How To Masturbate In Lockdown

Personal space has taken on a whole new importance in the time of coronavirus. If you’re finding it helpful but tricky to masturbate in lockdown, here are some strategies.

It’s a huge understatement to say that this new, isolated world can be tricky to navigate. We’re all rapidly picking up new skills: home-schooling children, grappling with videoconferencing technology, or understanding how to be intimate with lovers from a distance. And if you’re in lockdown with housemates or family, one tricky thing to carve out is personal space – particularly if you want to use it for some self love.

Why is masturbation in lockdown important?

Masturbation is still highly stigmatised, and depending on the environment you’re in you may find it more difficult to masturbate than you usually would. If you’re locked down with friends, family, or lovers, these people will be in your space, soaking up your attention, far more than usual.

For some, masturbation will not be an important concern (or a concern at all), of course, and with the stress of the current pandemic, you may not feel horny at all. But for many, wanking is an important form of stress relief. Masturbation is good for your mental health and immune system as well as your general physical health. So if you’re used to regular masturbation then it can be difficult if you’re suddenly confined in a space where you aren’t able to do it any more.

So if finding privacy for a wank is an issue for you right now, here are some suggestions.

1. Come to an agreement about alone time

How you approach this depends on how much you want to share with the other residents of your home. If you’re locked down with relatives, you may not feel like saying you need some alone time in order to masturbate. But if you’re with housemates who are open about sex it may be easier. Whether you mention the ‘m’ word or not, though, know that it’s completely reasonable to tell other people living in your house that you need some alone time every now and then. You don’t need to tell them why!

Perhaps you want to pick one evening for designated ‘alone time’, where people can do their own thing in their rooms, or in designated spaces of the house, and agree that they will only be disturbed if there’s an emergency. Maybe you want to say that Saturday afternoon is ‘chill out’ time, where each person puts on their headphones and focuses on a solo activity, knowing that they will not be disturbed.

2. Invest in quiet sex toys

We’re a sex toy company, so of course you knew we would say this! Not all sex toys are equal in terms of volume levels – there’s always a trade-off between power and noise. So creating sex toys which are powerful without shaking the walls is a complex task. We think we’ve nailed it with the AMO and DiGiT vibrators though, if you’re looking for clitoral stimulation. And if you’ve got a penis, our PULSE SOLO LUX (or PULSE SOLO ESSENTIAL, from our flagship range, are our quietest yet.

They’re also all fully waterproof, which brings us neatly on to our next point…

3. Consider different locations

If your bedroom shares a thin wall with someone else’s, and you’re worried that your masturbation habits might disturb someone next door, how about taking your wank breaks in the shower? The running water helps to dampen sound, and waterproof sex toys like those mentioned above will bring you pleasure while the water pours around you.

4. Take it in turns to exercise/shop

Depending on where you are, you may be able to arrange some alone time by sharing out your time spent outdoors. In the UK at the time of writing, people are allowed to leave their house once per day for exercise – as long as they follow social distancing advice, of course, and stay at least 2 metres from any other person. If you and your housemates plan to do this, try to arrange your exercise routines so that each of you get a little alone time in the house each week.

If you’re living in an area where you may only leave the house for essentials like shopping, this could be trickier, but organising a schedule so you take it in turns to go shopping not only means that you can take it in turns to have the house to yourself, but you also each get equal time outside. It’s not exactly a trip to Disneyland, but these trips can help break up the monotony of isolation – and they’ll give your partner/housemate time on their own while you’re away too.

Masturbation in lockdown: your strategies?

If you have any other tips and tricks, please do share them with us on Twitter. Like so many other things – homeschooling, videoconferencing, and intimacy over a distance – masturbation in lockdown is something we’ll all get to grips with better over the coming weeks and months. And as with all of those things, one of the ways we’ll get through it is by talking to others about the challenges we face and sharing our own experiences and advice as best we can.