409 MASTURBATION

YOUCAT Lesson 409, July 2, 2015

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

409  Is masturbation an offense against love?

Masturbation is an offense against love, because it makes the excitement of sexual pleasure an end in itself and uncouples it from the holistic unfolding of love between a man and a woman.  That is why “sex with yourself” is a contradiction in terms.  [2352]

Sunset on Cook Inlet, Anchorage, AK, 1950, photo by Don L. Bragg. ….. 409

The Church does not demonize masturbation, but she warns against trivializing it.  In fact many young people and adults are in danger of becoming isolated in the consumption of lewd pictures, films, and Internet services instead of finding love in a personal relationship.  Loneliness can lead to a blind alley in which masturbation becomes an addiction.  Living by the motto “for sex I do not need anyone; I will have it by myself, however and whenever I need it” makes nobody happy.

Masturbation (etymologically probably from the Latin prefix mas- =masculine and turbare =to move vehemently, to disturb).  By masturbation is meant the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure.

To form an equitable judgment about the subject’s moral responsibility (with regard to masturbation) and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the effective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.  CCC 2352

[2352]

Offenses against chastity

2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action." (Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Persona humana 9.)¹³⁸ "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved." (Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Persona humana 9)¹³⁹ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability. –CCC