First, I’d like to preface by saying that I don’t really have taboos and am very comfortable discussing such topics but it’s not always comfortable for others to have a woman do so. If that’s you, you have been warned :P
MASTURBATION (never wrote this in all caps before!)
To me masturbation (and sex) are just as natural as any other bodily function. I see it a bit like hunger, if one eats quality food to be satiated when hungry it’s healthy. But not when constantly wanting or thinking about food, even when full.
It’s possible that it’s different because I am a woman, as it doesn’t seem to deplete me, to the contrary. I tried abstaining and transmuting the energy but didn’t find it more useful than connecting to source energy during meditation, actually it seemed to dull sexual energy more than anything after a while.
SOUL/CHOICE
I used to joke that my perfect arrangement would be to live next door to my boyfriend. I’m an extrovert-introvert in so far as I am very social but I need to recharge my batteries alone, in silence. Also, freedom is very important to me but so are accountability and honesty and I didn’t want to disappoint or hurt anyone, as I was very aware that what’s usually required from a relationship are things I wouldn’t be happy living with. Lastly, I discovered early on that monogamy was not for me and not a compromise I would ever want to make again. To me sex is not complicated, it’s just a wonderful activity that you do with people you have affinities with. As such, I was happy with the notion that I’d spend my life with meaningful connections but not a spouse per say. However, 8 years ago my best friend and I fell in love and to use gaming terms, our character sheets fit so very nicely that I get to have my cake and eat it too haha. With honesty (including self-honesty), respect and care about the other person’s happiness, life at two turned out to be oh so fulfilling, exiting and delicious. The compromises never feel like an impediment to my freedom.
So I am spending my life with one soul in an open relationship. I personally am attracted by someone’s personality and it’s that that makes me find them beautiful and not really how they look (someone good looking I haven’t talked to is just like looking at a painting). So I guess I have one love of my life and many other people I have love for haha.
PORNOGRAPHY
For me, the issue with pornography is not the concept per say, as I find there is nothing shameful or wrong with any form of consensual sex, be it private or filmed. I just think that an industry can only be as healthy as society’s attitude towards what it encompasses (in this case sex) and I personally find our relationship with sex generally very unhealthy. The notions of sin, as well as the saint/whore complex around women are so archaic, filled with fear-based lies and so very damaging that so long as this is not resolved, it will be difficult to have any form of meaningful and fulfilling careers (I include sex workers in this).
As for myself, I used to love porn and I sure would love to love it still. But through my events’ production company I came to help for a few years with an AVN after party and it opened my eyes. It was just like the meat industry (pun not intended), once I knew the seedy underbelly of it, I couldn’t really enjoy it anymore. I have had to live a period of grief for both, hahaha.
So I am not against pornography itself, I am rather for the evolution of our perceptions and attitudes towards sex.