Every guy does it. I've never understood the social 'wrong' that it brings. Thoughts?

Because it will make you blind

Of course the Internet dispells that wives tale as blind men would be lousy customers porn videos
I am guessing the entire social problem with jacking is that a man taking care of his own sexual needs robes power from women who wish to have control by dictating how, where and when their man gets sexual satisfaction
My apologies up front to wanking women but in fairness to men just about any guy would love to watch a woman masturbate.
The social stigma of
course is directed at men
I have not done enough research to see if there are forums with female "pervs" discussing their triggers but looking at the predominantly male participation on this site I would put forth the suggestion that most females do not dwell on masturbation as males and don't like men finding other options and taking their leverage away
An interesting observation here is that "adult" themed stored have just as many dildos, vibrators and other female masturbation paraphernalia as male
stuff so it ain't just us guys

I dunno man. Jacking is fun and it doesn't hurt anyone. It wouldn't hurt if society was more open and less negative about it. At the same time I think it should remain a private time activity though.

People have definitely loosened up about it since I was a kid. I think internet porn has had a lot to do with that.

The prevailing stigma regarding masturbation in my opinion was that those who do it regularly were losers who can't get a woman to have sex with. In todays world some negative concepts about those who would prefer to jerk off has changed and society realizes that everyone has engaged in self pleasure and there is nothing wrong with it and no harm is done. Just look at sales in sex toys and lubes. Most of us still do it in private while alone or online with like minded people.

Like other things in my life, I don't care what others think. I like to JO. I like to be naked as much as possible and if others don't like it, too bad. I JO when I want. They are the ones with issues, not me!

Sure, lots of other cultures (non-Western/Christian) acknowledge that "men masturbate, it's normal.' Billions of humans are okay with that.
Here in USA, our competitive society is great ... for the winners. But those of us who struggle to break even and the millions who never see much of the dream know it ain't that great sometimes, and there's no shame in admiring something you can't have. This goes for mating, too. The 99% of us who don't have an aroused woman on hand whenever we want (and probably even some who do) -- masturbate.
It's no secret that a man masturbates, but it ain't open, either. Sure, hide our erections from the public eye out of modesty -- that's sensible, but I sure hate it that I had to be brought up embarrassed and ashamed that I (and you) masturbate!

I've never been embarrassed by my masturbation habit and I have always wondered why some folks are so uptight about it.

As someone above said, I think it stems from the thinking that if you jerk off you can't get a woman to have sex with you. While that is true for me now, it hasn't always been. I used to fuck regularly and still masturbated at least once a day.

I don't get it either. I'm very open about my masturbation passion and have always enjoyed showing off. I've openly masturbated with numerous people over the years including friends, neighbors, co-workers and strangers. For me, watching someone else get off is fuel!

I guess if you're shy, it's not going to be an option. It just comes natural to me.

Yes, the thinking that if you jerk off you can't get a woman to have sex with you. And if you can't get a woman to have sex with you, you jerk off.
A vicious circle from which the only escape (they say) is, get a woman to have sex with you.

Well, there's a much easier way to escape. Even if you can get a woman to have sex with you, or you might -- you have to negotiate duration, position, expectations, and still be able to come in her vagina like when you (and she) were young and that was all that mattered. It's easy to escape. Masturbate.

I wish babes (celebs and non-celebs) were delighted when we tell them we jack to them.
Fantasy: Hey babe, I just shot a huge load to your pic. Out of all the babes in the world.
Babe: Awesome! Hope I was really good for you.

Reality: Hey babe, I just shot a huge load to your pic.
Babe: Ewww gross!

For me, looking back to the days before the Internet I think there were two factors:

1. A general negative view of sex. Despite sex being all around us and used to sell all kinds of things my parents, and probably the parents of most of my school friends, avoided talking about it in front of us. Yes, we knew how various things reproduced including humans and got the "birds and bees" talk at some point but there was never any talk about how "hot" people were and about how much fun it was. As a result anything to do with sex immediately seemed taboo and masturbation was no exception. I'm pretty sure this was the dominant barrier to being open about masturbation when I was between about 11-14.

2. Being seen as a second rate subsitute for two person sex, i.e. the view that anyone would, of course, be having sex if he could get it and therefore if he is jacking off it is because he has failed to line up some sex. I am not sure if that is a human social construct or whether it has much more instinctive roots. There are many species of animal in which the alpha male gets to breed with all the females in the social group and the others don't get to breed at all (unless they become the alpha). Is that still hard-wired into our psyche somehow? Human society doesn't tend to work like that, most guys have the opportunity for some sex, just not necessarily every time they feel horny. This was, I am sure, the reason masturbation was a taboo subject when I was in my late teens - everyone wanted everyone else to think they were getting so much sex they had no need to resort to their hands.

Interestingly, between the two for the years of maybe 15-17 most of the guys I knew seemed to be quite open about it.

From what I remember, just as was coming up to twenty, my workplace got connected to the Internet. This was just before the days of the WWW and web-based forums but there was e-mail, USENET news etc. The latter contained some very open discussion of masturbation in a newsgroup alt.sex.masturbation (now flooded with spam) and I had a couple of e-mail conversations with other guys who very open about how much they loved to masturbate. The WWW was being invented around then and took off shortly afterwards and I remember the website www.jackinworld.com being set up; it's still there but no longer seems to be actively maintained. There is no doubt in my mind that it is discussion on the Internet that has revealed for all that large numbers of guys who are successful by all the usual measures still love to masturbate.

In my own case I have a wife, children, a job, a house and I have always loved to masturbate from when I first discovered it. I did it much less when my wife and I first got together and had lots of sex and I do it more again now we don't have as much sex. I am also quite happy with the way things are. There is no way I'd swap what I have got for a life of casual sex.

What he said.

It seems one point of view is that it is for ' wankers '. The implication that those who masturbate have not got the charisma or personality to find a proper partner for sex..That may be true in a few cases, but the bottom line is that is very pleasureable with fantasy thoughts..
Don't think it gives you spots or makes you go blind !!!

Because to some masturbation is a sin. Man shall not spill his seed and all that. According to the religious right and those who wish to believe the teachings of celibate religious leaders, "spilling seed" is seen as a sin because we were given the ability to procreate and it's our obligation to do so. We should never engage in sex without the direct goal being to make more of us. That goes for masturbation, birth control, anal, and oral sex. There are still laws on the books in some districts that make it illegal to have a same-sex relationship, not just marriage but the relationship is illegal.

Honestly this is the real reason. Someday we will all agree to just live and let live and there will be enough procreation to go around. In fact we could do with a few less people on this planet as it is.

So for anyone who occasionally masturbates and spills their seed without creating another future masturbator (and I'll admit that I do this two to three times a day) I fap in your general direction.