Question: Why does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider the practice of masturbation sinful?

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Question: Why does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider the practice of masturbation sinful?

Introduction to Question

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints views the practice of masturbation to be sinful. The Church's current handbook for leaders (2020; 2021) lists abstaining from masturbation as among the standards of conduct placed on Church members. But it states that "a church membership council is not held for" it. "However, a council may be necessary for intensive and compulsive use of pornography that has caused significant harm to a member’s marriage or family," which usually is accompanied by masturbation. The rulebook for the Church's missionaries (2019) says to "avoid any thought or action that would separate you from the Spirit of God. This includes but is not limited to adultery; fornication; same-sex activity; oral sex; arousing sexual feelings; inappropriate touching; sending or receiving messages, images, or videos that are immoral or sexual in nature; masturbation; and viewing or using pornography (see 7.5.3). See For the Strength of Youth (2011), 'Repentance,' 28–29, for additional information." The youth pamphlet For the Strength of Youth (2011) has said to "not do anything…that arouses sexual feelings" and to "not arouse [sexual] emotions in your own body." True to the Faith (2004), a doctrinal reference work written for Church members of all ages and approved by the First Presidency, tells members to “[d]etermine now that you will never do anything outside of marriage to arouse the powerful emotions that must be expressed only in marriage. Do not arouse those emotions in another person’s body or in your own body.” Church leaders have long been clear that masturbation should not be regarded nearly as bad as other sexual practices, but that it is bad enough to require sincere repentance.

Many have wondered why the Church takes this stance. Much of the modern scientific community views the practice as normal in humans of all ages. Many benefits are associated with masturbation such as improved sleep, a better immune system, a better cardiovascular system, reduced stress, and reduced sexual tension—especially when a partner is not available, whether by their own choice or not, for sexual relations. Certain health professionals recommend masturbating to mitigate tension in relationships where one partner has a higher libido than the other and doesn’t want to demand intercourse of the lower libido partner (or the lower libido partner doesn’t want to accept demands). There are a number of health issues that can cause pain (aka “dyspareunia”) for one or both partners during sex. A number of psychological issues can also limit someone from enjoying partnered sex such as trauma. For some of these conditions, there are certain health professionals that recommend masturbation as a form of treatment for the patient or as a release for their partner. Prior to marriage and after engagement, it is sometimes recommended that men and women masturbate in order to explore their bodies and determine what kind of touch they would like during intercourse. There is at least some evidence (though currently inconclusive) that more frequent ejaculation in men can result in reduced risk of prostate cancer. Limited evidence suggests that orgasm might help females relieve pain from menstrual cramps and increase their pain threshold. Orgasm has also been correlated with relief from headaches in some individuals. A 2008 study at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran found that ejaculation in men can help reduce swollen nasal blood vessels (nasal congestion). Masturbation is seen as having an evolutionary utility in that it flushes out low motility sperm in men so that higher motility sperm will compete to more quickly reach a female egg and fertilize it. In earlier days of human evolutionary development, men competed for females to mate with. Women would be inseminated multiple times by different partners. Thus, evolution allegedly instilled in men a need to masturbate in order to have have agile sperm and get offspring before other men. For women, masturbation can change the state of the cervix, vagina, and uterus and make chances of conception more likely if climaxing one minute before insemination and 45 minutes after. It can increase acidic content in the cervical mucus as well as move debris out of the cervix to protect against cervical infection.

This article will explore why the Church might take the stance that it does on masturbation even given the potential benefits of it. Almost all of these points apply to a discussion about pornography. This article can thus be considered a response outlining the Church’s potential rationale against masturbation as well as pornography.

Response to Question

Sexual Desire is a Fundamentally Good Thing

Before we proceed with the rest of our response, it should be first noted and emphasized that our sexual desires are fundamentally good things, given to us by God to be used for “strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife” and bringing children into this world. As For the Strength of Youth says, "[p]hysical intimacy between husband and wife is beautiful and sacred. It is ordained of God for the creation of children and for the expression of love between husband and wife." Thus, sexual desire in and of itself should not be considered bad. Indeed, it should be celebrated.

As Parley P. Pratt once wrote:

Some persons have supposed that our natural affections were the results of a fallen and corrupt nature, and that they are 'carnal, sensual, and devilish,' and therefore ought to be resisted, subdued, or overcome as so many evils which prevent our perfection, or progress in the spiritual life … Such persons have mistaken the source and fountain of happiness altogether.

All this said, since sexual desire has a proper use, it follows that it should be exercised or put to use for that purpose and that boundaries should be in place to guide us towards fulfilling that purpose. It is not a sin to have a sexual desire. It is sinful, however, to exercise that desire in illicit ways as defined by God. It is also sinful to begin to plan to exercise that desire in unrighteous ways.

The Act is Bad. The Person is Not.

Another thing to be emphasized is that the person that engages in masturbation is not a bad person. The act is bad. We are not "good people" and "bad people." We are people that do good things and bad things. It is true that Jesus says that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit and neither a bad tree, good fruit. But, for Jesus, it is not who you are that will determine what you do; it is what you do that will determine who you are. What you do creates proclivities and habits that become parts of you. Undoing one or more of those and becoming a different creature requires deliberate and sometimes ongoing self-restraint and change. This change can happen for everyone and Jesus lovingly invites us with open arms to make that change if those habits are not in line with God's will as outlined in prophetic teaching/revelation.

Jesus' view of identity is similar to that of Parable of the Two Wolves told here:

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The Scriptural Case Against Masturbation

The scriptures are the law to govern the behavior and beliefs of the whole Church. Citing James 4:17, the Church argues on its website that "sin is to willfully disobey God’s commandments or to fail to act righteously despite a knowledge of the truth[.]" It is logical, therefore, that if we wish to establish something as sinful, that we make our best scriptural case—since scripture contains revealed truths from God—for it actually being such. We will generally examine passages in the order they appear in the canon of scripture. Only those passages that the author believes have relevance to the question of the morality of masturbation will be cited and discussed.

The sexually relational telos of men and women. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle considered all things to have a telos or purpose for which they were created/designed. He believed that things (including human beings) flourish when they adhere to their telos. Telic thinking (aka "teleology") became the foundation of Aristotle’s theory of morality (known as “virtue ethics”). According to Aristotle, human excellence consists of adhering to their telos to be virtuous.

The scriptures and other official pronouncements of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a similar view of human sexuality. They teach that men and women are designed to be united with each other sexually after marriage. Scripture repeatedly affirms that men and women are meant to be united sexually—becoming "one flesh." Individuals, communities, and nations flourish when men and women adhere strongly to this “telos.” Sexuality is thus a relational (rather than isolated) act between married men and women for Latter-day Saints. Any act that takes men and women away from living in accordance with that design (or at least has a high probability of taking them away from it) is going to be viewed as immoral by the Church. This understanding of men and women's sexually relational telos will pervade much of the rest of our response.

C.S. Lewis wrote:

For me the real evil of masturbation would be that it takes an appetite which, in lawful use, leads the individual out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another (and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back; sends the man back into the prison of himself, there to keep a harem of imaginary brides. And this harem, once admitted, works against his ever getting out and really uniting with a real woman. For the harem is always accessible, always subservient, calls for no sacrifices or adjustments, and can be endowed with erotic and psychological attractions which no woman can rival. Among those shadowy brides he is always adored, always the perfect lover; no demand is made on his unselfishness, no mortification ever imposed on his vanity. In the end, they become merely the medium through which he increasingly adores himself…After all, almost the main work of life is to come out of our selves, out of the little dark prison we are all born in. Masturbation is to be avoided as all things are to be avoided which retard this process. The danger is that of coming to love the prison.

Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her. There are two verses that have been used most frequently to justify abstaining from masturbation and they are Jesus' in Matthew 5:27–28:

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

These verses are echoed in 3 Nephi 12:28, Doctrine and Covenants 42:23, and Doctrine and Covenants 63:16.

Jason Staples, an assistant teaching professor in philosophy and religious studies at North Carolina State University, has argued persuasively that Jesus is not condemning sexual desire in and of itself here. Rather, he is condemning planning to exercise that desire in unrighteous ways and "fixing one’s desire upon obtaining something that is not rightfully one’s own." Furthermore, according to Staples, "lust" is better translated as “covet.” So, if you are making plans to engage in unlawful sexual activity (without actually engaging in that activity) with someone while either you or they are still married (or both are married to other people), you are, according to Jesus, committing adultery in your heart. It's the difference between feeling a sexual desire towards another, on the one hand, and saying in one's mind "I should go talk to her/him and flirt with her/him to see if she'll/he’ll be turned on by it enough and come home with me" on the other. This passage, though, doesn't seem to clearly address the question of whether or not masturbation is an appropriate outlet for desire. Is someone who is married making plans to commit adultery by masturbating to the image of someone besides their spouse? Is someone who is not married making plans to commit adultery by masturbating to the image of someone who is married? Dr. Staples says this:

While I don’t think the Bible condemns masturbation (the usual interpretation of the Onan story doesn’t get it right), it also doesn’t seem that masturbation is “one of the proper outlets,” either. Actually, Matthew putting “and if your right hand causes you to stumble” [Matthew 5:30] immediately after this statement about coveting a woman may be seen as an indirect reference to masturbation. It’s not entirely clear, but it’s the closest thing in [the Bible] you’ll find to a statement about masturbation. Given the general outlook on sex in [the Bible], though, I’d say masturbation would not be included among the “proper outlets,” which are limited to heterosexual marital relations whenever discussed.

A few notes regarding this comment by Dr. Staples:

1. Regarding Jesus' words about the right hand causing us to stumble, Dr. Will Deming, a professor in theology at the University of Portland, makes a lengthy and compelling case for interpreting this passage as referring to ancient rabbinic commentaries on the Old Testament (specifically the Mishnah) that discuss how one could commit adultery by masturbating.
2. If masturbation is a form of adultery, then it follows naturally that it can be an example of fornication as well.
3. Biblical scholar Lyn M. Bechtel confirms Dr. Staples’ understanding of biblical (more specifically on the Old Testament; but the Old Testament's outlook is reflected in the New Testament as well as modern Restoration scripture) sexuality in Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible. In her words:

In Hebrew Scripture sex has two primary functions: the production of progeny which lead to salvation, and the creation of the strong ties or oneness which are essential for holding the household and community together. Sex is the physical bonding together of what appears physically different in order to produce life, suggesting that the uniting of opposites is both creative and essential to the divine life process. In Gen.1 God creates by separating what is different into a physical (a child) and psychological unity...There is also casual sex or sex that does not create marital or family bonding and obligation (e.g., Deut. 22:28-29) or that violates existing marital or family bonding and obligation (e.g., vv. 23-24). This kind of sex is considered foolish and shameful, an "inadequacy" or "failure" to live up to internalized, societal goals and ideals because it violates the purpose of sex and therefore does not participate in the divine life process...Sexual intercourse in ancient Israel is intended to be an activity that builds the community first and therein fills the needs of the individual.

Masturbation, since it doesn't build the community and does not create marital or family bonding (and more especially for those that do it while single) is outside the biblical outlook on proper sexuality.

A New Testament case study from Corinthians. Here's another example that we can point to that gives good evidence that masturbation is not seen as proper. 1 Corinthians 7 opens with Paul talking about the sexual immorality of the Corinthians. He recognizes that cases of sexual immorality had taken place among them. In order to ameliorate this problem of sexual immorality, what does he do? He tells the Corinthians that they should marry and have sexual relations with their spouse. Paul does not encourage self-stimulation. He encourages monogamy and fidelity within marriage (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5). It's not absolutely probative; but highly suggestive.

Masturbation and love of others. Masturbation most often affects the way that you look at others similar to how pornography does—even if only temporarily. When masturbating, one makes use of others or the image of them as the object of their own self-gratification. With repeated masturbation and over time, this can condition you to regularly see others as potential objects of your own pleasure. Especially with porn, pornographic actors and actresses allow others to objectify them. Using others as merely a means to an end and treating them as an object—as well as viewing them as mere objects (even when they facilitate that objectification)—is contrary to the Lord's command to love our neighbor as ourselves. While you’re only using people in your mind, masturbation still requires that someone be an object of your passion instead of a full subject; a full person. It “requires conjuring a pseudo-relational stimulus, replacing a real human being with a fantasized sexual fragment.” You must abandon, even temporarily, the attitudinal aspect of love: seeing the beloved individual as of merely instrumental rather than intrinsic and absolute value. As we know, love is both an attitudinal and an active virtue. Abandoning one or both halves of this is engaging in an inherently unloving act. In this way, it isn’t virtuous. God and Christ, through their prophets, have taught us that thought is the birthplace of virtue. Virtues such as charity must be practiced in our thoughts as well as our actions.

Some may believe that you can have masturbation without inner mental fantasy, or masturbation without pornography, or pornography without masturbation; but as Dr. Mark H. Butler—a professor in the school of family life and addiction specialist at Brigham Young University—and Misha D. Crawford—a master’s student in the marriage, family, and human development program at BYU— have observed "[w]e cannot decontextualize or ignore the stimulus–response linkage between sexual soloing and pornographic images, scripting, and fantasizing. Sexual arousal and experience do not exist in some pristine isolation but in an increasingly tightly bound stimulus-response (S–R) equation."

Masturbation and love of self. We've established above that men and women have a sexually relational telos. Jacob 2:21, for instance, tells us that we were created unto the end of keeping God's commandments and glorifying him forever. Doctrine and Covenants 49:15-17 tells us that one of God's commandments, one of his laws, is for us to be married and become "one flesh" as husband and wife. Well, Christ also tells us that revealed law is grounded in teaching us how to love God and love one another as ourselves in Matthew 22:34-40. Therefore, any commandment is going to be some instruction in the meaning and proper exercise of love. We've argued elsewhere on the FAIR site that part of the definition of love is to use something according to the purpose it was designed for. Loving ourself would then, arguably, include not masturbating since masturbation is not adhering to your telos of keeping God's command to be one flesh. It would be, definitionally, an unloving act towards yourself.

It will be important to adhere to this telos of becoming one flesh and not only for the fact that not masturbating facilitates greater marital unity with a future or current spouse, but also because masturbating can have a debilitating psychological impact on us. We can start to view ourselves as slaves to our passions and out of control. We can feel like an entirely impersonal force is overcoming our agency. We can feel like our sexuality isn't an integral part of our personhood that we get to choose when to express and exercise. This can cause great anxiety and depression. Being placed over our desires and mastering them can help us embody a fuller self concept and make us feel like the divine beings we are and meant to become. We can start to feel like an object of passion just as much as we make others the objects of our passion while we masturbate. As the Book of Mormon says, the natural man is an enemy to God and has been since the fall of Adam. The only way to overcome this is by listening to the enticings of the Spirit and putting off the natural man. We can’t engage in recreational, indulgent masturbation and consider ourselves as putting off the natural man. We are indeed distancing ourselves from the Spirit and the joy we feel when close to it.

Masturbation as part of the definition of other words in scripture. The scriptures contain a constellation of words that describe unlawful sexual activity. Among those that are perhaps most relevant to this discussion (including their derivatives) are "adultery," "carnal," "chastity," "concupiscence," "fornication," "lasciviousness," "lewdness," "lust," and "sensual." An exhaustive scriptural concordance of these words and their derivatives have been placed in Appendix 2 of this article. Readers are encouraged to read each occurrence in their original scriptural contexts (preferably following this approach articulated in another article on the FAIR wiki). Given that the scriptural outlook on proper sexuality (as discussed above) includes only marital relationships between husband and wife, any sexuality that falls outside of those bounds (including masturbation) is likely being condemned in scripture. Masturbation likely falls under the definition of any one of these words. If it does, then it is condemned in scripture and we are bound to follow those injunctions to abstain from it (seeing as how scripture is the law to govern the behavior and beliefs of the Church established above).

As an example, "lasciviousness" is defined as “sexual behavior or conduct that is considered crude and offensive, or contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior.” Doctrine and Covenants 1:24 states that God gives commandments to his prophets after the manner of their language so that they can come to understanding. The 1828 Webster's Dictionary (which records the definitions of words as they would have been understood by Joseph Smith and thus the intended meaning behind many words in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price) defines lasciviousness as "[l]ooseness; irregular indulgence of animal desires; wantonness; lustfulness." If masturbation falls under this category of lasciviousness (and it likely does) then masturbation is condemned scripturally.

Other scriptures that may justify refraining. Other scriptural injunctions that may support abstaining from masturbation include being able to bridle your body and passions as taught by Alma and the author of James, being a peculiar people so as to encourage interest in the Church and thus success in missionary work, to keep unspotted from the world, to abstain from all appearance of evil, practicing meekness/lowliness of heart/humility/easiness to be entreated before the prophets who have implored us to abstain, following the commandment to receive all the words and commandments of the prophet as if from the mouth of God in all patience and faith, being anxiously engaged in a good cause without God compelling you to do something by explicit revelation, and ridding ourselves of "inordinate affection" (πάθος "vile passion") as encouraged by the author of Colossians.

A note on likelihood. In the foregoing discussion on scripture and masturbation, we have used the word "likely" a lot in order to establish interpretation. Some may be tempted to think that just because we have used this word, that we don't know for certain and can't know for certain whether masturbation is condemned scripturally. This is not true. Academic disciplines like history and scriptural exegesis are most often not in the business of telling us what is absolutely the case but what is most likely the case. What is most likely the case is taken as what is the case and translated to religious practice. We believe that we have established that masturbation is most likely condemned in scripture.

If nothing else, choosing to masturbate when the prophets have repeatedly implored us to abstain and called it a sin is going against the revealed commandment of being meek and easy to be entreated.

Personal revelation justifying practice of masturbation. It’s possible that some feel like they’ve received personal revelation telling them that masturbation is okay; but such revelation, given prophetic teaching and revelation on the subject, is almost certainly coming from false spirits. There are some scenarios that may rightly necessitate the use of personal revelation to determine what is right. We discuss those below.

Some have argued that masturbation is not unchaste given that it doesn't fall under the Church's definition of the Law of Chastity. In its handbook for leaders, the Church defines the Law of Chastity as merely (1) abstinence from sexual relations outside of a marriage between a man and a woman according to God’s law, and (2) fidelity within marriage. Given the scriptural outlook on sexuality as we've outlined in the foregoing sections, those that make this argument may want to reconsider their stance.

How Masturbation Might Take Away from Marriage

An addiction is a behavior you knowingly and compulsively engage in that both causes harm to you and interferes with other objectives you wish to accomplish in life. So, if you masturbate enough that you lose your job because of it or your grades suffer because you're losing too much time with it, or if you lose a healthy relationship with your spouse because of masturbation, and you know that this harm is being inflicted but you engage in the behavior anyway, it is likely that you have an addiction.

While masturbation does appear by most metrics to be harmless when done sparingly, it does have the much-greater-than-merely-possible potential to become addictive or at least compulsive. When turning addictive (or compulsive), masturbation can quickly become a deterrent from having normal sexual relations with a spouse. It can become more pleasurable to the person engaging in it over other relationships. Taking away sexual relations from a spouse can cause deep dissatisfaction and distrust in the relationship—thus potentially leading to the breakup of marriages and families.

Donald L. Hilton, a Latter-day Saint neurosurgeon based in Texas, relates how, during any stimulation of the genitals and orgasm, chemicals such as dopamine, vasopressin, and oxytocin are released in the brain. Oxytocin and vasopressin in particular have been linked to emotional bonding mechanisms in humans and other animals. When oxytocin was selectively blocked in voles, for example, it was observed that they don't mate for life or bond. Hilton cites American counselor Patrick Carnes who says that one stage of recovery from addiction is grief where the person says "goodbye" to their addiction. Hilton writes that "[i]t may be a combination of craving for dopamine and yearning for oxytocin-bonded pornography, among other things, that pushes a person to act out and view pornography." Thus, according to Hilton, you can actually develop an emotional attachment to your masturbation/pornography problem. If he's right about this, we'd do well to ask "why don't we do more to keep sexual stimulation within marriage so that we can direct our oxytocin and vasopressin-driven emotional bonding towards our spouse and thus more fully recognize and adhere to our sexually relational ‘telos’?"

Masturbation and Escalation

The highs that one gets from masturbation and the ensuing addiction that might follow from it can result in escalation of that sexual behavior to include viewing pornography, attending strip clubs, requesting various forms of local prostitution, and even forced sexual advances on the unwilling.

Some will be tempted to immediately apply the slippery slope fallacy to this argument. “Masturbation doesn’t necessarily lead to escalation of sexual behavior.” The author would respond with applying the fallacist’s fallacy. While it is true that masturbation doesn’t necessarily lead to escalation, the argument is that it can lead to escalation; that it has the much-greater-than-merely-possible potential to lead to escalation.

Deriving the Benefits of Masturbation Elsewhere

But what about the many benefits of masturbation? Shouldn’t one care about the risk of prostate cancer at least? The problem is that the benefits of masturbation can be derived elsewhere and there is no net detriment to one's health while abstaining from masturbation. Indeed, masturbation is not even among the top things typically recommended by professionals when wanting to derive most of these benefits. We can take the potential benefits one by one and see what is recommended to reap them to demonstrate.

1. Improved Sleep: The Mayo Clinic suggests six things to improve one’s sleep. These include sticking to a set sleep schedule, paying attention to what you eat and drink, creating a restful environment, limiting daytime naps, including physical activity in one's daytime routine, and managing one's worries.
2. Improved Cardiovascular System: Heather Shannon of UC Irvine Health recommends that one exercise, quit smoking, lose weight, eat heart-healthy foods such as guacamole and vegetables, have some chocolate in moderation, not overeat, and manage stress in order to have a healthy heart.
3. Improved Immune System: Harvard Health recommends that one not smoke, eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, get adequate sleep, wash hands frequently, minimize stress, and keep with current vaccines in order to maintain and improve one’s immune system.
4. Reduced Risk of Prostate Cancer: The Mayo Clinic recommends that one keep a healthy diet (such as doing a low-fat diet, increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat each day, and reducing the amount of dairy products you eat each day), maintain a healthy weight, and exercise most days of the week to reduce risk of prostate cancer.
5. Sexual Tension/Differing Libidos: This is a question that is best left between the couple and God through prayer (and maybe the local bishop or stake president). That said, if one is struggling with something like hypersexuality and truly trying to lower their libido, Janet Brito and Daniel Yetman recommend focusing on your diet, getting medication, focusing on relationships, and stopping illegal drug use.
6. Dyspareunia/Psychological Impediments: Approaching treatment for any case of dyspareunia and/or other psychological impediments to partnered sex are best left between husband, wife, God, qualified, reputable medical professionals, and maybe local leaders. More information on treatment options that fit with your values can be found online or by contacting your local doctor.
7. Menstrual Cramps: The Mayo Clinic recommends taking pain relievers like ibuprofen, looking into hormonal birth control, getting surgery, exercising regularly, using heating pads, using dietary supplements, reducing stress, acupuncture, acupressure, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and herbal medicine as potential treatments for menstrual cramps.
8. Headaches: The Mayo Clinic recommends (among many other things) using pain relievers, using hot or cold compresses, resting in dark and quiet rooms, and other stress-reducing therapies for treating headaches.
9. Nasal Congestion: R. Morgan Griffin and Carmelita Swiner recommend using a humidifier, taking steamy showers, drinking lots of fluids, using saline nasal spray, using a neti pot, putting warm and wet towels on your face, avoiding chlorinated pools (while symptoms persist), propping yourself up on more pillows while you sleep, and using decongestants, antihistamines, and pain relievers for treating nasal congestion.
10. Low Motility Sperm: Atli Arnason and Jillian Jubala recommend taking Vitamin C supplements, getting Vitamin D, incorporating maca root and ashwaganda into your diet, and taking D-aspartic acid supplements to improve sperm motility. Since, in a monogamous marriage, males are not competing for females like the earliest humans did in the evolutionary scheme, you don’t have to have the most agile sperm in order to conceive your own child.
11. Preventing Cervical Infection: Menstrual cycles and orgasms during sleep/dreams have the same evolutionary utility for women. The vagina and cervix are self-cleaning organs. Douches can also be helpful but should be used with caution as these can sometimes increase chances of infection. Brenda Goodman and Traci C. Johnson recommend using condoms during sex (when not trying to conceive), limiting the number of people you have sex with, not having sex with a partner who has genital sores or penile discharge, making sure both you and your partner have been treated adequately for sexually-transmitted diseases, not using feminine hygiene products, and taking good control of your blood sugar if you have diabetes to lower your risk of getting cervicitis.
12. Exploring Body: This aspect of sexuality can certainly be discovered by husband and wife during partnered sexual activity with good communication as well as patient trial and error. Mark H. Butler and Misha Crawford have an excellent discussion of this in their article cited above. Click the blue endnote to the right of this sentence to jump to a link to their article. The discussion of sexual discovery is had under the subtitle "In the Married Years."
13. Facilitating Conception: These benefits can obviously be derived in partnered sexual activity.
14. Increasing Pain Threshold: Jacquelyn Cafasso and Elaine K. Luo recommend doing yoga, performing aerobic exercise, vocalization (saying "ow" when you experience pain), using mental imagery to shrink the pain, and biofeedback in order to increase someone's pain threshold.

All the potential nuances/exceptions to the general prohibition most likely come when fostering or nourishing the relational, tender, committed, married, and man-woman sexuality outlined in scripture and/or as specifically prescribed by a qualified, reputable professional for a particular health reason. We should approximate this ideal as much as possible.

Benefits of Not Masturbating

But are there benefits for not engaging in masturbation? We've expressed many so far, but it may be helpful to restate them clearly and in one place.

1. You are able to have a more unified relationship with your current or future spouse
2. You get to embody a fuller self concept by mastering your desires and making your sexuality an integral part of your agency and personhood
3. You avoid any addiction or get to heal from it
4. You get to learn something crucial and important about love
5. You can avoid any guilt, embarassment, or cognitive dissonance that comes from not living within your values and those of your faith

Mark H. Butler and Misha Crawford enumerate the following benefits in their article:

1. Avoiding sexual soloing helps impressionable youth and adults alike stay away from pornography use and habituation, steering clear of pornography’s fetishization of anti-relational, toxic sexual imagery, scripts, and fantasizing as the basis of sexual arousal. Avoiding sexual soloing helps hold that “flight” from takeoff until the “copilot” is on board, preventing the sexual arousal template (SAT, conditioned patterns of sexual arousal) from veering off course.
2. Avoiding sexual soloing promotes healthy social development before marriage, laying the groundwork for relationship and sexual well-being in marriage.
3. Avoiding sexual soloing can promote a relational sexual template and lead to strengthening marriage relationships, both sexually and generally.
4. Avoiding sexual soloing helps ensure that the sexual flight is copiloted safely and surely in marriage toward its relational destination.
5. Avoiding sexual soloing makes it easier to stay away from, habituate to, or fetishize toxic sexual fantasizing. Avoiding sexual soloing prevents an inherently relational flight from lurching off course toward sexual fetishization.
6. Avoiding sexual soloing holds open space for a relational sexual template and the development of holistic marriage relationships that are deeply aware and caring, strengthening marriage both sexually and generally.
7. Avoiding sexual soloing and practicing sexual restraint promotes the development of positive coping strategies.
8. Avoiding sexual soloing can promote sexual self-mastery, a competence crucial to couple relationship and sexual well-being.
9. Avoiding sexual soloing prevents mapping sexuality to a distorted hedonistic template, or at worst the anti-relational, anti-attachment pornographic template.
10. Avoiding sexual soloing confirms and strengthens a relational and attachment-oriented sexual arousal template (SAT) anchored in “being for the other.”

Is there something within us that biologically determines us to masturbate?

Some people construct an identity around the practice of masturbation. People say that “we’re sexual beings” (which is mostly true) and “masturbation is a part of our natural development.” What these people often mean is that “engaging in masturbation is a behavior that is biologically determined and thus prohibiting it goes against who and what we are. It serves as a net detriment to our well-being.” We often construct these identities to justify bad behavior and protest against certain standards that go against these identities. Thus, the imposition of a prohibition on masturbation starts to feel like an assault to our personhood. This is one reason that General Authorities of the Church so often stress that our fundamental identity is that of children of God: if we construct identities around sinful behaviors, we will quickly embroil ourselves in habits that are contrary to the will of God and his nature and feel that any call to repentance is a crusade against us. We can thus squeeze ourselves out of faith and find ourselves in rebellion to the Lord's anointed. If we center our thinking about our essential identity in the fact that we are infinitely beloved, spirit sons or daughters of Heavenly Parents, then we will be much more open to changing our behavior so as to foster closer relationships with them and the rest of their creation. Identity construction is one of our most common forms of denial as human beings. We need be careful in how we construct our identity.

The truth is that we are not merely “sexual” beings. We are marital beings. Again, we are built with the purpose of being joined maritally and, after marriage, sexually as man and woman; husband and wife. We were designed for a relational, tender, married man-woman sexuality and we should create our norms to funnel us towards that as stipulated by scripture.

There actually is one biologically determined function that both men and women experience that serves the purpose people might think masturbation serves: nocturnal emission. We don’t need masturbation to pull double duty.

But what harm does one really do when engaged in isolated sexual acts?

But do isolated sexual acts really hurt anyone else? The foregoing analysis should be sufficient to demonstrate that masturbation can very likely have adverse effects on others. However, another point to make here is that, as humans, we are remarkably bad at creating and being faithful to norms that are based on the delayed consequences of our actions. We are really good at creating and abiding by norms that are based off of the immediate, obvious consequences of our actions. For example, all of us agree that it is wrong to kill an innocent person. We would do well to ponder more about how we can create and more diligently abide by (still important) norms based on delayed, less-obvious, and even unseen consequences of our actions.

What do I do if I'm struggling with masturbation?

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Christ lovingly and with open arms invites all who are struggling with pornography and masturbation to come unto him.

If you're struggling with masturbation, there is always help and hope for you. The first thing to do will be to disclose your struggles to those you love and trust most. It may also be a good idea to speak with your local ecclesiastical leaders. You should thoroughly discuss the prospect of whether or not you actually have an addiction. Many people unfortunately are diagnosed as having an addiction wrongly and end up spending a lot of money unnecessarily on professional help. If you have trouble diagnosing the problem on your own, it may be helpful to seek professional counsel. There will very likely be many wonderful, qualified professionals in your area that will be eager to help you. These might include marriage and family therapists, sex therapists, and addiction recovery specialists.

The Church provides addiction recovery programs for individuals interested in overcoming addiction. There are some resources available online by Latter-day Saint individuals that help with recovery from pornography addiction including Sara Brewer, Danny Poelman, and psychologist Cameron Staley. Any good addiction recovery specialist is going to help you on addressing limiting core beliefs that keep you from recovery, understanding the brain science behind addiction, and setting daily boundaries that help address your core emotional, physical, and spiritual needs as well as take away about 80% of potential relapses.

Any good marriage and family and/or sex therapist is going to help you address your problems according to the objectives that you set. So if you go in with the firm and explicit objective of not engaging in recreational, indulgent masturbation, they are obligated by their professional ethics (of allowing individual self-determination) to provide you the best therapies that help you accomplish those goals and are conducive to your ultimate well-being. If they don't help you move towards those objectives, then they are not acting ethically and you should consider seeking other help.

Conclusion

While masturbation is not an avenue of sexual exploration or expression that will be wholly endorsed by the Church, it is still encouraged that parents have open discussions with their children about the beautiful, sacred nature of human sexuality, that everyone read out of the best of books about how to have more fulfilling sexual relationships with their partner (future or current), and that, generally, we make sexuality a topic of open discussion among those that we love and trust most. We often spend too much time in church talking about illicit sexual behavior that we often neglect defining and discussing what healthy, righteous sexuality is and how we can engage in it. That’s not always a bad thing. Talking about all the minutiae of sexuality is most often not going to be tasteful in Sunday School and other public church meetings. That said, among our families and others that we love and trust most, it can and should be much more comfortable. Sexuality is a topic that everyone should become an expert of at the right time so that we can all better understand how to reach and live in accordance with our divine destiny and identity.

There may be those that still doubt the conclusions of this article. Your best testimony of this principle will be gained as you experience the benefits of not masturbating for yourself again. The author echoes the words of Jesus: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”

It is the author's hope that this article will serve as a point of hope for those that would like to discontinue masturbation and remain in line with the Church, as a point of clarity on the Church's stance of masturbation for those that are confused about it, and as a source of great insight to those that are generally looking to understand the utterly sacred and beautiful nature of human sexuality.

APPENDIX 1: Additional Content

• Steve Densley, "Fair Questions 4: What’s Wrong with Masturbation?" FAIR Blog, January 2, 2013.
• Mark H. Butler and Misha Crawford, "How Could 'Sexual Soloing' Be a Good Thing?" Public Square Magazine, September 20, 2021.

APPENDIX 2: Scriptural Concordance of Words Referring to Unlawful Sexual Conduct and Relevant to Considerations About Masturbation

Adulterer

• Leviticus 20:10
• Job 24:15
• Isaiah 57:3

Adulterers

• Psalm 50:18
• Jeremiah 9:2
• Jeremiah 23:10
• Hosea 7:4
• Malachi 3:5
• Luke 18:11
• 1 Corinthians 6:9
• Hebrews 13:4
• James 4:4
• 3 Nephi 24:5
• Doctrine and Covenants 63:14
• Doctrine and Covenants 76:103

Adulteress

• Leviticus 20:10
• Proverbs 6:26
• Hosea 3:1
• Romans 7:3

Adulteresses

• Ezekiel 23:43
• Hosea 2:2
• Matthew 15:19
• Mark 7:21
• Doctrine and Covenants 63:14

Adulteries

• Jeremiah 12:27
• Ezekiel 23:43
• Hosea 2:2
• Matthew 15:19
• Mark 7:21

Adulterous

• Proverbs 30:20
• Matthew 12:39
• Matthew 16:4
• Mark 7:21

Adultery

• Exodus 20:14
• Leviticus 20:10
• Leviticus 20:10
• Deuteronomy 5:18
• Proverbs 6:32
• Jeremiah 3:8
• Jeremiah 3:9
• Jeremiah 5:7
• Jeremiah 7:9
• Jeremiah 23:14
• Jeremiah 29:23
• Ezekiel 16:32
• Ezekiel 23:37
• Ezekiel 23:37
• Hosea 4:2
• Hosea 4:13
• Hosea 4:14
• Matthew 5:27
• Matthew 5:28
• Matthew 5:32
• Matthew 19:9
• Matthew 19:9
• Matthew 19:18
• Mark 10:11
• Mark 10:12
• Mark 10:19
• Luke 16:18
• Luke 16:18
• Luke 18:20
• John 8:3
• John 8:4
• Romans 2:22
• Romans 2:22
• Romans 13:9
• Galatians 5:19
• James 2:11
• James 2:11
• 2 Peter 2:14
• Revelation 2:22
• Mosiah 2:13
• Mosiah 13:22
• Alma 16:18
• Alma 23:3
• Alma 30:10
• Helaman 4:12
• Helaman 7:5
• 3 Nephi 12:27
• 3 Nephi 12:28
• 3 Nephi 12:32
• 3 Nephi 12:32
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:24
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:24
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:25
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:75
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:80
• Doctrine and Covenants 59:6
• Doctrine and Covenants 63:16
• Doctrine and Covenants 66:10
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:41
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:41
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:42
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:43
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:44
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:44
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:61
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:61
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:62
• Doctrine and Covenants 132:63

Carnal

• Romans 7:14
• Romans 8:7
• Romans 15:27
• 1 Corinthians 3:1
• 1 Corinthians 3:3
• 1 Corinthians 3:3
• 1 Corinthians 3:4
• 1 Corinthians 9:11
• 2 Corinthians 10:4
• Hebrews 7:16
• Hebrews 9:10
• 2 Nephi 28:21
• Mosiah 4:2
• Mosiah 16:3
• Mosiah 16:3
• Mosiah 16:5
• Mosiah 16:12
• Mosiah 26:4
• Mosiah 27:25
• Alma 22:13
• Alma 30:53
• Alma 36:4
• Alma 41:11
• Alma 41:13
• Alma 41:13
• Alma 42:10
• Doctrine and Covenants 3:4
• Doctrine and Covenants 29:35
• Doctrine and Covenants 67:10
• Doctrine and Covenants 67:12
• Doctrine and Covenants 84:27
• Moses 5:13
• Moses 6:49

Carnally

• Leviticus 18:20
• Leviticus 19:20
• Numbers 5:13
• Romans 8:6

Carnally-Minded

• 2 Nephi 9:39

Chaste

• 2 Corinthians 11:2
• Philippians 4:4
• Titus 2:5
• 1 Peter 3:2
• Jacob 2:7
• Articles of Faith 1:13

Chastity

• Jacob 2:28
• Moroni 9:9

Concupiscence

• Romans 7:8
• JST Romans 7:8
• Colossians 3:5
• 1 Thessalonians 4:5

Fornication

• Ezekiel 16:26
• Ezekiel 16:29
• Isaiah 23:17
• 2 Chronicles 21:11
• Matthew 5:32
• Matthew 15:19
• Matthew 19:9
• Mark 7:21
• John 8:41
• Acts 15:20
• Acts 15:29
• Acts 21:25
• Romans 1:29
• 1 Corinthians 5:1
• 1 Corinthians 5:1
• 1 Corinthians 6:13
• 1 Corinthians 6:18
• 1 Corinthians 7:2
• 1 Corinthians 10:8
• 2 Corinthians 12:21
• Galatians 5:19
• Ephesians 5:3
• Colossians 3:5
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3
• Jude 1:7
• Revelation 2:14
• Revelation 2:20
• Revelation 2:21
• Revelation 9:21
• Revelation 14:8
• Revelation 19:2
• Jacob 3:12
• 3 Nephi 12:32
• Helaman 8:26
• Doctrine and Covenants 35:11
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:74
• Doctrine and Covenants 88:94
• Doctrine and Covenants 88:105

Fornications

• Ezekiel 16:15

Lasciviousness

• Mark 7:22
• 2 Corinthians 12:21
• Galatians 5:19
• Ephesians 4:19
• 1 Peter 4:3
• Jude 1:4
• Jacob 3:12
• Alma 16:18
• Alma 45:12
• Alma 47:36
• 4 Nephi 1:16

Lewd

• Ezekiel 16:27
• Ezekiel 23:44
• Acts 17:5

Lewdly

• Ezekiel 22:11

Lewdness

• Judges 20:6
• Jeremiah 11:15
• Jeremiah 13:27
• Ezekiel 16:43
• Ezekiel 16:58
• Ezekiel 22:9
• Ezekiel 23:21
• Ezekiel 23:27
• Ezekiel 23:29
• Ezekiel 23:35
• Ezekiel 23:48
• Ezekiel 23:48
• Ezekiel 23:49
• Ezekiel 24:13
• Hosea 2:10
• Hosea 6:9
• Acts 18:14

Lust

• Exodus 15:9
• Psalms 78:18
• Psalms 78:30
• Psalms 81:12
• Proverbs 6:25
• Matthew 5:28
• Romans 1:27
• Romans 7:7
• 1 Corinthians 10:6
• Galatians 5:16
• 1 Thessalonians 4:5
• James 1:14
• James 1:15
• James 4:2
• 2 Peter 1:4
• 2 Peter 2:10
• 1 John 2:16
• 1 John 2:17
• 1 Nephi 3:25
• 3 Nephi 12:28
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:23
• Doctrine and Covenants 63:16

Lusted

• Numbers 11:34
• Psalms 106:14
• 1 Corinthians 10:6
• Revelations 18:14

Lusteth

• Deuteronomy 12:15
• Deuteronomy 14:26
• Galatians 5:17
• James 4:5

Lustful

• Doctrine and Covenants 88:121
• Doctrine and Covenants 101:6

Lusting

• Numbers 11:4

Lusts

• Mark 4:19
• John 8:44
• Romans 1:24
• Romans 6:12
• Romans 13:14
• Galatians 5:24
• Ephesians 2:3
• Ephesians 4:22
• 1 Timothy 6:9
• 2 Timothy 2:22
• 2 Timothy 3:6
• 2 Timothy 4:3
• Titus 2:12
• Titus 3:3
• James 4:1
• James 4:3
• 1 Peter 1:14
• 1 Peter 2:11
• 1 Peter 4:2
• 1 Peter 4:3
• 2 Peter 2:18
• 2 Peter 3:3
• Jude 1:16
• Jude 1:18
• 1 Nephi 22:23
• Alma 39:9
• Mormon 9:28
• Doctrine and Covenants 46:9

Sensual

• James 3:15
• Jude 1:19
• Mosiah 16:3
• Alma 42:10
• Doctrine and Covenants 20:20
• Doctrine and Covenants 29:35
• Moses 5:13
• Moses 6:49

Notes