Does masturbation cause future problems in marriage?

Last updated on September 17, 2020

Question:

I am wondering if masturbation will cause problems in my future marriage. Thanks for the information.

Answer:

Pornography causes problems because it changes how a guy views women and sex. They start seeing sex as an end to itself and women as merely the means to that end. It glorifies sex outside of marriage and women are merely objects to be used for sex and not people in their own right.

However, if you masturbate solely to manage your body — triggering ejaculations when the semen build-up is too great and the sexual urge is too distracting — without the use of pornography or lustful thoughts, then there is no harm being done. As a matter of course, during a marriage there will be infrequent times when a man has to revert back to masturbation or rely on wet dreams to take care of excess semen because his wife is not available for sex. Business trips, the birth of children, or illness can make it difficult to get sex regularly enough and a man doesn’t want the added temptation of his sexual desire rising when his wife isn’t around.