Lately I have gotten into videotaping myself masturbating. I am starting an archive of different positions and methods. I guess it's a little unusual, because I've never heard of anyone else doing it. There is that brief period in life where the awkward-looking stages of puberty are all done yet we still look young enough to be free from wrinkles and the weathering of age. I feel I am at that point now. I look at it more as the artistic expression of personal rhythm and the male body rather than pornography – but I do find watching it very erotic.
- age 24, Pennsylvania
Sometimes when I'm masturbating I do some sit-ups.
- age 15, Austria
Before I partake in a long masturbation session, I often work out or go for a run. I enjoy having my blood flowing and heart pounding when I begin masturbating. It tends to make my orgasms more powerful.
- age 37, California (female)
Sometimes I like to walk back and forth while I masturbate. It doesn't really feel different, but I do it sometimes for no reason.
- age 15, Georgia
The smell of a baseball glove is, for some reason, very erotic to me. I often put my glove over my face while I'm masturbating, or rub it against my nipples. This intensifies the feeling and can transform a relatively interested erection into a rock-hard one. Orgasm also becomes difficult to resist. A rubber mask and snorkel tend to have the same effect. Why does sports equipment have this effect on me? Who knows – we humans have strange habits.
- age 20, California
Yes, although it's kind of weird to think about it. I usually slap my penis around when it is soft; it's kind of a habit now. Also for some reason I rub my pubic hair sometimes when I am masturbating. And I usually take the loose skin between each of my testicles and twist it around. That's it, I think.
- age 16, Connecticut
I usually put on MTV – my bed's springs are very squeaky, and since my sister's room is next door I don't want her to hear me masturbating. Although chances are she knows full well what's going on – she's never mentioned my habit of switching on MTV at unusual hours of the day!
- age 22, Ireland
I always sort of play with my tongue, like twisting it and licking my lips, involuntarily.
- age 15, Egypt
When I masturbate I can't do anything unrelated – that's the point! I sometimes try stretching or yoga to relax first, but all I can think about is what I'm going to do next, and my hands just wander on down. And once I start I can't think about work or worries, or even focus for too long on how my whole body is glowing, because my clitoris keeps telling me it's time for more attention. My thoughts turn to water, my mind tracks messages of growing wetness, buzzings from my neck to the soles of my feet, my breasts, my labia...thoughts of a man, of his viewing me, of his penis entering again and again. It's all related, and for a time there is nothing else.
- age 37, Oregon (female)
When lying down and masturbating I lift one of my legs off the bed and keep it raised until I orgasm.
- age 18, New Zealand
I always masturbate with crushed ice in my hand. It feels really good.
- age 15, Vermont
For some reason, I can masturbate only with my left hand, even though I'm very much right-handed. (Doing anything with my left hand is difficult, except masturbating.) If I try to use my right hand, it just feels so strange and awkward. Masturbation actually gets annoying and I just switch back to ol' lefty.
- age 21, Canada
Every time I start to masturbate, I make sure my curtains are shut. Force of habit. I just feel paranoid to the fact that someone could be watching me from a helicopter or spy camera, even though no spy would really want to watch me masturbate.
- age 18, Colorado
I'm not sure if this is so unusual, but I sing whenever my parents aren't within earshot – usually something with a heavy cadence that I can time my strokes to.
- age 14, Oregon
I close my eyes throughout the whole experience, and I wiggle my toes.
- age 18, California (female)
I usually have to get totally naked or peel down to my boxers to masturbate. I think this started when my dad and I had "the talk." He said masturbation was normal and healthy but to never let any semen get onto my clothes, because then my mother would find out.
- age 16, Canada
When I lie down to masturbate, I often lie on my bed naked and begin thinking. I just envision me getting home from a date with an attractive girl, and then I envision us making out and slipping off each other's clothes. By the time I actually start masturbating, I'm fully aroused without ever having touched myself. It also makes the masturbation session last longer.
- age 19, Utah
One very odd habit is that I masturbate when I'm playing sports games on my Sony PlayStation. (When I'm alone, of course!) I don't know what gives me the urge, but whenever I'm playing football or baseball on the system I always get an erection and just have to masturbate.
- age 16, Missouri
Ever since I broke up with my girlfriend a year ago, I've been doing this. I masturbate normally, and then I ejaculate directly on my face. When I'm done ejaculating, I rub it all over my face. Really hard. I put some of it in my mouth, and I even rub it into my eyes, despite how much that stings. Then I lick my hands clean and lie there for a while. I just have to do it – I can't stop myself. I would have had a new steady girlfriend, but I did this when we had sex. It was oral sex, and I thought I was being spontaneous or weird or something, but she questioned me about it later. I thought that was the end of it – but a few days later she watched my entire masturbation session, called me a freak when I started rubbing it in, and left me. I'd say it's a bit unusual.
- age 21, New York
I "baah" like a sheep when I reach orgasm.
- age 14, United Kingdom
I have this pet peeve that every time I masturbate, I have to wash my hands after. I don't know why. It's not that I feel dirty – I just don't want to have to shake someone's hand later and have stuff left over.
- age 16, Texas
Sometimes I used to put my finger into my belly button and wiggle it around. I don't know why; it was just a habit. Once about a year ago I did it so much I made my belly button bleed, and since then I have stopped. When I stimulated my belly button I got a very odd, almost electrical feeling inside of my penis – possibly the belly button is connected some way to it?
- age 17, Ohio
To stop me reaching orgasm too soon, I masturbate for a while and then go and water the plants to take my mind off the events in hand, so to speak. Then when I've calmed down, I start masturbating again. A few times I've ended up ejaculating into a plant pot. I nearly got caught once, so it's not a foolproof system!
- age 22, New Zealand
I like to read. Not necessarily erotic material – just a car magazine or a good book or something. I can sit and gently masturbate while reading the newspaper, too. But when I get close to orgasm I usually put down the reading material and really get down to business.
- age 17, Texas