Masturbation, which is naturally an art of sexual satisfaction that has been employed by humanity for a very long time, has effects that may be disturbing and chronic especially for young learners. in as much as doctors believe it is harmless – some have gone as far as recommending it instead of penetrative sex to avoid diseases and pregnancies, when not monitored it can escalate into a full-blown problem.
Campus Bee has learnt that several students at Kyambogo University are silently battling the addiction to masturbation and may be willing to give it up but they don’t know how to best counter it. From social media confessions and hints, we have been able to get in touch with some students who have opened up and revealed that they’re suffering the addiction and would want to stop.
Albert (not real name) in an exclusive with Campus Bee revealed that he realized that masturbation was becoming a problem when his own girlfriend started appearing like just any other normal person to him. “I am not a loser. I actually have a girlfriend but at the moment, she doesn’t even satisfy me because of masturbation.” he opened up.
He went on to admit that for the last two months, he has been going several rounds with his girlfriend without ejaculating and that he would only ejaculate whenever he put matters into his own hands.
He is not alone, another student from the Faculty of Education told our reporter that she feels physically unable to ejaculate or sometimes feel well lubricated down under due to her masturbation schedule. “I feel my boyfriend sometimes notices that I am never ready for sex. I want to open up to him about my addiction and we see what to do about it because every time we engage, I have to go to the bathroom and touch myself to gain pleasure,” she said.
Dr Ian Kerner, a psychiatrist and sexual health expert, says masturbation is more of a symptom of other mental health issues like depression or anxiety than a problem in itself. “A lot of men are going through rough times on the employment scene and not going to work, or they’re single and either want to be in a relationship or not,” he said. “Sometimes men are using it as a distraction mechanism or a way of regulating anxiety or emotion.”
He adds that excessive masturbation might even serve as a means of avoiding what he terms as erotic conflict. He offers the scenario of a female in a heterosexual marriage who is struggling with admitting her attraction to fellow women. “The more she doesn’t deal with that attraction in different ways, the more it expresses itself through masturbation, which then leads to shame and guilt,” he says.
Kerner, in his analysis, observes that it’s not really the number of times we might masturbate a day that’s potentially a problem, but the level of distress it causes when we do.
“I think it’s misguided and useless to put a specific number on it. It’s much more reasonable to think of masturbating too much in terms of it getting in the way of doing the things you want to do,” he said.
Albert, confessed that on a bad day, he can miss a lecture to masturbate and this goes ahead to confirm Dr Kerner’s observation that masturbation can get in the way of us doing things that we want to do.
