There is still a lot of cultural shame/pressure exerted upon women to be "pure," non-sexual beings, whereas it's okay to acknowledge (and even encourage) sexuality in boys.
AMEN. You are too intellectually sound and intuitive for your own good. And I think I love you for it.
Thanks for posting this. I'm very glad to hear you sent it along to the OPs.
Okay, don't kill me, but I have to take about the opposite viewpoint on this one. I thought that the article was fairly well written, especially considering its aim. If you're preparing middle America to deal with teenage sexual behavior, I see nothing wrong with assessing teenage sexuality accurately - the article doesn't say that girls don't masturbate (which is what it could have said, inaccurately and damagingly), but rather it implies that girls don't masturbate as much or as often as boys, which is generally true
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but rather it implies that girls don't masturbate as much or as often as boys, which is generally true. Actually, that's false-- multiple studies have been show demonstrating that girls masturbate as early and as often as boys, but because of the shame attached to it, under-report and don't discuss it. Also, I think you're demonstrating how our attitudes about female sexuality (that girls don't masturbate as much or as often as boys) actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy; BECAUSE parents don't discuss masturbation with their daughters frankly, it becomes a behavior that girls feel shameful about/discouraged from doing (religion also generally serves this purpose
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While I admire your passionate argument, I must object to it. I'll be the first to acknowledge that most cultures are repressive when it comes to female sexuality, but cultural messages aren't absolute in their dictation of sexuality: culture isn't a superorganism so much as a collection of people, and a great deal of cultural tendencies (especially those we find nearly universally) are rooted firmly in biology. But more on that later.
To address the 'studies' you mentioned, I don't know where you got them, so I don't know how reputable they are. However, all the studies I have found clearly demonstrate that women masturbate significantly less than men; perhaps the best one I can quote (a meta-analysis combining dozens of studies and surveying over 100,000 men and women) has this to say: "The largest gender difference revealed among the sexual behavior measures was for masturbation incidence. This difference far overshadowed all other measures examined in this study, with the possible exception of attitudes toward casual premarital
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The main difference between American and European attitudes is that Europeans expect teens are going to experiment with sex. It's not about Europeans encouraging them per se, it's about their acceptance of the reality of teenage sex, and hence preparing their teens for it. Americans haven't reached that enlightened point yet, which yes, I agree, accounts for many Americans' schizophrenic attitudes towards sex.
We teach our teenage boys that they're supposed to experiment and express themselves sexually, whereas we expect teenage girls to be "careful" and more restrained.There is a very good reason for teaching girls to be "careful" and it's called teenage pregnancy. Unfortunately in America, "careful" too often translates to "staying a virgin until the wedding night," instead of "being prepared for the responsibilities that come with engaging in sex." But, as long as women must bear the biological brunt of childbearing, telling our daughters to "be careful" will be the case. Ultimately girls are responsible for their own
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AMEN. You are too intellectually sound and intuitive for your own good. And I think I love you for it.
Thanks for posting this. I'm very glad to hear you sent it along to the OPs.
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To address the 'studies' you mentioned, I don't know where you got them, so I don't know how reputable they are. However, all the studies I have found clearly demonstrate that women masturbate significantly less than men; perhaps the best one I can quote (a meta-analysis combining dozens of studies and surveying over 100,000 men and women) has this to say: "The largest gender difference revealed among the sexual behavior measures was for masturbation incidence. This difference far overshadowed all other measures examined in this study, with the possible exception of attitudes toward casual premarital ( ... )
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We teach our teenage boys that they're supposed to experiment and express themselves sexually, whereas we expect teenage girls to be "careful" and more restrained.There is a very good reason for teaching girls to be "careful" and it's called teenage pregnancy. Unfortunately in America, "careful" too often translates to "staying a virgin until the wedding night," instead of "being prepared for the responsibilities that come with engaging in sex." But, as long as women must bear the biological brunt of childbearing, telling our daughters to "be careful" will be the case. Ultimately girls are responsible for their own ( ... )
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