Guided Masturbation: An Expert-Backed Tool For Self-Pleasure

If you’re looking for a way to improve your masturbation technique, allow me to put you on to guided masturbation. For those unfamiliar with the term, guided masturbation is basically like a masturbation tutorial to help you through your orgasm. (Think about it as masturbation instructions, if you will.)

Guided masturbation tells you “when and how to please yourself,” Angie Rowntree, founder and director of the ethical, feminist porn site Sssh.com, says. “You don’t need to ‘think’ — you can just feel. It’s another wonderful tool in your arsenal of self-care and self-pleasure.”

No matter what your kink taste is or how experienced you are touching yourself, there’s likely a guided masturbation session out there for you. Below, with the help of experts, let’s dive more into the world of guided masturbation and how it can be helpful for your self-love journey.

What Is Guided Masturbation?

Guided masturbation is an audio-only recording you can listen to while masturbating. The guided-masturbation audio tells you how and when to touch yourself, and it also sometimes incorporates a storyline to keep you engaged and in a sexy headspace.

“Guided masturbation is an exciting way to up the ante in your self-pleasure journey,” Rowntree says. “Even though the fun is solo, hearing an enticing description of what you’re going to do or experience next can be highly arousing. Part instruction and part imagination, guided masturbation invites you to explore what is generally familiar territory in new ways.”

Whatever your experience level, there are a range of guided-masturbation audios to choose from, including masturbation instructions, hands-only sessions, guided sex-toy play, and edging sessions. If you’re new to self-pleasure or you’ve never experienced an orgasm, guided masturbation takes out the guesswork by incorporating storylines to connect you to your desire and provide clear, step-by-step masturbation instructions on what to do with that desire.

The Benefits of Guided Masturbation

For one thing, using guided masturbation as part of your self-care routine can help you to learn how to communicate what you like and dislike during partnered sex. “The act of verbalizing sexual desire is powerful. Sometimes hearing someone else describe it is the ‘lightbulb moment’ you need when you’re otherwise at a loss for words,” Rowntree says.

Secondly, if you’re in a rut, having trouble with wandering thoughts during pleasure, or feeling a little bored with sex in general, guided masturbation can help introduce new ideas and skills. You may also discover desires or erogenous zones you didn’t even know you had.

Another plus is that guided masturbation is a great way to enjoy ethical porn, which is a type of porn that prioritizes the well-being of sex workers, offers a feminist alternative to the male-gaze-driven porn industry, and promotes marginalized performers. Rest assured, most guided-masturbation audio platforms are ethically produced, but you can typically find this out on any site’s “About Us” section for more information.

Best Guided-Masturbation Apps and Sites

Ferly is a sexual-wellness app that draws on a team of sex educators, medical professionals, therapists, and researchers to help guide you to better sex. The app emphasizes the science of sex and has a “learning-by-doing” mission — meaning the app is full of guided-audio sessions. Ranging from touch-based lessons to mindfulness practices and featured programs, there’s something here for you. Subscriptions start at $16 per month.

Dipsea is an erotic audio porn app that centers queer storytelling and diversity of experience. Casting voice actors and writers, the app caters to lovers of intense storylines, character-driven scenes, and consent-first chemistry. There’s a large catalog of sexy stories, sleep scenes, and wellness sessions to blend desire with sexual wellness. Subscriptions start at $13 per month.

Guided by Glow is an audio-only site with sessions ranging from eight to 25 minutes. This guided masturbation audio caters to women as its main audience, but performers are men, women, and nonbinary. The site emphasizes breath and meditation to relax and ground you during self-pleasure. Subscriptions start at $13 per month.

Sssh.com is a feminist, ethically produced, indie adult-cinema company. It offers a range of porn, from VR and narrative film to guided masturbation. There’s queer porn as well as straight, but across the board, women’s pleasure is the primary focus. Subscriptions start at $20 per month.

Quinn is a super user-friendly audio-porn site founded for and by women. The site has plot-based audio, guided masturbation, dirty talk, and more. There’s also a very helpful playlist guide, including for beginners, queer folks, and even group fantasy sex. Subscriptions start at $5 per month.

Sara Youngblood Gregory was a contributing staff writer for POPSUGAR Wellness. She covers sex, kink, disability, pleasure, and wellness. Sara serves on the board of the lesbian literary and arts journal, Sinister Wisdom. Her work has been featured in Vice, HuffPost, Bustle, DAME, The Rumpus, Jezebel, and many others. Sara’s debut nonfiction work, “The Polyamory Workbook,” about navigating ethical nonmonogamy, is out now.