Is intense sexual stimulation tied to unnatural modern conditions?
Lots of animals masturbate, but none with the intensity and ejaculation frequency of human males—except when in captivity (according to Leonard Shlain, MD).
The current theory is that we humans masturbate more because we can fantasize. A related assumption is that our rather manic masturbation has gone on for as long as we’ve been human—except when temporarily suppressed by unnatural forces, such as religious or social constraints. From these two assumptions follows a third: that fantasy is a natural, healthy adjunct to, or even sine qua non of, a fulfilling sex life.
Certainly fantasy facilitates frequent orgasm, just as sex toys and pornography do. Yet does our capacity to fantasize (which may, or may not be unique to humans) fully account for our masturbation and fantasy marathons?
I recently eavesdropped on a cyber exchange among some thoughtful men with lots of experience masturbating and fantasizing. The points they raised led me to do a bit of historical sleuthing, which I’ll share below their remarks.
First guy
Fact is, we have no way of knowing how much people masturbated in the past, although it is certain that they sometimes did. Today’s experts mistake modern conditions for “natural conditions.” They see a lot of people (especially men) masturbating a lot, and look for explanations outside the social structure we’re raised in. To analyze this structure objectively, they’d have to set aside some of their beliefs about the desirability of living in a 24/7 porn universe. Like the fish in the fishbowl that never question the fact that they swim in water, they don’t question their assumptions that porn is “progressive,” and so forth. They analyze based on ideological beliefs in the benefits of unlimited masturbation (the opposite of those old prudes who held the view that it was always bad).
Some researchers have been surprised to find so little masturbation among other primates. Said one such animal researcher, Gilbert Van Tassel Hamilton,
Of all my male monkeys only Jocko has been observed to masturbate. After a few days confinement he would masturbate and eat part of his semen. I have reason to believe that he lived under unnatural conditions for many years before I acquired him.
Notice how confinement is a condition of Jocko’s behavior. I submit that today we are living under some seriously “unnatural conditions!” Could they be contributing to all this “natural fantasy” as well as to the admission by ninety percent of the population that they masturbate? When everyone nods in assent that “boys will be boys” and masturbation is totally “natural,” kind of like apple pie, it makes the influence of our captivity on our behavior invisible.
I number among my friends some captive primates housed in miserable conditions, such as extremely high unemployment, lack of basic medical care, attacks on their basic standard of living, a barrage of high stress propaganda detailing environmental degradation and war, leaving people feeling helpless, a racist system of economic segregation, the general degradation of women and the sexual exploitation of children…Need I go on? No wonder everyone is addicted to something!
We are all in some ways like those “captive primates,” and that’s even excluding the 2.5 million people who actually are captives in America’s gigantic prison system. These “natural conditions” remain completely unquestioned. Yet these and other factors should be considered especially relevant to the discussion of people who admit that heavy porn use is a problem for them.
Second guy
The greatest damage to my marriage occurred precisely when my ‘masturbatory fantasy training’ was at its most extreme. I actually impaired my ability to engage with the consensus reality (including my own nude wife in front of me). During intercourse, I could picture her doing exactly the things I desired. The only element of the fantasy that prevented it from being completely disjoint with reality was her body. In total opposition to the view that sexual fantasy enhances sex, only when I eliminated fantasy from sex could I desire my wife as she is. In the bad old days of my fantastic folly, as I used her essentially for a masturbatory aid, she would often ask me, “What are you thinking about?” And I would lie, “Oh, nothing really.”
Over the past two years, as I relentlessly uprooted my sexual fantasies, there has been an immense shift. I get highly aroused by touching. My wife still asks me what I think about during sex, but now when I respond that I am not thinking, I say only the truth. As I improve my ability to keep fantasy out of my consciousness, my marriage is progressively more successful. If the activity in the mind is given ultimate legitimacy, then it is improbable that physical circumstances will conform to the mental image. The result is fundamental dissatisfaction with one’s situation.
As far as our sexual habits go, the position that modern human behavior is the only possible human behavior pattern is horribly flawed. Nearly every one of us lives in captivity, often voluntarily, but in captivity nonetheless. We lock ourselves inside at night. We may not be locked inside during the day, but the doors don’t even need locks because we are thoroughly conditioned to remain confined at work until released from thrall.
After work, we can do more or less as we like (rec-room time), but the array of acceptable activities is highly constrained for most people: television, eating, grooming, family interactions, non-electronic escapism (art, bars, rat-wheel exercise, attempting to hook-up), electronic escapism, and sex. Moreover, we have only ~8 hours in which to explore ‘freedom.’ We feed ourselves, talk to each other, pleasure ourselves, and then it’s time to repeat the sleep-work-play cycle.
On perhaps six occasions during the last few years, I’ve had the luxury of living outside this cycle for ~2 weeks at a time. As far as I can tell, this kind of activity would be consistent with prehistoric patterns: self-determined schedules, close quarters living with family and acquaintances, little privacy. There was considerable hard physical labor involved as well, which I suspect would approximate subsistence activities. My frequent sexual behavior nearly disappears. Instead of 4 orgasms per week, I had 0 to 2 orgasms in two weeks, and did not use porn.
Obviously ‘more studies need to be done’ and my ‘sample size is too small to draw any real conclusions,’ but all the same, I’m now looking for a strategy to increase my freedom rather than my orgasms.
Third guy
Imagination of course is a marvelous asset, but like all tools, it can be used for good or for bad. Fantasy based on pornography is bad for mental, spiritual and physical health because of the stress it puts us under in the long run. Craving the unattainable is just hollow, stressful and unsatisfying.
Did the march of civilization change sex habits?
Curious about mankind’s historical habits, I delved into Thomas W. Laqueur’s Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation. There I learned that observers of the eighteenth century referred to compulsions, including excessive masturbation, as “diseases of civilization.” Apparently they were uncommon until Europeans moved away from extended families into cities with unnatural levels of confinement and isolation.
For the first time in history, stimulants (and stimuli), old and new, also became widely available: tobacco, chocolate, rum, gambling, shopping, financial speculation, pornography and novels about passionate romance. The word “addiction” now appeared in the English language. And compulsive masturbation gained traction.
Obviously, masturbation wasn’t a new idea, but, prior to the eighteenth century, no one saw a bit of self-pleasuring as likely to bloom into an intrusive habit, except for the occasional sexually segregated cleric. Now, however, people were becoming hooked on all sorts of behaviors that were not serving them, single-minded pursuit of orgasm included. Such compulsions were unfamiliar and scary because they were not easy to overcome.
Eighteenth-century observers pointed to the distinction between sex with a person, and sex with one’s imagination. The participation of a partner naturally set a brake on sexual behavior in the form of partner availability, family demands, financial constraints, or the burden of arranging trysts. Do-it-yourself sex, on the other hand, had no inherent limit, and could more easily become a demanding habit. Intercourse based on “natural needs” (and mutual agreement) was thought to be more beneficial than orgasm produced with fantasy or other self-stimulation. (Incidentally, the work of psychologist Stuart Brody seems to confirm that intercourse is more soothing and beneficial than solo sex.)
Excessive masturbation was by no means the only habit-forming enticement causing new levels of distress, but it was the easiest for children to stumble into. Not surprisingly, fears about excessive masturbation were first publicized in regard to kids in boarding schools. These children were no doubt already anxious due to unnatural confinement and deprivation of contact with families and peers of the opposite sex.
Yet how to explain the risk of an escalating habit to kids? There was no conception of the brain science of addiction. Instead, kids were admonished to avoid “self-pollution.” Tragically, generations of children were raised to view the search for relief from sexual urges via masturbation as a moral failing, rather than as a normal inclination (especially given their stressful circumstances), which merits foresighted management.
The entanglement of masturbation with morality was wrong; shame is destructive. However, both this historical approach and today’s backlash frustrate a relaxed, inquiring attitude about masturbation—one which would permit us to find a healthy balance without fear that we risk unhealthy sexual repression.
Do we need a different strategy?
Given the cultural history of masturbation, it seems likely that humans didn’t generally rely on frequent climax and sexual fantasy for mood-altering relief—until they found themselves in aberrant circumstances. Might today’s nonstop pursuit of orgasm be an attempt to self-medicate in the face of stressful conditions that our brains have not evolved to handle well? One Canadian addiction expert doesn’t think we’ll ever touch the problem of addiction until we develop (return to?) a viable culture.
Neurohistorian Daniel Lord Smail points out that one can view the entire history of civilization as an accelerating trend toward greater use of mood-altering (psychotropic) substances and activities, including shopping sprees and gorging on empty calories. Pursuit of frequent, sex-aid-enhanced orgasm is but one of many—although a particularly compelling one.
Both our tendency to self-medicate and the stressfulness of today’s circumstances appear to be accelerating rather than leading us to contentment. If so, are we wise to assume peace of mind lies in more frequent climaxing to ever more potent stimuli? Recent research suggests this course may, in fact, be futile. Extreme stimuli can make satisfaction increasingly elusive because of their power to numb the brain’s pleasure response.
Might greater contentment lie in learning to steer for neurochemical (and therefore emotional) balance—even under difficult modern conditions? The impulse to self-medicate appears to be less urgent when we find ways to meet the fundamental requirements of our brains, which evolved to keep us in balance when we weren’t in captivity. For example, research shows that exercise, friendly interaction, touch, pair bonds, and daily meditation are surprisingly effective as mood regulators and anti-stress measures. And what about ancient techniques for careful management of sexual desire itself?
THREAD ON REDDIT – “You know how masturbation is related to captivity?”
We’ve all heard about how animals DO masturbate in nature, but at nowhere near the frequency at which they do it when in captivity. It makes total sense, and I think that the ‘captivity’ effect makes NoFap exponentially harder than it would be in nature.
I have had two distinct periods in my NoFap- before school started (I’m a high school senior), and after. During the summer, I went 31 days and felt NO actual urge to fap. It is almost hard to describe- it’s like there was just no need for it.
Once school started, however, the stress and immense sexual frustration brought me to my knees until I have fapped 4 times in the past 2 weeks. It’s really mind-boggling how unnatural the high school environment (the workplace environment is also very unnatural) is- there are all kinds of attractive girls all around me, but society dictates to me that I really can’t do anything that my instincts tell me. In nature (like pre-hunter gatherer nature), I could straight up ask various girls if they want to have sex, and if she said no, I would move on with no trouble and never see her again. Needless to say, high school does not work like that. Add in all the bizarre, borderline surreal when you really think about them high school scenarios (being forced to study things in which you have no interest [STEM person, words don’t describe how much I dislike English lit classes], having to do awkward projects for no reason, having to stay calm and unaffected near girls when EVERY instinct tells you to do the opposite, being with people whom you don’t like for no real reason, etc), and it’s easy to see why something like masturbation can be such a powerful coping mechanism for people in such bizarre, unnatural circumstances that are literal captivity for all intents and purposes.
Contrast the school/workplace environment with how I lived my summer: I operated on my own schedule, I read what I was interested in, I learned what I was motivated to learn, I wasn’t pressured into doing unnecessary projects and presentations, etc. I lived what could be described as a (incredibly cushy version of a) ‘natural’ lifestyle- no being cooped up in desks, being destroyed by sexual frustration, or dealing with the pointlessness of the public school system. And guess what? I felt no urge to have sex with myself at all until I went back into my zoo exhibit.
All of this really, really makes me question the popular assumption that masturbation is ‘natural’. It’s very, very natural only in unnatural circumstances.
From same thread
This is a remarkably insightful post, and perhaps the most relevant I have seen. My experience as a high school student bears uncanny resemblance. I too feel like high school is a very unnatural environment. In a way, we are institutionalized by the public school system. Prison inmates become institutionalized in a similar way, however the effects are more extreme (watch The Shawshank Redemption.) My social skills are greatly hindered during the school year (I become more introverted and reclusive simply because that is the way I am trained to behave around my peers.) I am constantly in some state of stress or panic. I am considerably more lazy and unmotivated. School enters my body into a state of constant depression and anxiety. Some people function almost normally during the school year; not me. But over the summer, I can feel my body almost “repairing” itself. I become more like my “natural” self. I see a select few whom I am comfortable with/enjoy the company of. I am more confident, more energetic, free to play the piano, read whatever the hell I want, stay up late if I feel like it…I discover my interests, dislikes, ambitions and shortcomings. My intellectual nature shines during the summer.
One day I discovered nofap, next thing you know I’m eating better, exercising, making new friends, meeting girls, playing music, watching my favorite movies, genuinely learning (not the bullshit learning that takes place during school) and just fucking enjoying life. By the way, I’m a high school senior just like yourself, so I’m glad to see that us grade-schoolers can be just as insightful as adults redditors. (even though, you know, the majority of redditors hate us)
Also see:
- Men: Does Frequent Ejaculation Cause A Hangover?
- Rethinking the Wonders of Adult Masturbation – Reconsider these five popular myths about solo sex
NOTE: YBOP is not saying that masturbation bad for you. Just making the point that many of the so-called health benefits claimed to be associated with orgasm or masturbation are in fact associated with close contact with another human being, not orgasm/masturbation. More specifically, claimed correlations between a few isolated health indicators and orgasm (if true) are probably just correlations arising from healthier populations that naturally engage in more sex and masturbation. They are not causal. Relevant studies:
The Relative Health Benefits of Different Sexual Activities (2010) found that sexual intercourse was related to positive effects, while masturbation was not. In some cases masturbation was negatively related to health benefits – meaning that more masturbation correlated with poorer health indicators. The conclusion of the review:
“Based upon a broad range of methods, samples, and measures, the research findings are remarkably consistent in demonstrating that one sexual activity (Penile-Vaginal Intercourse and the orgasmic response to it) is associated with, and in some cases, causes processes associated with better psychological and physical functioning.”
“Other sexual behaviors (including when Penile-Vaginal Intercourse is impaired, as with condoms or distraction away from the penile–vaginal sensations) are unassociated, or in some cases (such as masturbation and anal intercourse) inversely associated with better psychological and physical functioning.”
“Sexual medicine, sex education, sex therapy, and sex research should disseminate details of the health benefits of specifically Penile-Vaginal Intercourse, and also become much more specific in their respective assessment and intervention practices.”
Also see this short review of masturbation and health indices: Masturbation is Related to Psychopathology and Prostate Dysfunction: Comment on Quinsey (2012)
It is difficult to reconcile the view that masturbation improves mood with the findings in both sexes that greater masturbation frequency is associated with more depressive symptoms (Cyranowski et al., 2004; Frohlich & Meston, 2002;Husted&Edwards, 1976), less happiness (Das, 2007), and several other indicators of poorer physical and mental health, which include anxious attachment (Costa & Brody, 2011),immature psychological defense mechanisms, greater blood pressure reactivity to stress, and dissatisfaction with one’s mental health and life in general (for a review, see Brody, 2010). It is equally difficult to see how masturbation develops sexual interests, when greater masturbation frequency is so often associated with impaired sexual function in men(Brody& Costa, 2009; Das, Parish, & Laumann, 2009; Gerressu, Mercer, Graham, Wellings, & Johnson, 2008; Lau, Wang, Cheng, & Yang, 2005; Nutter & Condron, 1985) and women (Brody &Costa, 2009;Das et al., 2009;Gerressu et al., 2008;Lau,Cheng, Wang, & Yang, 2006; Shaeer, Shaeer, & Shaeer, 2012;Weiss& Brody, 2009). Greater masturbation frequency is also associated with more dissatisfaction with relationships and less love for partners (Brody, 2010; Brody & Costa, 2009). In contrast, PVI is very consistently related to better health (Brody, 2010; Brody & Costa, 2009; Brody &Weiss, 2011; Costa & Brody, 2011, 2012), better sexual function (Brody & Costa, 2009; Brody & Weiss, 2011; Nutter & Condron, 1983, 1985;Weiss&Brody, 2009), and better intimate relationship quality (Brody, 2010; Brody & Costa, 2009; Brody &Weiss, 2011).
Moreover, although less risk of prostate cancer was associated with greater number of ejaculations (without specification of the sexual behavior) (Giles et al., 2003) [Note conflicting evidence, however: “Prostate cancer may be linked to sex hormones: Men who are more sexually active in their 20s and 30s may run a higher risk of prostate cancer, research suggests.”], it is PVI frequency that is specifically associated with reduced risk, whereas masturbation frequency is more often related to increased risk (for a review on the subject, see Brody,2010). In this regard, it is interesting to note that masturbation is also associated with other problems of the prostate (higher prostate specific antigen levels and swollen or tender prostate) and, compared with the ejaculate obtained from PVI, the ejaculate obtained from masturbation has markers of poorer prostatic function and lesser elimination of waste products (Brody, 2010). The only sexual behavior consistently related to better psychological and physical health is PVI. In contrast, masturbation is frequently associated with indices of poorer health (Brody, 2010; Brody & Costa, 2009; Brody & Weiss, 2011; Costa & Brody, 2011, 2012). There are several possible psychological and physiological mechanisms, which are a likely consequence of natural selection favoring health processes as cause and/or effect of motivation to search for, and capacity to obtain and enjoy, PVI. In contrast, selection of psychobiological mechanisms rewarding motivation to masturbate is unlikely due to the severe fitness costs that would occur if it deterred one from PVI by making it irrelevant for well-being (Brody, 2010). More plausibly, masturbation represents some failure of the mechanisms of sexual drive and intimate relatedness, however common it may be, and even if not uncommonly it coexists with access to PVI. In this regard, it is noteworthy that greater masturbation frequency is associated with dissatisfaction with several aspects of life independently of PVI frequency (Brody& Costa, 2009) and seems to diminish some benefits of PVI (Brody, 2010).
Finally see this PDF – Social, Emotional, and Relational Distinctions in Patterns of Recent Masturbation Among Young Adults (2014)
“So, how happy are respondents who masturbate recently when compared with those who have not? Figure 5 reveals that among those respondents who reported being “very unhappy” with their life these days, 68 percent of women and 84 percent of men said they had masturbated within the past week. The modest association with unhappiness appears linear among men, but not women. Our point is not to suggest that masturbation makes people unhappy. It may, but the cross-sectional nature of the data does not allow us to evaluate this. However, it is empirically accurate to say that men who claim to be happy are somewhat less apt to report masturbating recently than unhappy men.”
“Masturbation is also associated with reporting feelings of inadequacy or fear in relationships and difficulties in navigating interpersonal relationships successfully. Past-day and past-week masturbators exhibit significantly higher relationship anxiety scale scores than do respondents who did not report masturbating in the past day or in the past week. Past-day and past-week masturbators exhibit significantly higher relationship anxiety scale scores than do respondents who did not report masturbating in the past day or in the past week.”
;