According to archaeologists who found ancient artifacts portraying people masturbating, masturbation has existed since the dawn of time. Yet, there are many controversies surrounding autoeroticism, especially during the Victorian era when metal chastity belts were employed on young men and women to prevent them from touching themselves while sleeping. Such methods appear arcane and obsolete today; however, masturbation is proving to be a touchy subject in this day and age even when the modern man claims to be enlightened.

 Masturbation is widely accepted by both experts in the medical field and sociologists as healthy, natural and helpful in sexual self-exploration. Apart from abstinence, it is said to be the safest sex experience. Nonetheless, the act of pleasuring oneself is still receiving widespread infamy. In 1994, the first US woman Surgeon General, Jocelyn Elders, was dismissed when she answered a question concerning sex education in public schools, saying masturbation "is something that is part of human sexuality and its part of something that perhaps should be taught."

 "Masturbation" is said to have many health benefits. Medical professionals have noted that it can:

 .      Reduce stress

 .      Help a person sleep, especially when that person is suffering from insomnia

 .      Aid the immune system to build up immunity to common malaises

 .      Keep a person in a good mood by releasing certain hormones

 .      Soothe menstrual cramps in women

 .      Keep spontaneous erections in male teenagers at bay

 .      Decrease nocturnal emissions, or wet dreams, in young men

 So then, why is there so much drama when it comes to the topic of masturbation? It's not outlawed in the United States as long as it's done in the privacy of one's room behind closed doors, but still frowned upon. Why does a practice that's performed by the majority of the population feel the weight of a crime after masturbating? Some answers may lie within its history.

 When referring to female pleasure, masturbation is encouraged especially in women as a way to undo the sexual repression particularly experienced during the Victorian age, which has been passed down to today. It's been theorized that the reason why many women cannot orgasm during sex is due to self-consciousness from lack of knowledge of their own bodies in sexual situations. Now women have the aid of adult sex toys, such as vibrators and dildos, which stimulate both the clitoris and the G-spot for a session of masturbation that's been proven to be very pleasing. Even men can put down the archaic traditions of lotion and a box of Kleenex for self-pleasure as a wide range of lubes and male masturbation toys are available on the market to enhance their pleasure. Masturbation is an age-old tradition despite of its bad rap and protests from moralists. Health officials and social scientists believe it is beneficial to one's health and valuable in one's growth process. However, it is still not a topic befit for one's dinner table as the subject still bears the repercussions of its repressive past. Even so, only a little over 1% has not admitted to partaking in autoeroticism; it appears to be on a threshold ready to break out.