Chapter 5 : Masturbation

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Masturbation is, for many still a practice frowned upon. It is condemned as a sinful deed by most religions and was considered unhealthy by 19th century male-oriented Victorian sexual medicine. Freud for example considered masturbation (especially in women) as oral, anal, compulsive, or infantile behavior. Maturesex was considered penile-vaginal sex and “for the sake of civilization”.

In his masterwork “the history of sexuality”, Foucault wrote how 18th and 19th century Western society attempted to control sexuality via the regulation of masturbation. Authorities (including doctors and moralists) pathologized masturbation, linking it to a variety of physical and mental illnesses. This reflected a broader strategy of controlling sexual behavior and by extension, individual bodies and desires. The intense focus on masturbation was part of a larger, as Foucault described it "bio-power" mechanism, where institutions (like the family, school, and medical establishment) exerted control over individuals by regulating their sexual practices. He highlighted how these discourses around masturbation contributed to a broader effort to produce "normal" sexual subjects and maintain social order. Although the taboo on masturbation nowadays in many parts of the world has subsided, it is still considered a "second-rate" sexual activity by many, surrounded by shame and guilt and not to be discussed explicitly.

An important proponent of the de-stigmatization of masturbation was Betty Dodson (born 1929, died 2020). She was an artist, pioneering sex educator and feminist who is best known for her work on promoting sexual liberation and education, particularly for women. Dodson believed that masturbation was a key to sexual empowerment, particularly for women. She was a vocal critic of societal norms that stigmatized female sexuality, particularly the shame associated with masturbation. She saw masturbation as a fundamental part of a healthy sexual life and worked to dismantle the myths and misconceptions that surrounded it. She argued that understanding and embracing one's own body and sexual pleasure was essential for sexual liberation. For Dodson, masturbation was not just a solitary act but a form of self-love and an important way to explore and understand one's own sexual needs and desires.

Here is what Dodson wrote: “Masturbation is our primary sex life. It is the sexual base. Everything we do beyond that is simply how we choose to socialize our sex life. Socially institutionalized dependent sex is depersonalizing. Masturbation can help return sex to its proper place — to the individual. We all have to wade through ten tons of firmly implanted fear, guilt, repulsion, and misinformation to think or talk about masturbation with any kind of open mind.” and “A sex positive woman will have a positive attitude toward herself and the world she lives in with the necessity to "go public, " that is, to speak out about the importance of female masturbation.”

Betty Dodson was trained as a fine artist in the 1950s, and in 1968 had her first show of erotic art at the Wickersham Gallery in New York City. Her second show was dedicated to depictions solely dedicated to masturbation. The response was fascinating and informative. She found out that: “A lot of women did not masturbate, that a lot of people did not even know women masturbated at all (Why should they?), and that the vibrator made a lot of men very hostile and competitive.”.

In 1974 Dodson published her book, Sex for One: The Joy of Self-loving in which she offered a candid and detailed exploration of masturbation, challenged societal taboos and promoted it as a normal, healthy, and pleasurable practice. Betty Dodson's work on masturbation has had a lasting impact on the conversation around female sexuality. She helped to normalize the discussion of masturbation, making it a topic that could be openly discussed rather than shrouded in shame. Her work has influenced generations of sex educators, feminists, and individuals seeking to better understand their own sexual health.

From the 1970s onwards, Dodson organized events called Bodysex, to help women connect with their bodies and erogenous zones, heal shames, improve pleasure perception, and promote self-love. In the workshops, women were guided to explore their bodies and masturbate together to learn, with guidance, how to have an orgasm. Her two- hour sessions featured 15 naked women, each using a provided main-powered vibrator. Dodson taught thousands of women to achieve orgasm using this technique that became known as the Betty Dodson Method. “Sex is like any other skill. It has to be learned and practiced. Now when a woman masturbates, she learns to like her own genitals, to enjoy sex and orgasm, and furthermore, to become proficient and independent about it. And our society does not really approve of sexually proficient and independent women.”

She recommended women to put a small towel over their vulva to dull the sensation of the vibrator and prolong the pleasurable experience. The essence of her method was to provide vaginal and clitoral stimulation at the same time. “Masters & Johnson: All orgasms, they found, centered in the clitoris, and separation of orgasms into vaginal and clitoral was completely wrong. Most women have multi-orgasmic capability. Their female subjects agreed that their most intense orgasms came from masturbatory manual stimulation!”