Nocturnal emission

From Academic Kids

A nocturnal emission is an ejaculation of semen experienced by males during sleep. It is also called a "wet dream" or an involuntary orgasm.

Nocturnal emissions are most common during teenage and early adult years. However, nocturnal emissions may happen any time after puberty, not just adolescence and early adulthood. They may or may not be accompanied by erotic dreams. Some males will wake during the ejaculation, while others will sleep through the event.

It is a common misconception that nocturnal emissions are the direct result of the stimulation caused by either erotic dreams or memories of waking sexual activities. For this reason the term is also used figuratively for something very pleasurable but often imagined or hoped for. In reality, nocturnal emissions occur without any type of stimulation. Another misconception is that wet dreams are the way the body disposes of "built-up" semen, to make room for more; the body does not in fact need to do this, as is evident from the many men who ejaculate only on rare occasions. It is not known why nocturnal emissions actually occur.

The frequency of nocturnal emissions is highly variable. Some men have experienced large numbers of nocturnal emissions as teenagers, while some men have never experienced one in their lives. Men who experience wet dreams more or less frequently than others usually do not have any sort of disease or problem. Contrary to popular belief, the frequency that one has nocturnal emissions is completely unrelated to one's frequency of masturbation, as widely-known sex researcher Alfred Kinsey claimed. However, many do find that they experience more wet dreams if they do not ejaculate.

Whereas an ejaculation normally terminates an erection, in the case of nocturnal emission, the subject often still has a functional erection afterward.

Involuntary orgasms can, more rarely, occur during waking hours and in women as well as men. The German word pollution, unrelated to the English word pollution, describes all these involuntary orgasms collectively.¹

Spermatorrhoea

In the 18th and 19th century, if a patient had involuntary orgasms frequently or released more semen than is typical, they were diagnosed with a disease called spermatorrhoea or seminal weakness. A variety of drugs and other treatments, including circumcision and castration, were advised to treat this "disease", which was in reality completely harmless.^2,3 Some modern quacks, especially herb healers, continue to diagnose and advise treatments for cases of spermatorrhoea.

Christian view

Unlike masturbation, which most orthodox Christians believe to be sinful, Saint Augustine held that nocturnal emissions did not pollute the conscience of an individual and were not voluntary carnal acts and were therefore not to be considered a sin. Augustine did, however, pray that he may be released from the "glue of lust" and thus recommended the beseechment of God's assistance in clearing one's soul of all such carnal affections.

On the other hand, some parts of the Bible refer directly to nocturnal emission in a negative light, calling it "impure" and "unclean" and describing it not unlike a highly contagious disease that can only be cured by an extravagant ceremony. For example:

When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure. If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp; he must not come within the camp. When evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp."

— Deuteronomy 23.10-11

When any man has a discharge from his member, his discharge makes him ceremonially unclean. [ . . . ] Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean; and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. Anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. All who sit on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. All who touch the body of the one with the discharge shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. If the one with the discharge spits on persons who are clean, then they shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. Any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean. All who touch anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening, and all who carry such a thing shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. All those whom the one with the discharge touches without his having rinsed his hands in water shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. Any earthen vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

When the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, he shall count seven days for his cleansing; he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in fresh water, and he shall be clean. On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. The priest shall offer them, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the Lord for his discharge.

If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water, and be unclean until the evening. Everything made of cloth or of skin on which the semen falls shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening.

— Leviticus 15

Some Christians have taken this as sufficient evidence to call nocturnal emission a sin, despite it being completely involuntary. However, the Deuteronomy quote is somewhat out of context, and Leviticus goes on to make similar statements about menstruation that are largely ignored by modern Christians. A modern theory is that these clauses were added to encourage good hygiene and help prevent real disease; indeed, if the person having the discharge were carrying a contagious disease, much of the above is good advice for effectively quarantining it. It's also possible that some of the above is referring to not a discharge of semen but of blood or other substance indicating disease.

Sources

1. Albert Moll. The Sexual Life of the Child (http://www.ipce.info/booksreborn/moll/). 1909. Translated from German by Eden Paul in 1912. 2. Ornella Moscuci. Male masturbation and the offending prepuce (http://www.cirp.org/library/history/moscucci/). Excerpt from "Sexualities in Victorian Britain." Mirror 1 (http://www.geocities.com/paul_ervine/malemasturbation.html). 3. William Acton. "Victorian London - Disease - Spermatorrhoea (http://www.victorianlondon.org/disease/spermatorrhoea.htm)". From Prostitution, considered in its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects. 2nd edition, 1870. Compiled in Lee Jackson's The Victorian Dictionary.da:Natlig udl�sning

de:Pollution es:Poluci�n nocturna ja:夢精 lt:Poliucija nl:Natte droom zh:夢遺