There is an interesting discussion on Yahoo Answers that explores the ways in which male masturbation is characterized (in contrast to female masturbation) and the Victorian-style repression that is, unfortunately, still part of the age-old controversy.

Listen, folks, every man I know masturbates or has masturbated at one time or another. It is a healthy and natural part of human sexuality. Here’s another shocker. Women masturbate too for the same healthy, natural reasons born of the same human need. In fact, even in prehistoric places where masturbation is punishable by death, people masturbate anyway so it never ceases to amaze me that there is still so much controversy and shame.

For my part, people who view masturbation as ’sinful’ or ‘base’ are usually sexually repressed, uptight, unhappy people. Why? Because at the core, to take such a rigid position (pun intended) inherently denies that human beings have the right to pleasure themselves. After all, we pleasure ourselves in so many other ways like eating our favorite foods, going to see a good movie, taking a walk in the park. How is masturbation any different at its core? We can look at our primate cousins for empirical proof that masturbation has been around for a hell of a lot longer than our limited and relatively new capacity for language that has allowed us to label it ‘bad’

Check out the full post on Yahoo Answers.

This article about the female orgasm has many salient points about the male orgasm. Somehow, we fool ourselves in believing that other people automatically know what to do with us in bed, but that is almost never the case. There is possibly no one thing that could considered ‘universally stimulating’.

As the author points out in the Daily Princeton, one of the first things one must get comfortable with is exploring one’s body to find out what feels good and what doesn’t. Believe me, just because something looks pleasurable in a porn video doesn’t mean that is so. We are all unique, and likewise have different things that make us stimulated.

The next thing the author points out is the importance of communicating with your partner. She states

Once you have discovered your [penis], try and figure out how you like to be touched. Your partner can help you with this; just be sure to keep an open dialogue going. Do not be afraid to say such specific things as “You’re not in the right place,” and then show your partner where the right place for you is. While being stimulated, give direction such as “harder,” “softer,” “faster” or “slower.” Don’t be afraid to tell your partner when he or she has lost the right place, and then help him or her get back on track.

The other plus to the communication approach is that your partner will be more likely to communicate what turns him or her on giving you more confidence in how to make them aroused.

Read the full post at The Daily Princetonian.