Masturbation
sexual stimulation of one's own genitals
Masturbation is a form of autoeroticism in which a person sexually stimulates their own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. In humans, this typically involves orgasm in both sexes and, in males, is often accompanied by ejaculation. Stimulation may involve the use of hands, everyday objects, sex toys, or more rarely, the mouth (autofellatio and autocunnilingus). Masturbation may also be performed with a sex partner, either masturbating together or watching the other partner masturbate, known as "mutual masturbation".
Masturbation is frequent in both sexes. Various medical and psychological benefits have been attributed to a healthy attitude toward sexual activity in general and to masturbation in particular. Masturbation is considered by clinicians to be a healthy, normal part of sexual enjoyment. Masturbation has been depicted in art since prehistoric times, and is both mentioned and discussed in very early writings. Religions vary in their views of masturbation. In the 18th and 19th centuries, some European theologians and physicians described it in negative terms, but during the 20th century, these taboos generally declined.
“Masturbation” enters the record as sexual stimulation of one's own genitals. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Masturbation, sexual and stimulation can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8396. The Library of Congress control number is sh85082015. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Masturbation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.