Masturbation is simply the act of playing one’s genital
part and it is very commonly practised by both the genders. Since we are all pleasure-seeking
creatures, we masturbate to fulfill our sexual desire, generally by arousing
sexual imagination by watching pornography. Surprisingly, there is a group of
people who strongly disagree and claim masturbation as an evil and sinful activity
which would cause a lot of health problems.
First, there are some scientifically-proven health
benefits of masturbation. Study suggests masturbation could reduce stress and
uplift one’s mood instantly due to the release of oxytocin, a type of hormone, which
is also thought to reduce stress levels, which again could lead to relaxation
and sleepiness (Melinda Wenner, 2013). This is one of the
reasons why men tend to sleep faster than the women after having sexual
activity.
A professor even suggested men to masturbate to
help with pre-mature ejaculation problem. ‘’Men, you can last longer. For
years, I silently battled premature ejaculation and test-drove every bizarre
remedy I stumbled upon…’’ (Ian Kerner, 2004). Consequently, staying longer on
beds leads to greater sex life; since, the fairer sex can expand their orgasmic
experience.
Why do people still complain about masturbation? We
often get a lot of untruthful and unreliable statements made by some of the
self-proclaimed ‘’professionals’’ or ‘’doctors’’. They blindly claim that
masturbation will cause some serious physical complications; for instance, acne
breakout, hair loss, erectile dysfunction, and even blindness! Unfortunately,
there are several downsides when one excessively over-masturbates. According to
an online article by Herballove Editorial, over-masturbation would cause
physiological changes in our bodies due to the excessively stimulated nervous
functions. The over-production of sex hormones and neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, dopamine, and serotonin diminishes the
adrenal functions and decreases the ability of body to regulate the
hypothalamus. This means one would experience lower sex drive as a result of
sex exhaustion.
Switching to the religious
viewpoint, is masturbation a sin? In certain religions, masturbation is
permissible depending on one’s intention; to control one’s sexual desire or to
explore sex healthily, but disallowed when one practised masturbation with bad
motives or treats it as an addiction. In Buddhism, masturbation is a normal expression
of the sexual drive and is physically and psychologically harmless, as long as
it does not become a preoccupation or a substitute for ordinary sexual
relations. Guilt and self-disgust about masturbating is certainly more harmful
than masturbation itself (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_on_masturbation). In Christianity, masturbation seems to be rampantly
debated over the century, or decades, if not. There are a lot of arguments
since there are different viewpoints from Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox
Christianity, and Protestantism and so on. Some argues that it is a sin to
masturbate, since one would eventually be engulfed in sexual fantasies by
self-imagination, some claim that the sexual imagination especially coupled
with the presence of pornography, which is believed, the work of the Satan, to
seduce or tempt humans to fall on the bait, and commit sins since it is
inviting lust to our souls. But, some disagree and claim that masturbation is
not a sin because it is seen as a self-control towards perversion and immoral
sexual activities which include sex before marriage, prostitution and so on.
Unfortunately, there is no
definite answer for this title, masturbation seems to be a good option if one
was desperate for sex or could not control his or her lust. Masturbation is
encouraged if it was done healthily and without addiction or any bad motives as
moderation is the key to moral virtue.
