Get To Know Yourself: 5 Facts You Would Never Guess About Masturbation

I’ve seen a lot of social progress in my lifetime, and a big part of that progress has been the surge in sexual positivity.
Where sexual exploits and privacy of your bedroom was taboo before, today sexual conversations even make their way to some dinner table conversations.
Being able to talk openly about sex, how to do it responsibly, and having a community to turn to for questions leads to healthier sex lives for everyone.
Masturbation, for example, is an area where you’d assume you’d known everything there is to know.
After all, it is an individual activity wherein you engage with yourself intimately — what could you not know everything there is to know about your favorite pastime, right?
Wrong. You would be surprised about what you don’t know about your member and what takes place when you do the tug and rub. So here are some facts you would never guess about masturbation.

You Were Probably Masturbating Before Before Birth

I think it’s safe to say that every guy remembers the first time he pleased himself.
I mean, realizing that you can invoke those kinds of endorphins and trigger that kind of dopamine in the privacy of your own individual space is something no young man ever forgets.
However, researchers in Spain recently found that in utero masturbation is actually a thing among male fetuses. Meaning the need to self-gratify goes back far before your high school self-discovery.

“Masturbation in infancy and early childhood could be initiated when the infant discovers that certain maneuvers can bring about a pleasant and comforting sensation,” the researchers reported. “We could accept that it could be viewed in the same group as thumb-sucking, body-rocking or other behaviors that infants use to enhance comfort.”

Could Reduce Your Chances of Prostate Cancer

A dark joke that often gets circulated around is that ‘everything gives you cancer.’ And, at times, it seems that way.
Headed into last year Cancer.org estimated 1,685,210 new cancer cases diagnosed and 595,690 cancer deaths in the United States. Gaudy numbers for something without a cure.
With everything out there that seemingly gives you cancer — between microwaves, diet coke and watching too much television — I’m sure it’ll be refreshing to learn that masturbation not only doesn’t give you cancer (thank God) but reduces your chances of getting it.
In a recent study from Harvard, men who ejaculated 21 or more times per month had a 19 to 22 percent lower risk of prostate cancer than men who did so only four to seven times per month.
Considering roughly 220,800 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed a year, according to the American Cancer Society, it’s worth trying.

Masturbation Could Affect Intercourse

This could be a good or bad thing, depending on your sex-life, but masturbation can actually keep you from releasing.
Idiosyncratic masturbation is a term that refers to the customary technique one may employ when pleasuring himself. When you stick to the same masturbation technique your body grows accustomed to how you get yourself off.
So when you are finally with someone, if they do not please you the way you please yourself, you may have a hard time completing. Again, some may be fine with this result.
However, if this is a problem, experts say to consider either taking a break from masturbating or explore other ways to get yourself off when you’re rolling solo.

Some Guys Do Not Masturbate

Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., in a 2016 study discovered a fairly groundbreaking statistic about masturbation: Only 57 percent of straight men masturbate on a regular basis.
Meaning the amount of men who do versus who do not are almost split down the middle.
Conventional knowledge would lead you to believe that every guy has his personal ‘me’ time, but that is far from the case. Some men are just content with women.
For some, it could simply be a lack of interest, while for others, a suggested 14 to 17 percent, it’s a matter of a low desire.

May is National Masturbation Month

It seems like they have a holiday for everything nowadays, including masturbation.
On December 9, 1994, Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was fired by President Clinton for daring to suggest that masturbation be part of the sexual education curriculum in the U.S.
In response, on May 14, 1995, San Francisco-based sex shop Good Vibrations declared that very day National Masturbation Day in Elders’ honor. Figure that.
But in some parts of the world, teenagers are encouraged to masturbate.
In 2009, the U.K.’s National Health Service distributed pamphlets to teens and their parents about the benefits of masturbation and the fact that choosing masturbation over sex would prevent unwanted pregnancies and STIs, The Daily Mail reported.
There is always more to learn about yourself, how best to fuel and treat your body and your sexual experiences. These are just five facts that I came across, imagine the others.
Stay informed and spread the knowledge.