Masturbation is least common among less educated males (89%). More men who are high school educated (95%) and men who are college educated (96%) are involved in masturbation for at least some period of their lives.
Masturbation frequencies after marriage are highest (69%) among men who are college educated. Only 42% of men, who are high school educated, masturbate after marriage and only 29% of the least educated males.
There is no objective measure of a person’s imaginative capacities. But someone who is more educated is likely to be more imaginative because they use their minds and have been exposed to more ideas. Those who are successful academically may have a more active imagination due to increased mental capacities in general. Education is therefore only a guide to the likelihood that someone is imaginative. A good imagination is useful when masturbating because even men need to use fantasy in the absence of a lover.
Kinsey commented on the taboo over masturbation among the uneducated. Kinsey linked male sexuality and education because of the use of fantasy. A creative imagination is an even more critical requirement of female masturbation because women are not aroused by real-world triggers. There are many fewer women (compared with men) who have a mind that responds positively to eroticism. Accurate statistics are difficult to obtain for women’s experience due to ignorance about orgasm and how it is achieved.
The vast majority of men see women purely as objects of sexual interest. They may only interact with women on a sexual basis. Such men can obtain satisfaction from making sexual assaults because of the adrenaline of the hunter and victim scenario. They may even enjoy a woman’s protestations because of the erotic turn-on of obtaining a response. They may not fantasise about how a woman feels about the sexual scenario because their focus is their own role as penetrator. Such men are much less inclined to masturbate.
Other men (sometimes the more educated) are more sexually timid. They look for the emotional reassurance of obtaining a woman’s approval. Such men are much more likely to indulge in fantasies about how a woman might be responding to their attentions. They imagine that she is aroused and that she welcomes their advances. These men enjoy masturbation because of the fantasies that they develop over time around the idea of a female response.
Research indicates that uneducated men seek out prostitutes more than educated men do. Many men’s sexual satisfaction is not related to knowing a person. Educated men make more discerning choices over the sexual scenarios that interest them. Educated men look for more sophistication in the woman’s sexual performance including her willingness to be proactive with a lover. Educated men also expect a greater emotional connection with a lover. Education causes a person to have an increased sensitivity to the views of others. Educated men are more inclined to accept a woman’s desire to spend time getting to know a person before becoming sexually involved.
Men have a biological sex drive but they make conscious choices over how and when they achieve orgasm. A man is also influenced by the company he keeps and the society in which he lives. Sex involves another person, which makes consent an issue. Some women, those who lack confidence, experience or who are less educated, may be less discerning than others.
Alfred Kinsey found that younger generations of women were better informed about orgasm. They were more inclined to say that orgasm was possible with a lover but at the same time they agreed to have sex less often than older women. He suggested that changing attitudes in society and women’s emancipation, meant that younger and more educated men were more inclined to take into account their partner’s lower desire for sex. As women gain confidence with age and experience, they are more likely to insist on their own preferences for less regular sexual activity with a lover.
Research indicates that less educated men are more responsive than educated men. This means that overall (including all forms of sexual activity) educated men have fewer orgasms on average than less educated men. It is strange that something such as education should have an effect on responsiveness. Responsiveness is an innate characteristic of the human mind and body. It is not determined by environmental factors. We need to differentiate between our potential to orgasm and what we actually achieve. Our responsiveness (orgasm frequency) depends not only on biological factors but also on our motivation to capitalise on opportunities to engage in sexual activity. Men, who are insensitive to women’s lack of responsiveness, are more likely than more sensitive men to continue to insist on intercourse.
Less educated men tend to have more intercourse than more educated men. This is because more educated women are more assertive about making their own sexual decisions. They are potentially more financially independent and so have less need to keep men happy. Such women are less inclined to marry and to be asked to marry than less educated women. So less educated men who marry less educated women have an advantage. Men can orgasm easily through intercourse because of the turn-on of penetration. Orgasm is not as spontaneous with masturbation because a man relies on imagination. So a less educated man who relies purely on intercourse is likely to orgasm more than a man who uses masturbation.
Males with the highest frequencies of masturbation are most often those who become adolescent first. These are the males who have the maximum total outlet throughout their lives (Alfred Kinsey)
Excerpt from Learn About Sexuality (ISBN 978-0956-894748)