Decades of research show that masturbation offers meaningful individual, relational, and health benefits—from stress reduction and pain relief to deeper sexual self-awareness and improved sexual functioning with partners. Yet despite this evidence, masturbation remains stigmatized across many cultures, communities, and even within healthcare settings. Female masturbation in particular is often surrounded by misinformation, silence, and lingering social discomfort.
A recent study of nearly 500 Portuguese cisgender women provides new insight into how genital knowledge, genital self-image, and early sexual experiences shape adult masturbation behavior and orgasmic functioning during partnered sex. These findings offer valuable lessons for sexual health professionals working to promote empowered, informed, and shame-free sexual development.
Who is Masturbating?
Masturbation is a common sexual behavior across the lifespan. Rates typically increase during adolescence, climax 😉 in young adulthood, and gradually decline with age.
Access to comprehensive sex education and accurate information is associated with higher rates of masturbation, likely because these environments normalize sexual agency and reduce fear-based messaging. Masturbation rates vary based on country, influenced by several educational, political, social and religious factors.
Masturbation patterns also vary considerably by gender. Studies consistently show that:
Women report masturbating less frequently than men.
Girls and young women often learn that masturbation is less acceptable, less normal, or inferior to partnered sexual behavior.
Adolescent boys more often receive messaging that masturbation is healthy and expected, while girls may experience mixed or negative messaging.
Interestingly, while men’s masturbation is often framed as a substitute for partnered sex, women’s masturbation is more often complementary, associated with stronger sexual agency, better functioning, and higher sexual satisfaction. A recent systematic review found that more often men reported a negative relationship between masturbation and sexual satisfaction, while this relationship was found to be positive for more women.
Sexual orientation may also play a role: several studies suggest that queer women report higher rates of masturbation than heterosexual women.
Why This Study Matters
Although masturbation is beneficial and widely practiced, women rarely receive accurate or affirming guidance about:
The structures of their external genitalia
The anatomy and function of the clitoris
The developmental value of self-exploration
How masturbation contributes to sexual empowerment
This study helps fill those gaps by examining:
Women’s level of genital anatomical knowledge
Predictors of adult masturbation frequency
How masturbation during adolescence relates to orgasm with a partner later in life
Key Findings: Female Masturbation
Gaps in Genital Knowledge
Knowledge of female genital anatomy was generally low to average. Misconceptions were concentrated around the clitoris:
Nearly 48% of participants answered clitoral size questions incorrectly, and many believed it was only 1–2 cm long.
Items reflecting sexual myths: “The vagina becomes more ‘loose’ with frequent sex” were associated with lower knowledge of clitoral anatomy.
These findings match prior research showing:
Women are more familiar with internal anatomy (e.g., uterus, ovaries) than external structures (e.g., labia, clitoral complex).
School-based education often focuses on reproduction and risk, rather than pleasure and body literacy.
Many women lack practical knowledge of what their genitals look like or how they function sexually.
Given that the clitoris is one of the most important structures for female sexual arousal and orgasm, this gap has real implications for sexual satisfaction, confidence, contraceptive decision-making, and healthcare navigation.
Patterns of Female Masturbation
Masturbation was nearly universal in the sample:
96% had masturbated at some point, with an average age of first experience at 14.1 years
Most began masturbating between ages 10 and 19
In adolescence:
About one in five reported masturbating 2–3 times a week
Approximately 15% reported masturbating less than once per year
In adulthood:
About 25% reported masturbating once per week, and only 5% reported masturbating less than once a year
7% had never reached orgasm through masturbation, while 13% reported orgasming every time
What Predicts Masturbation Frequency?
Several demographic and social factors were linked with more frequent masturbation in adulthood:
Women masturbated more if they were:
Younger
Single
Living in urban environments
Attending religious services less frequently
They also masturbated more if they had:
Greater knowledge of the genital anatomy
A more positive genital self-image
More frequent orgasm during masturbation
A history of masturbating during adolescence
These findings align with broader literature showing that sexual shame, religious messaging, and limited sexual education suppress masturbation, while body confidence and sexual knowledge enhance it.
Adolescent Masturbation Predicts Adult Orgasm
One of the most significant findings is that women who masturbated more during adolescence were more likely to reach orgasm during partnered sex in adulthood, including:
General partnered sexual activity
Vaginal penetration
This reinforces masturbation as a learning process. Women who understand how their bodies respond tend to integrate that knowledge into partnered intimacy, improving sexual fulfillment.
Implications for Sexual Health Professionals
Integrate Pleasure and Anatomy into Education
Many women never receive accurate information about:
Normal variation in size, shape, and color
How pleasure functions within sexual development
Clinical and community education should:
Use accurate visual diagrams
Teach clitoral anatomy, including its internal structure
Normalize self-exploration and masturbation across the lifespan
Notably, even among adult clinical patients, few can correctly name or identify vulvar structures, reflecting missed educational opportunities.
It is also important to note that the definition of female genitalia continues to be debated among international clinical and anatomical societies. This has consequences and implications for communication, research and health related.
Shame remains a major barrier to healthy sexual development. Another recent Portuguese study found:
35% of women reported negative emotions during masturbation:
15.4% shame
10.3% guilt
9.1% embarrassment
Sexual health professionals should:
Use affirming language
Challenge myth-based beliefs
Frame masturbation as a developmentally normal behavior
Ask About Early Sexual Development
Based on this research, discussions may benefit from including:
How individuals first learned about masturbation
Early messages from family, religion, school, peers, or media
Whether early shame or prohibitions still affect adult experiences
This does not mean pathologizing masturbation, but rather recognizing that early experiences can shape adult comfort, expectations, and sexual agency.
Recognize That Masturbation Can Serve Different Purposes
This study also found that individuals who consistently orgasmed with partners tended to masturbate less, suggesting that for some, masturbation acts as a compensatory strategy when partnered sex is:
Unfulfilling
Orgasmically inconsistent
Lacking adequate stimulation
Clinicians may ask:
Is masturbation expanding sexual joy and self-awareness?
Or filling a gap unmet in partnered intimacy?
Different reasons can be valid. As noted earlier, gendered differences between masturbation and sexual satisfaction have been found, also potentially enhancing partnered sex. Either way, the distinction may guide support strategies.
Takeaways: Female Masturbation
This research makes one message clear: When individuals understand their bodies and feel permitted to explore them, sexual outcomes improve.
For sexual health practitioners, this means:
Normalize masturbation at all ages
Prioritize body literacy and clitoral anatomy
Actively challenge shame-based or gendered sexual norms
Treat pleasure as a legitimate, measurable sexual health outcome
Stigma remains powerful, but knowledge is powerful too. The earlier individuals are given accurate information about their anatomy, pleasure, and agency, the more confidently they can carry that knowledge into adulthood, relationships, and lifelong sexual well-being.
Supporting Sexual Journeys with SHA Certification Programs
Many people enter adulthood without comprehensive sexual education or guidance. SHA certification programs help bridge that gap by training professionals in inclusive, sex-positive, and evidence-based approaches to sexual health.
These certifications emphasize pleasure, anatomy, trauma-informed care, and supportive communication, equipping providers to help individuals explore sexuality with confidence, reduce shame, and build lifelong sexual wellness skills.
Written by Emma Sell-Goodhand, MPH
Emma is a doctoral student and Global One Health Fellow at North Carolina State University studying adolescent sexual health. She brings prior experience as a Technical Advisor at the World Health Organization.
Want to become an in-demand sexual health professional? Learn more about becoming certified with SHA!
