people have been demonizing it for most of the AD years i think but it’s quite pleasant really. are there any proven negative effects?

  • alekwithak@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    100
    ·
    5 months ago

    Christianity and capitalism. If it doesn’t make you feel guilty the Christians don’t like it and if you can provide it to yourself for free the capitalists don’t like it.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    91
    ·
    5 months ago

    So, like, for the bulk of history, the people demonizing it are religious assholes.

    They demonized sex out of wedlock, demonized wanking off; and any other kind of sexual release, while simultaneously deciding who you can marry (and therefore have kids with,).

    It’s one of their core methods of social control, ensuring wealth is only passed on to children of wealthy and “faithful” families.

    • Andy@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      5 months ago

      I posted a comment impulsively, then saw that you already gave the same answer better.

  • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    61
    ·
    5 months ago

    Ejaculation lower the risk of prostate cancer, so masturbation should probably be medically advised to all men.

    4-7 times a week is a good number according this study

  • frezik@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    49
    ·
    5 months ago

    Because you enjoy it. If you’re fixing your issues, it must be through pain and suffering. If it doesn’t involve pain and suffering, then it isn’t fixing your issues. The “Protestant work ethic” doesn’t come right out and say that, but it’s the implication.

    See also: denial of LSD and psilocybin for mental health purposes.

    • dustyData@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      5 months ago

      For the seminal analysis of this topics, there’s Max Weber’s book “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”. But it is really dry reading, so I would suggest finding some YouTube essay video that summarizes it.

  • boonhet@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    ·
    5 months ago

    Religion, capitalism. Powerful groups want more people to have more children.

    Luckily I’m in a progressive enough country that even in school we were taught that masturbation is a thing and not necessarily bad.

    As for negative effects - if you do it TOO much, particularly with a very strong grip, then don’t be surprised if, when having actual intercourse, you’re just not feeling much and might be unable to reach orgasm. You might even be uninterested in your partner sexually. A few days without masturbation will fix it though, doesn’t seem to be permanent. Day 2 without doing it and I couldn’t keep my eyes (or hands) off my wife’s body.

    Sex was very infrequent for me and my wife in the last few months of her pregnancy, so that’s how I know. Soon as we started doing it on a somewhat regular basis again, I opted to quit jerking it because I wanted to enjoy the real thing more, even if it’s not every single day. No long-term negative effects that I’ve noticed.

      • LazyBane@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 months ago

        A lot of the power users in this thread have clearly never heard of “sex sells”.

        Title

        Also non-zero chance some of these guys might have an association with Mindgeek. Just a hunch, given how easy reddit like sites are to manipulate.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        5 months ago

        It’s powered by there being enough of us wage slaves, which requires us to procreate, which is why red states in the US ban sex education, abortion, etc.

        Of course, other capitalists have realized they can show ads on porn

  • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    5 months ago

    These days mutual masterbation is better for your relationship than having kids. It’s not the kids fault, society has made having kids a nightmare.

    And of course the reason it is demonized is that any powerfull organization/society needs peoples shoulder to stand on. So, the more people, the more power. And they don’t really care if it was by rape due to sexual frustration, they just need more people to take advantage of.

  • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    5 months ago

    Same reason we practice forced male genital mutilation in the United States, religion (abrahamic) says pleasure is bad.

    • Hotmailer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      5 months ago

      What has circumcision to do with sexual pleasure? Please do explain. I’m circumcised and I have no loss of sensation from not having foreskin. I also don’t have a moist area for bacteria to multiply

      • Mike D.@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        5 months ago

        Where you circumcized after you became sexually active?

        If not, how would you know there is no loss?

          • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            5 months ago

            There are people that were circumcized after becoming sexually active who can (and do) report exactly that.

            Separately, we can simply ask people that have foreskins to describe the sensations they feel from that body part.

            The only part that we can’t say with confidence is how the neutral pathways develop (i.e. how we perceive the sensations) when it’s the only way we’ve ever experienced.

      • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        5 months ago

        I also don’t have a moist area for bacteria to multiply

        If only you could wash yourself.

  • LazyBane@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    Easy dopamine isn’t a good thing. Dopamine is finite but renewable, so if you run through all your dopamine on easy hits your going to end up having motivational issues.

    And if your constantly chasing short term Dopamine hits your brain is going to adjust to seek behavours that give instant gratification over somthing that’s just as rewarding, more productive for your personal or professional life, but takes longer to get that dopamine.

    By all means deal with your libido in anyway that doesn’t hurt the people around you, but maybe retiring the wankers cramp for a bit might do you good once in a while.

    • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      5 months ago

      if you run through all your dopamine on easy hits your going to end up having motivational

      That sounds very scientific, do you have some sources like peer reviewed and reproducable studies from credible universities?

      • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 months ago

        The most relevant to this discussion would be around “porn-induced erectile dysfunction”. If you Google that phrase, you will find lots of studies and results.

        • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          So you’re making shit up, gotcha

          EDIT : “Google it lol” isn’t a citation. It’s right up there with “it came to me in a dream”

          • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            5 months ago

            While I agree that it’s not exactly the same, there is a lot of overlap. It’s also more complicated than the OP presented.

            Since everyone here is refusing to do even a basic search, here is one on the first page of Google results.

            An individual’s response to natural rewards, such as sex, is largely regulated by the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, which receives excitatory and inhibitory input from other limbic structures and the prefrontal cortex [64]. Erections are dependent upon activation of dopaminergic neurons in VTA and dopamine receptors in the NAc [65,66]. Excitatory glutamate inputs from other limbic structures (amygdala, hippocampus) and the prefrontal cortex facilitate dopaminergic activity in the VTA and NAc [62]. Reward responsive dopamine neurons also project into the dorsal striatum, a region activated during sexual arousal and penile tumescence [67]. Dopamine agonists, such as apomorphine, have been shown to induce erection in men with both normal and impaired erectile function [68]. Thus, dopamine signaling in the reward system and hypothalamus plays a central role in sexual arousal, sexual motivation and penile erections [65,66,69].

            We propose that chronic Internet pornography use resulted in erectile dysfunction and delayed ejaculation in our servicemen reported above. We hypothesize an etiology arising in part from Internet pornography-induced alterations in the circuits governing sexual desire and penile erections. Both hyper-reactivity to Internet pornography cues via glutamate inputs and downregulation of the reward system’s response to normal rewards may be involved. These two brain changes are consistent with chronic overconsumption of both natural rewards and drugs of abuse, and are mediated by dopamine surges in the reward system [70,71,72].

            […]partnered sex no longer met their conditioned expectations and no longer triggered the release of sufficient dopamine to produce and sustain erections

            The word dopamine appears 54 times in this article, and overall seems to agree with the OP.

            Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5039517/

      • LazyBane@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        5 months ago

        I was going mostly off how I’ve delt with addictive behavours in my life and how casualised therapists like Healthy Gamer explain how dopamine works.

        It’s also worth noting that this user also posted about lacking motivation to even play video games at this point, which if they’re using masterbation as an easy dopamine crutch it could explain where there motivation to do anything else is going.

        But yeah, I didn’t prepare academic level citations for my lemmy post I made during a lull at work.

  • NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    5 months ago

    I think the simpler answer is, you are so right, it barely has to be valorized. It sells itself.

    I think the long answer is that porn addiction is a real thing that can affect people. Also lots of people in charge of things like sex education have historically been prudes who see masturbation as some sort of gateway to promiscuity.

    Orgasms are normal, healthy and necessary.

  • Noodle07@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    5 months ago

    We should create a community about that, so we can tell the world how great it was.

    I personally just did it it and it was great guys, hope you like hearing about it

    • psion1369@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      5 months ago

      I did it twice today. The second time wasn’t as epic, but damn was the one this morning great.