About three in four women have masturbated at least once in their lives. In a nationally representative U.S. survey, 76.7% of women reported having engaged in solo masturbation, while 23.3% said they never had. Those numbers reflect what women are willing to report on a survey, so actual rates may be somewhat higher.
How Common It Is Right Now
Lifetime numbers tell part of the story, but they don’t capture how many women masturbate regularly. In the same national survey, 58% of women reported masturbating within the past year. About 36.5% had done so in the past month alone. That means roughly four in ten women are currently masturbating at least monthly, while another two in ten did so at some point in the prior year but not recently.
These figures are notably lower than reported rates for men, where lifetime prevalence consistently falls above 90% in comparable surveys. But the gap has narrowed over the decades. Mid-20th century data, like the original Kinsey reports, found that far fewer women reported masturbating, likely reflecting both genuine behavioral differences and the heavy stigma that discouraged honest answers.
How Age and Menopause Affect the Numbers
Masturbation rates shift across different life stages, and the pattern isn’t a simple decline with age. A nationally representative survey of 1,500 U.S. women between 40 and 65 found that perimenopausal women (those in the transition toward menopause) had the highest rates: 73% reported masturbating in the past year. Premenopausal women came in at 66.5%, while postmenopausal women had the lowest rate at 56%.
Frequency also varied. Perimenopausal women were more likely than postmenopausal women to masturbate a few times a week. Postmenopausal women, when they did masturbate, were more likely to do so about once a month. Among women who said they had never masturbated at all, the percentage was lowest in the perimenopausal group (12.3%) and highest in the postmenopausal group (22.5%), with premenopausal women falling in between at 15.2%.
The perimenopausal spike likely reflects multiple factors. Hormonal fluctuations during the menopausal transition can increase or shift sexual desire. Partners may be less available or less active. And women in midlife may simply have more comfort with their own bodies and fewer inhibitions about self-pleasure.
Relationship Status Doesn’t Change Much
One persistent assumption is that masturbation is something people do mainly when they don’t have a partner. Research doesn’t support that. Studies of women in relationships, including both married and unmarried couples, find high rates of solo masturbation regardless of relationship status. In one study of 268 partnered women, the majority reported both solo and mutual masturbation, and being married versus being in a non-married relationship didn’t significantly change how likely a woman was to masturbate. Partnered sex and solo sex appear to coexist rather than substitute for each other.
Why Women Masturbate
Physical pleasure is the obvious answer, but surveys consistently show women cite a wider range of motivations than just that. Stress relief and mood regulation rank high. Women report using masturbation to reduce anxiety, lift their mood, and manage depressive feelings. It functions as a form of self-care for many, producing feelings of happiness and relaxation.
Sleep is another common reason. Many women masturbate specifically to help themselves fall asleep, taking advantage of the relaxation that follows orgasm. Some women also report masturbating to manage physical pain, including menstrual cramps and headaches. The overall picture from research is that women treat masturbation not just as a sexual outlet but as a practical tool for physical and emotional well-being.
What Happens in the Body
During arousal and orgasm, the body releases a specific cascade of hormones. Heart rate and blood pressure rise. Levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline increase. The most notable hormonal shift is a substantial rise in prolactin, a hormone that promotes feelings of satisfaction and drowsiness. In lab measurements, prolactin levels rose sharply after orgasm and remained elevated for at least 60 minutes afterward, which helps explain why masturbation is so effective as a sleep aid.
Sexual arousal also produces small increases in testosterone and luteinizing hormone. Interestingly, cortisol (the body’s primary stress hormone) was not affected by orgasm in controlled measurements, suggesting the stress-relief benefits women report may come from the prolactin surge and the shift in mood rather than from a direct suppression of stress hormones. The hormonal pattern is remarkably similar to what’s observed in men, with prolactin serving as the clearest biological marker of orgasm in both sexes.
The Reporting Gap
All of these numbers come with a caveat: they depend on self-reporting, and stigma still surrounds female masturbation in many cultures and communities. Women consistently report lower rates of masturbation than men across every study design, but the size of that gap varies depending on how the question is asked. Anonymous online surveys tend to produce higher rates than face-to-face interviews. The 76.7% lifetime figure comes from an online survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when people were more isolated and potentially more candid about solo sexual behavior.
What’s clear from the overall body of research is that masturbation is a normal, common part of most women’s sexual lives. The majority of women have done it, a majority continue to do it in any given year, and the reasons extend well beyond simple physical pleasure into sleep, stress management, and emotional regulation.