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  • Is Masturbation A Sexual Deviation?

    Posted by Mohammed Zubair Alam on July 16, 2023 at 12:27 pm

    According to the DSM, Masturbation was used to be a Sexual deviation along with all the sexual deviations, including homosexuality.

    So, Masturbation was initially classified as a sexual deviation on the same principle, other sexual deviance being classified as. The principle for determining is “Any Sexual activity or behavior that deviates from its natural course”.

    But later the American Psychiatric Association removed both Homosexuality and Masturbation from DSM.

    MY QUESTION:- As I have seen here , APA has been criticized for removing homosexuality because it went against their principle so on the same basis they should have been criticized for removing masturbation too as Masturbation as it also goes against the principle use by them to define Sexual deviation.

    So, since we still consider Homosexuality as sexual deviance and believe that APA went against their principle, Shouldn’t we should also consider masturbation as a sexual deviance on the same principle even though the APA has removed it from DSM?

    Umer replied 1 year, 4 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
  • 1 Reply
  • Is Masturbation A Sexual Deviation?

    Umer updated 1 year, 4 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
  • Umer

    Moderator July 17, 2023 at 10:58 am

    Our objection to homosexuality is primarily from the angle of ‘Tazkiya‘, both at an individual level and at societal level (in the context of the institution of family). It is the ‘Fawahish‘ factor which according to Islam applies to Homosexuality and hence impacts the purity of an individual required for success in the hereafter. Masturbation, never considered a recommended act, still does not fall in the definition of Fawahish. The way APA has its own criteria of categorizing an act as sexual deviance, we also have our criteria, but it is slightly different to the one considered by the APA. In simple terms, we can call acts of sexual perversion as Fawahish (among other things), but according to us, even the act of adultery/fornication falls under sexual perversion but masturbation does not.

    This is from a religious perspective, as a matter of sin or not. But generally speaking, sexual perversion can be applied to many other scenarios which may not fall directly under Fawahish but they would still be called sexual deviance in broader sense. Therefore, if someone calls masturbation as sexual deviance in general sense, then it can make sense in some circumstances where a person becomes addicted to this mode of gratification as opposed to natural mode of fulfilling it through the institution of marriage, for example.

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