Despite research proving that masturbation is linked to all kinds of health benefits, amid the growth of anti-masturbation movements like NoFap and the now annual tradition of No Nut November, you may be left wondering whether an occasional tug is, as your sex ed classes may have once told you, ‘completely natural’.
Well, according to new research by evolutionary biologists at University College London (UCL), masturbation is a pastime believed to predate humans by some tens of millions of years, with origins tracing back to ancient male primates.
Previously thought to be a by-product of self-arousal, the study found that male primates evolved to masturbate in order to increase their chances of mating.
The study refers to the ‘postcopulatory selection hypothesis’ as its reasoning for this ‘non-functional trait’ (aka masturbation), stating that masturbation without ejaculation could increase arousal before sex, and that masturbation with ejaculation could allows males to ‘shed inferior semen, leaving fresh, high-quality sperm available for mating’.
Masturbation is also thought to help males avoid contracting sexually transmitted infections. ‘Male masturbation reduces the chance of contracting an STI after copulation, by cleansing the urethra (a primary site of infection for many STIs) with ejaculate attained via masturbation,’ according to the study.
Lead researcher of the study, Dr Matilda Brindle, says the findings ‘represent a significant advance in our understanding of the functions of masturbation’.
‘The fact that autosexual behaviour may serve an adaptive function, is ubiquitous throughout the primate order, and is practised by captive and wild-living members of both sexes, demonstrates that masturbation is part of a repertoire of healthy sexual behaviours.’
