It’s National Masturbation Month, so we’re focusing on all things self-play and pleasure for May. As we delve deeper into this month, we’ve wondered how often we should masturbate. Is there a limit, or does it not exist? According to Dr. Jacqueline Sherman, a licensed clinical psychologist and certified intimacy and relationship coach, we should masturbate as much or as little as our heart (and vulva) desires.
She believes we get to decide the amount since pleasure is our birthright and a great way to feel empowered and connected to our body. Sherman also suggests making a masturbation self-care routine that works for you. When thinking of how to create a routine for your solo sex, consider adding this pleasurable experience to another self-care practice. This is a great way to prioritize masturbation while keeping it simple!
For example, if you journal twice a week before bed, consider adding masturbation to the end of this self-care ritual. Also, it is beneficial to self-reflect on your pleasure and masturbation goals when thinking about how often you should masturbate. Strategy is your friend when it comes to building sexual confidence, so you want to masturbate with purpose in mind.
If exploration is the goal/purpose: If you just purchased several sex toys to explore which kind feels most pleasurable for you, you may consider masturbating more frequently (i.e., 4-6x per week).
If stress reduction is the goal/purpose: If you plan to use masturbation to help relieve stress from work, you may want to masturbate every Friday night to release stress before the weekend gets started.
Some women can get hung up on how often they masturbate and wonder, Am I masturbating too much? I tell women that their masturbation practice is only problematic if it is causing them distress (emotional, physical, and/or psychological) and if it is negatively impacting them socially, interpersonally, or occupationally.