Unmastered Masturbation Conflict
<< Ethics of Masturbation >>
Mary S. Calderone, M.D.<sup>1

1</sup> President and co-founder of the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), New York City

(In William H. Masters, Virginia E. Johnson, and Robert C. Kolodny. Ethical Issues in Sex Therapy. Little Brown & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, 1977, pp. 47-48)

Let us consider for a moment the ethics of masturbation. I really think masturbation is so nearly universal that it might be looked on as a state of being. Yet the Vatican statement calls it “a grave disorder, an intrinsically and seriously disordered act,” with the implication, therefore, that a person of any age who masturbates is intrinsically and seriously disordered. Young men — and, as we realize today, women — are really in an almost perpetually erectile state, and masturbation could be considered the overflow, if you will, of that perpetual state. It is a fact that in our society more people masturbate than do not. It is also a fact, I believe, that it is rarely if ever chosen in preference to intercourse. Masters and Johnson have established that, even though women do find that their orgasms are sharper and more intense with masturbation, they still prefer intercourse. It cannot therefore interfere with procreation in any real sense, it cannot replace the procreative act, and it is looked on very widely today as not only acceptable but actually desirable in the sexual development and evolution of human beings. Let me read one of the ten position statements of SIECUS. “Sexual self-pleasuring, or masturbation, is a natural part of sexual behavior for individuals of all ages. It can help to develop a sense of the body as belonging to the self and an affirmative attitude toward the body as a legitimate source of enjoyment. It can also help in the release of tension in a way harmless to the self and to others, and provide an intense experience of the self in preparation for experiencing another. Masturbation and the fantasies that frequently accompany it, can be a subtle way of maintaining or restoring the image of one’s self as a fully functioning human being.” This is why I propose that its place as part of the sexual experience should be supported as having an ethical and positive role to play in human life.

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