Perception and practices of masturbation by male medical students, Tanta University, Egypt

Background: In the Middle East, masturbation is one of the most sensitive and uncomfortable topics to discuss. It is a stigmatized sexual behavior, which is publicly referred to as the secret habit. Methods: A cross sectional study, recruited 484 male medical students using a predesigned questionnaire for data collection. Results: The first source of information about masturbation was friends (68.8%) followed by the internet (20.2%). Students perceived masturbation either as a physical problem associated with sexual desire (39.7%) or a natural phenomenon associated with adolescence (38.2%). Regarding side effects, guilt feeling came first (70.5%) followed by general body weakness (40.5%). Only 11.8% believed no harms from masturbation while 56.8% believed that premature ejaculation may be a side effect of masturbation on reproductive system. Meanwhile, 32.6% and 25.2% believed masturbation my lead to loss of sexual desire or weak erection, respectively. Nearly two thirds (64.7%) thought that masturbation may affect future sexual satisfaction in marital relationship. Participants expressed the need for more awareness about masturbation (93.2%). Practice of masturbation was reported by 75.2% of participants. The age of starting masturbation was 12-17 years (54.2%). The majority reported their desire to quit masturbation (63.2%) and 39.5% reported need for help to quit. Conclusion: Masturbation is commonly practiced among medical students. They need more awareness to correct their misconceptions and to act, as future physicians, as peer educators and role models for their patients.