Should masturbation be legal.

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It is depressing to think that something once considered shameful is encouraged.

Like women having jobs?

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I know masturbation to be a serious moral disorder. I focuses all of one's pleasure into one's self, instead of what it is for-- that is for the coming together between a man and a woman, and the manifestation of this love is found in the child.

I am curious as to which psychiatric authorities agree with your assessment that masturbation is a "serious moral disorder."  As far as I am aware, masturbation has been found to have absolutely no negative effects on anything whatsoever, unless used in an inappropriate context, which may well apply to pretty much anything (i.e. chronic masturbation, public masturbation, etc., but these things apply to the problems of addiction and indecency, respectively).  Conservatively speaking, over 90% of males and 80% of females engage in the practice with any degree of frequency, nor has this changed in recent times.  If masturbation is the moral disorder you claim it is, why have the catastrophic effects of masturbation you mention only applied to a smaller segment of the population, and why are we only seeing these effects now when people have masturbated since "time began"?

Have you considered that perhaps masturbation works to relieve stress as opposed to self-indulgent pleasure?  Let's be honest; people don't masturbate because they love the way they look-- they do it to relieve tensions and relax, among other things.

Increased pedophilia cases; more single mothers; increasing amounts of sex-related crimes; increased amounts of STDs; less families; etc. At this rate, pedophilia will be considered acceptable

So, masturbation will indirectly lead to people thinking that pedophilia is acceptable.  That's something of a stretch.

Here are the facts:
* People will engage in sexual activity before marriage.  A lot of people may wait, but many who say they will end up forgoing that vow and engaging in sex, unprepared and often without using protection.  If you want lower rates of STIs, support comprehensive sex education so that people know the facts about sex and can make up their minds on whether they want to wait based on their religious principles, and not false social or scientific arguments.
* Masturbation presents no physical or emotional harm to anyone.  There is no risk of spreading STIs, no risk of pregnancy, and is a completely normal practice that emotionally healthy people engage in at any frequency (unless they are already having sex frequently enough to decrease their need to masturbate).
* Engaging in sex before marriage does not increase the likelihood that you will be a pedophile.  I'm sorry, there is just no credible reason to think that, or any other type of perceived sexual promiscuity for that matter.  Nor will support of pedophilia rise in any society which takes an active interest in the well-being of children.

[Ebowed]

First of all, the APA is not a very reliable source. They have constantly taken back many things they have believed to be true

Actually, I would expect scientific and medical organizations to be able to revise their positions in light of new evidence.  Sticking with the same old positions for the sake of consistency in that sort of field is completely wrong.  When new studies bring conflicting results, why would it be inappropriate to change your position?

he is the same person who convinced the APA board to remove Homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses, paving the way for the modern sexual revolution to take place.

Well, technically, the sexual revolution occurred in the 60s.  The gradual acceptance of homosexuality was a side effect of that, and not the cause.  There is no evidence that homosexuality is a mental disorder anyway--why would you expect any mainstream organization of any kind to think that?

First the obvious one-- do you believe that one can relieve stress from sexual pressure by committing a sexual act? I think it would have absolutely the opposite effect. If one is having sexual pressure, the worst thing for the person to do is to do anything sexual.

Look, this is kind of hard to take seriously, but yes, of course you can relieve sexual stress by masturbating.  What you're advocating here is that someone experiencing stress of a sexual nature should simply focus their mind on other things--this, in fact, will only accentuate the problem.

Let's take anger and depression-- we all know that anger and depression lead to many horrible crimes. Do you think that mixing this with sex will solve the issue? This only transfers the anger and depression to a sexual form, and in doing so, harbors a sexual addiction.

There is absolutely no evidence for any of this-- none.  People who are depressed or "angry" are not more prone to sexual addiction than other people.  I think you have a severe misunderstanding of what depression is.  But that aside, if someone is upset, and they can relieve stress through an entirely positive act-- which is entirely safe, as well as solitary, so it poses no risk to anyone else-- why would you come to the conclusion that masturbation will instead cause someone to become a sex addict?

One can trace who has pedophiliac or sexual addictive tendencies to this—using masturbation to relieve stress from anger, rejection, depression, etc.

I'm curious, how exactly do you think that pedophiles come about?  Now, to be frank, I would prefer that a pedophile sits in his home and masturbates instead of going out and raping children.  That is a form of self control.  If he is certain about his preference, but knows that it is immoral to act on these preferences, he can simply relieve his sexual frustration through masturbation.  There are probably many people like this, but it's a rather taboo subject.  Either way, masturbation does not cause someone to become a pedophile, or a sex addict for that matter.

This rampant promiscuity around the country is encouraging children to be sexual active at very young ages. (I look around at middle schools—once a time of innocence—and I see 6th grade boys inappropriately touching their girlfriends.) It is this promiscuity that is leading to so many problems in our society.

I don't see how children being sexually promiscuous with each other increases the number of actual pedophiles--making such a claim would suggest that every person has an innate ability to find children attractive.

Already, the APA is paving the path to a future condoning of pedophilia, in saying that child abuse is only temporarily hurtful to the child,

Look, that's not trying to make pedophilia acceptable, it's telling victims of child abuse that they can still lead normal lives.

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My understanding of sex is thus: to (1) to be open to life (reproduce) and (2) to unite together a man and a woman in love, with the offspring of the love being manifested in the child. Masturbation does neither of these two things, as it is completely self-centered. Therefore, it is immoral.

I suppose an elderly couple which never had children engaging in sex would be immoral as well.

Of course, none of you probably believe in any consistent form of morality

Wrong.

[Ebowed]

Okay-- what is your consistent form of morality?

Created by a combination of logic, science, and conscience.

Concerning the entire "self-centered" issue, I don't think it is right for anyone to be entirely self-centered.

This doesn't have anything to do with masturbation.  It's more wrong, arguably, to become frustrated on purpose when there is a simple and harmless solution to the problem.  Anyone who masturbates isn't "entirely" self-centered, anyway.

[Ebowed]

Okay-- what is your consistent form of morality?

It's not a hard question, but no one's able to answer it.  Hmm.

Oh yeah, when it comes to the deep and meaningful philosophical discussions, everyone looks in awe to the stunning brilliance of your contributions.

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Morality is for silly old people anyway.

Yes, because clearly I (or anyone else posting here) have no morals.  The question has already been answered; you are merely a jackass.

[Ebowed]

In other words, how do you know that your moral view is correct?

I don't "know" that my moral view is correct.  I merely feel that, if need be, it would be a fair system to implement.  It's entirely subjective.