T O P I C R E V I E W
Mr.w
Member # 9543
posted 04-15-2003 01:17 PM
I was talking to a very good friend of mine, and she related memories of her as a very young girl engaging in masturbation. She did it as she got older, and before sixth grade never associated it with anything sexual. I was pretty surprised by this fact as I had never heard of it before. She said that it was actually pretty common in young girls. Any of you have any information on this? That astounds me.
Ashy
Member # 4764
posted 04-15-2003 01:22 PM
I'm sure that you won't find any statistics on young girls masturbation (conducting surveys would probably violate child protection acts), but it's not uncommon. If a child finds that something feels good, it's not unusual that they would keep doing it. It doesn't mean that the child is sexually advanced or indicates anything about their development, just that (s)he has discovered that a particular part of their body can feel pleasurable.
Heather
Member # 3
posted 04-15-2003 02:34 PM
For years before this was my living, I was a preschool and Kindergarten teacher.Naptime, let me tell you, was often constantly interrupted by my having to saunter gently over to this cot or that one where a small child was masturbating and explain that while that was all fine and good, it was also really a home-thing, not a school-thing.
Parents as well -- and the most basic child development texts -- will tell you that most children masturbate in some way or another from infancy onward (there is even evidence of such in the womb). That's completely and utterly normal and standard. Why many young children -- especially girls -- stop, is because at some point or another they run into someone who finds them doing it and instead of just letting them in on where and when is appropariate, tell them it's dirty, not to touch there, or any other manner of sex-shame rubbish.
Don't know of any studies on such, same way I don't know of any studies on walking or talking as to if they happen and in how many children, because that NOT happening would be the rarity, not the norm.
------------------Heather Corinna Editor and Founder, Scarleteen
My epitaph should read: "She worked herself into this ground." -- Kay Bailey Hutchinson
-Jill
Member # 5375
posted 04-15-2003 03:58 PM
In this thread several people share when they first started masturbating -- most at a fairly young age.
Heather
Member # 3
posted 04-15-2003 04:39 PM
...and since many of us have memories of anything in our early childhood that are murky at best, if we have them at all, it's safe to say nearly all of us are NOT going to remember when we first masturbated (especially as infants), only instead our first MEMORY of masturbating.------------------Heather Corinna Editor and Founder, Scarleteen
My epitaph should read: "She worked herself into this ground." -- Kay Bailey Hutchinson
pajamas722
Member # 12791
posted 04-25-2003 11:31 PM
wow! it's reasurring to know i'm not the only one. i've been rubbing myself and exploring since i was about five. i did it with one of my friends too when i was little. i would play in the shower, but i wouldn't even realize what i was doing. all i knew was it felt good. it wasn't until i was in eighth or ninth grade that i really began fingering myself and trying to masturbate, knowing what i was doing. i always thought it was creepy, one who had sexual thoughts when she was little and got turned on by anything remotely sexual in books at a young age. i guess it's kind of normal after all.
copperrain
Member # 26625
posted 12-20-2005 05:14 PM
I started consciously masturbating at about the age of 10. I had been on google looking for images (I have had a bondage fetish ever since I was little, don't ask me why) and I stumbled across a sight with pornographic images on it. I didn't think that it was bad at the time, I just new that it felt good if I looked at the pictures. I didn't think that the people were naked, I didn't even know what porn was. After that, I would sneak down to the kitchen computer at night and secretly use google and altavista. I used a pencil for stimulation at first, then fingers as I experimented. Once I was cat-sitting for my out-of-town neighbors, and I used their back massager. I've never heard of masturbation with a pillow before... I can't wait to become 18 so I can get a vibrator! Woo!
BoundByScarves
Member # 26746
posted 12-30-2005 10:39 PM
The first I actually remember masturbating was when I was about 5 or 6. I remember it was because I had the chicken pox, and I found it distracted from the itching. ^^ Of course I didn't know what I was doing, only that it felt good. I used to get in trouble with my mom all the time because I'd get caught. One time, I was doing it in school, 6th grade, in math class very discreetly under my desk. I can't believe no one noticed! I don't know what I would have done if that happened. Why didn't I wait? I must've been a very horny 12 year old.
production error
Member # 26776
posted 01-02-2006 01:42 AM
Come to think of it, I think I masturbated when I was pretty young myself. When I was probably about 10-12, my mom bought me a religious book on coming into puberty, and that was my first encounter with the idea. I don't remember exactly what the book said about masturbation, but I think it was presented as pretty taboo and generally not a good thing. I never saw what I did as being sexual, I would just "scratch" around the area, and it felt really good, like scratching an itch. Since then, I felt dirty doing it, since by that time I already had a skewed view on sex from my conservative fundamental upbringing...but yeah, this is getting long, but funny story: once I decided to stick my finger in my "peehole," since that's what I assumed sex was, and it felt so weird and kind of hurt; I maybe got my tiny finger a centimeter in. Then I was afraid I could be pregnant! I don't remember how old I was, but not very. Oh, I was so cute.....what happened? haha....
Heather
Member # 3
posted 01-02-2006 11:16 AM
Actually, it's BEYOND unlikely you penetrated your urethra. Even a child's finger isn't that small. It's like saying one put a finger inside a pinhole.Just for clarity in this post, again, VERY few of us are going to recall our first masturbation experiences, because for most, they'll have happened in infancy and toddlerhood.
production error
Member # 26776
posted 01-02-2006 03:24 PM
Well, now I realize that the hole I was trying to penetrate was actually my vagina, but at that point I was still young enough to assume that the hole you had sex with was the same hole you peed out of. It still felt so weird and unnatural though.But yeah, I probably masturbated long before then, that's just one of the most memorable experiences from my childhood...haha
Electro057
Member # 26144
posted 01-07-2006 04:34 PM
Wow and i thought i was some kind of freak who masterbated at a young age and got caught but now i know it must have been a normal thing. My mom explained sex to me in grade 2 because she caught me and i forever since thouht it was dirty till sixth grade when i fully understood what i was doing. Nice to know i wasn't a over horny child or freak. PS i am a boy so i know i am off topic but young boys must masterbate tooo at a young age so i thought my opinion was valid.[This message has been edited by Electro057 (edited 01-07-2006).]
poppybluefrogs
Member # 22137
posted 01-08-2006 01:01 PM
speaking of little boys electro, my friends little boy who is 22 months has recently started putting his hands down his pants and 'playing' with his penis. She's asked us to discourage him from doing it as he's still only a tiddly tot. not because she thinks it's disgusting or wrong but because she says its not nice for him to be in public with his hand down his pants so if we discourage him at home hopefully he won't do it when we take him out.
wobblyheadedjane
Member # 11569
posted 01-08-2006 01:24 PM
A good way to talk to a toddler about something like that would be discussing the differences between private time (like going to the washroom if they're potty-trained, or bed time) and public time, when they're out with people. Analogies can be drawn to bath time or washroom time to elaborate a private time. The main concern is to not make it a shame or guilt thing, which your friend doesn't seem to want to do, so that's a good start.Also, out in public, carrying a toy or puzzle for the child can distract him from touching himself in the company of others - sources seem to say that boredom can lead to bodily exploration in toddlers.
poppybluefrogs
Member # 22137
posted 01-08-2006 01:35 PM
i'll tell her to try that then. The thing is it's hard to get him to sit still TO talk to him. We already tried giving him a ball or something to kick around to keep him distracted and it's working well.