May is National Masturbation Month!

Let Us Salute Former SG Joycelyn Elders with a Happy Rub or Tug.

Masturbation. The ultimate victimless sex act. Good for us. Easier to schedule than a date although not necessarily less expensive, depending on whether we use our hands or something more exotic. Educational. No risk of pregnancy or a new STI. It’s relaxing, healthy, and normal, but it’s also still a natural function that too many of us are ashamed of enjoying. When U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders dared suggest in 1994 before the United Nations conference on AIDS that it might be good to include information about masturbation in sex ed classes so students could understand that there are alternatives to riskier behavior, then-President Bill Clinton fired her.

Although Elders had told the conference that “I feel that we have tried ignorance for a long time and it’s time to try education,” more delicate members of the U.S. public and government felt differently. So, the first African American woman to serve as Surgeon General and frankly address the social issues facing her country and the globe lost the support of the White House. Little did Elders or Clinton know that they had inspired a movement of masturbators.

San Francisco sex toy shop Good Vibrations proclaimed May 7, 1995, as the first National Masturbation Day to promote Elders’ philosophy of greater sexual knowledge, especially concerning self-pleasure. Soon after, it expanded to an entire month. In 1998, those so inclined were encouraged to solicit donations from friends in exchange for time masturbated. Funds raised were donated to charities that promoted women’s health, HIV prevention and treatment, sexual education, and the like.

Then, in 1999, things got more personal and high-profile. Good Vibrations, in association with Open Enterprises, its parent company, brought the Masturbate-a-Thon out of the privacy of people’s homes and into the San Francisco Campus Theater. Staff sexologist and renowned sex writer Carol Queen and her partner Robert Lawrence hosted the first live and in-person Masturbate-a-Thon.

Representing the education-based non-profit Center for Sex and Culture, the duo raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity while building sex-positive community, combating shame and taboos surrounding solo sex, encouraging education about self-love, and emphasizing the safe and healthy practice of masturbation as a viable alternative to unprotected or minimally protected shared oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse. The SF Masturbate-a-thon also bestowed prizes upon participants who raised the most money, had the most orgasms, self-stimulated the longest, etc.

Using the phrase “Come for a Cause,” the San Francisco ‘Thon’s influence became felt throughout the country. Toys in Babeland (now Babeland), A Woman’s Touch, Come As You Are, and Grand Opening all began to host Masturbation Month events. I was fortunate enough to attend the first landed Masturbate-a-Thon in San Francisco and left the party no better at masturbating in front of people but filled with ideas about how to translate the event into a uniquely Portland costume-themed Darklady fundraiser with money going to related causes including the CSC, Free Speech Coalition, National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, and Woodhull Foundation.

While the definition of “masturbation” varies depending upon the Masturbate-a-Thon in question, mine being the black sheep of the bunch, anti-masturbation activists agree about what it is and that it needs to stop. The NoFap movement encourages its followers, mostly men, to abstain from self-stimulation for 90 days and combine that with no consumption of pornography to avoid what they call porn-induced erectile dysfunction (PIED).

Masturbation, opponents claim, destroys marriages, lowers testosterone levels, and is a sin. Fortunately, there are plenty of NoFap support groups, accountability teams, personal coaches, porn addiction recovery programs, and extremely expensive rehab centers and retreats. Sociologist Kelsy Burke told NPR that in addition to the mental, emotional, and financial damage suffered by those deep into the anti-masturbation movement, a strong undercurrent of misogyny and anger, especially toward female sex workers. They are seen as “the source of temptation and… frankly, ruining men’s lives.”

Unsurprisingly, far-right groups and individuals all condemn pornography and masturbation.

Sadly, the economy has priced out most, if not all, of the Masturbate-a-Thons, including the San Francisco event. Thanks to gentrification, the cost to rent a venue, assuming you can even find a venue open to multiple people masturbating openly in it, has become prohibitive. Queen and Lawrence's San Francisco Masturbate-a-Thon raised tens of thousands of dollars for good causes between 1998 and 2003. Portland’s 11^th and final ‘Thon was a house party in 2011.

The good news is that May is still National Masturbation month. Heck, it’s International Masturbation month now. That’s part of Queen and Lawrence's enduring legacy. There are an enormous variety of feel-good sex toys available ranging from affordable to luxury for both men and women.

Whether we gather and masturbate collectively or do it at home on our own, this is the month to do it with pride and for pleasure. After all, it’s one of the few things we can do that is both good for us and feels good to do. If you need encouragement, donate to a sex-positive charity and “Come for a Cause!”