Masturbation

Hey, guys and girls. I'm a new member here but I love hanging out on these boards because everyone seems so open and honest.
So I thought I'd just throw a quick question out there, a straw-poll if you will.

The question is:

How often do you masturbate?

Now for me it's between once a day and once every two days. I don't have a partner and thus have no current access to regular sex.
How about you? How often and maybe a little bit about your circumstances too if that's OK, for context. For example you may masturbate only once a month but you have regular sex so you don't need to do it any more often. For context it would be interesting to know this. I'd like to see if I'm above or below average for these boards.
I should mention that I am a 27 y/o male
Oh and I'd love responses from both guys and girls.

I'm a 20 y/o female and my masturbating "schedule" has changed since I first started masturbating (when I was 11). In middle school, I masturbated around 5 times a day more or less. High school it was about 1-3 times a day and when I turned 18 I started playing with toys. I tried a few vibrators and a butt plug, but honestly, I enjoy just using a pillow and a blanket that I stash in my closet. Now I don't masturbate as much--only when I'm very bored--but I am constantly thinking about sex. I still haven't found a toy I like yet either.

I don't masturbate as much as I used to. I am a 32 year old female that is very sexually closed off to where I don't want to have sex right now. I have issues with my body and I don't feel very beautiful. That being said, I masturbate about three or four times a week, or sometimes twice a day, and I am single and not having sex.

Sometimes I go through dry spells when I don't do it at all. It is up to every individual person I guess. I don't know if I was much help to answer your question but its honestly I don't know what category I fall in when it comes to this.

I am a 39 yr old married female. I have no sex drive. I used to but the meds killed it. But still yet I do about twice a month.When planned correctly, I can avoid my meds and things work fairly well. I hove my toys they are all involve clitoral simulators. I use these with my H when It feels as if it "just ain't gonna happen". Sometimes I am so frustrated and exausted I don't even get the toys out, I just let my H have his fun.

But that was not your question, your question was how often. And my answer is 2 times a month max. I can go months with out, or as little as a few weeks. H and I try to make time for sex once a week. It is not the most rewarding thing for me. but he does kinda like it.

DrSkipper, do you have a sexual partner too?
PlatinumHeart, your reply was very useful, I'm just interested generally in how often people tend to give themselves pleasure. This is all great to find out as I was almost brought up to believe that women don't masturbate, and I'm 27, so it's not as if I'm from a distant generation! Although I of course saw through that misconception pretty early

Thank you for your replies!

No, I am a virgin. I've never even had a boyfriend.

I've only masturbated once in my life.

I was brought up in a time where that was just forbidden. It was gross, nasty and dirty. And you were those things to if you touched there. I was also raised in a christian family. But I think choice of religion had little baring on this subject. It was just the times.

Well, I tried it once but it wasn't much fun so I've never done it again.

You're very welcome! I think that people should be more open and honest with themselves. Sex and masturbation aren't dirty words and a lot of people tend to treat it that way, just in my opinion anyway.

But yeah, I sometimes do it ALOT or not at all. Its so odd the way I work. I think the meds may have something to do with it too.

Big Mama I see that you are a very generous person, lucky H
Interesting points you made about the stigma against masturbation. Such a strange thing to have a stigma against too since you're not harming anyone and for many it is a pleasurable experience. I know that it's possible to become "addicted" to masturbation, in the sense that may do it so often that it interrupts the routine of one's life. But I don't think that's common. I wonder if anyone here has had that experience?

Also, is it common for medication to interfere with a woman's sex drive? Is there specific medication that causes this? Does it affect women at specific ages? I don't hear guys talking about this much and I'm rather ignorant over certain matters of female sexuality. That's why being here is so interesting

Skipper, sensible move perhaps. Waiting for Mr Right?

ArmyGirl, how old are you out of interest?

It's interesting that all the contributions have been from females so far, are women more open than guys on here or are there just more of you?
Either way thanks for all the replies so far.

Zarathuastra, This forum is open to guys and girls. It appears that us females out number the males here at PC. If you are looking for a more male answers the men only forum is a good place for that. Females can read there but not post. Often things are posted in both forums so a better mix of audience is achieved.

I take zoloft for anxiety and depression, I don't know about other guys but a lot of the psy meds my brother in law has taken in the past have the same affect on his sex drive. I think it is a universal thing. Since mostly females answer here, it appears to be a largely female thing though it is not.

Zarathustra58, I'm 29.

Hi Zarathustra. Nice user name. Fan of Friedrich Nietzsche?

Big Mama is correct in that women significantly outnumber men on PC. A quick glance at the active user levels of the gender specific forums can illustrate that pretty well.

I'm probably at a daily (or more aptly, nightly) or once every two days type of guy, erring towards the former. I'm a single, 20 year old male...lol explaining, perhaps, a lot of it.

Risperdal, Topomax, and Geodon killed my sex drive entirely and completely.

Some people report problems from Prozac but all the reactions to individual medications are idiosyncratic and unpredictable.

how old were you? somebody recommended clitoral masturbation for me when I was a teen and I tried but did not feel anything. I was able to masturbate only at about twenty years old.

Well here goes. I've been masturbating since I was very young, 4 or 5 years old, and I'm a 25 year old woman. This leaves me with 20 years of experience. I do it usually every day or every other day. Somewhere between 3-7 times a week. Been that way since I was a kid.

Also, I think it's the fanapt I'm on but sometimes I have trouble "getting there" and lately I've had some issues with being too dry. Probably the meds. But the drive is there.

I was 19. I do find it interesting that mostly girls are responding. I would've expected more guys to respond to this.

When I was in a bipolar DBT group, we had lots of females and one male. Yet, bipolar affects both genders equally. It is females who seek support more. For the same reason, there are probably more women on here - it is purely self-selection bias.

I started when I was about 18, would do it once a day, maybe every other day. It was interesting to me at first, but two years later I stopped enjoying it. It was still some time before I was able to tell myself that it was OK not to enjoy masturbating, so I stopped. My sex life is actually better because of it; there's no stressing about climaxing and I get to focus on the sensations that I really like.

For the record, I am asexual, agendered, and have had a greatly diminished libido since starting birth control for my endometriosis. I'm much happier with my low sex drive, actually.

It varies a lot. I'm 19 (nearly 20) and a female and sometimes I'm really horny and I masturbate multiple times a day. And then I lose interest and don't do it for five days.

wow, that's it? I wish I could be you.

It varies a lot for me. When things are going good with my spouse I don't have much of a desire to masturbate. When things aren't going so good or she is on her period, then maybe a few times a week. When i am depressed I don't have any desire or energy.

i'm 17 and i just want to stop.

At 17 it may be difficult to stop. I remember for me the desire for sex peaked around 18. I had to have it, was practically all I could think about.

If you feel wrong about self pleasure then maybe try limiting your opportunity for it. Get rid of any erotica magazine, DVD, and block x rated sites. Make a congnitive effort to avoid things that provoke you. Some medication have reduced sexual desire as a common side effect. Not sure if you are wanting to be that drastic.

Personally I don't find anything wrong with having a few knuckle babies if I have little bit of free time and the idea suites me. I mean your not hurting anyone. It is being done privately. (well it should, and if not that is something different). There are health benifiets to having an orgasm. A lot of people do it. No one really admits it, but I would say almost every adult has done it at least once.

Some people make it out to be dirty or shameful, but is it really any worse than sex?