National Masturbation Month

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Overview

National Masturbation Month is an annual event celebrated during the month of May to promote sex-positive attitudes toward the practice of erotic self-stimulation.

Background

In December 1994, United States President Bill Clinton terminated Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders from her position for suggesting masturbation should be promoted to young people as an alternative to riskier forms of sexual activity. In 1995, the sex toy retailer Good Vibrations declared May 7th "National Masturbation Day" in protest of Elders' termination. In later years, the annual event was expanded to include the entire month of May.

Notable Developments

In 1999, the first Masturbate-a-Thon was held by Good Vibrations' parent company Open Enterprises, during which participants masturbate to raise money for charity.^[6] On May 8th, 2009, the Jackoff Junction YouTube channel uploaded a video titled "May is National Masturbation Month" (shown below).

In May 2010, Good Vibrations^[3] published a press release espousing National Masturbation Month for promoting healthy attitudes about sexuality:

"National Masturbation Month is still a necessary reminder that self-satisfaction is a healthy, accessible form of pleasure engaged in by almost everyone, of every gender and relationship status, at some time of (or throughout) their lives: It’s relaxing, allows people to learn more about their own sexual response, is a basic recommendation of sex therapists that can help people with many different sexual concerns, relieves menstrual cramps, and helps keep the genitals fully functional."

On May 13th, 2011, The Joy Behar Show held a segment on National Masturbation Month featuring an interview with sex therapist Ian Kerner (shown below).

On March 29th, 2013, Redditor beckerist submitted a post titled "TIL May is National Masturbation Month" to the /r/TIL^[7] subreddit, where it received upwards of 1,700 votes (88% upvoted) and 220 comments prior to being archived. On May 21st, 2015, the news site The Blot^[4] published an article detailing the history of National Masturbation Month. The following day, Redditor PepperoniBaron submitted the article to the /r/sex^[5] subreddit.