Last post was aimed at adolescent guys, so now it is obvious that we can continue by writing a post about the experiences that gals will have. Physiology for adolescent females is obviously different from males, but it proceeds in a similar way. During the later stages of pre-adolescent childhood, the body is developing the sexual organs, and this development reaches a stage around the age of twelve (it may be in a range of earlier or later) when periods commence. Around that time, a girl discovers the sensitivity of particular body areas (erogenous zones) to being touched and stroked, and her first orgasm alerts her to the fact that her body has now developed to the stage where she discovers masturbation. Whilst men and women both have erogenous zones, a woman’s body has what we believe are unique characteristics of having areas of her body whose primary purpose is for sexual pleasure; these are her breasts and vagina. These areas are available to give sexual pleasure for her body 24/7, whereas their reproductive function is secondary because they only get used for reproductive purposes for specified tasks for limited periods of time. For example, a married woman may have sex with her husband and as a result, conceive, carry a baby for nine months and give birth. Her vagina is only used for those reproductive purposes during the actual instance of intercourse which resulted in the conception, and during the birth process. Likewise her breasts only take on the secondary role of feeding a baby during the first few months of the baby’s life and then only for set periods during the day (and breastfeeding also returns sexual pleasure to her body anyway).
We use this emphasis to encourage adolescent gals, especially Christians, to gain a healthy understanding of their sexuality. Adolescence is the primary time for gals to learn about their sexual body, including these special parts that she can enjoy touching and stroking to help her reach orgasm. As with the post on guys, 3-D and PSS considerations apply. Gals have generally softer, therefore cuddlier, bodies than guys, and one aspect of adolescent development for a girl is coming to terms with this, which the best way of doing is to include the more erogenous soft parts of her body in masturbation sessions, especially more conspicuous parts such as bum cheeks and thighs.
One of the more important physical contexts for masturbation, for women, is affirmation of their sexuality, due to living in a highly sexualised world where women are often targeted relentlessly on many bases. The constant pressures from all directions, particularly on the basis of physical appearance, can be very challenging for women of all ages, but are likely to have greatest impact on teenagers, with their developing sexual awareness. Masturbation with the particular emphasis on the physical pleasure that can be enjoyed when touching more visible areas of the body, or more physically and spiritually sensitive areas such as the genitals, is an appropriate and effective way of neutralising negative feelings about those areas which can come about as a result of various pressures. This can help women become much more confident about their sexuality overall and begin to match up to male levels of confidence.
Some of these pressures will naturally come about in, for example, school or uni, where gals are in close proximity to guys for hours in the course of a day, or in the case of a women who is dating a guy, she can feel horny after they have spent time together, and a courtship or engagement period may result in an increased need for masturbation in her daily life. It is during adolescence that the use of masturbation by a Christian gal helps her to understand how her body function sexually and how masturbation can help her reaffirm her sexuality a future marital context. As we understand it, some women benefit from having times of masturbation in their marriage as a warm-up for a lovemaking session with their husband, and also as a private time to reaffirm their own sexuality from their own personal perspective as a balance to the kind of affirmation they get from their husband. The best preparation a Christian woman can do for these future situations in her marriage is by learning to masturbate in a healthy way during adolescence.
As we wrote in the first article, families obviously have a very important role to play in supporting their adolescent daughters during this developmental phase of their life. Healthy sexuality is developed in family settings, with parental support and encouragement, especially considering that children spend such a large percentage of their time with their families. This starts to diminish from the beginning of adolescence, but remains very significant until the point where they are old enough to leave home. Allowing adolescent daughters enough free time and privacy to fit in times for masturbation at home is important. They are likely to need to masturbate more at adolescence than at any other time in their lives, as their sexuality is developing and maturing through those teenage years, and it is possible they may need to masturbate daily, and possibly more than once a day on some occasions.