At the end of 2017, the Pink Protest SMASHED the stigma around periods and menstruation with their #FreePeriods campaign to fight period poverty. This year we are doing it again... with female masturbation.

#GIRLSWANKTOO is a movement founded by the Pink Protest which is set out to demystify the taboos which surround female masturbation. Masturbation, like orgasms, is a gendered issue. When a young man starts to masturbate it is seen as a coming of age moment. Becoming ‘a man’ goes hand in hand with being aroused by images of a sexual nature, and then touching yourself for pleasure. For this reason, the male orgasm is given special, dedicated treatment. For women, masturbation is an uncomfortable, shameful elephant in the room.

Many young women, when they begin to masturbate, feel ashamed to open up about it, for fear of seeming weird. Some women never masturbate, or venture into touching themselves, because they’ve never heard encouragement from anyone else in their lives to do so. We’re rarely encouraged to sexually explore our own anatomy and for this reason, when women come to having sex, reaching an orgasm is much harder.  

The Pleasure Gap: In one study examining about 800 college students, a 52% orgasm gap was found. That is, 39 percent of women and 91 percent of men said that they usually or always experienced orgasm in partnered sex.

From our early teens, it is made clear that the value of a woman’s pleasure is less than that of a males. This is damaging, because the sexual relationship we have with our own bodies is the most important sexual relationship we will ever have, and so in neglecting that, we are losing out on pleasure.

#GIRLSWANKTOO will exist in many forms; a series of exclusive films, artwork and installations. We will work online and IRL to let people know that female pleasure is allowed and girls. wank. too.

#GIRLSWANKTOO IS AN INCLUSIVE MOVEMENT. WE WELCOME INVOLVEMENT

FROM CIS-WOMEN, TRANS-WOMEN, NON-BINARY PEOPLE, AND MEN.

Our first event