The technical term for touching oneself sexually is ‘masturbation’ which may be defined as self-stimulation to cause sexual sensations.
The word masturbation usually suggests that the person is manipulating his or her genitals to the point of intense pleasure or orgasm.
Young people, at times, indulge in masturbation when they discover their own sexuality. Then it is a passing phase. Others keep doing it through life.
How to evaluate this practice?
The act of self-gratification in masturbation, if it is practised by a person on his or her own, lacks the full meaning of human sexuality which is directed towards a loving relationship. Masturbation may then even minimise the potential of the loving touches between two partners.
Also, for some people, the practice may become almost an obsession. They may become addicts, and addiction always has some side-effects.
So masturbation, on the whole, is not a good idea.
On the other hand, the blanket condemnation of masturbation by traditional moralists as a ‘mortal sin’ – a sin deserving eternal punishment in hell – is not right. Their judgment is based on faulty presumptions.
