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MASTURBATION is when a person touches, rubs, caresses or massages their sex parts for pleasure - their penis if they are a boy, or their vulva, labia and clitoris if they are girl.   Pleasure means that it feels good to them and that they like it very much.

Masturbation can be something a person does alone, in private, or it can be something that two people do to each other.   Masturbation is always something done in private, never in public, whether alone or with a friend or family member.

There are lot's of other names for masturbation, like "playing with yourself" or "jerking off".   It used to be a subject that people could not talk about and that some people thought was wrong or harmful.   Today we know that it is not "dirty", "bad" or harmful at all. We also know that it is a very normal thing for people of all ages to do.   Babies do it, children your age do it, teenagers do it, grownups do it, and even older people do it.   There ARE some people who don't want to masturbate, and that is normal, too.

These are some of the things we know about masturbation:

The penis, scrotum, vulva, vagina, labia and clitoris each have thousands of tiny nerve endings near the surface of the skin.  These nerve endings, when touched, send signals to the brain to feel pleasure.

We know that people discover or learn about masturbation at different ages. 

People learn about masturbation in different ways.   Some learn on their own, some learn from someone else in their family, some from a friend, sometimes from an adult, and sometimes from a book or website. 

Almost everyone agrees that masturbation feels very good around a person's sex parts, and often it sends those good feelings and sensations all throughout a person's body.

People know that there are many different ways to masturbate, and that each person usually finds a way, or several ways, that they like best.

It is normal for a person to find a way and a place they like to masturbate and that becomes a routine for them whenever they feel like masturbating.

Doctors have confirmed that masturbation causes no harm to a person's body.  Masturbation is not harmful.

They have also said that the way a parent feels about masturbation affects how their child will feel about it also.  They say that how a parent reacts if they accidentally walk in on their child while he or she is masturbating can have either a positive effect or a negative effect on that child.  The child will either feel GOOD about it or BAD about it, depending on how that parent reacts.

In past years, people used to say that masturbation would make a person "go blind", or "go crazy", or "grow hair on their palms", or "go bald".   We know that NONE of these things are true... not a single one!   

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