Moral Revolution – The naked truth about sexual purity

Reader's Question

Dear Sex Therapist,
I have quit masturbating and feel as if i am lead to stay that way, but if I wanted to masturbate, would that mean I have sinned or would that mean I went against myself? I quit pornography but am not sure whether it tempts me masturbate?

Sex Therapist's Answer

It sounds like you are confused about what you want. You say that you feel led to *not *masturbate. If that is so, then don't masturbate. If you are now questioning where you stand then I would encourage you to make it a wisdom issue instead of a sin issue. Usually men masturbate when they look at pornography. You say that you have quit pornography--that is awesome! But the way our brains work, if you look at porn and also masturbate, then those two behaviors are wired together in your brain. So if you masturbate, it could trigger that part of your brain that used to look at porn and make you want to do it again. There is no way to know if it would do it or not--you might be fine. But there is a definite risk of being triggered to look at porn again. So from a wisdom standpoint, you have to decide whether masturbation is helpful for you, whether it is worth the risk.