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Topics: Sex and Relationships
Joe Yates
A new study has revealed how a woman masturbating in their teen years impacts intimate moments later in life.
While I can't talk on behalf of girls, as a boy going through puberty, I got to know my body quite well in my teenage years... and I would've imagined the same would be said for those in the opposing gender.
But according to a new paper, titled '‘Ménage À Moi’: An Analysis of Factors Associated with Masturbation Among Women' - credit where credit's due, that's a brilliant headline - one in 24 women didn't masturbate during adolescence.
Portuguese researchers Daniela Henriques, Pedro Alexandre Costa and Ana Carvalheira, carried out a web-based survey to determine whether a woman's knowledge of her own anatomy during her juvenile years had an impact on her sex life.
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Out of 469 cisgender (a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex registered for them at birth) adult women, the youngest of which was 18, while the oldest was 78... with a median age of 27 - just 96 per cent of participants had masturbated at some point in their lives, starting at an average age of 14.1 years.
Of those, around three in four exhibited an average or low level of knowledge of the female genitalia, while the most common frequency of masturbation reported was once a week, with one in four women.
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The scientists discovered a link between activity had under the sheets during teen years and the sexual response had by women in their later years.
Participants who noted that they masturbated frequently during adolescence experienced orgasms more often while engaging in sex with partners during adulthood - more specifically, orgasms reached during vaginal penetration.
Henriques, Costa and Carvalheira theorize that masturbation during adolescent years leads to women becoming more familiar with their bodies and are, in turn, able to advise their partners during sexual interactions in later life on what helps them climax.
Researchers also found that participants living in urban areas reported masturbating more often, compared to those who grew up in rural environments.
The trio proposed that the reason for those living in cities might be that they are offered more privacy than those in smaller villages, while they also noted that teen girls could be exposed to more progressive views on sexuality than those in the country.
The conclusion read: "These results emphasize the importance of considering multiple factors in the understanding of masturbation, thus aiding in its destigmatization and intervention."