DID YOU EVER HEAR ABOUT MASTURBATION BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY DID IT? (second round)

In a 6th-grade sex education class, a fellow student asked the simple question, "What's masturbation?" I remember that when I heard the word, it wasn't entirely new to me. It rang a bell — a "dirty" bell, so to speak. I got the impression both from the mood of the class and the teacher's reaction that it was something some people do that I shouldn't delve into. As I recall, she declined to explain it and said it'd be best for us to ask our parents. I didn't hear a word of it again until I discovered the activity itself later. Then I pieced it together with what I knew and sought out more information here at JackinWorld.
- age 18, Canada

I had heard of masturbation before. Actually, that's how I got into it. I was reading online about masturbation and it seemed interesting, so I went into the bathroom and tried it for the first time. It was great!
- age 15, Alabama

I discovered masturbation myself, but it was several years before I read the word in a book or magazine. I didn't learn it by hearing it from friends — everybody I knew used slang expressions. When I finally saw the word "masturbation" in print, I was surprised and a little embarrassed that the world even had a term for what I had been doing in secret.
- age 39, Texas

When I was 11, I went on a school trip to Malaysia and roomed with two schoolmates. We talked for a time, and then one of them said that when he rubbed his erect penis with a bar of soap, he would get a tingly sensation as if he were going to urinate. At the same time, I was reading Stephen King's "Cujo," in which a man masturbates. So I knew in a way that you could ejaculate by stimulating your penis. It made me very curious, and I tried doing it the next day, but nothing happened. I guess I wasn't stimulating my penis enough. I kept trying, though, and finally, when I was 13, I ejaculated.
- age 18, Singapore

You can't grow up with two older brothers and not hear something about masturbation. I remember being 9 or 10 and being chased out of their bedroom because they wanted to "do it." Even though I had no idea what "do it" actually meant, I knew it was something you didn't talk about. When I turned 12, my brother (who was 14) asked if I wanted to "do it" with them, and I quickly answered yes. I can't tell you how surprised I was when they started pulling down their pants and playing with themselves. It didn't take me long to join in. At first it wasn't that great of a feeling, but they assured me it would get better. They were right about that!
- age 16, California

I had always heard the phrases "wanker" and "tosser" at school and wondered what they meant. The penny dropped one night when I was about 13. I reached down to my little man only to find him hard. I did the obvious thing for the first time, making that connection. Immediately afterward, I thought, "Does this mean I'm a wanker, too?"
- age 24, United Kingdom

The first time I heard about masturbation was when a kid in my class said he did it. Everyone made fun of him, so I thought it was bad. (He always stood up for himself, though.) At first, I thought it was just giving yourself an erection by looking at porn. Then about a year later, I decided to find out what it actually was. So I searched around on the Internet, finding lots of porn, which gave me an erection that I did not know what to do with. Then I came across JackinWorld. I learned what it was and started to masturbate, repeating it many more times.
- age 17, Canada

In the 7th grade, I was walking home with my friend (she was a big dork), and a mean, popular boy shouted that she masturbated. I felt embarrassed for her, but relieved that I didn't masturbate. However, I actually *was* masturbating; I just didn't realize it. I thought masturbation meant using your hand to stimulate yourself. I was using the water from the bathtub faucet, letting it run on my clitoris until I climaxed. In my diary, I called it WM (for water manipulation), but I must have thought it was shameful, because years later I found that I had crossed out all references to WM with a big, black marker. What a culture of shame we live in.
- age 23, New York (female)

When I was 10 or 11 at camp one summer, I heard other kids talking about masturbating. As I recall, one kid was saying, "My sex-ed teacher says, 'Don't have sex, just masturbate.'" I knew what sex was at the time, but I had no idea about masturbation. I filed the word away, and later, while taking a shower with my brother (who's two years older than me), I asked what masturbating was. He seemed taken aback, but said, "It's when you rub your penis until you get a good feeling." That weekend, when I was home alone...well, you can guess what happened.
- age 16, New Jersey

I heard one of my schoolmates say he was going around to another classmate's house after school for a "Maths debate." I was interested — I love debates! Of course, I got it all wrong.
- age 22, New Zealand

The first time I heard of masturbation was also the first time I ever did it. I was being taught how to masturbate. My cousin got into the bathtub with me and showed me exactly how it was done.
- age 15, Texas

When I was 11 years old, the older guys in the street (they were age 13) would talk about masturbation, but they used one of the rather rude slang terms for it. Of course, I had no idea what they were talking about, but I did realize it had something to do with the penis. It didn't take long after that, before I started masturbating. But I didn't learn what the word meant until a few years later.
- age 22, Finland

When I was about 11, a few of my older girlfriends had already masturbated and talked about it quite a bit. When I was alone, I tried it a few times, but to no avail. About a year later at another sleepover, they talked me into trying it with them. They showed me how they did it, and I followed their instructions. That time it worked, and I had my first orgasm from masturbating.
- age 40, California (female)

I had never heard about masturbation the first time I did it. I was sick and home from school one day when I was in the 4th grade. I was lying on the couch and I got an erection that wouldn't go away, so I started playing with it and then started rubbing it. It felt really good, so I kept going and had my first orgasm (even though I didn't ejaculate). I must have done it a million times that day. I just loved it and have done it a lot since then.
- age 15, Ohio

When I was 10 years old, I remember the other kids in the schoolyard talking about one of the other kids and how he "played with his penis." I had an idea what he was doing, but I didn't have a clue as to what it was called. A group of us asked him if he would tell us what he did and how he did it. He not only told us, but also showed us. He was a kid we all looked up to, so we felt fine about doing it ourselves. Although I was brought up in a family where things like this were not discussed, I was comfortable with my body and made no big deal of what I now realize was masturbation.
- age 45, Canada

I didn't find out what masturbation was until a few years after I started doing it, because I was 8 when I started. I called it "having sex with myself." I discovered it because I was playing with my outer "lips" and pushing them together. Eventually, I had an orgasm.
- age 18, Australia (female)

When I was in the 5th grade, we had an introduction to sexual education. Masturbation was discussed in the video, as well as in a talk we had with some teachers. Before I could ejaculate, I would hump my bed occasionally, but I wouldn't feel anything. Then I came across JackinWorld, which for me was just fun to read. I would read some comments and think, "What's the fuss? It doesn't even feel that great, anyway." Then I read about "The Baggie & the Mattress" and I decided it was worth a try. I ejaculated for the first time that day. Later, I found other ways to masturbate. Now I hear about masturbation a lot at school and around my friends.
- age 13, California

I was one of those oblivious kids who took forever to put two and two together. They didn't mention masturbation during sex education until I was about 11, but even then, they didn't go into much detail. So it took me forever to realize that what I did in bed at night was actually masturbating. It actually took me a while to accept it. I would rationalize, "No, I'm not masturbating. That means...something else." Eventually, of course, there was no getting around it. Once I accepted that my activities actually fell under the category of masturbation, I began to enjoy myself *far* more.
- age 21, Tennessee (female)

Possibly because I developed bushy pubic hair much earlier than anyone else in my class, people at school would come up to me when I was 10 or 11 and ask if I was already "wanking." I thought that this meant having sexual intercourse, so of course, I said no. When people I knew actually started masturbating and showed me how to do it, I felt pretty stupid.
- age 15, Ireland

I must have known the term "masturbation." My first session evolved from a discussion with my cousin during which we went over all the slang terms we had heard the previous year. We tried it that night (just before my 12th birthday) for a few moments; he wasn't too excited, being slightly younger, but for me it seemed to hold promise. A day or two later, I was successful and committed to a lifetime of enjoyment. I filed the term in my head with a host of other theoretical terms (for intercourse, etc.) that generally had little impact on my day-to-day life, since the words come up rarely in conversation.
- age 49, Colorado

I had heard the term "masturbation" before. I think our sex-education class in 5th or 6th grade touched on it. However, it didn't have much meaning for me until after the first time I did it, about two years later. After that first time I masturbated, it all finally clicked in my head what that big word meant.
- age 26, Massachusetts

I had never heard of it — I had no idea at all. One morning, I just started rubbing my penis and found the most indescribably pleasant sensation. I promptly taught my cousins, and I am sure we have all been going at it, separately, ever since.
- age 41, Florida

I'm sure I had never heard of masturbation before I did it. I was an accomplished masturbator by age 5, doing it on the support poles to my swing set and on my pillow. I would be surprised if anyone ever talked about that with a 5-year-old. I called it "getting my tickle." Some of my friends and I talked about "playing pants," which wasn't really about masturbation, but we'd pull our pants down and look at each other's equipment, sometimes rubbing erections together and things like that. By the time I was 11 or so I heard other boys use slang terms, and it wasn't hard to figure out what they were talking about, though I didn't learn the hand method until I was 12 and my older cousin showed me.
- age 26, West Virginia

I had first heard about male masturbation in my teen years. The boys only mentioned it in slang terms back then. I don't recall any mention of female masturbation. Masturbation was not mentioned in our health classes at school. I later discovered female masturbation when I came across my brother's porn magazine. The idea of masturbation turned me on, so of course I tried it, loved it, and still enjoy it whenever I get some private time to myself.
- age 47, New Jersey (female)

In my country, we call masturbation "la paja," which in English translates to "hay" or "grass." So when we were 12 and a friend told me, I thought doing "la paja" was like kissing grass. Was I ever wrong!
- age 14, Colombia

I remember vividly when I first heard of masturbation. I was 12 years old, and it was during the summer between 6th and 7th grade. I didn't even realize what an erection was at that time, although I frequently had one. My friends and I were playing strip poker, and my friend, who was a year older, had pubic hair and sported a solid erection. He masturbated for us, and I was in awe when he ejaculated. I wanted to try it, so I did just as he had been doing. (By this time I had a very solid erection from watching him.) So I did and thus had my first orgasm. Awesome then — and it still is!
- age 41, Nevada

I thought masturbation was gross. I was about 12, and a 16-year-old girl I knew would tell me how all guys masturbate. I said she was crazy and that it just wasn't true. She also told me how guys do it — so of course, I got a little curious. One day, I was in the shower and I performed the technique she told me about, resulting in my first and one of my best orgasms. I have her to thank. And oh yeah, she was right — all guys *do* masturbate.
- age 16, Pennsylvania

I thought masturbating was something only "mature" guys did, and I felt really stupid about it — especially since I had been doing frottage with my friend (humping naked on his chest) and having dry orgasms since I was about 9. It wasn't until I was about 13 that I actually took my penis in hand and masturbated by stroking.
- age 46, New York

I first heard about masturbation from one of my friends when I was 11. I knew all about sex, but this idea of "shaking your penis until stuff comes out" seemed strange and disgusting. Two years later, a friend and I talked about it all the time, working out how it all worked, until we started doing it. After that, it didn't seem strange *or* disgusting!
- age 17, Ireland

My folks were very open about sex matters, so I had heard of masturbation for boys and girls from them, as well as from peers. However, I didn't have much interest in playing with myself until my gal pal and I discovered her dad's stash of pornos when we were 13. Then we went wild. It was more fun than I ever imagined! At the same time, I knew my brother (who is two years older) did it, and I even tried to peek in on him, but to no avail. At age 14, I had an older boyfriend who taught me everything about masturbation, and I loved it!
- age 26, Florida (female)

I heard about masturbation before I actually did it for the first time at age 13. I knew what it was and what it meant, along with various slang terms, but I had different opinions about it. I thought it was disgusting and that if I just didn't touch myself there, I would never have to masturbate. I thought masturbation was strange (as did many of my classmates). When we talked about it, we would joke about it like the immature middle-schoolers we were.
- age 14, New York

I didn't know what the "thing" I was doing was called until my buddy and I were talking about girls. We were 12. He revealed to me their "greatest" secret: that girls *masturbate*! And then he asked me if I ever masturbated. I said no, because I'm not a girl. He laughed and just told me how it should be done. Then I realized that all this time I had been masturbating.
- age 19, Poland

I never did hear the word "masturbate." I had a foreskin and I remember using it since I was 4 or 5 years old. Now that I think of it, it's kind of hard not to use it. And you don't have to show someone how to use it — they just figure it out! Every time you take a pee you're moving it in that all-too-familiar way. Nature showed me, and I was paying close attention.
- age 41, Illinois

My family has always been very open about discussing masturbation. When I was about 9 and my eldest brother had just discovered the pleasures of masturbation, we would often discuss it in front of (and sometimes with) our parents. We would always refer to it as "masturbation." Now that my two brothers and I masturbate regularly, we often don't even bother to lock the bathroom door. If someone walks in to brush their teeth or to urinate, that is not a problem — we've all seen each other do it (including orgasm and ejaculation) many times.
- age 16, United Kingdom

I have been masturbating since I was a small child. I don't remember hearing anything about masturbation before my first memory of masturbating on a tree that I was climbing. I accidentally bumped my pelvic area on a limb, and it felt so good I continued until I felt a release that was indescribable.
- age 42, Mississippi (female)

I had heard kids talk about masturbation. I knew it had to do with something sexual, and I felt kind of naive for not knowing exactly what. To me, "masturbation" meant the same thing as "oral sex," because I didn't know what either meant. However, I asked my dad about masturbation once, and he told me what it was. Until then, I didn't even know that sex was anything more than a connection, let alone something you have to move back and forth for. A couple of weeks later, I tried it for myself and felt years more experienced.
- age 16, New York

I often heard the word "masturbation" and its slang variations before I did it. I felt guilty, even when I was thinking about it; I thought it was some kind of "dirty pleasure," like drugs or alcohol. When I talked with my friends, I felt awkward when they would talk about it. When I first started to masturbate, I would always lie if I was asked about it. But now, I have been masturbating for a long time and I know that it's a simple thing that can be part of your life, just as any other habit.
- age 19, Hungary

It's so funny thinking about the 6th grade gym locker room now, considering how often I masturbate. Back then, I remember kids taunting others, saying, "[This boy] masturbates; [that boy] masturbates," and I honestly had no idea what it was. The last encounter with "the word" before I actually tried it was a joke one of my friends told me that was about masturbation. I was catching on by then. It was only a matter of time.
- age 17, Ohio

I do remember hearing the word "masturbation" (and equivalent Italian slang words) before discovering it, and back then, I didn't quite know what it was. Hearing the word would make me giggle for some reason, or at times I would even feel embarrassed. My parents had never talked to me about masturbation (and they still haven't), so I thought it was something that must not be mentioned or talked about. Go figure.
- age 16, Italy

I never knew what it was until I did it. I didn't start until almost my junior year of high school. I never knew what would happen if I would stroke my penis. I had heard it before, but I always thought it was just scratching your crotch and never knew why everyone had such a problem with it.
- age 19, North Carolina

In 5th grade, we had a few hours of sex education from a male vice-principal. One of my classmates, whom everyone thought was kind of weird, kept asking about masturbating. The teacher answered all his questions but never actually explained masturbation. I just remember feeling somehow embarrassed that this kid was asking these questions, even though I had no idea what he was talking about. It prompted me to look up the word in a dictionary, but that didn't help, either.
- age 29, Connecticut