Social Sciences, Human Services & Criminal Justice Department, Borough of Manhattan Community College at the City University of New York, 199 Chambers Street, New York, NY, 10007, USA.
The New York Mental Health Group, New York, NY, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Nov;51(8):3889-3903. doi: 10.1007/s10508-022-02390-9. Epub 2022 Aug 29.
This qualitative study aimed to examine the experiences and attitudes toward masturbation among emerging adult women. The study was the first to compare women's solo and partnered masturbation experiences, focusing on how feelings of pleasure, sexual desire, and a sense of empowerment-important markers of women's sexual subjectivity-varied across the two contexts. The sample consisted of 40 women between the ages of 18 and 22 years. The majority of participants identified as Latina (33%) or Black (30%) and were enrolled in community college. Semi-structured interviews about women's masturbation experiences were analyzed using thematic analysis. Women described a multitude of feelings, including pleasure but also awkwardness and guilt. Although women did not describe their masturbation practices as morally wrong, they often alluded to disliking masturbation and preferring it less to partnered sex. Whereas some attitudes and feelings (e.g., awkwardness) arose in the context of both solo and partnered masturbation encounters, others were prevalent only in one (e.g., guilt in the solo encounters). Feelings of pleasure, sexual desire, and empowerment manifested differently in the two contexts. There was more focus on self-knowledge, control, and physical pleasure in the solo encounters and more enjoyment of a partner's desire and intimacy in the partnered encounters. We examine the findings through a feminist lens and consider how race/ethnicity, sexual scripts, and contemporary societal contexts shape women's sexual lives.
这项定性研究旨在探讨成年早期女性对自慰的体验和态度。该研究首次比较了女性的自慰和与伴侣的自慰体验，重点关注快感、性欲望和赋权感等重要的女性性主体性标记在这两种情境下的变化。研究对象为 40 名年龄在 18 至 22 岁之间的女性。大多数参与者为拉丁裔（33%）或非裔（30%），并就读于社区学院。关于女性自慰经历的半结构化访谈采用主题分析进行分析。女性描述了多种感受，包括快感，但也有尴尬和内疚感。尽管女性并没有将她们的自慰行为描述为道德上的错误，但她们常常暗示不喜欢自慰，并且相比与伴侣的性行为，她们更喜欢后者。虽然一些态度和感受（例如尴尬感）在自慰和与伴侣的自慰中都存在，但其他感受则只存在于其中一种情境中（例如内疚感只存在于自慰中）。快感、性欲望和赋权感在这两种情境中的表现不同。在自慰中更注重自我认知、控制和身体上的快感，而在与伴侣的性行为中则更享受伴侣的欲望和亲密感。我们从女性主义视角审视这些发现，并考虑种族/民族、性脚本和当代社会背景如何塑造女性的性生活。
