Cara Kovacs is a Wanderlust speaker. Hear her at Wanderlust Snowshoe this summer! Tickets are on-sale now. For information about the rest of our schedule and line-up, click here. Let me say that again.

Just because sex is off the cards this V Day doesn't mean you have to go without an orgasm. We asked sexpert Alix Fox for her top self-love tips to see you through Valentine's Day and beyond. There is no shame in self-pleasure. In fact, more and more women are recognising masturbation as a form of sexual self-care read: wellness. Because the fact is, when you reach climax, your body really does release chemicals which encourage mental wellbeing — something we need more than ever right now. Enter journalist and sex educator Alix Fox. Giving yourself a hand massage — there are great tutorials on YouTube — is a fantastic way to wind down as part of a self-care routine…and helps distribute silky, softening, sensual oil over your mitts before you caress your bits.

There are two ways I masturbate. Either I plug in the Hitachi Magic Wand and take a supersonic jet to the moon. Or I go slow and use a manual trance-mission.

Now, what if I directly shoot the word — masturbation. How can a woman be so bold to talk about it? Well, all these questions have been built and passed down over generations that make us believe, rather than have our conscious mind decide, what is right and what is wrong. A girl child, young girl, lady, or a fully grown mature woman is conditioned and given a rigid place in society from the time she takes birth. She is told to be a certain way and act a certain way.