Survey: Masturbation being ok now how many times would it be ok? 3, 5 10 x’s?

                                                             

Is it normal to masturbate three times a day? What is the ‘normal’ amount of times to masturbate a week?

The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB) from Indiana University attempted to answer some of these question by conducting the “largest nationally representative study of sexual and sexual-health behaviors ever fielded.” They collected data between between March and May 2009 from 5,865 Americans from ages 14 to 94 years old.

FiveThirtyEight.com took a look at the data and provided us with some interesting graphics explaining the results:

It sounds like the “Am I normal?” part of your question relates more to “eight times per week” than “I masturbate,” so let’s look at frequency: How often is too often?

Buried in the 137-page report are the masturbation habits of 2,936 men; 396 of them, like you, were in their 30s. Bad news, though: The maximum frequency the researchers asked about for solo masturbation was “four or more times per week” — that doesn’t bode well for your normalcy. Worse still, only 13.5 percent of men your age masturbated that often. If you were a Brenda and not a Brandon, I would be even more surprised by your question: Only 1.5 percent of women ages 30 to 39 masturbated four or more times per week.

FiveThirtyEight.com also contacted Julia Heiman, a professor of brain sciences and senior research fellow at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute, and asked if masturbating “eight times per week” is normal? She said:

Without knowing anything more about you, it is hard to say whether or not this is a problem, because “normal” depends on whether masturbating at that frequency is taking away from other aspects of your life — like your relationships or work. Some people masturbate so often that it is cutting into their work time.

They add:

But masturbation itself, regardless of frequency, is very normal. On average, 78 percent of all Americans age 14 and older say they have masturbated at some point in their lives, according to the NSSHB. When men in their 30s were asked whether they had masturbated alone at any point in their life, 93.4 percent said yes. One explanation for the differences among age groups could be that masturbation has become more frequent as the taboos about it weaken; As Joycelyn Elders, a former surgeon general, said in the NSSHB: “We have finally included masturbation in our national conversation and as a result stopped checking our hands for growing hair.”

So, the fact that you have tried your hand at masturbation is very normal — as a man. If you were a woman, you’d be in a smaller majority: 80.3 percent of women in their 30s say they have masturbated alone in their lifetime. In fact, regardless of age, women are less likely to have tried masturbating.

So go ahead and masturbate! It’s perfectly normal.

[H/T: Instinct]