Masturbation isn’t only for single people. A thing for girls to remember: your sexual partner masturbates to Perfect 10 or the occasional American Apparel ad isn’t cheating. Jerking off to a hot message that he received from a new 18-year-old ‘friend’ he acquainted with on Facebook is. Do you see the difference? We get lots of complaints, especially from girls, about concerns regarding their boyfriends’ insistent masturbation. Somebody asks, ‘Would you treat this cheating?’ While no question is a stupid question, such queries give us pause. Catholic guilt aside, when did masturbation become tantamount to infidelity? Given the long story behind criticizing wankers – you know, a hell-bound soul, blindness and hairy palms, etc. – didn’t we pathologize the practice yet? Let’s follow the facts: questionnaires show that anywhere from 70% to 95% of male and female grown-ups get it on alone, and, yes, that includes persons involved in monogamous relationships. If to believe to Kinsey study, 40% of guys and 30% of girls in relationships get off. A Playboy readers’ survey found 72% of married guys jerk off, and a similar Redbook survey found 68% of married girls masturbate, too. While different old-fashioned social constructs might discourage girls from being forthcoming about their ‘personal’ sexual habits, the vast majority of guys have never been ashamed to brag about marathon masturbation sessions. As sex counselor and educator Sue Johanson told famously: ‘99% of guys of all ages jerk off regularly and the other one percent just lie.’ So are we all a crowd of perverts? It depends on your attitudes considering sexuality. The bottom thing, the majority of sexual experts claim, is a successful relationship demands a particular amount of space. Sometimes you require a sexual moment to yourself, and there is nothing wrong about it. The average reader is most assuredly knows how normal and healthy the practice of self-pleasure is, but when it comes to our partners’ masturbation, the lines can become murky. For instance, how much is too much? For example, there is a boyfriend who endlessly visited online porn sites. And in case it didn’t drive his girlfriend to great consternation, eventually the implications of this behavior began to irk her, insidiously creeping into her psyche. Did their sex life remain something to be wished? Does she blow him frequently enough? Should she invest in some stripper shoes and things like hot Pink Frederick’s of Hollywood number? The common rule of thumb for evaluating whether you have a right to moan and bitch about it is how it’s affecting your sex life. If you get the vague sense that he would rather satisfy himself privately than get sex with you – which may have more to do with your own insecurities than reality – that is one thing. But in case you haven’t had intercourse for weeks, and he is consistently spending an extra ten minutes in the shower, you may be feeling hurt or pissed off. The former warrants a ‘talk’, but the latter may be a side effect of more significant troubles within the relationship. Nevertheless, in case that isn’t the matter, you cannot stress this enough: let the guy masturbate. And in case you aren’t taking care of yourself on your own now and then – well, you must be.