Dear Betty,

I am a 24-year-old professional living in New York. I would like to say how much I admire your dedication to self-loving, which is an experience that should be enjoyed by all, but has been denied to many.

I first discovered masturbation when I was fifteen, which I guess is a late age compared to other people. It was during the summer in between my sophomore and junior years of high school. I've always been soft-spoken, but I was a very, very shy kid and didn't talk about sex very much with friends. I've always liked to read, so naturally I learned a lot about the topic from books in the library. Masturbation was almost always discussed in them, and a great pathway to pleasure opened up to me.

My first jerk-off experience came through trial and error. It was a hot summer night, when I was lying in the bed on our house's sun porch, trying to sleep. Earlier that night, I was watching (secretly) adult movies that are always being shown late at night on cable TV. There were some very beautiful women in them, and the fantasies I drew up while in bed led to an erection. Eager to use what I had learned, I lay there, shirtless, my underwear slid down to my knees. I can vividly remember what I did - I rubbed my nipples, which I always liked to do ; I squeezed the cheeks of my rearend ; I rubbed my stomach lightly. Then I began sliding my penis in and out of my left fist, not quite knowing what to expect. It began to feel good. I went on with it, enjoying every moment of it. Finally, I came for the first time, dripping my jism onto the bedsheets.

The experience was so good that I didn't even bother cleaning up the ejaculate. When I woke up the next morning, I realized that my mother probably saw the stain and knew what I had done, but she didn't say anything about it. Thank God she didn't. My mother has always been open about sex, and it looked like masturbation wasn't a problem for her. I felt encouraged. I continued to play with myself almost every night. The experience has been and will always be relaxing.

Masturbation, I should also say, was a gift while in college. When being around so many girls with such young, healthy bodies, pleasing myself was always a better alternative to jumping right into bed. I had a small number of steady girlfriends in school and had a lot of fun sharing masturbation with them. It's always disappointed me that college health programs don't encourage students to jerk off as a way of releasing sexual stress. It's an alternative, at least, to protected (99% safe) sex.

Self-loving will always be an alternative for me. When I'm feeling horny, I'll watch an erotic film or look through an adult magazine and imagine pleasuring the given woman. I've always loved shorter women with tan skin, a firm build, and firm breasts that point straight out. If I'm not with that kind of woman, my mind can always make it possible and send my 7-inch cock to a higher level.

My body is depending on people like yourself to defend its rights. Please continue to do that, and it will show its appreciation with each and every orgasm.

Thanks for your dedication to sexual pleasure,

Paul