I love it! There likely won’t be wide news coverage of the event; thus, I’ve done my part to promote it all week. Talking about it, I mean. It’s pretty awesome that we live in an age that such a glorious celebration of the self can exist. Not quite steeped in the clout of say, American Heart Month (February) or Classical Music Month (September), National Masturbation Month has its own kind of allure. If nothing else it begs questions like, “How do you celebrate National Masturbation Month?” Is it like the Super Bowl? Do you tailgate? Do you invite friends over and prepare iconic snack treats? Do you wear costumes? Do you just fly solo in solemn reverence to your most perfect lover?

Few know this, but under a different guise I worked for a while as an editor for Whispering Lily, a wholly sex-positive site website dedicated solely to the art of masturbation. The site featured reader-submitted stories about their self-love experiences alone or with others. The admins also provided in-depth articles on safe self-sex, toys, techniques. Needless to say, it was a very interesting job—almost right up there with my ideal employment, which is copywriting descriptions of toys for an adult catalogue (I was sold on the job years ago when I read a description for fake nipples: “Looks real! Won’t slip! Dishwasher safe!”). It was all at once hot, scary, and refreshing to learn all the creative ways that people get themselves off, and how eager they were to talk about those experiences with others. It was also an editorial side show, as I’m sure you can well imagine.

That’s all fun and frolic, but the most poignant commentary I ever read on masturbation was from Eric Francis, Planet Waves astrologer (the one who got me the Whispering Lily gig, don’t ya know) and all-around great guy. He wrote a treatise on the relationship between masturbation and sexual orientation, the point of which being, if you masturbate, you are at least bi if not homosexual. In order to cathartically learn and produce the response needed for orgasm, one must be deeply connected to the physical, psychological, and emotional (I’d also argue spiritual) processes of one’s love object. One must crave such intimacy. The ability to achieve that for one’s self, according to Francis, suggested that not only is everyone bi at minimum, but was, from cellular beginning.

His words were more eloquent than my awe of them. Maybe he’s right, maybe he’s not. Regardless, it was inspiring that he allowed an otherwise totally selfish pursuit to potentially widen his awareness on humanity. It certainly never occurred to me to wax philosophical while getting myself off. Combine the theme of the month and Francis’ ingenuity, surely one of us will come up with the solution to all of the world’s problems.

So, what are you doing for National Masturbation Month? It turns out I have a new interracial erotic novella coming out, and you have… all the right stuff to enjoy it… alone. I think celebrations are in order!  Gigolo Seduction, available today from Decadent Publishing! Enjoy it with the free Reader’s Guide.