Masturbation

After talking about history, social attitudes, etc., I didn’t really get to some of the main points of my thoughts on masturbation. So, for the purposes of further discussion and consideration in blogs and assignments, you might think about some of these points:


Why is masturbation so seldom depicted or referred to in fiction or film (other than pornography)? If you took fiction as an accurate representation of society, then it would seem that there’s a lot more sex occurring in the world than there is masturbation, whereas the reverse is certainly true.

When masturbation is depicted in fiction/film, why is it so often treated humorously?

Why is ‘wanker’ (or the equivalent in many other languages) a term of abuse when it’s an activity indulged in by the majority of people at some time or other?

Why is masturbation becoming less problematic as a topic for discussion (I’m assuming everyone agrees that it is, but I find that people are now less reluctant to talk about it amongst friends)?

Is masturbation really – as generally assumed – a replacement for or supplement to sexual intercourse, or is it actually the primary form of sexual activity in that it is entirely focussed on self-pleasure, individually controllable, and not mixed up with other elements such as interpersonal relationships, power dynamics, love, guilt, money, dependency, money?

Following on from the above, might it be true to say that rather than masturbation being dependent on sexual intercourse in terms of being an attempt at the ‘representation’ of sexual activity, it is actually sex that is a continuing and continual attempt to recapture the masturbatory orgasm?

And that masturbation, being based clearly and explicitly on fantasy (unlike sex, which is frequently but seldom honestly and admittedly also based on fantasy) is more productive, creative and expressive than sex?

Are all forms of creative and imaginative works themselves a form of displaced masturbation? Something else to do with your hands…?

Some resources, other than those already listed on WOLF. Useful list of masturbation scenes in mainstream (i.e. non-pornographic) films here - http://sexuality.about.com/od/masturbation/a/masturbation_mo.htm
Survey of historical attitudes to masturbation in the medical sciences, in the form of a review of Solitary Sex by Thomas Lacquer here - Patrick Singy, 'The History of Masturbation: An Essay Review', Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 59 (1), January 2004: 112-121 (only accessible on campus or via Athens log-in when off-campus).

The best scene movie showing masturbation releasing the power of sexuality below, from Pleasantville.