I get the sense from many of you that masturbation is usually considered "sex in the second degree"...or more specifically, the kind of sexual activity one resorts to when one does NOT have a partner to enjoy partner sex with.

I see things quite differently myself....I see partner sex and masturbation as fulfilling two distinctly different needs. One craving can be thought of as hunger, while the other may be more like thirst. Each craving is fulfilled in similar, yet different ways.

I enjoy masturbation immensely, regardless of the quality of my "partner" sex life, and there are times, many in fact, that I prefer to masturbate.

Am I alone in this philosophy? Do some of you have a unique attitudes about these issues that you would be willing to share...perhaps your own personal "philosophy" of sex and masturbation??