Danish sexologists warn against shaming masturbation and pornography

Masturbation and pornography should not automatically be treated as something wrong, two Danish professors of sexology have argued, warning that a growing moral debate around individual sexual behaviour risks creating unnecessary guilt and shame. Their comments come as a major study prepares to collect new data on the sexual habits of people in Denmark.

Annamaria Giraldi, a physician and professor of clinical sexology, told the Danish public broadcaster DR that sexual pleasure outside a relationship is not in itself a problem. She expressed concern about movements that encourage people, particularly men, to abstain completely from masturbation and pornography.

“We enter a discussion about guilt, and about what is right and what is wrong, and we need to be very careful about that,” Giraldi said.

Masturbation is common in Denmark

Almost half of people aged over 15 in Denmark masturbate at least once a week, according to Project SEXUS, the country’s largest study of sexual behaviour and health. More than one in four watch pornography with the same frequency.

The first phase of the research surveyed 62,675 people between the ages of 15 and 89 in 2017 and 2018. Its results showed that masturbation was a common part of Danish sexual life among both people in relationships and those without a partner.

Around a quarter of both male and female respondents said masturbation provided something that sexual relations with another person could not offer.

Giraldi said masturbation can help people explore their own sexuality and is also used in the treatment of some sexual difficulties.

“People can do it because they want to relieve pressure, because it reduces stress, or because they have fantasies about something they do not actually do with their partner,” she said. “We should certainly not turn it into something negative.”

Danish sexologists question the NoFap movement

The professors’ comments were partly directed at NoFap, an online movement whose participants abstain from masturbation and, frequently, pornography. Supporters often associate abstinence with improved concentration, confidence or sexual wellbeing.

Giraldi did not argue that people should be required to masturbate or consume pornography. Her concern is that personal abstinence can become a broader moral standard in which sexual activity without a partner is presented as unhealthy or shameful.

The debate has also entered Danish politics. Former member of parliament Lisa Perkins of the Liberal Alliance (Liberal Alliance) has publicly said that neither she nor her husband watches pornography or masturbates separately.

For Giraldi, couples and individuals can establish their own boundaries, but one model should not be presented as universally correct.

Pornography can provide a sense of sexual autonomy

Christian Graugaard, professor of sexology at Aalborg University and one of the researchers behind Project SEXUS, supported Giraldi’s argument.

According to Graugaard, the survey data suggest that many people want a part of their sexuality to remain separate from their relationship. He described masturbation and pornography as possible “valves” that allow people to experience erotic freedom without abandoning the security of a partnership.

Human relationships have long involved a tension between the desire for stability and the desire for freedom, he said.

“This is an equation that, throughout human history, we have never been able to solve,” Graugaard said.

Unlike infidelity, which involves another person and can violate an agreement within a relationship, masturbation and adult pornography can, in principle, allow people to explore their sexuality independently, he argued.

His comments do not imply that every form or pattern of pornography consumption is harmless. Rather, they challenge the assumption that its use is inherently morally wrong, particularly when discussing consensual adult sexuality.

Project SEXUS is collecting new data

Project SEXUS is a collaboration between the Statens Serum Institut and Aalborg University’s Center for Sexology Research (Center for Sexologisk Forskning). It studies the relationship between sexuality, lifestyle, physical health and mental health among people in Denmark.

The project began its second data-collection phase in 2026. Researchers are inviting participants from the original study alongside 200,000 other randomly selected residents aged between 15 and 89. The first findings are expected in 2027.

The new results may show whether sexual habits and attitudes have changed since the first survey, including whether online abstinence movements and changing debates about pornography have influenced behaviour.

For the two professors, however, the broader principle remains unchanged: choices about masturbation and pornography can be discussed critically, but turning individual sexuality into a source of shame may make it more difficult for people to understand their desires, communicate with partners and seek help when they experience sexual problems.