Masturbation—there is no other activity that is so universally practised, so frequently discussed and yet so wrongly condemned, say sexologists. There was a time when people believed that masturbation could lead to infertility, tuberculosis, homosexuality, impotence and even insanity. Masturbation itself was considered a disease. Men having premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction would confess to their sexologist that they used to masturbate, which they thought was the cause of the problem. Women reaching orgasm by masturbation were even medically treated.
Scientific research has changed the way we look at masturbation. ''Today masturbation is considered as a normal sexual activity. In fact, it is prescribed as an initial procedure in treating most of the sexual problems,'' says Dr Prakash Kothari, renowned sexologist based in Mumbai.
US-based researchers William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, popularly known as Masters and Johnson, have done many studies on human sexual responses and their treatment programme included how masturbation can help manage early orgasm and erectile dysfunction. These studies were done on paid volunteers, men and women willing to engage in sexual intercourse as subjects.
In some of their studies and treatment procedures, women were asked to stimulate their male partners by masturbation until they reached a point of orgasmic(ejaculatory) inevitability. Then they were asked to stop. They would repeat the procedure several times and stop just before the climax, basically to understand the sensations premonitory to orgasm.
As an alternative to squeeze technique developed by Masters and Johnson, another procedure which is now being used for treatment of early orgasm is the stop-start technique. “Here a man also realises that if an erection is lost, it is not lost for ever. It can be regained with gentle stimulation if he is not concerned about it. Once the couple succeeds in the stop-start technique, they can move on to the female superior position, which is less threatening for the male and then gradually the male superior position,'' says Kothari.
Masturbation is now used in the treatment programme of erectile and orgasmic dysfunctions successfully. Kothari says that it is used as a prognostic tool as well. “Masturbation can help train the neurological system to respond to sexual stimuli,” he says. “It usually involves fantasies which are more colourful than realities,'' he adds.
