Continuing my "Is it all Bad?" series, I wanted to focus on masturbation. The classic reason I always hear from religious persons for masturbation being wrong is that it is all about the person doing it, it's all inward - and therefore selfish and wrong. Catechism 2353, states that it is an intrinsic evil because it's making use of the genital region in a sexual way that is neither part of married love nor open to procreation.
First the Catechism, as I don't always believe that sex need take place inside of marriage or be open to procreation (see my Fornication entry), the "official" Catholic prohibitions are not persuasive. As given the reason that church people normally give (inward & selfish), would that not make watching TV, playing video games, reading, or any other activity we often do by ourselves wrong, especially if it is a little self-indulgent and not for learning purposes. What about eating ice cream late at night while watching bad television!? And as I couldn't find anything on the American Medical Association website concerning the harm done by masturbation, I can only conclude that under normal circumstance, masturbation is fine in the eyes of God. This an another "teaching" of the Catholic Church that obviously needs to be reevaluated.
