abaya

I'd say that according to scripture, they have a free pass to masturbate as much as they'd like. Once again, as I understood it, the problem with masturbation (male or female) was not spilling of bodily fluids, nor the act itself: it is what goes on in the mind during the act. If one can discipline the mind to not think about having sex with other people (other than one's wife), then hey, that appears to be sanctioned within Christianity. I've just never known very many people (including myself) who could manage to accomplish that feat. It is, as I and DaveMatrix have agreed, altogether HUMAN to lust, and indeed, to masturbate (gasp!). But I have a feeling that the church (any mainstream one, at least) would not agree.

As I had it, being part of the body of Christ involves treating your body as you would treat his own; to not be simply human, but to strive to be holy and not of this world. It also involves seeing, thinking about, and treating other women/men as sisters/brothers "in Christ" (other than your wife/husband), and not encouraging impure thoughts about them. Disciplining the mind, once again, and not letting the body rule. Rather Cartesian, isn't it...

To avoid the things of this world, to try and be like Christ, sacrificing the indulgences of the body to the Cross and striving always to have control over the "natural," one might say "human" impulses. That is what I understood to be the Christian walk. Pornography seems to have no place in that worldview (not saying that masturbation cannot happen without pornography, but I think we'd all agree here that the two are OFTEN intertwined).

Parable: I was just discussing this with my husband, and commenting that I think serious Muslims (not fanatical ones) are most likely held to the same kind of accountability (via the Koran and other believers) as serious Christians are, by the Bible/New Testament. Many of them take their laws quite literally as well, and I respect them for that (and of course, there are just as many who couldn't care less, as with any religion unfortunately).

Now Buddhists, that's another discussion altogether.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran