Masturbation is a common and natural practice, yet it has not always been perceived in the same way. Beyond its private nature, our thoughts regarding it are deeply influenced by social and gender norms. A man masturbating is not judged the same as a woman doing so, and these differences in perception reveal a great deal about the values that continue to shape our sexuality.
With the goal of better understanding how gender and social beliefs influence the perception of this behavior, researchers Laura Elvira Muñoz-García, Juan Carlos Sierra and Carmen Gómez-Berrocal recently published the study "Gender Bias in the Perception of Masturbation Behavior: Does It Align with Sexual Norms?" in Sexuality & Culture. Their objective was to analyze whether a double standard is still applied when considering who masturbates.
To achieve this, they presented 292 Spanish cisgender adults (146 men and 146 women, aged 18 to 32) with two fictional characters: Emilio, a man who masturbates, and Elena, a woman in the same situation. Each participant evaluated one of the characters on aspects such as sexual satisfaction, charisma, trustworthiness, achievement and social skills.
Additionally, the research team measured the extent to which participants adhered to specific social beliefs, including the sexual double standard and social dominance orientation. The sexual double standard is a prejudiced attitude that involves evaluating the same sexual behavior differently based on the gender of the individual. In its most traditional form, it implies a more permissive and complacent view of men’s sexual experiences and a more restrictive or critical view of those of women. For its part, social dominance orientation reflects the tendency to justify hierarchies and inequalities between groups, including gender-based ones.
Does the Person Masturbating Matter in Perception?
The results were revealing. Elena was rated more positively than Emilio across all dimensions, regardless of whether the evaluator was a man or a woman. However, differences intensified when personal beliefs were taken into account: those showing a greater adherence to the sexual double standard or a higher social dominance orientation tended to judge more negatively, especially when the person being evaluated was the woman and the evaluator was a man.
Specifically, it was found that men with high levels of social dominance and adherence to the traditional sexual double standard attributed fewer agentic characteristics (achievement/status and trustworthiness) to Elena.
In other words, although society appears more open toward female sexuality than in previous decades, biases and prejudices persist that reproduce gender hierarchies, even in the judgment of private behaviors. Masturbation, far from being a simple sexual practice, thus becomes a mirror of how we understand agency, masculinity and social power.
As the authors conclude, these results invite reflection on the need for sexual education that not only informs but also challenges the norms and inequalities we continue to reproduce unconsciously. Ultimately, what we think about who masturbates says much more about us than about the behavior itself.
Reference
Muñoz-García, L. E., Sierra, J. C. y Gómez-Berrocal, C. (2025). Gender bias in the perception of masturbation behavior: Does it align with sexual norms? Sexuality & Culture. Publicación anticipada en línea. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-025-10457-7