A couple of interesting female masturbation-related articles caught my attention in recent days.

The first article comes from Salon, where the author found 15 people to share stories about their specific ways of masturbating. The techniques include humping mattresses, watching their reflection in the mirror, and using anal beads, a hand-held showerhead, or a hairbrush.

The piece includes male masturbation rituals as well as female, but I thought it was important to share because so many women masturbate in ways that they think are “weird” or “unusual.”

A great example is grinding against pillows. In my experience, it is one of the top three most popular ways women masturbate, but virtually all of the women who masturbate in this way are ashamed of it. A good percentage started doing it as kids or teenagers, and many never thought of what they were doing as masturbation, but they almost always feel like there’s something “wrong” with masturbating that way.

I like seeing so many unique stories in this Salon piece because it’s a reminder that people masturbate in an incredibly wide variety of ways. There’s nothing “wrong” or “right” about any particular technique. All that’s important is whether or not it brings you pleasure!

The second article comes from the Huffington Post, and it showcases a video of young Indian women talking openly and unabashedly about masturbation (it also included some quotes from yours truly!). India, of course, is not a country that is typically associated with sexual openness.

My favorite answer from the video came from a woman responding to the question, “do you masturbate?” She said, “yes, it’s a basic human need, it’s very natural. Who doesn’t?”

That response gets two massive thumbs up! Having an intimate relationship with your own body is an incredibly special, empowering, and yes, natural, thing.

Interested in learning more about female masturbation? Check out Finishing School: Learn How To Orgasm. An entire section of the program is dedicated to masturbation techniques!