Masturbation

Phoebe wrote:

Well ok I've 15 now and every night pretty much I masturbate and when I feel aroused I just turn around and fall sleep.

I don't even think it helps me sleep. It's just become a habit. No one knows. When I spend the night at someone's house or have camp I don't have to.

No I've never have had oral sex or sex period. I just don't know I and I want to stop cause when I think about I think that's just nasty and wrong and I'm a strong Christian and it's just wrong.

I'm not rebel type person I'm very studious make good grades live a everyday teenage life and I just want to stop this masturbating process (honestly I don't think I ever will) I've been doing it for so long since I was probably 11. Maybe if I strap myself down at night everything will be ok.

Dear Phoebe

The problem is not so much the masturbation as the guilt associated with it.

I cannot speak for the Christian angle, but logic suggests that the physical act of masturbation isn't a spiritual issue, though the fantasies that go with it just might be. And no amount of strapping will stop fantasies.

Please take my word that masturbation - and fantasy - are a perfectly normal and largely harmless activity. Though few discuss it, most do it - male or female.

The frequency varies from person to person, and some reduce as they get older, and 'real sex' comes along - but all the evidence suggests that there really is nothing - nothing - to worry about.

Just don't get caught, as it can be embarassing