As you may have noticed, here at Femplay we aren’t afraid to talk about masturbation. In fact, we believe that as a society we need to talk more about self-pleasure and all the wonderful ways it can improve someone’s life. And while the conversation is becoming less and less taboo as time goes on, unfortunately there are still a few harmful myths that often scare people away from the wonderful world of masturbation.

Here are five masturbation myths we want to set straight…

1. Masturbating can negatively affect your sex life

The idea that masturbation can have a negative impact on sex with a partner is not only untrue, but completely misguided ­– because it’s actually quite the opposite. Enjoying masturbation before or during a relationship can actually help you have better sex in the long-run.

In addition to feeling incredible, masturbation is a great way to explore your sexuality, what gets you off and what your preferences are in the bedroom. For this reason, people who masturbate not only tend to be more confident and comfortable during sex, but they often enjoy more orgasms with their partner. Essentially, it’s like having your cake and eating it too.

2. Masturbating can be bad for your health

Once upon a time, when sex was considered an act purely designed for procreation rather than pleasure, many people believed that masturbating could cause illness or disease. The possible consequences included everything from blindness to infertility, cancer, STD’s and even psychosis. Pretty serious stuff, right? No wonder so many people were afraid of self-pleasure.

Ironically, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only does masturbation have zero correlation on any of the above illnesses, but it can actually be great for your health. As we mentioned in a previous blog, having some one-on-one time with yourself in the bedroom can lower stress levels, improve your sleep and even enhance your mood.

3. People in relationships don’t masturbate

The idea that only single people masturbate is a huge misconception – and we have a wide range of couples’ sex toys to prove it. Masturbation isn’t merely a substitute for sex; it’s its own enjoyable experience entirely. Just like those who are single, people in relationships may simply feel like masturbating some days, or perhaps they enjoy mutual masturbation with their partner to learn more about each other’s sexual preferences and interests. Sure, when you’re in a relationship you might masturbate less and have sex with your partner more, but it’s still totally normal to enjoy solo-play. In fact, we encourage it!

4. Too much masturbation can cause desensitisation

One myth that you may have heard before is that masturbating too often can desensitise your clitoris and your ability orgasm during sex. Faux-medical terms such as ‘Dead Vagina Syndrome’ have even popped up from time to time to scare women from using vibrators and sex toys for self-pleasure.

This, of course, is completely untrue. The roughly 8000 nerve endings in your clitoris aren’t going to die off or become desensitised after you’ve had a particularly great night with your vibrator. There’s not much more to say about it; it’s just science.

5. It’s mostly men who masturbate

While the topic of masturbation has become less and less taboo over time, unfortunately many people still believe that women don’t enjoy solo-play. Of course, this is completely untrue – otherwise we’d be out of business!

Research has shown time and time again that most women do, in fact, masturbate. Just like men, most women simply enjoy the pleasure of masturbation and all the wonderful benefits it can bring (whether they are aware of them or not). In addition to this, many boys and girls use it to explore their sexuality from the onset of puberty, when more intense feelings of arousal tend to begin. Simply put, no matter what gender a person is, masturbation is something that most people enjoy at some point in their life.