Since the dawn of time, everything that people could not understand or had no idea how it came about was surrounded by a thick layer of myths. Failing to understand something doesn’t mean that people stop talking about it. The more mysterious something is, the more people state their opinions in the form of myths traveling as hearsay. Of course, sex has not been spared this treatment. The mass of myths, rumors and jokes surrounding sex is absolutely huge.

Masturbation, just like any other sexual practice, has been the target of many myths and is still today surrounded by ideas that seem absurd to the knowledgeable person. Even people who acknowledge masturbation and accept it as an inevitable part of the development of any human being may surprise you by claiming that masturbation is for kids. This is false. Masturbation is performed by many people of all ages for various reasons. Men and women who have been married for years still masturbate.

Masturbation is something performed only by lonely, desperate people or by perverted individuals. Not true! More than 90 percent of all males and at least half of all women masturbate. About 98 percent of all people polled by studies admitted to having masturbated at least once in their lives. It’s a perfectly natural thing to do and people should not be ashamed to admit it. Reality contradicts the idea that masturbation is a sexual practice suited only for losers who cannot find a sex partner.

Others think that only men masturbate. Again not true! Women like sex just as much as men and have no moral or physical constraints. While it’s true that women who find themselves in long term relations tend to masturbate far less frequent, most of them still do that occasionally. And why shouldn’t they? This myth is right next door to “only homosexuals masturbate”. This is absolutely ridiculous. Since almost every boy and most girls discover sex through masturbation between the ages of 10 and 13, this means that nearly everyone is a homosexual.

Then we have the strange myths according to which masturbation can effect strange physical changes in the body. Some people believe that it can cause hair to grow on the hands of the masturbator. No doubt, this is a story designed to scare people and enforce abstinence. It’s pretty useless to point out that there hasn’t been a single case of abnormal hair growth due to masturbation. Other claims are just as fantastic. Masturbation is said to cause bay eyesight, hair loss, fatigue and nervous illnesses. All these claims are simple fictions without any truth in them.

Another silly idea meant to scare young people is the myth that masturbating causes the penis to stop growing in size. There’s absolutely no relation between penis size and masturbation. Millions of men can testify to this. Just as masturbation does not shrink the testicles. This is yet another “bright” idea some people spread around. Who comes up with these things anyway?

Or the even brighter idea that frequent masturbation makes men run out of semen. There’s no such thing as running out of semen. Even at the age of 90 a man’s testicles are still producing semen and viable spermatozoids. It’s true that at 90, men are no longer able to do anything with that semen, but the point is that it’s still being produced despite an entire life of intercourse and masturbation. And have you ever heard people claiming that masturbation causes sexually transmitted diseases. This one is really strange. You can’t give yourself a disease.

So there you have them, the myths surrounding masturbation. Read through them and remember that masturbation is perfectly healthy and safe.