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27 Mar 2009

See You, Em!

Once thought of as the ultimate life-force, cum today is also seen as potentially 'toxic' - a carrier of a whole host of diseases, from gonorrhea, syphilis to HIV. Shinen Wong calls for a gay male reclamation of the meaning of cum.

Come One
C-U-M. Semen. Jizz. Jism. Juice. Splooge. Squirt. Seed. Milk. Mayonnaise. Goo. Goop. Cream. CUM. CUM. CUM! I hardly need a thesaurus to come up with 10 epithets which refer to that elusive substance of gay dreams.

Gibert Herdt, an American anthropologist, has written in depth in his essay Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation Rites in Papua New Guinea about the initiation rites of Papua New Guinean tribe Sambia, in which boys become men through ritual ingestion of semen through fellatio. These rituals continue periodically over the period of a boy's life, with semen accumulating in the boys' bodies over time from being ingested ''time and again for years'' which is ''believed crucial for the formation of biological maleness and masculine comportment.''
Cum! Cum is more politely called 'semen,' and is principally thought of by mainstream society as the carrier of sperm for the purposes of making babies (if people admit to thinking about it at all). Cum has been valorised as the epitome of male essence, so powerful in its relatively miniscule quantities that the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle thought that it was semen alone which contained all of the necessary ingredients for the creation of life. The woman's body, in his view, was simply a repository for the semen of a man. Babies grew fully formed from semen itself. Male fluid alone contained the power to create life, a quality ordinarily ascribed to the Gods!

Aristotle's view now comes across as archaically sexist. It was only from much later cultural developments that conceptions of the woman's "ovum" began to exist, but even then, the language of reproduction today in our science textbooks still involves all the jingoism of transparent male-centeredness. Semen "shoots" out of an erect penis, sperm "swim vigorously" toward the womb, "compete" with each other like aggressive tadpoles to reach an egg where only one lone ranger will emerge "triumphant" to "penetrate" the receptive egg, that lazy pillow princess.

Aside from its sperm-component, semen contains many nutrients, as Menshealth.com quite blithely tells us: "Semen contains citric acid, free amino acids, fructose, enzymes, phosphorylcholine, prostaglandin, potassium, and zinc."

Citric acid?! That's ALMOST Vitamin C! Amino acids? They combine to form PROTEINS! What's more, they're FREE! Singaporean dream come true. Better than paying for protein powder shakes at the gym! Fructose? That's SUGAR, natural flavour! Like from apples, nectarines and berries! Phosphorylchlorine and prostaglandin? They're so unpronounceable they must be important! Potassium and zinc? These minerals are some basic building blocks for maintaining our own healthy levels of testosterone! Damnit, cum sounds like a wonder food, like green tea, or ginseng.

Of course, cum means different things to different people in different cultures, that it would be incorrect to assume that its "true" meaning lay solely either in its reproductive potential or in its nutritional components, both of which seem the two primary routes which dominate our way of thinking.

Gibert Herdt, an American anthropologist, has written in depth in his essay Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation Rites in Papua New Guinea about the initiation rites of Papua New Guinean tribe "Sambia," in which boys become men through ritual ingestion of semen. According to Herdt, in Sambia society it is assumed that the only essential difference between females and males, is that females do not need special intervention to become women, whereas boys must undergo a special ritual process in order to become men. As Herdt writes, "Underlying men's communications is a conviction that maleness, unlike femaleness, is not a biological given. It must be artificially induced through secret ritual..."

This ritual takes place within male secret society in which women are not present to witness, as their menstrual fluids are regarded as "contaminating." The society presumes that the "achievement of puberty for boys requires semen." This requirement of semen is fulfilled by what Herdt calls "oral insemination" of prepubescent boys by adult men in the tribe through fellatio. These rituals continue periodically over the period of a boy's life, with semen accumulating in the boys' bodies over time from being ingested "time and again for years" which is "believed crucial for the formation of biological maleness and masculine comportment." In other words, in the Sambia tribe, in order for boys to become men, they literally drink adult men's cum for years to "masculinise" themselves until they are ready to repeat this ritual as men for a new generation of young boys.

Talk about a Puritan Christian's nightmare!

Come All
In our generation with the scourge of HIV/AIDS, semen has taken on a more sinister, dual quality. On the one hand, many of us gay men in societies outside of Papua New Guinea no doubt "fetishise" (whose etymological root means "to make the artificial magical") semen, not unlike the Sambian people, imbuing it with magical virtues far beyond its nutritional value. Perhaps many gay men subconsciously believe that by ingesting another man's semen, we do in fact ingest some of their "masculine essence," making ourselves "more of a man" in the process. On the other hand, semen has also, from the perspective of sexual health workers, become the potential carrier of a whole host of diseases, from gonorrhoea, syphilis, hepatitis, to HIV, among so many others.

We have developed a necessary suspicion and ambivalence toward the virtues of semen in light of so many in our community having got sick and dying from being 'poisoned' or 'contaminated' by other men's cum. From unprotected sex. Even the terms "protected" and "unprotected," when applied to penetrative sex, suggest the dangerous quality of semen. Whereas in Sambia, female menstrual fluids were seen as contaminants and inhibitors of male flourishing, today, it is male semen that has taken on that charge.

It is because of this link between semen and ideas of "contamination" and "dirtiness" that may be why much male sexual fantasy seems to revolve around the idea of "cumming on" someone as an act of humiliation and degradation. Entire straight porn industries have dedicated themselves to the slick sleazy filth of "facials," in which the "money shot," as ejaculation is affectionately nicknamed by American pornographers, is most erotically charged when the man cums all over a woman's face. While many anti-porn feminist thinkers (most notably Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon) often, perhaps correctly, criticise pornography for being an exploitative industry that makes its money from the sexual humiliation of women, often for dubious recompense (that is, the women may make some money out of this, but may not have much say in the scenes they want to participate in), I have a slightly different perspective as a man.

If it is true, according to some Western psychoanalytic theory, that every act of aggression is predicated partially by the aggressor's fear of their own lack (in other words: "You have something I want, I am jealous that you have that thing I want, and hence I must destroy you"), then what is going on in the aggressive male sexual humiliation of women? What is the thing that women have that (straight) men want, but will forever be unable to have, that thing which infects men with the tyranny of their own aggressions? For me, that answer, based on the modern cult of cum-facials, is Purity. It is only the Pure that can be desecrated.

Since the scientific understanding of sexually transmitted diseases, semen can no longer be uncritically linked with "life-force." Many men now have implicit insecurities about their cum, from quantity to motility of sperm, to the texture and taste, how thick is it? How creamy? How sweet? And so on. It is as if, divorced now from the earlier conception of our cum as holy in and of itself, cum is now just another bodily fluid, empty, and meaningless beyond its aesthetic qualities. As men, we cannot live with illusions that we carry the life force that sustains the universe (as professed by the Ancient Greeks, the Sambia, and also in philosophies as diverse as Indian Tantra to Chinese Taoism). Even if one is certain that one does not have any sexually transmissible diseases, we are taught that our certainty of our own cleanliness is indeed more the exception that proves the rule of other men's (and hence our own) inherent DIRTINESS. Indeed, we know that, as much as we have the ability to co-create life when our sperm joins an egg, we also know that our testicles produce potential harbingers of disease and death.

As Long As You Come
So where now can we go as men? I have no happy conclusions. With the advent of the biological sciences (which distil all our biological processes into their essential role in the 'survival of our species') and nutritionism (which reduces the meaning of ingestible substances like food and semen into their "essential" nutritional components, such as sugars, proteins, etc., uncommitted to their social and cultural value), it is as if the meaning of cum has committed suicide. There is nothing inherently grand about cum any longer. Nothing.

For me, as a young, libidinous, noisy gay upstart, I am most interested in the gay male reclamation of the meaning of cum, as the culmination of desperate bodies (or a hand) rubbing and tugging, resulting in blissful, bonded, explosive climax. A hint at transcendence? Gay men have consistently been the "revivalists" of male beauty in almost every culture; perhaps we do the same in reviving the meaning, glamour, and valour of cum, in rescuing cum from its death of meaning. As a gay man, I refuse to be lost in fear thinking of each other as potentially "contaminated."

Being with the man I love while he is cumming is blissful, magnificent, transcendent! Our cum is that manifestation, not of our "male essence" but of our male vulnerability. It is that which is beautiful.

Malaysia-born and Singapore-bred Shinen Wong is currently getting settled in Sydney, Australia after moving from the United States, having attended college in Hanover, New Hampshire, and working in San Francisco for a year after. In his fortnightly "Been Queer. Done That" column, Wong will explore gender, sexuality, and queer cultures based on personal anecdotes, sweeping generalisations and his incomprehensible libido.

Reader's Comments

1. 2009-03-27 20:46  
Wow...what an amazingly erudite and cleverly written article!!!
2. 2009-03-27 22:28  
Whats with the title? A more appropriate title would be "Confession of a cum whore" lol

Eloquently written, though I do think that it is naive to think that there is something there to revive or to reclaim. The pleasure of cumming is something that every man should have already embraced when they awaken into sexual realization. It is up to each individual to share this pleasure however they see fit, responsibly.
3. 2009-03-28 00:33  
"As a gay man, I refuse to be lost in fear thinking of each other as potentially "contaminated.""

Not even once? When you have lost count of the amount of men you have brought home then is it the right time to question 'have I ever been truly cautious?'
I don't doubt that many of us have safe sex practices. But how does the health status of the other dude measure up? Of course it may not be the Ei-Eye-Dee-Es, but syphilis or gonorrhea.

Its the fear of course we all strive to steer clear of and not let it subjugate our daily life. But sometimes we need that fear if only little of it, to snap ourselves back into reality. And yeah before someone else says 'sex prude!!' please reflect back on yourself first.
4. 2009-03-28 00:51  
title should have been "the cummunist MANifesto."
but seriously, i really enjoyed this, shall we say, critique of post-ejaculationism!
5. 2009-03-28 06:05  
Hindu and Buddhist spiritualities, which are a bit older than Aristotle, have an extremely balanced view of masculinity and feminity - which don't reduce by far to being a man or a woman.

Another point about so-called "impureness" of female fluids, esp. menstruations: I think these traditions and others view them in energetical terms, and being critical or demeaning of women is totally irrelevant in that context. But I don't have sources at hand here.

And finally, male semen is vital energy as the second chakra is [approximately] located towards genitals. When you ejaculate, you release this energy, that you then cannot use for spiritual purposes. That's why you don't meditate shortly after an ejaculation - it wouldn't work. That's also why tantric sex concentrates on staying on the verge of cumming, and avoiding it as far as possible. Also, you may have this funny experience of getting hard the first times you start meditating...
6. 2009-03-28 06:40  
I think cumming on someone's face is not about destroying Purity, but about psychologically giving some of you to someone else, and getting a sense that they are welcoming you biologically as a person - they want to, and are absorbing part of you into their very being, like a bee collecting pollen.

Consider what rejection you would feel it they were repulsed in having your cum on their body?

Note how some guys like rubbing the cum you deposited on their body?

So go on little petals, cum cum, cum!
7. 2009-03-28 08:31  
nutritious????? I am just glad it is tasty ! makes good lube too
8. 2009-03-28 09:00  
Interesting
Welcome to the 21st Century
9. 2009-03-28 09:20  
Nice article, but I beg to differ - citric acid is NOT almost Vitamin C. That's a form of ascorbic acid, quite different structurally. Both are preservatives, though, which is the purpose here - to keep it fresh for a while.

Your resident chemist/cummist ;)
10. 2009-03-28 09:29  
What a wonderful, informative writing.
I'll have to pay more attention to the site articles now!
Thanks
11. 2009-03-28 10:16  
More drivel poorly punctuated.
12. 2009-03-28 13:42  
Quote:

"Post #2 Solaris_79 says (Posted : 27 March 2009 22:28): Whats with the title?"

Well, it is actually a witty and clever us of phonetic similarities to represent the three alphabets 'c', 'u' and 'm'.

More refined to state it as "See You, Em!" instead of "CUM!", I guess? ; )
13. 2009-03-28 17:03  
Selenium, you forgot Selenium, cum also contains selenium in such an amount that you'd better swallow some extra if you cum a lot...
14. 2009-03-28 18:52  
Yum. I wanna visit Papua New Guinea.
15. 2009-03-28 20:33  
cum may become irrelevant in the future as human evovles.... woman may not need a man to reproduce....
16. 2009-03-28 23:08  
Regarding the ritual/ religious rituals of a secular tribe, Romans 1:26-27 is fulfilled. One must get things clear:

1) The Bible does not mention anything negative about homosexual orientation
2) The Bible does mention some remarks about homosexual acts, and all are negative
3) The Bible mention the cause of homosexual acts, i.e. through idolatry (Romans 1:26-27). This is the only cause.

Thus, all homosexual acts forbidden in the Bible has (only) relations to religious rituals or idolatry. Why Paul mention it in Romans 1:26-27? This is because in those times people only understand homosexuality as a religious ritual act in order to get blessed by an idol. People in those days know nothing about homosexual orientation.

Shinen Wong's article is written well on an issue which is mentioned in the Bible: religious ritual, tribal ritual, not erotic love. Thus Roman 1:26-27 refer to this acts, NOT homosexual orientation.

This is the parallel:

Idolatry is referred to as worship of the devil and his demons. The devil knows and sees the spiritual realm. The devil wants to be God, he wants to be like the Father. He also knows that Jesus, the Son of God, is a Homosexual (i.e. homosexual orientation).

In ancient times, there are male prostitutes who worked to perform religious rituals. They may or may not get attracted to males. For a worshipper, the adult man have anal sex with a male protitute in order to get blessed or appease with an idol. In other words, the devil is worshipped by th e worshipper when he has sex with a male prostitute.

the Truth is that
17. 2009-03-28 23:22  
The truth is that in order to get blessed/ appease the true Father God, one has to believe in and receive Jesus, a Homosexual, so that his sins are forgiven. Thus:

devil: wants to be worshipped like the Father God

devil recruits male prostitutes as mediators between his worshippers and himself: just like Jesus is the mediator between humans and God Almighty.

The devil has invented his own perversion of homosexuality so that he feels like God when he is worshipped.

God give many laws in the Old Testament in order to differentiate Himself from the devil. The devil uses human sacrifices, God say no. The devil sacrifice pigs, God say no. The devil is worshipped through golden cows and bulls, God say you must sacrifice bulls and cows as offerings. The devil uses anal sex as a way for his worshippers to worship him, God say if anyone wants to come near Him and worship Him, you cannot have anal sex with a male. thus people with homosexual orientation cannot have anal sex due to the Law, and they are in bondage and incomplete. They can love but no sex.

But Jesus, a Homosexual, died and rosed again. the Law is dealt with and fulfilled. The devil is angry and perverted the whole Truth to accuse people with homosexual orientation (using Romans 1:26-27).

He who has ears, let him hear!
18. 2009-03-29 03:25  
Hm. Probably you have to be old enough to remember and to have enjoyed the Pre AIDS days in order to see what has happened to our attitudes toward cum. I'm that old. And I can tell you attitudes have changed a lot, and there IS something to reclaim! A few rare hippie boys would gather around a bowl of bread dough, all cum on it, knead it in, bake it and eat it -- cum bread! Now I can hear you all going "Ewwwww!" and I personally never did this. But it points out how far things have moved. Now the heat of baking would kill any germ but still. Cum used to be More celebrated than it is now. Everyone's different of course, but lots of guys are now cum averse. It's just too scary for them. Cum is fun. Cum is good. Enjoy Cum!
19. 2009-03-29 07:04  
i am seriously annoyed and infuriated at how low brow and erroneous his articles are. Shouldn't Fridae empower the GLBT community and not enforce "horny cum-eating AIDS-havin'" kind of stereotypes?

How can someone who supposedly calls himself educated and an activist in the Asian GLBT community write such crap. Either Fridae IS a meat market, or the chief editors and top level executives need to really reconsider who their audience is and how potentially damaging, harmful, and negative articles of this caliber are. Either way, if Shinen Wong's rantings are the best Fridae can pull, then my nephew must have had a degree from Aus and America too.
20. 2009-03-29 20:37  
YAWNNNNNNN tell ya what I don't want a mouthful of the pox...the quality of editorial is eroded every where by the 'queering lobby' infiltrating news papers internet sites, the same for the local Sydney 'Gay' press
21. 2009-03-29 23:50  
I think the writer is being a little worked up when he said "there is something to reclaim". In fact, the entire tone of the article seems to suggest it was written after a few hard drinks. Very little facts and alot of speculation. The whole idea of reclaimation seems a bit forced - as if it was there to give the article some kind of "purpose". Maybe the writer could consider just sharing with us hard facts instead of puncutating a half-hearted "anthropological article" with an artificial moral.

But definitely an interesting read. Its "fun" ( i can't think of any other more substantial term) to know about Papua New Guinea initiation rites. Anthropology has always been misunderstood - "making a mountain out of a molehill", but it does has its merits so i wouldn't go so far as to say this is a thrashy article but yep, it isn't very meaningful nor informative.
Comment #22 was deleted by its author
Comment #23 was deleted by its author
24. 2009-03-30 17:54  
...typical of shinen's writing...suddenly, i'm reminded of another "synonym" or code for cum among my peers: zonrox/clorox :-)
25. 2009-03-30 18:23  
I always preferred the epithet 'filthy yoghurt'.

I think Mr. Wong needs to pay less attention to lush verbiosity and more to content.

This kind of flowery prose was de rigeur in 1867. In Paris. In about three coffeehouses. And one of those was divided on the subject.

21st century editorial needs to be clipped, polished and punchy. It's frankly a chore to read such elaborate work. And I feel Mr. Wong has oodles of pertinent points to make that just can't quite drip through his lattice of redundant padding.
26. 2009-04-02 21:41  
Interesting and thoughtful. My only disappointment? The final comment about "being with the main I love while he is cumming...". So we are allowed to reclaim the meaning and the wonder of cum, but only within a committed relationship? Such a conservative (and for many, elusive) conclusion to an otherwise liberating article!

Laurance
27. 2009-04-14 22:55  
Cum is beautiful, spiritual, delicious, exciting, intimate, vulnerable, passionate, horny, loving, god-given, and good....We can die from bad food, water and air, but we don't stop eating, drinking or breathing. Disease-free cum, bodies, brains, and hearts are healthy. You should look both ways before you cross the street, but don't stop crossing streets. I luv cum. It's sticky, smelly, tasty. So is honey, fresh baked bread, and steak. I don't take showers after eating. Why take showers after cumming? Cum is better than terrorism, greed, abuse, starvation, global warming, and war. Cum is better than McDonald's, Coke, and cholesterol. Everyone has a right to their own personal taste, idiosyncrasies, and fears, but then there is eternal Truth...Cum is great! I love cum...Jesse, Taiwan

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