Basic Types of Sexual  Behavior

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.

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.