Something else? Ask Aunt Vadge – bottom left of your screen!
Hi Aunty Vadge,
I’ve been having sex for years, but I’ve stopped for the past two years. I do masturbate, but I don’t insert anything. Will Ms V go back to normal? Will there be any effect from masturbating?
Yours,
Concerned
Hello Concerned,
You can relax completely: the vagina doesn’t change in any permanent way just because you haven’t had penetrative sex for a couple of years. It isn’t a ‘use it or lose it’ organ – it doesn’t shrink, seal up or forget what to do, and there’s no clock running down.
When you choose to have penetrative sex again, your body will respond just as it always did, especially with arousal and a bit of unhurried time. The old idea that a vagina ‘tightens up’ or becomes abnormal after a break is simply a myth.
And masturbating without inserting anything is absolutely fine – it has no negative effect on your vagina whatsoever, and external pleasure is a perfectly healthy, normal thing to do whether or not you’re having sex with a partner. If anything, staying connected to what feels good for your body is a plus.
The only time a real physical change happens alongside reduced sexual activity is around menopause, when falling oestrogen – not the lack of sex itself – can thin and dry the tissue, and that’s hormonal and very treatable, nothing to do with your situation.
So Ms V is completely fine, will be ready whenever you are, and there’s nothing here to worry about.
Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
