Real Marriage_ The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together - Mark Driscoll [136]
What About Christian Masturbators?
In general, the research showed that religious individuals do masturbate, though they are less likely to do so than the nonreligious, and when they do masturbate, it is less frequently. Most studies only look at religious affiliation, rather than any measure of religiosity, such as frequency of church attendance or specific beliefs. According to these studies, slightly less than one-fifth of conservative Protestant (or “evangelically oriented”) men, regardless of age, masturbate weekly, down from about three-tenths (28 percent) of mainline Protestant men, one-quarter (25 percent) of Catholics, and four-tenths (38 percent) of nonreligious men.25 One-half of conservative Protestant men did not masturbate in the last year, compared to one-third of those with no religious affiliation and one-third of mainline Protestant men. Additionally, fundamentalist Protestants are less likely to report any masturbation over the last year than Catholics, moderate Protestants, and those without religious affiliation.26 This pattern also holds for women. A little more than two-thirds (68.5 percent) of conservative Protestant women reported no masturbation in the past year, compared to 58 percent of mainline Protestants, 63 percent of Catholics, and 45 percent of women with no religion.
Another measure of religion is frequency of church attendance. About one-quarter (24.95 percent) of those who attend church at least “almost every week” reported masturbating once a month or more, compared to about four in ten (37.29 percent) of those who never attend church. Of those who attend church once a week or more, 57 percent reported not masturbating in the last year, compared to 46.61 percent of those who never attend church. These numbers become less different when looking only at men. Among men only, 38.65 percent of those who attend church at least “almost every week” report masturbating at least once a month, compared to 49.37 percent of men who never attend church. Additionally, 39.88 percent of those who attend church once a week or more reported not masturbating in the last year, compared to 37.55 percent of those who never attend church.
These numbers can be further broken down by marital status. 44.2 percent of married men who attend church once a week or more reported not masturbating in the past year, compared to about 44.1 percent of men who never attend church and 43.6 percent of all married men. This implies that church attendance is not a large determinant of masturbating behaviors in the lives of married men. There is slightly more difference when looking at religious affiliation. Of married men, more than one-half (54.6 percent) of conservative Protestants reported not masturbating in the last year, compared to one-third (34.6 percent) of mainstream Protestants, almost two-fifths (38.0 percent) of Catholics, and more than one-third (35.8 percent) with no religious affiliation. On the other end of the spectrum, among married men, about one in ten (9.7 percent) conservative Protestants reported masturbating once a week or more. In comparison, 15.9 percent of mainstream Protestant married men, two in ten (19.8 percent) Catholic married men, and about one-quarter (25.6 percent) of married men with no religious affiliation reported masturbating once a week or more.
Among conservative Protestant men by marital status, the most masturbation is seen among the never married. About one in five (20 percent) married conservative Protestant men reported masturbating more than once a week.
NOTES
Appendix V
1. The GSS is widely regarded