I'm worried!

[Moxy1984]

So I finally started to somewhat touch myself, which I never usually felt like I needed to do, even when I felt somewhat aroused. One night, when I was on my period (so I was obviously more hormonal than usual) and looking at some lesbian content, I suddenly felt the urge to finally try somet. ing. I would never put my fingers inside myself, so I just put my hand between my thighs and rubbed my hand around. The first time I did it, I felt really shaky afterward, and for these past few nights (and one morning), I've been doing this very thing, and I guess getting pleasure from it. All I'm worried about is going further and getting addicted to masturbation. What should I do to control my feelings?

[Sam W]

Hi A.Fiend1983,

What you're describing isn't something to be concerned about, for a few different reasons. For starters, masturbation isn't something you can get addicted to; addiction has a major chemical component, and isn't an accurate framework for things like sex or masturbation (Heather offers a really good explanation of why here: https://www.scarleteen.com/article/advi ... anguage=es). The only time masturbation becomes an issue is if you're doing it compulsively or when it's interfering with other important parts of your life. Does that make sense?

Too, when we discover something that feels good, it's pretty dang natural for our brains to go "ooh, lets do that again." That doesn't immediately indicate a feeling that needs to be controlled, as long as it isn't causing you to act on those urges in times or places where it's inappropriate to do so.