p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; color: #373330; -webkit-text-stroke: #373330; background-color: #ffffff} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; color: #373330; -webkit-text-stroke: #373330; background-color: #ffffff; min-height: 12.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; color: #373330; -webkit-text-stroke: #373330} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; color: #373330; -webkit-text-stroke: #373330; min-height: 12.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Totally ingenious tension-buster or just a bit, err, strange?
To beat work stress, is there any M-word you wouldn’t try? You’ve meditated, been mindful, spent as much time ohMMMM-ing as you have humming Despacito; you even ditched your mocha for a strange green liquid called Matcha. So, are you feeling zen – or still tense, hunched over a to-do list and wondering why your boss never, ever takes a sick day?
Well, the solution is in your hands. Actually, make that hand...
Because the word in the toilet cubicle is that a masturbation break could have the benefits of the above – only faster, cheaper, and with a smile thrown in for free. But could – should? – we touch ourselves at work? Forget a pat on the back for good performance, a pat on the… (you get it).
Statistics say it’s likely that the men of the workplace already are. When American Glamour polled 1000 guys, 31% admitted to taking an intimate break on the job, while Time Out New York made that figure closer to 39%. British sex toy brand Hot Octopuss even introduced male masturbation booths called GuyFi across NYC as stress relievers. It’s more PR stunt than due to demand, but should guys get caught horny in public, these one-man pop-ups provide a laptop, a chair and a curtain.
By now, you’ve probably spotted what’s missing in all this: nope, not dignity or a P45 – women. While we don’t have public pleasure booths (please no), there is evidence that we use masturbation in exactly the same stress-relieving way.
When examining women’s non-sexual motivations for touching themselves, Dr Breanne Fahs, a professor of women and gender studies at Arizona State University, found some women did so purely as a release tool. One interviewee, Cris, 22, likened masturbation to brushing her teeth – it was so deeply entrenched in her daily routine. Other participants confirmed that masturbation “feels relaxing, it relieves stress”; another adding, “I do it all the time because it makes me feel better about myself.”
Psychologist Dr Carol Rinkleib Ellison studied 2000 women and also found that many masturbated in order to relax – or to relieve menstrual cramps. Effects thought to stem from an increase in oxytocin levels when we come. So, is masturbation the new workplace escapism? Economically, an orgasm is a better deal than shuddering at how much you spend on breaks in a coffee shop.
But could you handle sitting on a still-warm toilet seat knowing what the person before you had been up to? Especially if you saw their flushed face leave – or, worse, heard it happen. Does it send interpersonal boundaries into all kinds of murky waters? And the nuts and bolts question: could you stay aroused enough in a loo cubicle to see it through to completion? I mean, do we really need more #workgoals?
Or maybe – like these five women – your work wives are already doing it without you even knowing. They confess why they took a solo breather…
“Over the summer, when there was no one else in the office, I had a quick feel under the desk during my lunch break. It was a crazy moment of spontaneity.” Jenn, 23
“I once got a WhatsApp from an ex, which quickly escalated into sexts about how turned on he was thinking about me, and how much he wanted to touch me. I couldn't contain myself. I was alone in a storeroom, but moved behind a shelf so I’d still be hidden if anyone came in, and put my hand inside my trousers.” Lizzie, 26
“I’ve touched myself in the work toilets a couple of times when I was working late and got to the point where I was so stressed and low on morale that I needed something to keep me going.” Nat, 32
“I’d be mortified if anyone at work knew, but I have a really high sex drive and masturbate there a few times a week.” Lynsey, 31
“Never at work, but I did it once on the bus home. I could feel the engine’s vibrations through the bus seat and felt weirdly turned on, then realised the bus was almost empty. I put my handbag on my lap to hide what I was doing, but it was pretty thrilling. Anyone could've got on at any moment. Still my most forbidden climax.” Charlie, 26
Taken from GLAMOUR UK. Read the original here.
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