The National Masturbation Day

5 Facts You Didn't Know About Masturbation

Happy National Masturbation Month, everybody!

According to my mother, women don't masturbate. The fact that I do, and she knows this because she reads what I write and I don't find the need to keep quiet about the subject, is not only upsetting to her but further proof that I "act like a man." A phrase both she and my father have used to describe me on several occasions. My father actually regards it as a compliment, while my mother is hoping her words will kick some sort of conventional ideas of how a lady should act into my brain. No such luck yet, mom.

Despite my mother's thoughts on the subject, women do masturbate. In fact, a lot of them do — and do it often, and it's pleasurable and makes for a better sex life. If you know how to get yourself off, then sex with someone else is that much more satisfying because you're confident with yourself and know your body.

Here are five things that you perhaps didn't know about masturbation. Hopefully these facts will make some of you more open to the subject. Let the climaxing begin!

1. People who have sex regularly masturbate more than those who don't. Weird, right? Well, not really. If you masturbate, you're more likely to be sexually open, and therefore, you know, have sex. Also, as I said above, if you know what you like when you're solo, it will enhance your sexual experience with your partner.

2. More women masturbate than are willing to admit. Actually, this fact shouldn't be very shocking, but perhaps the percentages will astonish you. Most teenagers are already going at it with themselves: Surveys show that before both genders have reached 18, 80 percent of males and 59 percent of females have given masturbation a whirl. As far as people over 18, the numbers get a bit shady. Some research shows that as many as 92 percent of women "admit" to it, while surveys from Kinsey put that percentage anywhere between 50 and 70.

3. Older women masturbate, too. Your sex drive just gets more revved up as you get older. A 2010 Kinsey study found that roughly 30 percent of women in relationships between 60 and 69 years of age had "recently" double-clicked their mouse. For those over 70, "solo masturbation was reported by more than half who were in a non-cohabitating relationship, compared to 12.2 percent among married women."