You might look at your colleagues differently after reading this article. A survey that caused quite a stir revealed a statistic no one really expected: a significant proportion of working women admit to having masturbated at work. Not in some TV fantasy. In real life. Between a meeting and a coffee break.
The topic makes some smile, some are shocked, and others laugh nervously. But behind the juicy anecdote lies a much more serious question: why does such a commonplace subject—sexuality at work, and more broadly, female sexuality—remain so taboo that we barely dare to discuss it seriously?
The Number That’s Getting People Talking
What this survey really reveals
A survey conducted by the New York-based media outlet Time Out among its readers revealed that 39% of working people surveyed, both men and women, admitted to having masturbated at work. This figure has since circulated widely, sometimes reframed as “more than one in four women,” according to media reports and subsequent investigations on the subject.
An important methodological clarification
Before going any further, a clarification is necessary to maintain a critical perspective on this type of data: this is an informal survey conducted on social media, not a rigorous scientific study carried out using strict statistical methodology. This type of survey generally suffers from a known bias: people who voluntarily answer these kinds of questions are often those who have a story to tell, which can artificially inflate the percentages obtained compared to the overall statistical reality of the population.
This does not make the figure uninteresting, quite the contrary: even taking this bias into account, it reveals something important about the gradual liberation of speech around a subject long buried in silence.
The testimonies that accompany the figure
The testimonies gathered in this survey shed light on the motivations cited. Some mentioned a response to work-related stress: “If I have a bad hangover, it helps me feel better,” one respondent confided, before specifying that they had tried it up to three times in the same day. Others simply admitted to a personal preference, without seeking any particular justification: “I’m just a woman who enjoys it,” one participant replied, with disarming candor.
What Science Really Says About Masturbation
Documented physiological benefits
Beyond the anecdote, several serious and well-established scientific studies have demonstrated that masturbation offers real benefits for physical and mental health. It improves mood, reduces stress, and promotes better sleep thanks to the release of endorphins and oxytocin during and after orgasm.
The specific effect on women’s self-esteem
One particularly interesting research finding deserves highlighting: researchers at the University of Michigan discovered that while masturbation releases endorphins and reduces stress for everyone, it specifically increases self-esteem in women. This finding is situated within a historical context where female sexuality, unlike male sexuality, has long been considered solely in terms of the partner’s pleasure, not one’s own.
In this context, the simple fact that a woman explores and embraces her own pleasure, independently of any partner, can have an almost liberating dimension, a feeling of regaining control over her own body and her own desire.
The Taboo: Why We Laugh About It Rather Than Talk About It Seriously
The nervous laughter reflex
Notice your own reaction when reading the title of this article. A smile? Embarrassment? A desire to secretly continue reading? This almost universal reaction perfectly illustrates the phenomenon this article seeks to explore: we prefer to laugh at a subject rather than discuss it seriously, because laughter allows us to maintain a comfortable distance from something that makes us uncomfortable.
One respondent to the original survey expressed it bluntly, in contrast to the lighthearted tone of the other responses: “Just the thought that people could do that makes me want to throw up and never leave my house again.” This extreme reaction clearly illustrates how sexuality, even when discussed innocuously, can touch on deeply rooted areas of discomfort.
A direct echo of the broader taboo surrounding sexuality
This seemingly lighthearted and almost comical topic actually touches on a much more serious underlying issue that we’ve already explored on this blog: the near-universal silence surrounding sexuality, particularly female sexuality, in most societies around the world, including Africa, but not only there.
If even a topic as innocuous as “masturbating at work” elicits so much embarrassment and extreme reactions, it’s easier to understand why far more fundamental issues—sex education for young people, female pleasure, consent, and abuse—still struggle so much to be openly discussed within families or in society at large.
The Professional Framework: A Question of Boundaries, Not Morality
Why context changes everything
It is important to distinguish between two very different things: masturbation as an individual practice, the benefits of which are scientifically documented, and the professional context, which involves notions of mutual respect, collective decorum, and, very practically, company rules.
Masturbating in the complete privacy of a closed office or a private restroom, without any impact on colleagues, objectively has nothing to do with behavior that could embarrass or expose others. The issue, therefore, is not so much about morally judging the practice itself, but about respecting a framework of discretion and basic professional decorum, as with any other strictly personal activity.
What this topic reveals about the relationship to stress at work
Several responses from the original survey explicitly link the practice to managing work-related stress. This connection is significant: it implicitly reveals the level of pressure many workers experience daily, to the point of seeking ways to de-stress directly at their workplace rather than waiting until the end of the day.
And what about in Africa?
A doubly taboo subject
While female sexuality remains a sensitive subject in most Western societies, it is generally even more so in many African contexts, where family silence surrounding sexuality remains the norm, even when biological and social realities unfold independently of this silence.
Addressing a topic like female masturbation, even in a light and anecdotal way as in this article, can still seem audacious in certain cultural contexts precisely because acknowledging that women have their own pleasure, desires, and sexuality, independent of their partners, continues to challenge deeply ingrained social norms.
I find that this kind of survey, however methodologically imperfect, has real social value: it normalizes a conversation that remains far too taboo in many contexts. Whether 39% of people masturbate at work or whether that figure is actually lower in the general population, the essential point is perhaps not the exact number, but the fact that we talk about it, laugh about it, and begin to dismantle the shame that has historically surrounded female sexuality in particular.
That said, I also believe there’s a real difference between discussing one’s sexuality openly and discussing it in a professional setting where others might feel uncomfortable. Open communication shouldn’t be confused with a complete absence of contextual boundaries.
Does this figure surprise you, or does it correspond to what you’ve already observed around you? Do you think female sexuality remains a more taboo subject than male sexuality in your society? And how do you manage stress at work?
Tell me what you think in the comments. This topic deserves to be taken seriously, even when it makes you smile.