Mastubation Empowering Women Essay Example

duality in gender perceptions in our world today. Ms. Oprah Winfrey supports this view of the social imbalance between the genders. She opened a Pandora’s Box when she did the show on teenage sexual behavior where self pleasuring was suggested . It was clear that the audience was divided.

Despite the facts of the show where it was revealed that young boys and girls are involved in sexual activity with multiple partners. The girls were interested in developing relationships and seem comfortable with facilitating there partners pleasure. The taboo of female masturbation was evident in the girl’s responses. However when compared to giving oneself a foot massage the act seemed to take on a new perspective, not to mention reducing the health and physiological risks involved in their current behavior.

It is sad that some women are still uncomfortable with themselves that they can’t even look at their vaginas. That it is easier to say foot than orgasm. It is easier on the ears to say back massage than masturbation which is in and of itself a form of massage. Then the question becomes how are we to empower our daughters, if girls are not socialized and encouraged to find out what pleases them, how are they to become confident and comfortable with their own bodies? Moreover, how are their partners supposed to know how to please them?

When one partner has little or no knowledge of their body control is transferred to the other, who dominates the act of sexual intimacy and as the research shows leads to great levels of female sexual frustration and eventually disinterest and sexual un wellness. Sex therapists Bill and Carolyn Chernenkoff

from Saskatoon, SK, promote both mutual and private "self-stimulation. " They say there's nothing healthier for hormone-crazed teenagers than masturbation. If the kids are engaging in masturbation, then they won't be practicing sexual intercourse to the same degree. "Sexual health requires gender equality, equity and respect.

Gender-related inequities and imbalances of power deter constructive and harmonic human interactions and therefore the attainment of sexual health” The Kinsey Institute of Research Biblical research of the book of Genesis reveals that Onan was told to have sex with Tamar, his dead brother’s wife as was the custom of the time. Instead of performing the act he 'spilled his seed' on the ground, as a result of this act, Onan was struck dead. This incident which clearly has to do with Onan’s refusal to impregnate Tamar is the sole reference used as biblical support for the argument against masturbation.

Ellen White considered a power house in the religious community. In her book An Appeal to Mothers attributes a host of maladies to masturbation which she describes as “the solitary vice”. She stated that in females, the consequences of self-abuse are “seen in various diseases, such as catarrh, dropsy, headache, loss of memory…... [and] the head often decays inwardly. The mind is often utterly ruined and insanity takes place. ” Those who masturbate, she wrote, “are just as surely self-murderers as though they pointed a pistol to their own breast, and destroyed their life instantly.

Her positions on the topic in part two A Solemn I assume due to the effects of time and some new revelation was not as extreme, where she stated “Masturbation leads to "mental, moral, and physical deterioration....

It is not the stimulation, per se, that is wrong. It's what's going on in ... [persons] when they're becoming self-referenced…” Ellen White's concern regarding masturbation was presented during the very conservative Victorian period when sex was a very taboo subject; this I think contributes to her rather hard line on the subject.

She focuses primarily on the mental consequences rather than the "purely physical act. She was more concerned with thought processes, attitudes, fantasies, etc. "the effects” are not the same on all minds, that "impure thoughts seize and control the imagination," and that the mind "takes pleasure in contemplating the scenes which awake base passion. ' Do the same "mental consequences" happen when the other "base passions" for food or survival or success are activated or sustained through imagination? What criteria do we use to categories the innate desires of humanity?

Why is one pure and the other impure? Why are thoughts regarding the God given desire for human intimacy perceived as “impure? ” If one steps away from the religious dogmas and take into consideration the physical construct of the vagina, It can been speculated that the clitoris is designed not to be stimulated during regular sex, its small size and discrete positioning suggest it has been tucked away to avoid being stimulated automatically during intercourse, and therefore its primary function is to trigger orgasm during masturbation.

This would seem to make a lot of sense, a significant minority of women report never having orgasms during regular intercourse and the majority of women that they often will not orgasm during regular intercourse without some effort to ensure more direct clitoral stimulation. Medical research also discusses

that there are also health benefits to be derived from the act as it reduces stress lowers the rates of depression and removes the myths and mystery of sexual desire and satisfaction.

Alex McKay, research coordinator for the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada commented that many people currently feel guilty about masturbation: "The reason is that sex is supposed to be geared towards reproduction, and masturbation is about as far away from that as you can get... There is now a wide-ranging consensus among health professionals from all disciplines that masturbation is psychologically healthy and something most people do. Carrie Levine in her 15 Nov 2010 women to women magazine article titled The Health Benefits f Masturbation.

Makes the following observations; Generally speaking, women have been socialized to believe our sexual needs and desires are less important than those of our partners. It is in our physical and emotional best interest to give our own needs and desires a seat at the table. Because of cultural taboos, many women feel that the urge to masturbate is somehow wrong, or they feel guilt or shame. There is enormous potential for healing through honoring our sexuality, expressing it, and experiencing it with joy.

It is now common knowledge that female hormone levels influences their moods and sense of well being. Dopamine, or the “feel-good” hormone, rises during the anticipation of a sexual climax. After the climax, the calming hormones oxytocin and endorphins are released, creating the warm afterglow feeling, usually connected to feel attractive. Masturbation is one way to honor our sexuality conveniently and privately, lending to our psychological and emotional well being, helping to relieve depressive emotions.

In

her book For Yourself, noted sex therapist Lonnie Barbach explains that the stress resulting from avoiding sex can create the kind of body imbalances mentioned earlier. She writes that masturbation can assist to relieve emotional stress by taking time for ourselves, amidst the demands of home, family, and work. When we know, love, and nurture ourselves on emotional and physical levels, we gain confidence and grow through self-awareness. Being able to recognize, articulate, and experience what brings pleasure is a powerful step toward fulfillment.

This can foster healthy sexual relationships. Masturbation is one way to meet personal needs not met by a partner for many couples have different sexual drives and needs. The social taboos, religious stigmas, psychological blocks and physical myths which prevented women and girls from empowering themselves sexually are being discredited; our bodies to long a bastian of masculine dominance are being claimed for ourselves. Owning ones sexuality is a goal which all women and girls should strive towards and the freedom to explore your own body is the ultimate expression of such empowerment.