Hi Sam, I was wondering, is it normal to Masturbate? I do it once around every 2 or 3 days and I always end up feeling really guilty and anxious about it afterwards, so I was wondering if it's okay to masturbate? Thanks.
Hi there,
It's completely normal for anyone of any age or gender to masturbate. Masturbation can be a normal part of a healthy sex life, even before someone becomes sexually active. There's no need to feel any guilt or shame. You should feel free to do it as much, or as little, as you feel like.
Masturbation is something many people start to do around the time they reach puberty. Changes in our body start to give us sexual urges and masturbation is a completely natural and safe way to explore those urges. You should never feel ashamed of your body or what you do with it.
For some people masturbation can become a bit addictive and it can start to take over their everyday life. Although it shouldn't harm you physically, it can start to disrupt your life if you're choosing to do it over other things, like homework or seeing friends. This is the same for anything that's addictive though and so it's important to keep checking that you are feeling okay with the amount you are masturbating.
If you feel comfortable with it and don't feel as though it's stopping you doing other things, then you should feel free to do it as often as you need. The only things to remember are to keep it private - don't do it anywhere public or around other people - and if you start to feel the need to involve other things like porn, maybe you could talk to one of our counsellors first so that we can help you to stay safe.
I hope that helps, thanks for the message.
Sam
You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
You can ask me about anything you want, there's nothing too big or small. I read every single letter but I can only answer a few each week. My replies are published here on my page.
