# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/61 "2010-11-17T19:17:00Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Neither marriage of tithing will guarantee the fidelity of either husband or wife. I don’t doubt the fear based control aspect; I suspect that’s the only thing most churches have going for them but the fear has to come from other areas. I think; you might be more right than wrong. I’ve always felt that fear was an element, maybe a strong one, of belief in something that obviously isn’t so. A niggling “just in case” feeling that would stave off any absolute denial. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/62 "2010-11-17T20:01:39Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Ownership. > > God wants tithing payers. God is short of cash, and apparently, a poor money manager. So he wants to make sure that people don’t fuck out of wedlock. Because then we might not be able to tell who the biological father is. And the father might not want a not-his-son to inherit his property. So if you want to be assured of inheritances and property transfer, you create a fear-based control system. Control the sex and you control the money. Now the pope can afford a pretty new hat whenever he wants one because you had sex with your wife and only your wife and she had sex with you and only you, so we all know whose kid it is. And you will now raise your kid to be a good tithing payer in whatever church it is that you attend that expects tithing. Are you serious? Imagine this scenario: You go to the doctor for a routine checkup. The doctor does some tests and comes back to tell you that you have AIDS. You have only ever had sex with one person - your spouse - so you talk to the spouse about how this could have happened. The spouse confesses that affairs have been going on for a long time now, and they must have contracted AIDS from a hooker. You’re upset about this, of course. But you’re not upset because it will affect the Pope’s new hat - or his cash or power. You’re upset because your spouse has simultaneously breached your trust, and infected you with an incurable and lethal disease. Trust me, God is much more concerned about your happiness and your health than He is with the Pope’s hat. I can’t really speak for Popes on the subject, but God’s position seems clear. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/63 "2010-11-17T20:07:57Z")
There was a scene in the movie [Evelyn](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298856/) (wonderful movie, BTW) where the title character, a young girl, is going to bed on her first night in a Catholic girl’s boarding school. She gets under the covers and lies face-down, and a nun immediately comes over and turns her onto her back, saying something like, “We mustn’t tempt the devil!” I was watching the movie with my mom and stepdad, and that scene completely baffled my mom. I understood it immediately: a girl lying face-down and under blankets can masturbate without anybody being the wiser, but if she’s on her back it would be hard for her to touch herself without it being obvious to an observer. I didn’t feel comfortable explaining it to my mom, though. That scene did trigger an “Oh!” moment for me, though. It explained why all those old newspaper comic strips, “Nancy” in particular, always depicted girls sleeping on their backs with their arms on top of the covers. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/64 "2010-11-17T20:37:39Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Are you serious? > > Imagine this scenario: You go to the doctor for a routine checkup. The doctor does some tests and comes back to tell you that you have AIDS. You have only ever had sex with one person - your spouse - so you talk to the spouse about how this could have happened. The spouse confesses that affairs have been going on for a long time now, and they must have contracted AIDS from a hooker. > > You’re upset about this, of course. But you’re not upset because it will affect the Pope’s new hat - or his cash or power. You’re upset because your spouse has simultaneously breached your trust, and infected you with an incurable and lethal disease. > > Trust me, God is much more concerned about your happiness and your health than He is with the Pope’s hat. I can’t really speak for Popes on the subject, but God’s position seems clear. You example assumes a modern world scenario. I am talking about biblical culture and am hearkening back to the era in which the cultural mores of marriage were established, which were by the church. Prior to the advent of Christianity, marriage was really only among nobility and was done for the purpose of transferring property ownership. This is where many of our modern ideas about marriage fidelity come from. Only most people don’t research the history of marriage so they don’t realize what all this is rooted in. You know, like Christmas and Easter are based on pagan holidays but we treat 'em like Christian ones. In the modern world, sexual infidelity doesn’t necessarily mean the creation of children nor the passing on of disease. In this day and age, we know where babies come from. Back in the day, I doubt the knowledge was quite as common. Apples and oranges. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/65 "2010-11-19T06:55:32Z")
Dogzilla: > [@](#): > > I am talking about biblical culture and am hearkening back to the era in which the cultural mores of marriage were established, which were by the church. Prior to the advent of Christianity, marriage was really only among nobility and was done for the purpose of transferring property ownership. This is where many of our modern ideas about marriage fidelity come from. Say WHAT?? The Biblical idea of marriage long pre-dates Christianity, as it was practiced by Jews, not just amongst nobility, but amongst all classes, and fidelity was very much an important aspect of it. Even if one doesn’t believe that the Bible is as old as we Orthodox Jews consider it to be, certainly by the time of Alexander the Great it was pretty much in its current form, because not long after that is when it was translated into the Greek Septuagint. ---
**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 19, 2010, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/66 "2010-11-19T07:39:02Z")
Marital fidelity in the Bible is really only expected of women. Men are free to have multiple wives and concubines, and bang their maids and sisters-in-law. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/67 "2010-11-19T11:45:11Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Lust is a mortal sin according to [this entry](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09438a.htm) in The Catholic Encylopedia. [The Wikipedia entry](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lust?wasRedirected=true) indicates it would be a sin for Protestants, Jews and Muslims as well. After all, it is one of the seven deadly ones, right? I think that the RCC teaches any thought about sex is an impure thought. An impure thought is a sin. At least that is my understanding of it! ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/68 "2010-11-19T11:54:40Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Are you serious? > > Imagine this scenario: You go to the doctor for a routine checkup. The doctor does some tests and comes back to tell you that you have AIDS. You have only ever had sex with one person - your spouse - so you talk to the spouse about how this could have happened. The spouse confesses that affairs have been going on for a long time now, and they must have contracted AIDS from a hooker. > > You’re upset about this, of course. But you’re not upset because it will affect the Pope’s new hat - or his cash or power. You’re upset because your spouse has simultaneously breached your trust, and infected you with an incurable and lethal disease. > > Trust me, God is much more concerned about your happiness and your health than He is with the Pope’s hat. I can’t really speak for Popes on the subject, but God’s position seems clear. And you know it is God’s position because? Some human said it was God’s position, or is that just yours, or what you were told by another human, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/69 "2010-11-19T18:42:30Z")
Diogenes: > [@](#): > > Marital fidelity in the Bible is really only expected of women. Men are free to have multiple wives and concubines, and bang their maids and sisters-in-law. Those were still formalized modes of marriage, though. Men were expected to only have sex with women they were married to (in any of those manners), and if a man were to be caught having sex with an unmarried girl, he was expected to marry her or pay a fine to her father. And not having sex with a woman married to someone else was a responsibility of the man as much so as of the woman. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/70 "2010-11-19T19:06:35Z")
Dio, a more accurate thing to say is that marital _exclusivity_ in the Bible is only expected of women. But men were still expected to act within the legally-defined boundaries of marriage, multiples allowed as they were. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/71 "2010-11-19T19:15:29Z")
I had a friend who was member of the Morman church. He told me that for a wife to commit adultery was a huge sin, while for a husband to do the same was a minos sin. I don’t know how true this is, but it’s not totally unbelieveable. ---
**Author:** ![BunnyTVS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/72 "2010-11-20T01:28:01Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Masturbation is not a sin in the Bible. God looks at the heart and not the action. What is your thoughts during masturbation, is it selfish or a desire to Love the other person. God is Love so if it is Loved based there is no sin. Does it make me a bad person if I actually find one of **kanic** s post useful? Does it make _you_ bad if you find one of mine? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659/73 "2010-11-20T01:46:30Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > I had a friend who was member of the Morman church. He told me that for a wife to commit adultery was a huge sin, while for a husband to do the same was a minos sin. > I don’t know how true this is, but it’s not totally unbelieveable. Freudian slip; From m-w, > [@](#): > > Definition of MINOS > > : a son of Zeus and Europa and king of Crete who for his just rule is made supreme judge in the underworld after his death [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-female-masturbation-a-sin/560659.md?page=3)