Masturbation for vulva-having folks is something LELO has always been dedicated to enhancing through our pleasure products, but the techniques are not always described in explicit terms. With slang such as ‘fingering’ and ‘polishing the pearl’ (not to mention frequent references to removable shower heads) it’s no wonder it can all be a little bit confusing for some. Here, we explain some of the most common methods of female masturbation, so even if you’ve had plenty of practice, you might learn a fun new way to experience solo pleasure!
Why Do Women Masturbate?
Women masturbate for exactly the same reason as men; it’s pleasurable and can help with everything from insomnia, boredom, or good-old fashioned feelings of sexual frustration.
Percentage of women who masturbate can vacillate from just 38% to 92% depending on who you ask and how, but that really isn’t too terribly important. What is important is that masturbation is healthy and normal, however you really shouldn’t be concerned if you’re doing it twice a day or twice a month as long as you’re happy with your personal sexual experiences.
And that is one of the most important part of masturbation to focus on, as part of your personal sexuality. While we can (and do, and do recommend) masturbating with your partner, masturbation is an important part of your personal relationship with your own sensuality and pleasure. It is self-care and sex* combined, and shouldn’t be treated as less important than other aspects of your sex life.
How Do Women Masturbate?
Erotic Inspiration
Female desire is a little understood (and until recently, little studied) phenomena, but it does seem apparent that we can be quite flexible when it comes to what turns us on. It can be a sexy yet not necessarily explicit sex scene in a movie that makes our imaginations run wild, or intensely kinky written erotica.
Thankfully, things like the overwhelming popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey and vocal women who are creating feminist-porn, the taboo toward consumption of erotic content by women is being broken down. Advice for masturbating and reaching orgasm is no longer just suggestions of lighting scented candles or taking a bath (though these do certainly work for some people, and it’s always nice to treat yourself) and we are able to talk much more explicitly about female pleasure.
Equipped for Pleasure
Now, let’s start with the most important tool we have for pleasure: our own bodies. While there are a ton of erogenous zones all over the female body that may be involved in your masturbation, we are going to focus specifically on the primary sexual anatomy.
Because we don’t have to touch our genitals when we urinate like men do, we don’t always have the same familiarity with our genitals as men unless you are one of those lucky women who was given a mirror and a copy of Our Bodies, Our Selves when you were younger.
This is a shame, because our genitals are beautiful. While we often use ‘vagina’ to refer to our entire genital anatomy, by doing so we are ignoring (some even say linguistically erasing) some of our most erotic parts. Technically, the vagina is just the canal on the inside, while the outer part is the vulva.
The vulva is made up of the vaginal opening, the clitoral hood, the clitoral glans, and the inner and outer lips. Both the clitoris (including the hood and the glans) and the inner lips are made of the same tissue as the penis. Both start out the same in a fetus, and all are densely packed with nerve endings. Also important, while the outer lips are on the outside, , the inner lips can be bigger than the labia majora and can be visible from outside.
Methods of Stimulation
There are three common ways women begin to masturbate. Some learn when they are quite young that pressure feels good―before they even understand what or why they’re doing it; some first have a sexual partners and then start exploring on their own and some learn about the concept of masturbation before actually trying it.
While we discuss different methods of masturbation below, one of the most important parts of masturbation that so often gets neglected is the use of lubricant. Unlike saliva or lotion, a good water-based personal lubricant is specifically designed for use with your body and sex toys, and it is helpful in getting you aroused and avoiding discomfort.