In his classes on healthy porn-watching habits, sexologist Joseph Kramer teaches more than 20 different body positions for masturbation, a practice he originally dubbed “porn yoga.” “People watching porn often forget our bodies. Our attention is in the porn,” Kramer has explained on YouTube. Porn yoga, then, is all about “how to enjoy porn while really being in our body.”
And one the best ways for people to stay present, Kramer says, is to watch porn while standing up.
For both “people with vulvas and people with penises,” Kramer goes on, hundreds of individuals he’s educated with this simple technique have confirmed that the approach has led to more satisfying orgasms — with or without the porn.
His fellow sexologist Carol Queen explains that there is some validity to the idea that standing up while masturbating may be a more pleasurable experience for some people. Mainly because the “just lying there” method of masturbation doesn’t engage the body as much, whereas standing up provides more “pelvic mobility — the freedom to thrust hips, move the pelvis in circles or side to side, and so forth,” Queen tells me. “We could do moves like this lying down, of course, but often we don’t, and the motion can be a good addition by engaging our musculature and supporting circulation, which has a role in arousal.”
While this is true for all genders, and there’s no hard (or soft) data on who exactly prefers stand-up masturbating, Queen isn’t surprised that this advice “is coming from a male educator,” as it’s a common position in the male sociosexual world, regardless of sexual orientation.
That said, there are women who are proponents of stand-up masturbation as well, like OnlyFans creator Valentina Bellucci. “Masturbating while standing up was something I discovered completely by accident,” she tells me. When she was pregnant, she found that lying down wasn’t comfortable. But even after having her baby, Bellucci continued to incorporate the standing masturbation position into her solo content, pointing out that most of our bodies look better standing up. More importantly, though, “moving around helped me disconnect and focus on pleasure,” she notes. “I was also surprised by how different it feels to masturbate in this position.”
There is evidence that when we’re standing up our brains process information differently and some studies that indicate leaning forward might increase desire, but neuroscientist Nicole Prause notes that there’s no data that specifically supports standing as a “healthier” way to watch porn.
She admits, though, that it’s “probably not harmful,” either, apart from, say, the risk of falling over. “Though I wouldn’t quite call this a risk,” Queen says. And if it doesn’t turn out to be pleasurable, “that’s totally okay — you can always lie down at some point.” Plus, one of the most common sexual challenges Queen has seen is when people get in their head and act like more of a spectator “instead of feeling the sensations of arousal and pleasure.” “So if all this exercise does is get you out of your head, it’s done a lot for your sexual comfort,” she concludes.
That alone is worthy of a standing ovation.
Lauren Vinopal
Lauren Vinopal is a writer and stand-up comedian based out of New York City, who writes mostly about health, science and men. She is the host of the Mid Riff Comedy Show in Brooklyn, a frequent podcast guest all over, and lives the life of a teen who looks like they haven’t slept in years.
