FAQs

How do women masturbate? I'm just curious. Is there any infection that you can get from it?

Answer

There are all sorts of ways of masturbating that women do - rubbing the clitoris with fingers or something else, or rubbing against something like a pillow or blanket.

Using fingers or something to put into the vagina, using a hand held shower head or spa to direct water around the clitoris and genital area - remember that the clitoris has long arms that extend right under the labia majora (the big lips of the vagina) - massaging the whole vulva (area around your vagina and lips), caressing or stroking breasts, belly, shoulders, legs, neck....depending on what you like. Caresses to any part of the part of the body can drive you wild with desire if you are in the right mood.

Anything that feels good to do for yourself is fine provided you don't do harm to yourself or anyone else. For example NEVER use the neck of an open bottle in a vagina or anus to masturbate, or for a partner - it can create suction with movement and this can be very dangerous.

If you look in "The Hite Report", an excellent US study on women's sexuality you will find a chapter on masturbation with descriptions written by women of what they do. The whole book is full of very interesting information about women and their bodies and sex. It was first published in the 1970s so you may need to find it in your library or a second hand bookshop.

If you are masturbating on your own, you are highly unlikely to get any infections. In the unlikely chance that you did, it would be just an overgrowth of the normal bacteria that grow in your vagina that women can get when their vaginal bacteria are out of balance, mostly easily treated . From masturbating it would only possibly happen if, perhaps you used something that your vagina didn't like as a lubricant. Best to stick to saliva for this, or you can buy water-based lubricant like KY Jelly, Sylk or Wetstuff. But again, highly unlikely to happen.

And if you are masturbating with someone else, you won't get any STIs provided you are not exchanging bodily fluids in any way - eg semen on fingers, or semen near vagina, cuts on fingers, saliva on fingers and provided you are not sharing sex toys or anything that you use to masturbate with someone else.

More information about masturbation can be found on our website. Just click on http://www.fpnsw.org.au/sex-matters/faq/masturbate_20020212.html and you will find the information.