Masturbating In Front Of Unwilling Women — Accusations That Some Famous Men Have In Common?

The accusations against the powerful and famous men in Hollywood continue to light up the headlines, with more and more men being accused of inappropriate touching, inappropriate conversation, making unwanted advances, and forcing themselves upon unwilling participants. It seems that some of these powerful and famous men share one particular accusation in common. Several have been accused of pleasuring themselves in front of women, many who were unwilling to be an audience to the act.

Rolling Stone Magazine asked the question, “Why do famous men pressure women into watching them masturbate?” They suggest it’s “eroticized rage” that lead men into pleasuring themselves.

CNN also describes masturbation as becoming a “reoccurring theme” woven into these reported accounts of sexual harassment among some of the famous men recently accused. It seems there’s more to this act than meets the eye. While the act of forcing someone to watch could be considered inappropriately disgusting, no matter what the reason behind it may be, the explanations from the experts on why this is done can be equally as disturbing.

On Thursday, yet another famous name hit the list of Hollywood men accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. The New York Times reported that comedian Louis C.K. had allegedly masturbated in front of women without their consent. The same allegations were brought up regarding political analyst Mark Halperin. He was accused of pleasuring himself in front of women in his office.

The accusations about Harvey Weinstein were very detailed on his alleged masturbating tendency when the story of him pleasuring himself and ejaculating into a potted plant surfaced. Rolling Stone wants to know what is the “appeal of masturbating in front of a person as they look at you in shock, terror, or disgust?”

As it turns out, this act is probably not about sex after all. According to a sex therapist, who is also the clinical director at the Center for Healthy Sex, it is often more about violence than it is about sex when pressuring someone into viewing you masturbating.

“It’s not so much a sexual act as it is an act of violence,” Alexandra Katehakis told Rolling Stone.

“What the person is getting off on is the humiliation of their target. It’s eroticized rage, expressed in a way that’s really sadistic. And the reaction they’re getting is arousing to them because it’s all about power and control.”

The person performing this act doesn’t feel as if they’ve crossed the line into violence, but the person forced into watching is a victim and that person is left with a “real emotional toll.”

Another expert on the subject, Dr. Hernado Chaves, who is also a sex therapist and researcher, chimed in on the recent allegations and what they may mean.

“For the victim, it’s incredibly traumatizing. It’s difficult to remove themselves from the situation. They might start internalizing the shame. They might stop trusting men or trusting people to respect their boundaries. They might even look at themselves and say, ‘Why did I put myself in that position?'”

He also explained that “there’s slut-shaming [and] retaliation” that comes with being a victim of this type of event. The psychology behind forcing someone to watch a sexual predator masturbate seems to steer away from sex altogether. Many would agree that power and rage as a motivator for this act is a rather dark origin and by knowing this, it possibly makes this event even more disturbing.