Q: What’s the average age to begin masturbating? I (a girl) found out how to masturbate when I was nine years old, and have done it regularly since then. I feel like this is ridiculously early and there’s possibly an issue with that.
A: Actually, it’s not ridiculously early at all. Many young people begin masturbating at much earlier ages. We usually discover that stimulating our genitals feels good when we’re very small babies. Yes, babies masturbate! They don’t know that’s what they’re doing, but they figure out really early that touching their genitals brings pleasure, is soothing, and is fun! It’s a totally natural thing and does no harm. It’s very common that as soon as puberty begins, which can happen at around 9 or 10, the sudden increase in hormone production causes people to feel turned on quite easily and quite often. Masturbation becomes really common at this time. For some people, it remains common throughout the rest of their lives. For others, it may decrease at times or even stop. There’s no normal here. It’s normal to masturbate and it’s normal not to masturbate. It’s all about listening to our bodies and giving them what they need and want to be healthy. There’s nothing unhealthy about masturbation no matter how young or old a person is.