Spanking the monkey probably helped the monkey evolve.
So say the authors of a new British study that examines the role masturbation has played in evolution.
As it turns out, playing with ourselves comes with a range of benefits that helped all primates — including humans — survive and thrive.
“Masturbation is common across the animal kingdom but is especially prevalent amongst primates, including humans,” the study authors said in a statement.
It “was most likely present in the common ancestor of all monkeys and apes,” they added.
But the practice never received much academic attention because it “was considered to be either pathological or a by-product of sexual arousal,” and studies were too fragmented to make sense of how it evolved.
New research from the Proceedings of the Royal Society B seeking to fill that knowledge gap finds that whacking off — particularly among male primates — can help to ensure the success of their reproductive efforts.
“Masturbation (without ejaculation) can increase arousal before sex,” the authors wrote.
“This may be a particularly useful tactic for low-ranking males likely to be interrupted during copulation, by helping them to ejaculate faster,” they noted — perhaps explaining the origin of the “quickie.”
Additionally, regular ejaculation “allows males to shed inferior semen, leaving fresh, high-quality sperm available for mating, which are more likely to outcompete those of other males.”
That’s why, the researchers believe, male masturbation evolved as a strategy in situations where males face intense mating competition.
As an added benefit, masturbation probably helps to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections “by cleansing the urethra (a primary site of infection for many STIs) with ejaculate.”
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