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Question Title Posted By Question Date
Enjoyment of Involuntary Sexual Arousal Mike Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Question:

Pardon the rather explicit nature of this question, but I don't really know how to ask it without providing sufficient detail, and it seems in line with some other questions I've read here dealing with sexual topics.

I know that any involuntary feeling or physiological reaction, by its very nature, can't be sinful. But I'm wondering if there's anything sinful about actually enjoying spontaneous arousal while it lasts, without trying to prolong it, and without entertaining explicitly impure thoughts.

For example, it's the middle of the night, and as men typically do, I wake up with a full erection. As I'm falling back to sleep, I enjoy the feeling of my penis touching the sheets for as long as the erection lasts. It could be a minute, or it could be on and off for a half hour, but that's where it ends. I didn't ask for it; it's just there, and I can't flee it because I'm still barely awake and it isn't time to get up yet.

So, in that scenario, am I sinning at all? If so, is it venial or mortal? I could be splitting hairs, but I'd like to put it to rest, and it's not something I'm comfortable asking a priest or spiritual director in person. For the record, I do sleep naked, but I've experienced it with the same frequency and intensity in the rare situation where modesty forces me to sleep clothed.



Question Answered by

Dear Mike:

Thanks for your question.

The pleasure one feels from involuntary events as you describe are also involuntary. Any stimulus of this sort to the genitals sends a message to the pleasure center in the brain. The brain does not discern what is causing the stimuli, it only responds to it.

This is also true with kids who are molested. These kids often have to cope with great guilt because in the midst of the molesting they report that it "felt good." Again, the brain does not discern what is causing the stimuli, it merely responds to it. 

As to your specific question, as long as you are not exploiting this natural phenomenon for lustful imaginings or acting out on it, there is no sin.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary


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