By Jankey Touray
Masturbation is a common desire and practice for many people. People often do it without the knowledge of its adverse consequences on their health and wellbeing.
It is actually the process of self-stimulation of the genitals to achieve sexual arousal and pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm.
It is commonly done by touching, stroking, or massaging the penis or clitoris until an orgasm is achieved. People masturbate for many reasons, these include pleasure, enjoyment, fun, and tension release. Experts and researchers in sexuality agree that masturbation is a completely normal process for human beings.
Masturbation probably has a bad reputation because it is an intensely private sexual behaviour which people hardly discuss even with the closest of friends.
Mustapha Badjie, a psychologist told The Fatu Network that a person who masturbates usually suffers from psychological problems and is vulnerable to mental illnesses.
“Scientists tend to claim that masturbation does not have any impact on human beings. However, if we look at certain psychological issues especially if we are to look at mental abnormalities, you will see that it falls under certain sexual disorders or neurotic behaviour from the neurosis part of the brain. Such could get you to a certain abnormal situation,” Badjie explained.
He said if an individual is used to masturbation, it can cause him or her to weaken their private parts due to the force of relaxation and compression through the push and pull of the penis and the use of specific artificial objects, fingers or hands.
Research has found that among adolescents, aged fourteen to seventeen globally, around seventy-four per cent of males and forty-eight per cent of females masturbate.
Among older adults, sixty-three per cent of men and thirty-three per cent of women between fifty-seven and sixty-four years masturbate.
