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Facial (sex act)

many sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV and


hepatitis. The California Occupational Safety and Health
Administration categorizes semen as other potentially
infectious material or OPIM.[8]
The risks incurred by the giving and receiving partner
during the facial sexual act are drastically dierent. For
the ejaculating partner there is almost no risk of contracting an STI. For the receiving partner, the risk is higher.[9]
Since potentially infected semen could come into contact
with broken skin or sensitive mucous membranes (eyes,
lips, mouth), there is a risk of contracting an infectious
disease.
An illustration of a man ejaculating onto a womans face

1.2 Allergic reactions

A facial is a sexual activity in which a man ejaculates


semen onto the face of one or more sexual partners.[1]
A facial is a form of non-penetrative sex, though it is
generally performed after some other means of sexual
stimulation, such as vaginal sex, anal sex, oral sex or
masturbation. Facial cum shots are currently regularly
portrayed in pornographic lms and videos, often as a
way to close a scene.[2]

In rare cases, people have been known to experience


allergic reactions to seminal uids, known as human seminal plasma hypersensitivity.[10] Symptoms can be either
localized or systemic, and may include itching, redness,
swelling, or blisters within 30 minutes of contact. They
may also include hives and even diculty breathing.

Treatment options for semen allergy include avoiding exposure to seminal uid by use of condoms and attempting
The performance of a facial is typically preceded by ac- desensitization.[11]
tivities that result in the sexual arousal and stimulation of
the ejaculating participant. After the prerequisite level of
sexual stimulation has been achieved, and ejaculation becomes imminent, the male will position his penis so that 2 Cultural depictions
the semen discharged will be deposited onto his partners
face.
Predating the modern age of pornography, facials were
The volume of semen that is ejaculated depends on described in literature. As an example, the French arisseveral factors, including the males health, age, de- tocrat Marquis de Sade wrote about performing facials in
gree of sexual excitement, and the time since his last his work The 120 Days of Sodom, written in 1785. One
ejaculation.[3] Normal quantities of ejaculate range from passage of the novel reads "... I show them my prick, then
1.5 to 5.0 milliliters (1 teaspoon). Seconds after being what do you suppose I do? I squirt the fuck in their face...
child, I have no other... and you're
deposited onto the face, the semen thickens, before liq- Thats my passion my
[12]
about
to
behold
it.
[4]
uefying 1530 minutes later.

1
1.1

2.1 In pornography

Health risks

In the 1970s, the hardcore pornography genre introduced


the stereotypical cumshot (also known as the money shot)
scene as a central element (leitmotif) of the hardcore
lm, in which the male actor ejaculates in a way ensuring maximum visibility of the act itself.[13] These scenes
may involve the female actor calling for the shot to
be directed at some specic part of her body.[14] Now
facial cumshots are regularly portrayed in pornographic

Transmission of disease

Any sexual activity that involves contact with the bodily


uids of another person contains the risk of transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs/STDs).[5]
Semen is in itself generally harmless on the skin or if
swallowed.[6][7] However, semen can be the vehicle for
1

2
lms, videos, magazines and internet web sites.[2] Hugo
Ohira, director of marketing for Silvercash, rhetorically
asks Who doesn't like spewing their load on a pretty
young face?"[15]

3 CRITICISMS AND RESPONSES


Feminist views of the depiction of male-on-female facials
are primarily critical. Sociologists Gail Dines, Robert
Jensen and Russo echo these sentiments in the book
Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality it asserts In pornography, ejaculating onto a
woman is a primary method by which she is turned into
a slut, something (not really someone) whose primary,
if not only, purpose is to be sexual with men.[22] Radical feminist and noted critic of pornography Andrea
Dworkin said it is a convention of pornography that the
sperm is on her not in her. It marks the spot, what he
owns and how he owns it. The ejaculation on her is a way
of saying (through showing) that she is contaminated with
his dirt; that she is dirty.[9]

In addition to mainstream pornography, the popularity


of facials has led to creation of its own niche market,[16]
like video series that specialize in showing the act. Antipornography psychologist Ana Bridges[17] and colleagues
conducted a content analysis of best-selling heterosexual pornographic videos showing that over 96% of all
scenes concluded with a male performer ejaculating onto
the body of his female partner. The mouth was the most
common area to be ejaculated upon. When all regions
of the face are included, facial cum shots comprise approximately 62% of scenes where external ejaculation In Padraig McGraths review of Laurence O'Tooles book
occurs.[18]
Pornocopia Porn, Sex, Technology and Desire, he
rhetorically asks whether "...women enjoy having men
ejaculate on their faces?" He suggests that the role of
such a scene is to illustrate that "...it doesnt matter what
3 Criticisms and responses
the woman likes shell like whatever the man wants her
to like because she has no inner life of her own, in turn
3.1 Criticisms
because shes not a real person. McGrath argues that
there is a power-aspect to depictions such as cum shots.
There are a variety of views ranging from facials be- He suggests that the "...central theme [of pornography] is
ing an act of degradation and elicit humiliation to be- power...[,] implicitly violent...eroticized hatred.[23]
ing grounded in mutual respect and elicit pleasure.[19] Sex
therapist Ruth Westheimer believes facials are humiliat- Gail Dines, writing in Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked
ing and not sexy. She advises the average person contem- Our Sexuality, describes the money shot of a man ejacuof a woman as one of the most
plating oral sex to not think that a facial is a necessary part lating on the face or body[24]
degrading
acts
in
porn.
To Dines, the ejaculate on
[1]
of the act. In response to an inquiry from a reader, sex
the
female
performers
body
marks the woman as used
columnist Dan Savage wrote: Facials are degrading
goods,
conveying
a
sense
of
ownership, and she quotes
[20]
and thats why they're so hot. Daily Nexus columnist
veteran
porn
actor
and
producer
Bill Margold as saying,
Nina Love Anthony views the practice of facials in a nonI'd
like
to
really
show
what
I
believe
the men want to see:
threatening light, feeling that it adds variety to the sexual
violence
against
women.
I
rmly
believe
that we serve a
experience. In one of her weekly articles she wrote But
purpose
by
showing
that.
The
most
violent
we can get is
lets give credit where credit is due: The money shot, by
the
cum
shot
in
the
face.
Men
get
o
behind
that because
itself, is great for a number of reasons. Blowing it on
[24]
they
get
even
with
the
women
they
can't
have.
She
someones face is like a change-up pitch if you've been
adds
that
at
least
for
some
posters
on
adult
forums
disthrowing the heat for a while, maybe you should consider
the pleasure is derived from watchhooking the curve ball. She continues with Also, being cussing such scenes,[24]
ing
a
woman
suer.
on the receiving end of the shot can satisfy the secret porn
star in everyone and its minor kink for beginners.[21]
Another critic of cum shot scenes in heterosexual
pornography is the US pornography actress-turned writer,
director and producer Candida Royalle. She produced
pornography lms aimed at women and their partners that
avoid the misogynous predictability and depiction of
sex in "...as grotesque and graphic [a way] as possible.
Royalle also criticizes the male-centredness of the typical pornography lm, in which scenes end when the male
actor ejaculates.[25]

3.2 Responses

A woman receiving a facial

Author Lisa Moore suggests that Dworkins explanation


does not take into account that it is the pleasure the actresses exhibit that the male partners enjoy, and that it
is more accurate to think men want their semen to be

3
wanted.[9] Womens activist Beatrice Faust argued, since
ejaculating into blank space is not much fun, ejaculating
over a person who responds with enjoyment sustains a
lighthearted mood as well as a degree of realism. She
goes on to say Logically, if sex is natural and wholesome and semen is as healthy as sweat, there is no reason
to interpret ejaculation as a hostile gesture.[26][27] Joseph
Slade, professor at Ohio University,[28] notes in his book
Pornography and sexual representation: a reference guide
that adult industry actresses in the 1960s and 1970s did
not trust birth control methods, and that more than one
actress of the period told him that ejaculation inside her
body was deemed inconsiderate if not rude.[27]
Sexologist Peter Sndor Gardos argues that his research
suggests that "... the men who get most turned on by
watching cum shots are the ones who have positive attitudes toward women (on the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientic Study of Sex in 1992).[29] Later, on
The World Pornography Conference in 1998, he reported
a similar conclusion, namely that no pornographic image
is interpretable outside of its historical and social context. Harm or degradation does not reside in the image
itself.[30]

[2] Violet Blue, (Sep 2001) A First Timers Guide to Watching Porn, Facial ejaculation (men ejaculating on womens
faces) is pretty much a standard.
[3] Swimming Toward Conception: The Semen Analysis.
Focus on Fertility, American Infertility Association and
Organon Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. Archived from the
original on 8 January 2008.
[4] Gallup, G. G.; Burch, R. L.; Mitchell, T. J. B. (2006).
Semen displacement as a sperm competition strategy
(PDF). Human Nature 17 (3): 253. doi:10.1007/s12110006-1008-9.
[5] Taylor, Emma; Sharkey, Lorelei (2006). Em & Los Rec
Sex: An A-Z Guide to Hooking Up. Chronicle Books. p.
60. ISBN 978-0-8118-5212-8.
[6] Mann, Thaddeus (1981) [1981]. Male Reproductive Function and Semen. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-10383-9.
[7] Scheit, Karl H. (1990) [1990]. Proteins of Seminal
Plasma. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-84685-7.
[8] Cal/OSHA Health Hazards in the Adult Film Industry.
State of California. Retrieved 25 July 2008.

Cindy Patton, activist and scholar on human sexuality,


claims that in western culture male sexual fulllment is [9] Moore, LJ (2007). Sperm Counts: Overcome by Mans
Most Precious Fluid. New York University Press. pp. 84.
synonymous with orgasm and that the male orgasm is an
ISBN 978-0-8147-5718-5.
essential punctuation of the sexual narrative. No orgasm,
no sexual pleasure. No cum shot, no narrative closure. In
[10] Guillet G, Dagregorio G, Guillet M (2005). "[Vulvar conother words, the cum shot is the period at the end of the
tact dermatitis due to seminal allergy: 3 cases]". Ann
[9]
sentence.
Dermatol Venereol 132 (2): 1235. doi:10.1016/S01519638(05)79221-8. PMID 15798560.
In her essay Speaking Out: Teaching In, Cindy Patton
reached the conclusion that critics have devoted too little
space to discovering the meaning that viewers attach to [11] Weidinger S, Ring J, Khn F (2005). IgE-mediated allergy against human seminal plasma. Chem Immunol
specic acts such as cum shots.[27][31]

See also
Bukkake
Creampie (sexual act)
Cum shot
Gokkun
Money shot
Pearl necklace
Sexual slang
Snowballing (sexual practice)

References

[1] Westheimer, Ruth K.; Lehu, Pierre A. (2006). Sex for


Dummies. Wiley. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-470-04523-7.

Allergy. Chemical Immunology and Allergy, 2005 88:


128138. doi:10.1159/000087830. ISBN 3-8055-79519. PMID 16129942.

[12] Seaver, Richard (1987) [1987]. The 120 Days of Sodom


and Other Writings. Grove Press. p. 268. ISBN 978-08021-3012-9.
[13] Linda Williams (1989). Hard core: power, pleasure, and
the frenzy of the visible. University of California Press.
pp. 9394. ISBN 978-0-520-06652-6.
[14] Linda Williams (1989). Hard core: power, pleasure, and
the frenzy of the visible. University of California Press.
p. 101. ISBN 978-0-520-06652-6. Retrieved 30 January
2011.
[15] Silvercash Releases New Solo-Girl, Tranny and Facial
Sites. AVN Online. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
[16] The Final (Niche) Frontier. AVN Online. Retrieved 26
October 2010.
[17] Pornographys Eects on Interpersonal Relationships Ana
J. Bridges, PhD, archived on 30 December 2010 from the
original

[18] Bridges, A. J.; Wosnitzer, R.; Scharrer, E.; Sun, C.;


Liberman, R. (2010). Aggression and Sexual Behavior
in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis Update. Violence Against Women 16 (10): 1065
85. doi:10.1177/1077801210382866. PMID 20980228.;
preprint
[19] Hess, Amanda (24 August 2009). Semen Facials Are
Like Weddings. Washington City Paper. Retrieved 8
November 2010.
[20] Savage, Dan (9 April 2009). Savage Love. The Stranger
(newspaper). Retrieved 8 November 2010.
[21] Ejaculate Maturely: A Little Man Cream Never Went
This Far. Daily Nexus. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
[22] Dines, G; Jensen R; Russo A (1998) [1997]. Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality.
Routledge. pp. 78. ISBN 978-0-415-91812-1.
[23] Padraig McGrath. Pornocopia Porn, Sex, Technology
and Desire by Laurence O'Toole. Three Monkeys Online. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008.
[24] Gail Dines (1 July 2010). Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality. Beacon Press. p. xxiv. ISBN 9780-8070-4452-0. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
[25] "Girls on top" by Lilly Bragge, The Age, 16 June 2004.
[26] Faust, Beatrice (1980). Women, sex, and pornography: a
controversial and unique study. New York: Macmillan.
ISBN 0-02-537050-2.
[27] Slade, Joseph W. (2001). Pornography and Sexual Representation: A Reference Guide Vol. 2. Greenwood Press.
pp. 654656. ISBN 0-313-31520-5.
[28] Ohio University Faculty. Retrieved 28 July 2008.
[29] Bruce Herschensohn; Bill Clinton; Sexologists in San
Diego; Future Sex 2 by Bruce Herschensohn.
[30] Excerpt from Among the Pornographers, Matt Labashs
coverage of the 1998 World Pornography Conference for
The Weekly Standard.
[31] Fuss, Diana (1991) [1 September 1991]. Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories. Routledge. pp. 373386.
ISBN 978-0-415-90237-3.

REFERENCES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

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