Can't dare to put my fingers in my.... too scary

There was a point in time when I was convinced masturbating was something that only boys did. In fact, that only boys COULD do. Part of my reasoning was the "master" part of the word (I often misspelled it - masterbate).

Some of my relatives were very old-fashioned and would address birthday cards to "Miss Kaitlyn" or "Master Bryce." So, I assumed that the "master" in "masterbate" referred only to boys. Strange how the young mind works, isn't it?

It wasn't until I read about it in a magazine - probably Seventeen - that I realised girls could masturbate, too. Turned out that I had been doing it for a while, not really knowing what I was doing, just knowing that it felt good. But it wasn't until I read that article that I even considered touching myself with my hands.

On the interwebs I found a frank and straight-forward discussion among young teens, most of them in the 13-15 age range. Their thoughts and fears about masterbating closely mirror my own at that age. I found it amusing but also revealing that so many young people are embarrassed about their masturbation and feel like they have to sneak around and hide that they please themselves.

Young teens discuss this topic.