Female Masturbation as Resistance

Responding to the “Harm and Damage Rhetoric” of Purity Culture

January 11, 2019

Excerpt: I’ve been wondering about how young women exercise their moral agency, especially regarding their sexuality, when this shame-inducing “harm and damage” rhetoric is the norm. I think female masturbation is a compelling act of resistance, as it disrupts significant aspects of what purity culture teaches about women’s desire. In a culture where women are taught to be passive recipients, to want sex not for pleasure but as a means to relationship—and any act of sex is damaging to her and her relationships—masturbation is one way for a woman to exercise her moral decision-making.