Ask Dr Angela: Do lads masturbate together?

Our parents were away so the boys got really drunk. At 3am they still had music on so loud that a very angry neighbour came over to complain.

My brother didn’t even open the door so I (26) had to deal with the cranky guy. I was so mad at my brother that I went to his room and burst in without knocking. And boy, do I regret that.

My brother and his mates were sitting in a circle on the floor, masturbating. I was so shocked that I just turned the music off and then left without saying a word. You should have seen the boys’ faces — it was priceless. The next day my brother begged me not to tell my parents what happened; he said that it’s normal for friends to masturbate together, and that he knows a lot of girls who are doing it as well. Do girls really masturbate together? My friends and I never did anything like that when we were younger.

Answer: Masturbating with friends is indeed mostly a male activity; one out of every five guys has done it, compared to only one out of every 16 girls.

It’s pretty harmless, and one of those things that parents do not necessarily need to know about.