According to the Kinsey Survey around 90% of men have masturbated by the time they turn 30. You’d think with how popular the act of masturbation is, there wouldn’t be the amount of downright ridiculous myths related to masturbation that there are. However, that’s far from the truth. Masturbation for penis owners comes with no short amount of myths that only add to the shame and stigma around the act. From blindness, baldness, unfaithfulness to insanity- masturbation has been cited as a cause for a whole bunch of bizarre conditions. We’ve rounded up the usual suspects. Read on for the top myths about male masturbation that we’ve debunked below.
Masturbation makes you blind
This one of the oldest and most popular myths about male masturbation. It’s obvious enough but we’re here to tell you anyway: No, masturbation cannot make you blind.
Masturbation causes hair loss
The notion behind this myth is that the protein released in semen causes a depletion of protein in your body consequently causing a depletion of protein for your hair follicles. Confused? You’re not the only one!
Unfortunately that’s not the only theory behind the myth. Another one states that since masturbation can increase testosterone it can also cause an increase in dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is a hormone responsible for male pattern baldness.
None of these theories are true and scientifically backed. The amount of protein that is released during masturbating is next to negligible. Even if you were to masturbate for an inhumanly long time, it wouldn’t cause protein depletion in your body. Research also indicates that testosterone levels actually see a slight drop after masturbation.
Masturbation reduces your penis size
Here’s yet another masturbation myth that has to do with testosterone levels. This time, it has to do with the decrease in the hormone. Some people believe that too much masturbation leads to a decrease in testosterone that then causes the penis to shrink.
Needless to say this isn’t true. If it were, sex would also cause a shrink in penis size. The size of your penis and erection is only determined by your genes and your health and lifestyle choices.
Masturbation can decrease your sperm count
Masturbation does not have any effect on your sperm count and cannot cause infertility. It is true that if you ejaculate back to back the volume of semen released the second time is slightly lower than the first. However that is not a long term effect and simply means that your body takes a while to generate semen.
Masturbation causes erectile dysfunction
This is one of the most widespread beliefs about masturbation. It’s the result of a misunderstanding of the refractory period. After experiencing an orgasm, both penis owners and vulva owners experience a resolution stage known as the refractory period. In this stage, our bodies “recover” from sexual arousal and return to their previous states. The penis turns flaccid again as penis owners go through the refractory period. Younger penis owners may need only a few minutes to recover and be ready for sexual arousal again, but older penis owners usually take a longer time, sometimes even between 12 to 24 hours.
Masturbating while you’re in a relationship is wrong
When people think of masturbation, they usually think of single people.
Masturbating while you’re in a relationship is often seen as a sign of sexual dissatisfaction or something being wrong. Few people even equate their partners’ masturbating to being as bad as cheating. However, that’s not necessarily true. It’s not just common but also perfectly healthy for both men and women to engage in a little solo time when they’re in a relationship. In fact masturbation proves that your partner shouldn’t be solely responsible for your pleasure and orgasms and can help take a lot of pressure off the bedroom activities, making them more fun. Mutual masturbation by couples in a relationship is the hot new trend in town and everyone’s hopping on it, so why shouldn’t you!
Got any more myths for us to debunk? You can leave them in the comments below!
