But I'm relatively unaware of my friends' masturbation habits. And I haven't discussed mine. If the subject comes up, which it rarely does, there is nervous laughter along with acknowledgment that we all indulge. It's not hard to understand why it's easier to discuss partner sex than the solo variety. Our culture is obsessed with partner sex.
Masturbation is still largely in the closet.
A recent Kaiser Foundation study showed that more than 90 percent of American parents support comprehensive school-based sex education. Elders, now retired as a professor of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, lectures nationally on preventive and adolescent health issues. But according to her lecture agent at the American Program Bureau in Newton, Mass., masturbation is not one of her current topics. No surprise there. Publicly, America is simply not comfortable with masturbation.