I would like to discuss some of PMD's statements.
Oh dear, his article has been nuked.... Well, I still will argue with him from here, and Review this article to become a standalone.
PMD states that "masturbation is ... unproductive"
I would state that masturbation is productive; productive of a sense
of satisfaction and of relaxation, and also productive of a beneficial
increase in heart rate, for an optimum length of time.
PMD also states that when it comes to masturbation "you just can't help
yourself" and that once "you've started, you can't stop"
I disagree with this very strongly.
I masturbate regularly, and I have never yet been overcome by desire for myself
in the supermarket nor have I had to rush away from the dinner table to attend
to an overwhelming need for sexual release.
PMD further states: "It just feels damn good. I don't agree with this part but the
consensus seems too great to state differently."
I wonder if perhaps this is whence PMD's dislike for masturbation
stems.
If PMD does not agree that masturbation feels "damn good" no wonder
PMD wishes to find reasons to revile it.
Next, PMD claims that masturbation "Glorifies Sex. Mentally makes sex into something it cannot possibly be."
While I find it slightly difficult to understand precisely what PMD means by
this interesting sentence, I believe I can fumble toward PMD's
meaning.
Apparently PMD feels that masturbation is so satisfying that it will make people
find the actual sharing of sex to be a let-down. I think that most people who
have both shared sex, and masturbated, successfully would disagree.
PMD goes on to claim that masturbation "Presents a false image of women/men.
"
Firstly, I believe PMD is thinking about fantasy, rather than masturbation
per se, and secondly, I doubt any person with a firm basis in reality finds that
enjoying fantasies of some form of perfection, be it physical, emotional,
financial, societal or whathaveyou in any way spoils their enjoyment of reality.
My lover has pictures of beautiful women on one of his walls. I'm sure they help
make him happy when he is alone. And yet when we're together he has no problems
with my less than perfect body, and when he calls me "beautiful" he
means it, despite the fact that I am fairly ordinary by normal standards, and
downright homely when placed next to Cindy Crawford
and Laetitia Casta.
Now PMD goes on to state some more of the reasons he finds masturbation to be
"bad", as well as restating some of the previously mentioned reasons.
He says:
Masturbation treats sex as an end in and of itself
Well, isn't sex an end, in and of itself, in much the same way as
love, playing cricket, reading novels, mountain climbing, and crossword puzzles
are?
What else can meaningless sex result in other than momentary and transient pleasure?
Why does it need to result in anything else? Meaningless sex (and I believe
PMD is including masturbation under this large umbrella) may not build
relationships. It will not write the Magna Carta. It won't bring the washing
in before it rains. But "meaningless sex" including masturbation can
and does bring physical pleasure and emotional release.
Masturbation is bad because it is not about love, it is about the act of sex itself and is thus meaningless.
Knitting isn't usually about love either. Does that make it bad?
Masturbation is simply a pleasurable diversion which has its correct time
and place, much as reading, IRCing, and even Noding do.