Johanna Rief knows what she is talking about. Or: what the others are talking about – or not. “42 percent of German men state that they never talk about masturbation. Twenty-four percent say there’s more shame and negativity associated with male masturbation than female masturbation,” she says. “And almost a third of the men surveyed in Germany even stated that male masturbation is considered indecent and disgusting in society.”
Johanna Rief works for the Berlin company WOW Tech Europe and has the wonderful job title “Head of Sexual Empowerment” – so she is the “Head of Sexual Empowerment”. The company she works for makes sex toys and commissioned the study, from which Rief is now quoting: After all, 14,500 women and men in 17 countries were asked about their sex life and masturbation behavior. “And time and again it has emerged that men speak less openly about masturbation than women,” says Rief.
This was reason enough for WOW Tech Europe to launch a new service for men in nine countries: the company has been running a masturbation advice hotline for a few weeks now. What sounds funny at first – after all, male masturbation seems self-explanatory at first – is actually supposed to represent a much more multifaceted offer than it first appears. The Berlin telephone number (030) 217 834 572 is not a call hotline, but a voice menu.
If you navigate through the menu using the phone buttons, you actually get tips on how you can enjoy masturbation more alone or with a partner – why you should try the non-dominant hand or masturbate in front of your partner. In addition, WOW Tech Europe also wants to debunk myths about masturbation or explain the health benefits of masturbation. “For example, there are many studies that show that masturbation can help against headaches and other pains, that it releases many happy hormones or helps with calorie burning,” says Johanna Rief – healthier living in no time at all, so to speak.
Living healthier in no time, so to speak
Less than a month after the hotline was launched in nine countries, there were already around 1,000 calls. “400 of them, almost half, came from Asia,” says Rief. In her experience, masturbation is even more taboo there than in many European countries.
With a kind of answering machine function, questions can also be left on the hotline, “and many Asian men actually ask quite fundamentally how masturbation actually works,” says Johanna Rief. “It shows that it’s really, really frowned upon in some Asian countries.”
Those who masturbate are more successful at work
In Germany, people are a lot further along in this respect – that is shown by the survey values mentioned at the beginning, even if they are still questionable. “First of all, you can have a lot of fun masturbating, which in itself should be reason enough,” says Johanna Rief. And if solo fun in connection with the health benefits is not enough of an argument, another study might convince you: “Some time ago it was empirically proven that people who masturbate are more successful at work.”
Now the company WOW Tech Europe, for which Rief works, is a company – and not a sex education non-profit organization. Accordingly, the start of the advice hotline is associated with the launch of a new sex toy: the manually operated “Arcwave VOY” into which the penis is inserted – in the past, something like this would probably have been called “pocket pussy” or “trucker pussy”. “Toys for men are also much less accepted than sex toys for women because of such designations,” says Johanna Rief. “‘Trucker Pussy’ suggests that it’s a device only needed by men who don’t have a woman around or just ‘can’t get any’.”
A vibrator that women get tattooed
According to the Head of Sexual Empowerment, erotic toys should not be about replacing anything or anyone. Rather, an expansion of one’s own sexuality can be experienced by trying out different types of games or toys. “I think that’s also why many men consider sex toys to be superfluous for themselves,” says Rief. “Unlike many women, they can easily reach orgasm without it – but they overlook the fact that the way to get there can sometimes be designed differently.”
The “Arcwave VOY” can be adapted to very different penis sizes and shapes and stimulates pleasure receptors located in the skin of the penis. “It’s supposed to be a completely different feeling than with the hand,” says Johanna Rief, who of course can only rely on the statements of men in this matter. If you are skeptical, just let me tell you this: WOW Tech Europe is also the company behind the “Womanizer” – a real sex toy legend, which many women use as an orgasm guarantee, probably the most popular vibrator of our time. So popular that some particularly enthusiastic women have had it tattooed, as can be admired on Instagram.
The masturbation advice hotline for Germany can be reached on (030) 217 834 572, the call costs correspond to the regular tariffs to the German landline network.