<< Nocturnal Emissions and Other Outlets >>

By nearly all moral philosophies, nocturnal emissions provide the one form of sexual outlet for which the individual is least responsible. Masturbation, heterosexual petting or coitus, and homosexual and animal contacts may all be penalized as the product of the individual’s deliberate intent and conscious performance. There is some contention that one should control the frequencies of his emissions by controlling his thoughts before going to sleep (e.g., W. S. Hall 1920, Lieber 1920, Amer. Soc. Hyg. Assoc. 1930, Kirsch 1930. See Ellis 1936, Vol. 1 (1):188 ff. for a history of the Church’s attitudes). It is suggested that dreams may be controlled by regulating the position in which one sleeps, or by choosing one’s night clothing (e.g., W. S. Hall 1907, Jefferis and Nichols 1921, Exner 1932, Kirkendall 1940). But the condemnation of nocturnal emissions has not been great. They have been looked upon as involuntary and spontaneous releases of pressure, and as a means of avoiding other sexual activities. Since there are several biologic problems involved in these interpretations, a scientist is justified in asking for objective data on the physiology of the several processes concerned, and on the relation between nocturnal emissions and the frequencies of other sexual outlets.

On the physiologic origin of these emissions, the information is exceedingly scant, and investigations are much needed. Certainly no interpretation is tenable which depends upon the idea that the testes are the sources of the semen, and that they or other glands become so engorged with accumulating secretions that involuntary ejaculation is the result. The semen is chiefly composed of secretions from the seminal vesicles and the prostate gland, and the testes contribute nothing but sperm which, of course, constitute only the most minute part of the semen (e.g., Hotchkiss 1944). There is no evidence that the testes have any part in effecting erotic arousal or ejaculation, except indirectly as they supply hormones which influence the male metabolism. If there are any pressures involved, they must arise in the seminal vesicles or in the prostate gland; but data on this point are lacking. It is more tenable to think of nervous tensions which are built up until, periodically, they precipitate an orgasm; but again the physiology is not understood. We are, in consequence, almost completely in the dark as to the possibility of a biologic mechanism which could force nocturnal emissions when other sexual outlets were insufficient.

Neither are there objective data on the mechanical factors that may effect nocturnal emissions. It has been known for some time that the nerve centers that control ejaculation are in the lower spinal cord, and this has lent some substantiation to the theory that sleeping on one’s back, especially if there are pressures on the lower spine, may increase the frequencies of emissions; but there seem to be no sound data to substantiate this. Genital stimulation from tight clothing, more general stimulation from too warm a bed, or still other conditions may have some effect; but such relationships are not yet scientifically established.

It has frequently been said that persons who are celibate, or at least abstinent before marriage, will find an increased outlet through involuntary emissions, and that the emissions will provide a sufficient release to keep an individual physically and mentally balanced (e.g., W. S. Hall 1907,1909, Eddy 1928a, 1928b, Elliott and Bone 1929, Ruland and Rattler 1934, Frank 1946). It would, in consequence, be of exceeding scientific importance to have histories from a sufficient sample of highly restrained individuals, particularly of those who are celibate. Without such data it is, of course, impossible to depend upon general statements which have been made on this point, especially when they come from persons who are interested in defending moral or social philosophies.

It can, however, be noted again that the frequencies of emissions among the religiously more devout males are neither higher nor lower than the frequencies among the non-church-going males in the population (Chapter 13). The rates of masturbation, pre-marital intercourse, and the homosexual are much reduced in the devout group and, in consequence, the total sexual outlets are reduced; but this merely increases the percentage of the total outlet which is derived from nocturnal emissions. Among these histories of the religiously devout, the absolute frequencies of such emissions are not altered by the abstinence.

Lacking a sufficient series of histories of celibates, the best data now available on persons largely deprived of other outlets come from men who have been confined to penal institutions and who are cut off from their outside sexual activities. Among such men there is a slightly higher frequency of nocturnal emissions, but the increases are not great (Plattner 1930). Even though there are some men who have their first emissions after entering an institution, their subsequent experiences rarely occur more often than a few times a year or, at most, once in a month or two.

While it is commonly believed that males in a prison find an abundant release through the homosexual, and while it is in actuality a fact that a high percentage of them do become involved in such activity after they have been in a penal institution for some length of time, neither the homosexual nor masturbation ever provides any frequent outlet for more than a small proportion of a prison population. Many males do not begin their homosexual activity for some years after entering an institution. Perhaps half of the men in a short-time institution never do arrive at such activity during the period of their stay. Consequently for a fair number of the inmates either nocturnal emissions provide the total outlet, or these men have none at all. Considering that most prison inmates come from social levels where the frequencies of marital intercourse often average six or seven times a week, nocturnal emissions at the rate of three to six per year do not provide much compensation.

There are some records of persons who report an increase in the frequencies of nocturnal emissions when there has been a minimum of other activity; but there are some who never have emissions unless they have engaged in heterosexual petting or unless they have experienced orgasm in heterosexual coitus or in homosexual relations during the preceding evening. In the latter instance, it would appear that the psychic stimulation resulting from the overt contacts had been carried over into sleep. If there are, in some cases, physiologic mechanisms which produce emissions when there is an insufficiency of other outlets, there may be psychologic mechanisms which work in exactly the opposite way. In some individuals the physiologic factors may predominate; in others, the psychologic factors may be more significant. It is quite probable that in still other cases, still other factors are involved.

There are individuals who have high rates of total outlet and who have infrequent nocturnal emissions, or none at all; and there are individuals with low rates of total outlet who similarly have infrequent emissions. On the other hand, there are individuals of both high and low rates who have an abundance of nocturnal emissions. The situation cannot be simply summarized. When precise correlations are run they must not only relate the emissions with the several other sources of outlet, but must also take into account the nature of the socio-sexual contacts which each individual is making, the significance of his personality, and those psychic capacities which might influence his daytime imaginations and his nighttime dreaming.

Most boys have learned from current opinion and from printed literature that nocturnal emissions are usual and normal sources of sexual outlet (as in G. S. Hall 1904, Bigelow 1916, Liederman 1926, Exner 1932, Weatherhead 1932, Rice 1933, Dickerson 1933, Ellis 1936, Bruckner 1937, U. S. Public Health Service 1937, Crisp 1939, Klemer 1939, Gruenberg and Kaukonen 1940, Lovell 1940, Corner and Landis 1941, Kelly 1941, Sadler and Sadler 1944, Boys Club Amer. 1946). Males of an older generation more often worried over the emissions, and an occasional boy may still become disturbed over the question of the frequency of his experience. Writers who advise one who has “frequent” emissions to consult his physician or his confessor, do not help in allaying the boy’s fears. Authorities in some schools, especially in some religious schools and in some penal institutions, may reprimand the individual who “allows” emissions to occur, and there are records of at least two disciplinary schools where the boys were punished for having nocturnal emissions.

There are some individuals who report some feeling of lassitude after experiencing a nocturnal emission, but this is a possible outcome of any type of sexual activity. It is the more usual experience that such emissions do not have even this after-effect. As a matter of fact, nocturnal emissions are accepted by most of the boys of the present generation as a usual part of male experience.

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