'Solosexuals' Embrace Male Masturbation In Online Community

The Internet has opened up the possibility to find someone who shares just about any interest, and that includes those with an affinity for the art of masturbation.

HuffPost Live took a deep dive on Tuesday into niche-market dating apps, which serve everyone from pot smokers to dedicated dog lovers  to self-pleasure aficionados. The latter group often connects through sites like Bate World, a social networking platform that serves the "solosexual" community, according to Paul Rosenberg, the founder and manager of "jack-off club" Rain City Jacks . (For more about Rosenberg's club, check out his interview on HuffPost's Love + Sex Podcast here .)

Rosenberg told host Caitlyn Becker  that the users who visit sites like Bate World are simply finding common ground in their sexual interests.

"There's a lot of guys who I would call 'solosexual,' who aren't really interested in dating at all," Rosenberg said. "They just kind of want to play with themselves and share that experience with others."

He added that masturbation communities seek to counteract the taboos  and misunderstandings  that still plague the act.

"It's for men who want to kind of reclaim the positive experience of jacking off and watch other guys do it," he said. "They create profiles, they share pictures, videos, there's videochat, polls, all kind of stuff. It's kind of this deep, thick community of men who are into masturbating and claiming it."

And it's not exclusive to one particular sexuality.

"I would say it's geared toward male solo-sex and gay sex, but if you don't have penetration, a lot of people wouldn't even define that as sex," Rosenberg said. "But a lot of the men who are there do identify as straight or bi. They're looking specifically for men to masturbate and look at straight porn, so it's not one-dimensional."

Watch Rosenberg describe the solosexual experience in the video above, and click here  for the full HuffPost Live conversation on niche dating apps.

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