Updated from May 13, 2022

Happy International Masturbation Month!

May is Masturbation Month and it’s all about starting a conversation.

Last week, I decided to do something a little daring: I downloaded one of those “May is International Masturbation Month” pictures and posted it as a story to my personal Instagram profile.

I know that probably will not come off as a shock or the least bit daring to some readers — some of us practically live with our cocks out on social media (which I completely understand — I have my own alt account on Twitter, too). But Instagram is different for me — it’s my space to connect with close friends, family members and work colleagues, the people I see almost on a daily basis and who know me on a different, much-deeper level than those I follow on Twitter and other social media websites.

So it was just as much a leap of faith as it was an earnest attempt to start an honest conversation about masturbation, in the spirit of how organizers of the first Masturbation Month intended nearly two decades ago.

International Masturbation Month: Its Roots

Masturbation Month has its roots not in a gay club, bathhouse or one of those monthly circle jerk events, but at a United Nations conference back in 1994. There, Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was asked by an attendant to discuss her thoughts on masturbation.

Rather than shy away from the topic, Elders leaned into it, telling the audience that masturbation was a normal part of human sexuality that “perhaps should be taught” in a school’s sex ed curriculum.

“But we’ve not taught our children the very basics,” Elders said. “And I feel that we have tried ignorance for a very long time — and it’s time we try education.”

The remark wasn’t out of place: The conference was assembled for World Aids Day, and masturbation —even mutual masturbation — is largely seen as one of the safest sexual acts a person can enjoy.

Up to that point, Elders was regarded as a well-respected and expert health care professional. She was appointed to the position of Surgeon General by then-President Clinton, making her the highest-ranking health care official in the country.

But her remarks drew an immediate firestorm from some in Washington. Rather than support her progressive viewpoints, Clinton asked her to tone it down. Elders pushed back, saying she didn’t advocate teaching students how to masturbate, but rather that masturbation was a part of sexuality — and a safe one, at that.

“You can’t teach people how to do that, just like you can’t teach people how to have sex,” Elders told a reporter. And that makes sense, because many people do learn how to masturbate on their own. But what they don’t often learn are the health benefits associated with masturbation, or that masturbation is a completely normal thing to do — which leads to stigmatization where masturbation is buried as a topic of discussion, even in situations where it makes the most sense (like, say, a health education class, which was the point Elders was trying to make).

But the pressure was too much, and Elders ultimately decided to resign. Outraged, activists quickly took matters into their own hands to make sure her progressive view was realized.

That’s where Dr. Carol Queen comes in. A counselor at San Francisco’s Good Vibrations, Queen was shocked that Elders’ sensible suggestion cost her that job. Months later, Queen helped organize the very first National Masturbation Month, held in May, a part-awareness, part-protest that was meant to “insert positive discourse about masturbation into the media-sphere and elsewhere.”

This was in 1994, when the Internet was mostly a series of web pages and bulletin boards. To drum up publicity, Queen formed the Masturbation Hall of Fame — Elders was the inaugural inductee — and issued press releases via fax to journalists and news outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Future of MM

What ultimately helped National Masturbation Month go global was a 1999 event called the Masturbate-a-Thon where — you might have guessed it already — dozens of people participated in group masturbation for charity. BateWorld even held one online at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Subsequent Masturbate-a-Thons expanded on the event to include “records” like the “Longest Time Spent Masturbating” and the “Longest Distance Ejaculated.”

The Masturbate-a-Thon helped spur interest and awareness in National Masturbation Month, and the month helped erode the stigma of discussing masturbation with others. Or, at least, with strangers on Twitter. Arouse International Masturbation Month.

Which is why posting that image on Instagram was a little daring for me — it was tough to anticipate what people might say or do.

Would people think it was weird? Would I lose friends? 

Thankfully, none of that happened. A few dozen people saw the image, but only three people reacted with a message. One thought I was posting a joke meme (“This can’t be real, can it?”) while someone else said they “learned something new today.” I responded to both messages (“yes, it’s real!” and “yeah, it’s been going on for years!”), but nothing much came from that.

Oh well, at least the seed of conversation was planted. Someday it’ll grow into something more. If not, there’s always next year and, well, a daily opportunity to spread the joy of MM one bate at a time!  

—

Matt is a professional writer based in the San Francisco area. You can find him on Bateworld as “nudismomateo” or on Twitter at @NudismoMateoXXX 

Celebrate BateWorld this year with The Great BateWorld BateOff! Season Two begins May 4th, 2023! Members can VOTE for their favorites and be a part of this sexy new reality based show. #BateOff #MasturbationMonth #MAYsturbation

GO WATCH & VOTE MAY 4TH!

The Great BateWorld BateOff! Season 2