By Allie Sadlier // SWNS
NEWS COPY w/ VIDEO + INFOGRAPHIC
Two in three Americans think they’re mind-blowing in bed and say they’ve had their best orgasm solo.
A study of 2,000 sexually active Americans revealed the vital role masturbation plays in respondents’ relationships with their bodies and their romantic liaisons with others.
Three in five confessed they’ve never experienced an orgasm with a partner and have only reached bliss through masturbation.
Forty-four percent even credited masturbation for a life epiphany or “aha moment” akin to a shower revelation.
Most people even prefer it — 60% of those polled would rather masturbate than have sex with a partner.
The research conducted by OnePoll on behalf of LELO for Masturbation Month in May found that, of respondents currently in a relationship, seven in ten are helping themselves after sex with their partner due to lackluster experiences.
While masturbation clearly plays a key role for respondents as adults that weren’t always the case. The average respondent first began experimenting with masturbation at 15 years old.
The time spent exploring their own bodies in their youth has benefited some respondents in their relationships.
Seventy-one percent credited masturbation for helping them communicate with partners about their preferences in the bedroom.
Three in four now think masturbation as healthy but there are still lingering misconceptions. Sixty-three percent said there are still negative connotations associated with female masturbation and pleasure.
"It is alarming that, at a time when disrupting the status quo is becoming the status quo, 63% of participants still feel that there is stigma around female masturbation and pleasure," remarked Sara Kranjčec Jukić, Global Brand Manager at LELO. "As a brand, it is part of our mission to normalize sexuality and pleasure for all. This statistic shows that the work we are doing is more important than ever."
Forty-six percent have purchased a sex toy as part of their self-exploration but a third of those respondents prefer to keep their toy use to themselves.
Of respondents who don’t use toys with partners, three in five (61%) said their partner wouldn’t approve of toy use.
Others use toys by themselves because they prefer it that way (59%) while 57% confessed they don’t even want their partner to know they have a toy.
"Sex positivity really comes down to believing that sexuality is a normal and healthy part of the human experience," said Sara Kranjčec Jukić, Global Brand Manager for LELO. "While the data shows a trend toward more tolerant attitudes toward sex and masturbation, we still have a long way to go before these attitudes extend equally to all sexual identities and gender expressions."
