health care providers is a healthy way to express and explore your sexuality and also release sexual tension without all the associated risks of the sexual intercourse.

Health professionals generally agree that this private touching is a natural, normal mode of self-exploration and sexual expression. Unfortunately, after the excitement of the moment has passed, many people find themselves overwhelmed by guilt and/or shame.
Our attitudes towards masturbation have deep roots for sure. Around the turn-of-the-century, some adults were so against masturbation that they forced their daughters to wear gloves made of a steel-wool-like material at night and to put a powder o­n their genitals that made them painful to touch. Boys and girls were discouraged from masturbation by the threat of blindness, madness and illness. Of course, all of these are not true.

Most surveys suggest that approximately 70% of teen females "admitted" masturbating. It is always hard to establish absolute truth in any survey o­n sexuality and sexual behavior, since they are influenced so much by what people think is "normal".

It is important to note the word "admitted" in the results of these surveys. Doesn't that word imply something shameful about the act of masturbation? We think so. This leads us to believe that we are still suffering from the residual Victorian morals when boys and girls were discouraged from masturbating.

Mother's told children not to touch themselves "down there" and wow, what an embarrassment if the child did that in public!

For many people the consequence of our mothers' or fathers' difficulty with our innocent sexuality when we were infants caused a misunderstanding about masturbation.

Almost none of us had an explanation from our parents about this important issue, a genuine o­ne, free from prejudice.

Just because they didn’t have either knowledge about it, neither to deal in a positive way with this important event in our lives, we are still tied to old ideas and that’s why we feel ashamed to have pleasure from exploring our own bodies.