# Is female masturbation a sin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659 "2010-11-14T19:12:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/21 "2010-11-15T00:33:54Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > The Onan company makes small engines. :smack: Two-stroke? :^| ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/22 "2010-11-15T00:34:42Z")
The Bible does not say anything specifically about masturbation for either men or women (though Corinthians 6:9 may allude to it in Greek), but the “lustful” interpretation of the act is commonly given by conservative Christians as the reason for considering it to be a sin (see the recently publicized comments of Christine O’Donnell). My question for anyone who has that take, though, is what if you’re thinking about your spouse while you do it? It’s not a sin to lust after your spouse, and it isn’t adulterous in spirit. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/23 "2010-11-15T00:49:30Z")
Wikipedia’s take on Catholicism’s take on [lust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lust). But I’m not sure what are the > [@](#): > > laws that govern marital intercourse" . But they are keeping it to matrimony. Do us single guys skate on this one? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/24 "2010-11-15T00:54:44Z")
Yes and no. If it’s a woman masturbating by herself, it is. However, a husband can stimulate his wife or she can stimulate herself to climax during foreplay, intercourse and afterplay(?) during sex, although that’s not exactly masturbation since there are two people involved. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/25 "2010-11-15T01:02:09Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If seed spillage is the sin, that leaves women out. Ever heard of menstruation ? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/26 "2010-11-15T01:13:02Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > My question for anyone who has that take, though, is what if you’re thinking about your spouse while you do it? It’s not a sin to lust after your spouse, and it isn’t adulterous in spirit. I was thinking about this as well. I would be suprised if the folks who see this as a sin would even consider the likelihood a married person would want to masturbate. And heavens to Betsy if a married person masturbated and was thinking of anyone other than their spouse. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/27 "2010-11-15T01:14:22Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Ever heard of menstruation ? Which is the seed, the egg (yes) or the sperm (no)? Some of my christian friends have trouble with this. God, it seems, says that the man contributes the seed. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/28 "2010-11-15T01:17:28Z")
> [@Jormungandr](#): > > Yes and no. If it’s a woman masturbating by herself, it is. However, a husband can stimulate his wife or she can stimulate herself to climax during foreplay, intercourse and afterplay(?) during sex, although that’s not exactly masturbation since there are two people involved. According to whom? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/29 "2010-11-15T01:20:23Z")
That was the belief in OT Biblical times. They didn’t know women had eggs. They thought the dude put his seed in her and a baby grew from the seed. That’s why the Bible always talks about men doing the “begetting,” and rights of succession being passed down through male “seed.” They thought the women were basically just flower pots for male seed. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/30 "2010-11-15T01:25:27Z")
I remember being told (delicately) in catholic school that “nocturnal emissions”, as long as one didn’t help them along, were not a sin. Hmmm. Do girls experience the female equivalent? I don’t know for sure, but I asume so. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/31 "2010-11-15T01:29:48Z")
What would they be emitting? Nocturnal emissions are the male body’s way of discharging excess seminal fluid. The body doesn’t stop manufacturing jizz, it has finite space to store it and the excess has to go somewhere. If it is not discharged through sex or masturbation, the body will offload it itself. I’m not aware of any analogous female need. They obviously have dirty dreams, but those are not equivalent to nocturnal emissions, and even a lot of male nocturnal emissions do not correlate to sexual dreams. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/32 "2010-11-15T01:35:48Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > That was the belief in OT Biblical times. They didn’t know women had eggs. They thought the dude put his seed in her and a baby grew from the seed. That’s why the Bible always talks about men doing the “begetting,” and rights of succession being passed down through male “seed.” They thought the women were basically just flower pots for male seed. Up till “The Awakening” beginning in the late 50s or so it was believed by many that women didn’t experience orgasm during sex. I suspect they “onan’d” a _lot_. 😉 I was born in 1945, so I rember that era pretty well. What was that author’s name? Judith something? She was (in)famous for writing on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/33 "2010-11-15T01:42:15Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What would they be emitting? Nocturnal emissions are the male body’s way of discharging excess seminal fluid. The body doesn’t stop manufacturing jizz, it has finite space to store it and the excess has to go somewhere. If it is not discharged through sex or masturbation, the body will offload it itself. > > I’m not aware of any analogous female need. They obviously have dirty dreams, but those are not equivalent to nocturnal emissions, and even a lot of male nocturnal emissions do not correlate to sexual dreams. Boys called it “wet dreams”. They did, if I recall correctly, feel good. Neither boys nor girls would have actual erotic dreams because they had no experience to base them on. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/34 "2010-11-15T01:58:49Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Up till “The Awakening” beginning in the late 50s or so it was believed by many that women didn’t experience orgasm during sex. I suspect they “onan’d” a _lot_. 😉 > I was born in 1945, so I rember that era pretty well. > What was that author’s name? Judith something? She was (in)famous for writing on the subject. Not sure how much onan they actually got - from Galen onwards, the standard treatment for “hysteria” (read: massive female blue balls syndrome) involved manual stimulation by a physician or midwife and later on vibrators and proto-shower nozzles. Presumably if wimmin had to call in a doctor to get off they didn’t quite grok how to do it themselves, or perhaps felt if it was someone else doing the rubbing it wasn’t quite as sinful. Hilariously, the [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria) states : > [@](#): > > Rachel P. Maines has observed that such cases were quite profitable for physicians, since the patients were at no risk of death, but needed constant treatment. The only problem was that physicians did not enjoy the tedious task of vaginal massage (generally referred to as ‘pelvic massage’): The technique was difficult for a physician to master and could take hours to achieve “hysterical paroxysm.” The times, they have a’changed. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/35 "2010-11-15T05:31:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Boys called it “wet dreams”. They did, if I recall correctly, feel good. > Neither boys nor girls would have actual erotic dreams because they had no experience to base them on. When I was an adolescent, I had dreams which, in retrospect, were extremely inaccurate, but which nonetheless seemed plenty erotic to me at the time. And for that matter, a lot of erotic art produced by people who do know about the real thing is completely unlike reality, too. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/36 "2010-11-15T07:53:39Z")
There’s some argument that the Bible actually includes oblique references to masturbation. I can’t remember the specifics, but it has to do with King Saul relieving himself in a cave, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/37 "2010-11-15T14:15:14Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > That was the belief in OT Biblical times. They didn’t know women had eggs. They thought the dude put his seed in her and a baby grew from the seed. That’s why the Bible always talks about men doing the “begetting,” and rights of succession being passed down through male “seed.” They thought the women were basically just flower pots for male seed. When did Jews start to count Jewishness through the mother’s line? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/38 "2010-11-15T14:27:19Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > When did Jews start to count Jewishness through the mother’s line? Since pretty much always, it’s _halakha_, but that has more to do with being able to know for sure who the mother actually is than with any understanding of genetics. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/39 "2010-11-15T14:58:18Z")
You know there are still a lot of guys who aren’t about to buy this mother/seed thing. They’re out there right now, sowing wild oats. Flower pot! That’s good. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/40 "2010-11-15T17:55:35Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There is archaeological evidence that opium and hashish were produced, traded and used all over the ancient middle east from great antitquity, including the Biblical eras of Israel. Those drugs are believed to have been mostly used medicinally, though, not recreationally. Just like in California! “Hey Josephus the healer.. I need another holy writ for some righteous weed.” “Are you sick?” “Yeah, I’ve got…a small newt playing havoc in my stomach!” “Very well. Here is your writ.” “Can you make it for some Lebanese blonde hash? That works REALLY well with newts.” “It is done. Peace be with you.” “Peace, man.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659.md?page=3)