Donkey punch
Donkey punch is a slang term for a fictitious sexual practice, supposedly performed during gay or straight doggy style sex, and especially anal sex. The purported practice involves the penetrating partner punching the receiving partner on the back of the head or in the lower back to make the receiving partner's anal or vaginal passage tense up, thus increasing the pleasure of the penetrative partner.[1][2] In fact, there is no reflex in humans that would cause such tensing in response to a blow on the head, although striking a partner on the back of the neck or head could cause severe, even lethal injury.[3]
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[edit] Urban legend
In 2004, sex columnist Dan Savage referred to the donkey punch as "a sex act that exists only in the imaginations of adolescent boys".[4] Responding to an enquiry from Wikipedia editors, he again discussed the donkey punch urban legend in his "Savage Love" column in 2006. He wrote, "attempting a Donkey Punch can lead to ... unpleasant outcomes," including "injury, death, or incarceration;" he also pointed out that it "doesn't even work." He quoted Jeffrey Bahr, a faculty member at the Medical College of Wisconsin,[3]
To the best of my knowledge, there is no definitive reflex in the human neurophysiology that induces involuntary tightening of the anal sphincter after receiving blunt force trauma to the occiput, or back of the head. ... Trauma to any part of the head can have serious ramifications. Pain, intracranial hemorrhage, memory loss, neck injury, and possibly some related sensory deficits in the arms and legs. A strong enough blow to the back of an unsuspecting person's head could result in a vertebral fracture which, I hope most people know, could cause paralysis or even death.
Jordan Tate, commenting in The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms (2007) on the "almost purely theoretical nature" of the term, stated,[2]
The donkey punch originated in the late twentieth century sometime after the sexual revolution, when the empowerment of women was threatening the place of men in contemporary society. This shift in gender paradigms left men feeling threatened, and to reassert their authority, they created and popularized these theoretical and violent euphemisms. ... The secondary reward of the donkey punch is the creation, or reinforcement, of the ideal power structure, or solidifying existing gender roles.
[edit] Gay sex
The concise new Partridge dictionary of slang and unconventional English (2007) defines the term as follows:[5]
... during homosexual anal intercourse, a sharp blow given by the active partner to the passive partner's kidneys. The sudden pain from the blow causes a clenching of the buttocks and tightening of the rectal passage, thereby enhancing the pleasure of the penetrating participant. UK 2005
[edit] Enron scandal
Donkey punch was also one of several slang names used by Enron traders to refer to their price gouging methods.[6]
In 2004, investigations into the Enron scandal over manipulation of the electricity market in California uncovered recordings of Enron traders conversations from 2000 and 2001 where they referred to their fraudulent schemes by "colorful names" including "Donkey Punch."[6][7][8][9] The 2007 report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was unable to identify the meaning that Enron had attached to the term "Donkey Punch".[10] U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, in a 2004 press release about the Enron hearings, identified the Donkey Punch as "a crude pornographic term", one of many "lewd acts" that Enron employees used to describe their schemes. Cantwell asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to take down the e-mails that were on its website due to the content.[11]
[edit] Jeopardy
The term received extensive coverage after it was mistakenly given as an answer on the January 16, 2012 broadcast of the game show Jeopardy!. The prompt was "A blow to the back of the neck is named after this animal"; the correct answer was rabbit punch, a dangerous boxing move. A young male contestant named Mike was first to answer with the guess "what is a donkey?". The subsequent contestant gave the correct answer.[12] A clip of the scene became a viral video.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ "Sexual Terminology--D". Hawai'i AIDS Education and Training Center. http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/links_sextermsd.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ a b Jordan Tate (9 January 2007). The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms. Macmillan. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-312-36298-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=aclMh6SB1ngC. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
- ^ a b Dan Savage (October 25, 2006). "Savage Love - Donkey See, Donkey Doo". http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=93682. Retrieved 2006-10-26.
- ^ Dan Savage (December 29, 2004). "Savage Love". http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=20179&mode=print. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ Eric Partridge; Tom Dalzell; Terry Victor (1 November 2007). The concise new Partridge dictionary of slang and unconventional English. Routledge. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-415-21259-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=cCVnlIUTpg4C&pg=PA211. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ "New evidence of Enron schemes Documents, tapes in Washington state case prompt lawmakers to demand regulators reopen probe into fallen energy company" Zachary Coile, San Francisco Chronicle, June 15, 2004.
- ^ [2], Associated Press
- ^ [3], AlterNet
- ^ Ernst F. Heuvelhof, Ernst ten Heuvelhof, Martin de Jong, Mirjam Kars (2009). Strategic behaviour in network industries: a multidisciplinary approach. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 101. ISBN 1847206107.
- ^ Maria Cantwell (2004-06-17). "Federal Energy Regulatory Commission web site hosts pornographic Enron emails: Cantwell says federal agency not doing its homework and should remove the offensive content". http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=242397&. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ Rachael Quigley. "'What is a donkey punch?' Jeopardy contestant's naughty answer sweeps the web". Daily Mail.
- ^ James Hibberd. "Lurid 'Jeopardy' answer goes viral". Entertainment Weekly.
[edit] External links
- Donkey punch citation at Double-Tongued Word Wrestler Dictionary
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