More
caution has to be taken these days since notable words have been released from
religious quarters. May I offer to advise that you don’t laugh whenever you are
in the bathroom, especially if you fall into the category of those who get
inspiration under the influence of the shower, else, it would be simply assumed
that you’re having a nice time playing with yourself.
It’s a
known fact that there are a couple of grey areas in religion. Many of these
cloudy zones are better handled by personal interpretation either based on
one’s level of understanding or conviction. If you cast your mind back a
little, you will remember that it used to be quite controversial to wear a pair
of trousers to church as a woman, now we all know that it doesn’t stop the
anointing from flowing from the altar. In
addition, we all know that the era that God is only pleased with hand woven
hair or hair plaited with local thread is long over. Today, contrarily, men won’t
even let women have enough shampoo and hair relaxers to go round.
In the
same way, I nurse the apprehension that masturbation, one-day, will become the
prescribed religious way-out of avoiding the real thing. Just as it is
secularly advertized that “if you no fit hold body, abeg use condom”. Or what
exactly was pastor Chris Oyakhilome thinking or trying to say when he said
“masturbation is not a sin against God” in that video? Was he trying to say
that the guilt that comes with touching one’s own sex organ for the promise of
pleasure is not from God, or was he just trying to emphasize that Christians
might as well, now freely wank in the Lord?
Irrespective
of cultural attitudes and religion, masturbation has been found in all
societies. Fifteen years of research in human sexual behaviour by the famous
sexuality researcher, Dr. Alfred Kinsey, revealed that 95% of males and 60% of
females had at a point masturbated. Of the three forms of sexual release, sex,
masturbation and nocturnal emission widely known as wet dreams, masturbation
has pulled more controversial attention for itself than others, especially
among the religious.
A whole
lot of fabrications have been conjured from time immemorial as regards the
addictive habit. Opinions that masturbation leads to blindness, physical
problems such as mental illness and growing hair on the palms aren’t true. Some
even nurse the idea that others, including medical doctors and sexual partners,
will be able to tell if you masturbate. Another interesting one is that men
will run out of semen or sperm if they masturbate excessively. The testis is a
factory for mass sperm production and masturbation isn’t going to close down
that factory. Myths of this nature and a host of others are big opinions with
no factual medical basis.
Medically
there hasn’t been physical or mental side effects like many of these myths
propose, but doctors are worried about over masturbation especially when it’s a
symptom of obsessive/compulsive disorder. Too much may lead to a reduced
response to other people’s touch, which might be injurious to any relationship.
Obsessive masturbation may be offensive to one’s sexual partner as it might be
seen as a substitute for seeming unsatisfactory intercourse. Compulsive
masturbation can be a major challenge if it affects a person’s daily personal
or professional life or when it hinders a person from fulfilling their
responsibilities and commitments.
If
religiously we claim that wanking is sinful and morally we regard it as
shameful, then what about nocturnal emission, where ejaculation occurs while
asleep? Doesn’t nightfall also bring some level of shame during the first
occurrence? May be you need to remember how embarrassing it was to first
discover that the cartographer in your sexual center can also conjure maps well
designed with beautiful white paintings. How many times did you wake up to
wonder who sketched the maps of countries and places that don’t exist all over
your short and bed spread?
It is
well expected and reasonable to say that we are not responsible for our actions
in our sleep but according to research by Alfred Kinsey, men who have low
masturbation may have higher frequencies of nocturnal emission, though taking
certain drugs containing high volume of testosterone might as well be responsible.
Also, Dr. Vora in his book ‘Wet Dreams’ said wet dreams are almost constant
accompaniment of young adult who are yet to explore sex.
He
described wet dreams as a natural way of getting relief of sexual tension while
still observing continence. He further explained that a healthy man living with
his wife in normal condition should not necessarily have them including those
who are given to regular masturbation, for there is little time for the
accumulation of the secretion to produce distension of the vesicles.
Some
nurse the impression that even wet dreams are bad, though they cannot ascertain
that they are sinful, since its occurrence is not under any willful control. It
should be noted that the cause of nightfall is not always related to erotic
thoughts or dreams. They majorly occur when the reproductive organs are unable
to hold excessively produced seminal fluids. One might as well conclude that
man needs to ejaculate from time to time even when he’s not sexually active.
This
implies that the body can hold a max amount of semen and when it reaches its
threshold, it needs to get rid of the excess. So if two actions achieve the
same result, how come one has been more controversial than the other?
