A lack of awareness about masturbation has influenced the subject to become taboo within British culture.
A global survey of over 10,000 people was conducted by Tenga, which found that just under 17% of British women had learned about masturbation during sex education lessons.
Lisa Mackenzie, co-founder of the Vaginismus Network says, “Sex is a ‘penis in the vagina’ is such a toxic message. My sex ed was shit and I built up this unrealistic view of sex.”
Vaginismus and masturbation do not go hand in hand. Vaginismus is a painful condition in which vaginal muscles spasm and contact restricting penetration and masturbation is an act of sexual pleasure.
According to the NHS, “People of all ages masturbate and it's often the first sexual experience they have.”
Despite this, the Department for Education announced several updates to their new circumlum compulsory from September 2020 but do not include specific content teaching about masturbation. This causes concern to whether enough is being done to educate young people about sex education in the UK.
Amy Crowther, trainee chef from Cheshire and member of the Vaginismus Network says: “There's this idea that for women sex is never going to be enjoyable. If it’s painful just plough on through it.”
Masturbation has become stigmatised and misinformation about it has led people to associate the subject with shame.
For women living with vaginismus, masturbation isn’t as straightforward but can act as an alternative to having penetrative sex. “I usually masturbate on a pillow and it’s what I do on him [herself and her partner] and his penis. I have no problem having an orgasm on top of him, just not penetration”, says Amy Crowther.
Normalising masturbation fights the stigma and encourages women to pursue a healthy sex life.