Today in Penthouse Letters Slate.com, their resident sex advice columnist answers a question from a 16 year old girl who wants to know if she should ask her mom about buying a vibrator for her. As a guy, I don't remember masturbation being this complicated-- the last fucking thing on my mind was talking to my parents about it, let alone asking them to buy me porn or whatever. Because those were back in the days when porn wasn't free and flowing out of every crack in the wall.

I'm 16 years old and have an awkward dilemma. I'm thinking about buying a vibrator because I am very curious, but the thing is, I want to talk to my mom about it first. We have a very close and open relationship, and she says I can talk to her about anything. I'm just not sure about this. I'm scared that it will make her feel awkward (even though she's a nurse, so she likes talking about gross stuff). I already tried talking to one of my best friends about it, but she seemed pretty repulsed by the idea. I'm still a virgin and not planning to change that for quite some time, so it's not like I'm going to be romping around with teenage boys. The vibrator would be for my own private use, and having my mom to talk to first would be especially helpful to me. Should I tell her?

Click here to read the very sensible answer from Dear Prudence.