Relating to or involving sexual arousal or pleasure that a person produces for themselves, without a partner.
From 'auto-' (self) and 'erotic' (from Greek 'eros,' love/desire). The term was coined in psychology around the early 1900s as psychologists studied human sexuality.
Sigmund Freud and early psychologists used 'autoeroticism' as a neutral scientific term for a completely normal part of human development and sexuality that was previously too taboo to even discuss.
Autoerotic discourse emerged in 19th-century medical pathologization of sexuality, often focusing on girls and women as pathological subjects. This term became gendered through the 'hysteria' paradigm that medicalized female sexuality as inherently problematic.
Use clinically and neutrally; avoid tone that suggests abnormality or shame. Apply equally to all genders; historically one gender was scrutinized more.
Early sex researchers like Havelock Ellis and later sex therapists (many women) reclaimed these discussions to destigmatize and normalize sexuality across genders, correcting medical misogyny.
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