Masturbation, in earlier times, was considered a mortal sin, an
act to attain self-pleasure. It was treated negatively in many
parts of the world and considered as a major threat to human
survival. There were renowned philosophers like Voltaire and
Rousseau who condemned masturbation to such an extent that they
actually propagated that it was the reason and cause for numerous
diseases. By the time the nineteenth century was coming to an end,
medical practitioners started believing that it was masturbation
practices that were the root cause of serious illnesses such as
neurosis and neurasthenia. Ultimately, they not only punished those
who indulged in masturbation, but they also told them to inculcate
a restrictive diet and instructed them to learn and hone the art of
self-control! In the mid-twentieth century, doctors in the US and
Europe starting perceiving masturbation in a new light as
psychiatrists and psychologists introduced a new, broader opinion
on this sensitive subject. The Kinsey reports gave masturbation a
new meaning when they revealed the large number of people
abandoning themselves to the urge to masturbate. By the time we
were in the 1970s and 1980s, scientific researchers changed the
world’s entire perception about masturbation, compelling people to
treat it as a normal daily function like eating a meal or sleeping.
The stigma that it was an illness or a cause for fostering diseases
was blown away, but still, people felt there was nothing positive
about involving oneself in the act of masturbation.
Coming to the present scenario, masturbation is now, nothing
remotely close to the term insanity, as it was treated to be
earlier. People have come to realize that masturbation is a natural
process, an act of self-gratification, a need to release oneself
sexually, a method of enjoying an orgasm at your own will, with
your own hands. It is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals,
a way to sexually arouse yourself. Men and women alike, enjoy the
act of masturbation, sometimes because they are living at a
distance from their partners, sometimes because they are single,
sometimes because their partner does not satisfy them to the
fullest extent, and also because masturbating seems as essential to
them as visiting the bathroom. Masturbation is a non-productive
sexual behavior, and in many relationships, it is appreciated as
your partner may not be as sexually active and instantly aroused as
you are, so he or she may prefer you to masturbate once in a while.
This act is also good for sexual health, it encourages relational
affinity and togetherness, and it even helps reduce unwanted
pregnancies as it is a non-productive act. Nonetheless, even today,
men and women may both actually find intense pleasure in the act of
masturbation but they aren't willing to accept it openly as this
act carries with it a social stigma so strong that people are still
confused as to whether they should give weightage to the pleasure
they derive from doing it or the stigma that it is associated
with.
Masturbation can be a big stress reliever, it can promote concentration and charge your mood. It helps in improving sexual intercourse and reduces pain. Unbelievably, it also helps you sleep better! If you're a woman bearing strong menstrual cramps, masturbating can help you reduce the cramps to a great extent. As far as I am concerned, though I know the benefits of masturbation, I have never been a very big fan of this act. I personally feel that if you have a sound sexual relationship with your partner, you can both satisfy each other and enjoy the intimacy together, rather than doing it alone. For those who feel the need to do it more than the usual average number of times, masturbation is a great tension reliever and should be taken up for self-pleasure.
https://daily.jstor.org/a-brief-history-of-masturbation/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49810277_The_Role_of_Masturbation_in_Healthy_Sexual_Development_Perceptions_of_Young_Adults
Subject: Psychology of Human Sexuality Discuss historical and present attitudes about masturbation, how this behavior affects...