How are you Celebrating Masturbation Month?

Adult Match Maker on 8 May 2015    68 comments
Illustration to indicate that May is Masturbation Month

Ok, so maybe every month is Masturbation Month for some of us - but May is the time to celebrate the act of jerkin’ your gherkin and buffin’ your muffin.

Considering that masturbation is probably even older than the world's oldest profession, Masturbation Month is actually a relatively new institution, and it began out of a real need to promote health and self-love. Here's where it all began.

The historical rub on Masturbation Month

Though it's now an international holiday and well celebrated here in Australia, Masturbation Month originally took off in America.

Imagine that it's 1994, and your country is kind of uptight when it comes to its own chicken-choking tendencies. So uptight that its own surgeon general, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, gets fired by President Clinton for suggesting that masturbation be mentioned in sex-ed classes.

As it so happened, a sensible sex toy shop in San Francisco was paying attention, and they didn't like what they were seeing. So in May 1995, Good Vibrations declared the inaugural National Masturbation Month as a way to promote sex positivity, sexual health, and self-love.

"We were astounded," say the folks at Good Vibrations on their website. "It was one of the most sensible things we'd ever heard a government official say - and it cost Elders her job! We started National Masturbation Month - now International Masturbation Month with people celebrating across the globe! - to raise awareness and to highlight the importance of masturbation for nearly everyone: It's safe, it's healthy, it's free, it's pleasurable and it helps people get to know their bodies and their sexual responses."

Stimulation celebrations

Since its inception, Masturbation Month has proved to be a rather satisfying endeavour. Good Vibrations and its cohorts have been using the occasion as a way to promote masturbation as a means to better and safer sex.

In 1999, the Masturbate-a-Thon wanked itself into being: a literal fapping-for-charity event. Participants would self-pleasure to raise money for women's health and HIV charities, as well as to take a whack at all the existing shame and cultural baggage surrounding masturbation. Special recognition has often gone to those who could either raise the most money or, ahem, perform exceptionally well.

This is precisely where the phrase "Come for a Cause" originated, and it quickly spread to other sex-positive toy shops around the world. London held the first "Wank-a-Thon" in Europe in 2006, and Montreal joined the party in 2013.

Clearly this had farther-reaching effects than encouraging highly publicised bouts of exhibitionism. In 2009, the UK joined other European governments in promoting daily masturbation among teenagers as a means to reduce STDs and unwanted pregnancies.

Though most Masturbate-a-Thons involved private acts of self-love, Good Vibrations sexologist Carol Queen recalls a few especially colourful moments from the public events. Of particular note, she told Salon, was one man who jerked off for nine hours and 58 minutes.

"Oh, and the friend of a friend who brought his violin along and played lovely music for the masturbators, sans pants," she told the news source. "Classical music just gives masturbation so much more gravitas! We had opera singers one time, too."

How to observe the holiday

Aside from masturbating with a renewed sense of political and social purpose, what are some other ways we can do justice to this month of self love and self exploration?

  • Support your local sex-toy shop - especially if it's got a particularly enlightened stance on sex positivity. 
  • Search "masturbation" on our sex & relationship blog and check out the articles to take your wanking to the next level.
  • Experiment with your own wanking. Try something new! Check out the article by Eva Sless for some luscious options for every day in May..
  • Consider participating in a Masturbate-a-Thon. If you can’t find one in your area, consider organising one with a local sex shop, a group of (very close) mates, or just you and your partner!

How will you celebrate Masturbation Month?

Some of you may have seen this article in previous years. That's because Masturbation Month happens every year (although we think it should happen more often). We put it back at the top of the blog each May because otherwise it would be buried amongst the 500+ other blog posts which are there for your sex education and enjoyment. So read it, have a wank and have a great month! 

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