Masturbation in the Movies - (or possibly at the Movies)
In honor of Masturbation Month, I present a list of my favorite movie masturbation scenes. To be clear - these are masturbation scenes from mainstream movies, not from porn. There are a lot of fantastic masturbation scenes in porn movies but they are far too numerous to mention here.
So here we go:
1. Nine and Half Weeks.
This is one of my favorite movies. Sure, it's twisted and flawed, but I love the portrayal of a woman confronted with sexual desires she's never experienced before. Elizabeth (played by Kim Basinger) is at work, reviewing slides for an upcoming art show. Alone in the dark room, staring at these images, she is overcome by eroticism and thoughts of her hot new lover and pleasures herself right then and there. She is so involved in herself, it is extremely hot.
2. Pleasantville.
A family goes back in time to an era where everything was easy and life was lived in black and white. But when Betty (Joan Allen) opens herself up to the possibility of pleasure and begins touching herself in the bathtub, her world turns to vibrant color.
3. Black Swan.
One of the most twisted, fucked up masturbation scenes ever. Not because of the masturbation scene but because it's almost impossible to figure out what's real and what's not. And it's Natalie Portman fantasizing about Mila Kunis and that's pretty hot.
4. Not Another Teen Movie.
The depiction of masturbation in this movie is kind of negative so I'm not a huge fan of that. But the opening scene with Janey masturbating while watching the teen movie 'She's All That' is hilarious. I only wish the amazing rotating vibrator she plays with was real.
5. Slums of Beverly Hills.
This story of sexual awakening is a lot more realistic than most. In one scene, Vivian discovers her cousin's vibrator.
6. The To Do List.
Lots of sex in this movie too, but there is a pretty realistic scene where Brandy crosses masturbation off her list. I like that this movie featured a young woman getting a lot of action solely in the name of self-discovery. Usually only guys are allowed to do that in movies. And even though her final goal was that one particular guy, she realized that perhaps sex and love aren't the same after all. And that's not a bad thing.
7. The Secretary
One of my all time favorite movies about a young woman coming to understand that her natural sexual inclinations might not be typical. There is a lot of sex and sexual innuendo in this one but there is a double jerk-off scenes where her boss comes on her back and she runs off the bathroom to get herself off. There's a few other choice self-love snippets as well. Oh ya, and it's Maggie Gyllenhaal - enough said.
These are my favorites because they feature female masturbation which is much more rare than depictions of male masturbation. They are mostly positive depictions as well - with the possible exception of Not Another Teen Movie. That movie takes a fun, humorous approach though. At one point, Janey openly admits to someone that she masturbates to 'She's All That'.
Other notable movies featuring great masturbation scenes are:
FastTimes At Ridgemont High (I considered this sex education when I saw it at 12 years old)
Shame (takes a bit of a troublesome approach to sex addiction but come on, Michael Fassbender in the shower?)
ShortBus (there's a whole lot of sex in this movie and some interesting scenes of masturbation, mutual masturbation, and being watched while masturbating)
But I'm a Cheerleader
Private Parts (Howard Stern is not my favorite, but getting someone off over the radio through the bass on the speaker is pretty awesome)
Some TV Shows Worth Mentioning:
Mad Men - Betty Draper discovers the washing machine.
Sex and the City - Charlotte discovers the Rabbit and Samantha breaks her wand
Friends - Monica thinks she's caught Chandler masturbating to Shark Attack. I loved this episode because when Monica walks in on him getting off and thinks he was watching Shark Attack (he had quickly changed the channel from the porn he had on), she doesn't freak out. She gets him a shark video for them to watch together.
For a bonus treat, check out this cute little movie masturbation mashup on HuffPo.
2018 Masturbation Month Update:
Here are some more additions to the list, since I published this four years ago:
Girls - after a very hot and inappropriately intimate conversation with arrogant artist Booth Jonathon at a gallery event, Marnie locks herself in the bathroom and gets herself off. One interesting point to this is that she does actually have sex with Booth at a later date and it turns out her masturbation fantasy was hotter.
Two Broke Girls - Max walks in on Caroline masturbating with the showerhead in the bathtub - all played for laughs but interesting to note that Caroline is not particularly ashamed of it and actually uses the word 'masturbate'.
Orange is the New Black - after a lost screwdriver causes chaos in the unit and risks Piper potentially going to SHU or worse, we find out that Boo has the screwdriver and she's using it as a makeshift dildo. . - In another scene, Doggett uses a mobile phone she found (something everyone would love to get their hands on) as a vibrator. When you can't have what you want, you'll use what you've got.
Love - After having sex with Gus for the first time, Mickey pulls out her Magic Wand to finish herself off. Gus is, of course, confused and insulted. The scene definitely serves a purpose, but is sad because in a real life this situation could be okay if Mickey introduced the idea of the vibrator to him before just pulling it out - they could have used it together.
Frank talk about sex and sexuality, and about masturbation is so much more common in tv than it used to be. It's heartening to me that there are so many examples of female masturbation in tv these days - because it's a thing that a lot of us do. And in many cases, the shows do not portray it as deviant or pathetic. Often, the masturbation scenes are meant to be funny, but more and more often, they portray it as a pretty normal thing - like in Two Broke Girls where she's a bit embarrassed at first but then says, 'lots of people masturbate'. Hopefully seeing that message in mainstream tv means we are starting to get it.