性行為的基本類型

自娛：普通的行為

在一些醫學教科書裏，自娛被看作是青春期幾乎專有的性活動。的確，我們確信對於許多十幾歲的青少年來說，自娛是最為普及的性活動方式，甚至是唯一的性釋放方式。可是，這並不意味著它是人的性發展早期的典型特徵，也並不意味著它只有在青春期才是“合適的”方式。它只不過意味著青少年沒有足夠的機會參與性交。實際上，許多成年人也會自娛，而且包括已婚夫妻在內。已婚者會有自娛的事實本身並不說明婚姻關係狀態如何。一位丈夫或一位妻子除了他們有規律的性交生活以外，也許只是喜歡這種行為。老年男女當獨居時、或當伴侶患病時、體弱時、或由於一些原因難有伴侶相伴時，也可能在自娛中重新得到極大的樂趣。在這些和其它許多案例裏，自娛可能是性交的替代方式，它緩解身心緊張、鍛煉身體和激發想像力，並且維持個人性能力的活力。最後要說的一點是，自娛對於那些有一些殘障者，可能是一種重要的性釋放途徑。對於他們來說，一些現今可利用的機械的或電動的自娛輔助工具可能會證明尤其有好處。

自娛與婚內性交的年度頻率統計

C.先生是一位歐洲男人，已婚，育有兩子女，從兒童期到67歲為止，他記錄下了他的性活動。正如這兩條曲線所示，自娛（紅色曲線）曾經是他婚前僅有的性釋放途徑，並且持續到婚姻期並伴有婚內性交（藍色曲線）。C先生的行為也許是或也許不是典型的案例。不過，這張曲線圖的確顯示了男性性能力在青春期來臨時的典型的高漲程度。

Annual frequency of masturbation and marital intercourse
Mr. C., a European man, married with two children, recorded his sexual activities from childhood to age 67.
As the two curves show, masturbation (red) was his only outlet before marriage and continued along with his
marital intercourse (blue). Mr. C’s behavior may or may not be typical. However, the graph does show the
typical height of male sexual capacity shortly after puberty.

1. Sexual Self-stimulation: Masturbation

A Common Activity

In some medical textbooks masturbation is seen almost exclusively as an adolescent activity. Indeed, we know that for many teenagers masturbation is the most common or even the only sexual outlet. However, this does not mean that it is typical for the earlier phases of human sexual development and that it is "appropriate" only during adolescence. It simply means that adolescents do not have sufficient opportunity for sexual intercourse. In actual fact, many adults also masturbate, and this includes married couples. The fact alone that a married person masturbates says nothing about the marital relationship. A husband or a wife may simply enjoy the practice in addition to their regular sexual intercourse. Older men and women may also find themselves regaining great interest in masturbation when they live alone, or when their partners are sick, weak, or unavailable for some other reason. In these and many other cases, masturbation can be a substitute for sexual intercourse which relieves tension, exercises the body, stimulates the imagination, and keeps the sexual capacities alive. Finally, masturbation may be an important sexual outlet for people with certain disabilities. For them, some of the now available mechanical or electrical masturbation aids may prove particularly helpful.