Next month marks the 25th Anniversary of the firing of U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders by President Bill Clinton.  At the time, Dr. Elders suggested that masturbation should not be considered a taboo subject in educating our children and that it should be taught as part of the human sexuality curriculum.  Unfortunately, the press focused on the word "taught" and it was widely reported that Dr. Elders wanted the public schools to "teach our children how to masturbate", which quickly then deteriorated into late night talk show and office cooler humor and, shortly thereafter, led to her firing.

Clearly, the United States was not ready for such a discussion in 1994, and most people seemed just fine with keeping masturbation as taboo subject in which no respectable person could discuss without being viewed unfavorably in most circles.

So my question is, while we have seen considerable evolution of thought and acceptance in many areas of sexuality in the past 25 years, where do we land on masturbation as we approach 2020?

My personal view is that we have made some progress, but that the needle has only moved slightly thus far.