This autumn, Australia will ‘come together’ to raise awareness about the mental and physical health benefits of masturbation in a campaign designed to get everyone pleasuring themselves more often.

‘Australia’s Biggest W*nker’ is the brainchild of sex-tech pioneer Hot Octopuss and it will reach a climax on 9 April in the world’s first-ever mass participation masturbation event, One Big W*nk.

In the lead-up, Hot Octopuss and Aussie comedian Alex Williamson are urging men and women to unite in normalising discussion of self-pleasure to raise awareness of its long-term health and wellbeing benefits by staking their claim to be Australia’s Biggest W*nker on social media, or by nominating someone they know for the accolade.

“The last 12 months have been a lot both mentally and physically. This campaign is an opportunity for Australians across the country to shake it off, quite literally,” said Adam Lewis, co-founder at Hot Octopuss and inventor of the world’s first Guybrator.

“We want to take a wrecking ball to the social stigma that might stand in the way of people adopting self-pleasure as part of their wellness routine, so we decided to put the ‘mass’ in masturbation and encourage people to share their orgasms with pride like never before.”

Australia finds itself facing a growing mental health crisis amplified by the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures. Worryinglym one in five men have reported experiencing ongoing stress or anxiety throughout the first three quarters of 2020.

Aside from being nature’s antidepressant due to its release of dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin into the system, masturbation has been proven to boost the immune system by increasing white blood cells, and to prevent prostate cancer.

Doctors in Europe recently advised regular masturbation to help deal with the impacts of lockdown, but Hot Octopuss believes the stigma surrounding discussion of masturbation stands in the way of this information being passed around.

“The world has come a long way over the last 10 years when it comes to normalising conversations about sexuality,” Lewis said.

“Thankfully, the medical profession is increasingly moving towards recognising the benefits of a healthy sex life on both mental and physical wellbeing, but they have a long way to go in cutting through the stigma. That’s where One Big W*nk comes in.”

Beyond tackling rising mental health issues, a study by Harvard University showed that men who masturbated 21 times or more a month reduced their chance of developing prostate cancer by as much as 31 per cent. An Australian study of male ejaculation came to the same conclusion.

“Iif we can inspire more people to masturbate and to break down any shame or stigma by sharing it, we can not only have a positive impact on Australian wellbeing in the short term, we can break down damaging taboos and raise awareness of these benefits in the long term,” Lewis said.

“This is orgasms as activism.”

Throughout the rest of the month, Williamson will be supporting the campaign which sees orgasms collated in an innovative ‘Beatmap’ displaying masturbation hotspots in real-time from submissions on the site and those using the hashtag #ABW on social media.

As an added incentive to get involved, one lucky participant will be named Australia’s Biggest W*nker and win a year’s supply of masturbation toys to help upgrade their self-pleasure routine. Everyone who registers their participation on the Beatmap will be eligible for a discount on Hot Octopuss products.

“One Big W*nk is a hilarious campaign, but it has a serious message and uses humour to break down the barriers to talking about orgasms,” Williamson said.

“If we can get people talking, that’s half the battle.

“Imagine if we get one million Aussies all whacking off at the same time. How unreal would that be? We could even win a Nobel Prize.”