Did you always know, or did you find out later?

Contributor: Rayne Millaray Rayne Millaray
I grew up thinking only boys masturbated. It wasn't that I didn't touch myself. I just didn't know that was masturbation.

And I was probably 16-17 when I realized what an orgasm was. It wasn't that I hadn't had one. I just didn't know that what happened to me when I touched myself was called an orgasm. I didn't know what it was. Only that it felt good.

I'm pretty sure this is due, in part, to the fact that I learned about sex almost entirely from my school. Luckily, our school was progressive enough to teach us that abstinence ensured that you didn't have a baby at a young age, and didn't catch any STDs, but that if we were gonna have sex, we should definitely use protection. Considering how long ago that was, and the current climate surrounding teaching kids about sex, that's saying something.

Another contributing factor was my mother's insistence that sex was something you just don't talk about. With anyone. Except, perhaps, a doctor or therapist. And even then, it was only when necessary.

Obviously, I've grown to disagree with her.

So my questions for you are:

Did you always know what masturbation was, and what an orgasm was? Or did you find out later in life? And if so, how old were you when you realized what you did had a name?
01/29/2011
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Contributor: Red Vinyl Kitty Red Vinyl Kitty
Quote:
Originally posted by Rayne Millaray
I grew up thinking only boys masturbated. It wasn't that I didn't touch myself. I just didn't know that was masturbation.

And I was probably 16-17 when I realized what an orgasm was. It wasn't that I hadn't had one. I just ... more
I'm not sure exactly when I realized what I was doing was called Masturbation. It probably wasn't until I was about 14 or so, and the same goes for orgasms. I was actually masturbating around 10 or 12, so it was definitely before I knew the correct terms.
01/29/2011
Contributor: Joie de Cherresse Joie de Cherresse
I found out at a pretty early age. I always knew boys played with themselves, and some girls too... hell I did it. I started having sex when I was 12, so I found out pretty early about orgasms and a lot about sex.
01/29/2011
Contributor: potstickers potstickers
I used to do it when I was younger, just for curiosity's sake and not knowing it was masturbating, but for several years I lost interest. I only just started again a few years ago.
01/29/2011
Contributor: Annemarie Annemarie
Quote:
Originally posted by Rayne Millaray
I grew up thinking only boys masturbated. It wasn't that I didn't touch myself. I just didn't know that was masturbation.

And I was probably 16-17 when I realized what an orgasm was. It wasn't that I hadn't had one. I just ... more
I grew up in a culture that had sex all over it (yay for the 1990's), so I knew from a young age what masturbation and an orgasm was, and even what sex was and encompassed. I started masturbating at a very young age, maybe at 5 or 6, and knew what it was pretty much.
01/29/2011
Contributor: LavenderSkies LavenderSkies
I was around 12 when I learned that girls can, too. At 13 I started, and I didnt know at the time I was having orgasms. It was probably a half a year of this until I realized I was all along.
01/29/2011
Contributor: Crash Crash
I don't know when I first learned about sex, but I know I didn't think girls masturbate. Maybe 6th grade? That's when we had sex ed.
02/02/2011
Contributor: yes yes yes yes yes yes
i always knew and was able to after about 14
04/05/2011
Contributor: wetone123 wetone123
I found myself touching and playing when I was about 10 Did not know what it was called til way later, maybe 14
08/03/2011
Contributor: EJ EJ
Thanks for asking this question, Rayne. I've often wondered about this myself. I was masturbating and having orgasms way before I heard the terminology used in relation to women's sexuality. I went to a conservative "fundamentalist" Christian school and probably would have felt pretty guilty had I known, so sometimes ignorance really is bliss.
08/18/2011