# Catholics and Female Masturbation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2006, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134 "2006-08-10T08:34:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/41 "2006-08-13T16:02:57Z")
Thread about masturbation becomes thread about grammar. Only on the SDMB. 😛 Re: the OP, I’m afraid I have nothing to add, being neither female nor Catholic, but I couldn’t resist saying that. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/42 "2006-08-13T19:10:52Z")
[QUOTE=Dervorin] Thread about masturbation becomes thread about grammar. Only on the SDMB. 😛 [/QUOTE] WooHoooo! I’m grammarcating like a motherfuck! ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/43 "2006-08-13T20:05:42Z")
(genuflect, genuflect, genuflect.) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/44 "2006-08-13T21:48:39Z")
[QUOTE=Dervorin] Thread about masturbation becomes thread about grammar. [/QUOTE] Of course, a thread that’s about grammar from the beginning is, by definition, already masturbatory. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/45 "2006-08-13T21:55:53Z")
[QUOTE=Dervorin] Thread about masturbation becomes thread about grammar. Only on the SDMB. 😛 [/QUOTE] [Accidence](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/accidence) will happen. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/46 "2006-08-14T05:27:48Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] The other justification I have heard from anti-masturbationists (the very thought - shudder) is God said “Go forth and multiply” in Genesis, and masturbation means you ain’t multiplying. [/QUOTE] Somewhere I still have B.C. comic strip from 20+ years ago (when it was still funny). B.C. reads from book sitting on a rock, “Go forth and multiply.” He then says: “I don’t even know what I’m doing, and I’m batting cleanup?” Ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/47 "2006-08-14T05:52:59Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Of course, a thread that’s about grammar from the beginning is, by definition, already masturbatory. 😉 [/QUOTE] Hey! Leave my grammar out of this. She’s a sweet old lady who’d never do anything like that. What? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/48 "2006-08-14T05:57:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Accidence will happen. And penis will ensue. Does that bring us back onto topic? Or does clitoris need to ensue, as well? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/49 "2006-08-14T06:00:12Z")
I’ve always suspected, in my more cynical moods, that the Church uses guilt to keep people in line. It would work like this: 1. Label a behaviour as sinful. It’s got to be something everybody does, yet everybody must think they’re the only ones doing it. Masturbating, or dirty thoughts, works the purpose just fine. It is done in private and every man thinks he’s the only one who does it. Or, the only one who does it that much. That still applies, even in these modern times. Most of my boyfriends thought they masturbated more then the average guy, and were slightly ashamed of it. 2. When everybody thinks they’ve got something to be ashamed of, they are easier to be kept in line. Divide 'em and rule 'em. When a guy is singled out for “impurity”, no-one will come to his defense, because everybody feels they’ve got something to hide too and nobody wants to draw attention to their own secretly sinful selves. 3. The mechanism further perpetuates itself because those who “sin” will try to make up for sinning by fiercely condemning “sinning” in others. The Church has done this for ages, with, I daresay, results the opposite of what they say they want to achieve. Making sex sinful ensures it has a foremost place in everybody’s minds. It’s basically the “you must not, not think of a purple elephant”-paradox. Making sex a dirty secret ensures people won’t get informed well, and won’t report abuse. What’s the region with the lowest rate of teenage pregnancy in the world? A devoutly Roman-catholic country? The USA-Bible-belt? No! It used to be the Netherlands, with its totally permissive, practical young-people-will-do-it-anyway so-here’s-your-contraceptive-and-here’s-how-you-use-it-and-have-fun-now-dears-attitude. It is interesting that the church on the whole is silent on female masturbation. If my theory of control is right, female masturbation wouldn’t be an issue precisely because [many women (about 30 %)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5429732&postcount=41) aren’t interested in masturbating, so they canot be made feel guilty about something they just don’t do. Instead, women are/were kept in line because they had to worry about their sexual _reputation_ (even more then their actual _behavior_). A reputation is a very fragile thing, easily damaged by even such innocent behaviour as talking to a guy or looking at him too long. (which is something every girl will do). The fear of being called a “slut” keeps women divided and subdued in much the same way as men can be kept in line by condemning masturbation and sexual thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134/50 "2006-08-14T13:57:49Z")
I’m not understanding why the Church is being called silent on female masturbation when I believe “deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure” would apply equally? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholics-and-female-masturbation/368134.md?page=2)