Abstract
To date, there has been very little empirical research on Black women’s masturbation practices and views on masturbation. This study fills the gap by exploring the messages Black women received about masturbation and self-pleasure and the sources of these messages using valence theory. Data were collected in 2021 from 242 Black women who participated in a survey during phase one of the triphasic Big Sex Study. Thematic analysis was used to analyze this short-form qualitative data. Results indicated a range of responses, with mixed messages reported more than negative, positive, and neutral messages. The three primary sources of messages were religion, family, and friends. There were several themes across the valence of messages including the development of positive messages, sexual self-awareness, masturbation as sin, health benefits and consequences, relationship difficulties, devaluation, and masturbation as dirty and gross. These results provide a basis for sexuality professionals to improve sociocultural knowledge about masturbation beliefs, practices, and message sources among Black women.

Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
27 December 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02509-y
18 July 2023
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02659-7
References
Bailey, M. M. (2019). Whose body is this? On the cultural possibilities of a radical black sexual praxis. American Quarterly, 71(1), 161–169. https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2019.0009
Benbow, C. M. (2022). Red lip theology: For church girls who’ve considered tithing to the beauty supply story when Sunday morning isn’t enough. Convergent.
Black Girl Bliss. (2018). Pussy prayers: Sacred and sensual rituals for wild women of color. Hay House, Inc.
Black Girl Bliss. (2020). Please: Radical self-care for wild women of color. Hay House, Inc.
Bohmer, C., Sullivan, Q., Sanchez, A., Thorpe, S., & Hargons, C. (2022). A content analysis on female masturbation studies through a sex positive and intersectional lens. Journal of Positive Sexuality, 8(2), 31–58. https://doi.org/10.51681/1.822
Bowleg, L., Lucas, K. J., & Tschann, J. M. (2004). “The ball was always in his court”: An exploratory analysis of relationship scripts, sexual scripts, and condom use among African American women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28(1), 70–82.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
Broaddus-Smith, B., Fredericks, K., & Fredericks, M. (Host). (2019-Present). #TheLoveHour | Should Christians Masturbate? [Video Podcast]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RALJ-QXTcPw.
Brown, A. M. (2019). Pleasure activism: The politics of feeling good. AK Press.
Brown, L. M. (2005). In the bad or good of girlhood: Social class, schooling, and white femininities. In L. Lois & M. Fine (Eds.), Beyond silenced voices: Class, race, and gender in United States schools (pp. 146–162). State of University New York Press.
Cain, V., Johannes, C. B., Avis, N. E., Mohr, B., Schocken, M., Skurnick, J., & Ory, M. (2003). Sexual functioning and practices in a multi-ethnic study of midlife women: Baseline results from SWAN. Journal of Sex Research, 40(3), 266–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490309552191
Cole, J. B., & Guy-Sheftall, B. (2003). Gender talk: The struggle for women’s equality in African American communities. One World, 9(1), 53–53.
Coleman, M. N., Butler, E. O., Long, A. M., & Fisher, F. D. (2016). In and out of love with hip-hop: Saliency of sexual scripts for young adult African American women in hip-hop and Black-oriented television. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 18(10), 1165–1179. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2016.1175029
Cooke-Jackson, A., & Rubinsky, V. (2018). Deeply rooted in memories: Toward a comprehensive overview of 30 years of memorable message literature. Health Communication, 33(4), 409–422.
Cooper, B. (2018). How Sarah got her groove back, or notes toward a black feminist theology of pleasure. Black Theology, 16(3), 195–206.
Crooks, N., King, B., & Tluczek, A. (2020). Protecting young Black female sexuality. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 22, 871–886.
Crooks, N., King, B., Tluczek, A., & Sales, J. M. (2019). The process of becoming a sexual Black woman: A grounded theory study. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 51(1), 17–25. https://doi.org/10.1363/psrh.12085
Douglas, K. B. (2018). Sexuality and the Black church: A womanist perspective. Orbis Books.
Epstein, R., Blake, J., & Gonzalez, T. (2017). Girlhood interrupted: The erasure of Black girls’ childhood. Center on Poverty and Inequality. https://www.law.georgetown.edu/poverty-inequality-center/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2017/08/girlhood-interrupted.pdf.
Evans, E., & Dyson, D. (2015). From princess to queen: A black feminist approach to positive sexual identity development. Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 1(3), 25–56. https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2015.0005
Fine, M., Torre, M. E., Oswald, A. G., & Avory, S. (2021). Critical participatory action research: Methods and praxis for intersectional knowledge production. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 68(3), 344–356.
Fletcher, K., Ward, L., Thomas, K., Foust, M., & Trinh, S. (2015). Will it help? Identifying socialization discourses that promote sexual risk and sexual health among African American youth. Journal of Sex Research, 52(2), 199–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2013.853724
French, B. H. (2013). More than Jezebels and freaks: Exploring how black girls navigate sexual coercion and sexual scripts. Journal of African American Studies, 17(1), 35–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-012-9218-1
Froyum, C. M. (2010). Making ‘good girls’: Sexual agency in the sexuality education of low-income black girls. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 12(1), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691050903272583
Hill, C. E. (2012). Consensual qualitative research: A practical resource for investigating social science phenomena. American Psychological Association.
Hamilton, M. A., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The effect of language intensity on receiver evaluations of message, source, and topic. In M. Allen & R. W. Preiss (Eds.), Persuasion: Advances through meta-analysis (pp. 99–138). Hampton Press.
Hargons, C. N., Dogan, J. N., Malone, N., Thorpe, S., Mosley, D. W., & Stevens-Watkins, D. (2021). Balancing the sexology scales: A content analysis of black women’s sexuality research. Culture, Health, and Sexuality, 23, 1287–1301. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2020.1776399
Hargons, C. N., Thorpe, S., Dogan, J. N., Malone, N., Wright, C. J., Mizelle, D. L., Stuck, J. L., Sullivan, Q., Sanchez, A., Bohmer, C., Stage, M., Bruther, K., Vigil, K., Cineas, M., & Gilbert, T. (2022). Black people’s constructions of good sex: Describing good sex from the margins. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Hargons, C. N., & Thorpe, S. (2022). HotGirlScience: A liberatory paradigm for intersectional sex positive scholarship. Journal of Positive Sexuality, 8(1), 3–11.
Jackson, C., & Arcelay-Rojas, Y. (2021). Experiences of African American women living with herpes simplex virus 2. Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, 15(1), 345–362.
Jerald, M. C., Cole, E. R., Ward, L. M., & Avery, L. R. (2017a). Controlling images: How awareness of group stereotypes affects Black women’s well-being. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64(5), 487–499.
Jerald, M. C., Ward, L. M., Moss, L., Thomas, K., & Fletcher, K. D. (2017b). Subordinates, sex objects, or sapphires? Investigating contributions of media use to black students’ femininity ideologies and stereotypes about black women. Journal of Black Psychology, 43(6), 608–635.
Johnson, A. (2021). Dirty south feminism: The girlies got somethin’to say too! southern hip-hop women, fighting respectability, talking mess, and twerking up the dirty south. Religions, 12(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12111030
Kaestle, C. E., & Allen, K. R. (2011). The role of masturbation in healthy sexual development: Perceptions of young adults. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40, 983–994. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-010-9722-0
Kendall, M. (2020). Hood feminism: Notes from the women that a movement forgot. Viking.
Kilıç Onar, D., Armstrong, H., & Graham, C. A. (2020). What does research tell us about women’s experiences, motives and perceptions of masturbation within a relationship context?: A systematic review of qualitative studies. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 46(7), 683–716.
Knapp, M. L., Stohl, C., & Reardon, K. K. (1981). “Memorable” messages. Journal of Communication, 31, 27–41.
Leath, S., Pittman, J. C., Grower, P., & Ward, L. M. (2020). Steeped in shame: An exploration of family sexual socialization among black college women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 44(4), 450–467.
Lewin, K. (1951). Intention, will and need. In D. Rapaport (Ed.), Organization and pathology of thought: Selected sources (pp. 95–153). Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.1037/10584-005.
Lomax, T. (2018a). Jezebel unhinged. Duke University Press.
Lomax, T. (2018b). Black bodies in ecstasy: Black women, the Black church, and the politics of pleasure: An introduction. Black Theology, 16(3), 189–194.
Meiller, C., & Hargons, C. N. (2019). “It’s happiness and relief and release”: Exploring masturbation among bisexual and queer women. Journal of Counseling Sexology and Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education, 1(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.34296/01011009
Morgan, J. (2015). Why we get off: Moving towards a black feminist politics of pleasure. The Black Scholar, 45(4), 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/00064246.2015.1080915
Moses, E., & Kelly, S. (2016). African American adolescent sexuality: Influences on sexual scripting and sexual risk behaviors. Current Sexual Health Reports, 8(2), 64–76.
Moultrie, M. (2018). Putting a ring on it: Black women, black churches, and coerced monogamy. Black Theology, 16(3), 231–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/14769948.2018.1492304
Osei, S. (2021). Self-care and sexual pleasure: Why they're so important for black women. POPSUGAR Love & Sex. Retrieved April 9, 2022, from https://www.popsugar.com/love/why-self-pleasure-is-so-important-for-black-women-48111387.
Powell, T. W., Weeks, F. H., Illangasekare, S., Rice, E., Wilson, J., Hickman, D., & Blum, R. W. (2017). Facilitators and barriers to implementing church-based adolescent sexual health programs in Baltimore City. Journal of Adolescent Health, 60(2), 169–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.09.017
Ritchwood, T. D., Powell, T. W., Metzger, I. W., Dave, G., Corbie-Smith, G., Atujuna, M., & Akers, A. Y. (2017). Understanding the relationship between religiosity and caregiver–adolescent communication about sex within African-American families. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26(11), 2979–2989.
Robinson, B. E., Bockting, W. O., Simon Rosser, B. R., Miner, M., & Coleman, E. (2002). The sexual health model: Application of a sexological approach to HIV prevention. Health Education Research, 17(1), 43–57.
Robinson, B. B. E., Bockting, W. O., & Harrell, T. (2003). Masturbation and sexual health: An exploratory study of low income African American women. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, 14(2–3), 85–102.
Rose, T. (2004). Longing to tell: Black women talk about sexuality and intimacy. Farrar.
Rowland, D., Donarski, A., Graves, V., Caldwell, C., Hevesi, B., & Hevesi, K. (2019). The experience of orgasmic pleasure during partnered and masturbatory sex in women with and without orgasmic difficulty. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 45(6), 550–561.
Shulman, J. L., & Horne, S. G. (2003). The use of self-pleasure: Masturbation and body image among African American and European American women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 27(3), 262–269. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-6402.00106
Shuman, V., Sander, D., & Scherer, K. R. (2013). Levels of valence. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 261. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00261
Shtarkshall, R., Santelli, J., & Hirsch, J. (2007). Sex education and sexual socialization: Roles for educators and parents. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 39(2), 116–119.
Stephens, D. P., & Phillips, L. D. (2003). Freaks, gold diggers, divas, and dykes: The sociohistorical development of adolescent African American women’s sexual scripts. Sexuality and Culture, 7(1), 3–49.
Tavory, I., & Timmermans, S. (2014). Abductive analysis: Theorizing qualitative research. University of Chicago Press.
Thorpe, S., Malone, N., Hargons, C. N., Dogan, J. N., & Jester, J. K. (2022). The peak of pleasure: US southern black women’s definitions and feelings toward pleasure. Sexuality & Culture, 26, 1115–1131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09934-6
Thorpe, S., Dogan, J. N., Townes, A., Malone, N., Jester, J. K., & Hargons, C. N. (2021). Black women’s pleasure mapping. Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 7(4), 1–23.
Tolman, D. L. (2002). Dilemmas of desire. Harvard University Press.
Townsend, T. G. (2008). Protecting our daughters: Intersection of race, class and gender in African American mothers’ socialization of their daughters’ heterosexuality. Sex Roles, 59(5–6), 429–442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9409-3
Townsend, T., Thomas, A., Neilands, T., & Jackson, T. (2010). I’m no Jezebel: I am young, gifted and black: Identity, sexuality, and black girls. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 273–285.
Vila-Henninger, L., Dupuy, C., Van Ingelgom, V., Caprioli, M., Teuber, F., Pennetreau, D., Bussi, M., & Le Gall, C. (2022). Abductive coding: Theory building and qualitative (re)analysis. Sociological Methods and Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/00491241211067508
Weeks, F. H., Powell, T. W., Illangasekare, S., Rice, E., Wilson, J., Hickman, D., & Blum, R. W. (2016). Bringing evidence-based sexual health programs to adolescents in black churches: Applying knowledge from systematic adaptation frameworks. Health Education and Behavior, 43(6), 699–704. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198116633459
Williams, D. J., Thomas, J. N., Prior, E. E., & Walters, W. (2015). Introducing a multidisciplinary framework of positive sexuality. Journal of Positive Sexuality, 1(1), 6–11.
Wright, L. S., Branscum, P., Maness, S., Larson, D., Taylor, E. L., Mayeux, L., & Cheney, M. K. (2019). Parents’ beliefs of the black church’s role in teen pregnancy prevention. Journal of Adolescence, 72, 52–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.02.004
Wyatt, G. E. (1997). Stolen women: Reclaiming our sexuality, taking back our lives. Wiley.
Acknowledgements
The RISE2 Research team would like to acknowledge our community partners for all of their hard work and assistance during Phase 1 of the Big Sex Study: Tanya Bass, MEd, Ph.D., CHES, CSE, Robin Wilson Beattie, M. Nicole Coleman, Ph.D., Yarneccia Dyson, Ph.D., MSW, Tracie Gilbert, Ph.D., Jasmine Johnson, MSW, MA, LCSW, Omisade Burney-Scott, and Marla Renee Stewart, MSW.
Funding
The authors have no funding to disclose.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The original version of this article was revised: The final word of the article title (“Messages”) was missing from the article as originally published.
The original version of this article was revised: In the 2nd sentence after the heading Results, participants’ age has been corrected to read “3 to 50” rather than “3 to 5”.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Thorpe, S., Peterson, R.L., Malone, N. et al. From Sin to Sexual Self-Awareness: Black Women’s Reflection on Lifetime Masturbation Messages. Arch Sex Behav 52, 1403–1415 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02473-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02473-7