2. “My boyfriend at the time (who was my first serious relationship), kept trying to convince me to watch porn because I told him I never had. I had no interest in watching it alone. He said he’d watch it with me so that I didn’t feel weird, which if I’m being honest made me feel even weirder. So my first time watching porn was with my first serious boyfriend sitting next to me. We started watching, and he was visibly aroused, while I was inside my own head thinking painfully stupid thoughts, “Her moaning sounds awful. How did she get her clothes off so quickly?” He could see I wasn’t enjoying any part of this, so he told me to touch myself. I looked at him and was surprisingly turned on by his demand. I reached my hand into my pants, under my panties and began just as he told me to. I had never masturbated before, so I had no idea how good it would feel, he loved watching me do it too. It was pleasure for both of us.” —Ava, 24

3. “I was a freshman in college. I went to a relatively small school, so everyone befriended the people who lived in their dorm building. All of the girls on my floor were single, and were having sex with whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted, as they should’ve. I, on the other hand, was tied down to my boyfriend from high school at the time, which meant I was horny, lonely, and miserable. He would call me every night making sure I wasn’t in the room of some hunky senior preying on female freshman, so I didn’t go out a lot, and if I did I always came home early. Luckily my roommate was always out late, so I had the room to myself a lot. One night my boyfriend (at the time) was texting how much he missed me, how much he missed my body, touching me, kissing me, fucking me, you get the idea. It had been 3 months since I had sex, which was a long time considering my boyfriend and I would have sex almost everyday. He called me that night and started telling me everything he’d do to me if he was in that dorm room, and that was the first time I masturbated.” —Alison, 28

4. “I’ve been masturbating since I was 15. I started realizing boys existed when I was about 13, which lead to purely innocent movie theatre kisses, and sending AIM messages like Derek says he likes you, do you like him? But when 15 rolled around, suddenly those innocent acts weren’t satisfying anymore. I have pretty progressive parents, so my mom would talk to me a lot about STDs and pregnancy, and it definitely freaked me out. I thought having sex meant contracting Gonorrhea, or getting pregnant (good work, Mom). Since I was paranoid about others touching my body, I decided to explore it for myself. At first I thought it was weird, but when I did it the right way, it felt amazing. As embarrassing as this sounds, I felt so much more sophisticated after I did it, like I had matured in some weird way. I knew things about my body that no one else knew, and that felt great.” —Carlie, 22

5. “I didn’t tell my girl friends because none of them had talked about doing it, and I thought it was super embarrassing, but one night I was really in the mood, and I was alone. When I first touched my clit it was like an on and off switch that I never knew was there. It was a pretty great discovery, and I’m so glad I went exploring, even if I kept it a secret. It’s funny because now, I openly tell everyone when I masturbate. My roommate will ask me if I want to get dinner, and I reply “No, I’m going to masturbate,” and that’s completely normal conversation in our apartment.” —Leah, 25

6. “I never had serious relationships. In high school I dated a guy who completely screwed with my emotions from freshman to senior year, so when I got to college I wanted to be completely unattached. I was having tons of casual sex, and was enjoying myself while doing it. There weren’t many times when I was laying alone and horny because I had a wide array of fuck buddies to choose from. My friends would always ask me why I didn’t masturbate and I told them I had enough sex, I didn’t need to. That was until winter break rolled around, and I was back at my parents house with a midnight curfew and absolutely no fuck buddies within a 50 mile radius. I was texting my best friend about how being home was like being stranded in a desert, a very dry desert, and she replied, “Just do it!” I didn’t even have to ask what she was referring to. When I showered the next morning I began touching myself. It was just as satisfying as any of those fuck buddies, and when I returned to school for the next semester, I was much more self reliant.” —Denise, 24

7. “It was a pretty normal experience. I was alone and horny, and my curiosity was heightened. Thank god I was, though. I began to be more adventurous when it came to sex. If I could experience enormous pleasure from trying something so simple, what else was I missing out on? It was my sexual awakening. Opened up a world of possibilities. Sex is so much more interesting now.” —Rae, 26

8. “Can’t believe I’m actually admitting this, but I was watching Cruel Intentions. There is so much sexual tension in that movie! I was 16 and no one was home. I blame it on my teenage hormones. Either way, Ryan Phillippe is not a bad first masturbation experience. I hope he reads this, that’d be fantastic.” —Valerie, 22

9. “I was a late bloomer when it came to sex. A prude is how most of my friends would’ve described me, even though I hate that word. I was still a virgin at 23, and my roommate thought that was unheard of. One day she was venting to me about how her boyfriend didn’t like going down on her, and anything I contributed to the conversation had little value, because I was sexually clueless, so in her frustration she reached into her dresser drawer, and pulled out her vibrator. It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. This sparkly neon pink thing that looked like flubber but in the shape of a deformed penis.

“You should really think about borrowing it sometime.” I’ll never forget her saying that. I just remember feeling really embarrassed, insulted, and grossed out. When she went to her boyfriend’s that night, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I went into her dresser drawer and that ugly pink thing was staring back at me. At first I didn’t even want to touch it, but then I just thought, fuck it. I didn’t even bother washing it first, which now that I think about is so unsanitary, but I was so fed up with everyone calling me a prude. When it vibrated against my hand it felt like a tiny tickle, and when I put it down there, it felt like so much more. It was a pretty great revelation.” —Beatrice, 28