by Randall Frederick

Porn website Pornhub recently released stats on what search terms are seeing frequent traffic. In my home state of Louisiana, the three highest search terms are Ebony, Teen, and MILF but the clear frontrunner across America? Creampie.

Wikipedia has the following definition:

Creampie, also known as internal ejaculation, internal cum shot, and in homosexual contexts also known as breeding and seeding is a slang term used in pornography to describe when a male ejaculates inside his partner’s anus or vagina. The term also refers to the visible seeping or dripping of semen from the vagina (or anus).

While this may seem explicit, “creampie” is frequently attached to other expressions of porn which complicate it (or make it more exciting, depending on your interests) like cuckoldry, cheating, pregnancy/impregnation, and amateur. Of course, many genres of pornography intersect with one another – gangbangs, teens, and cheerleaders, for example – but the implications are more complex than our fascination with unfaithfulness. “Creampie” also means unprotected sex, something that the adult entertainment industry has been grappling with since the 80s. Outbreaks of venereal diseases have caused the adult industry in Los Angeles to come to a court-ordered halt, the passage of condom laws, and has caused many companies to relocate to other states where no such legal restrictions exist.

But what is with the creampie fixation? Though it may not be immediately obvious, “creampie” is not just unprotected sex. Our genre choices are more telling than we might think; creampies are not just “unprotected sex” or even ejaculation. Creampies, as their name indicates, are more often about eating the ejaculate than they are about the ejaculate itself. It is about willing (or even being coerced to) consume the ejaculate from the receptacle. To put it bluntly –  it’s about consuming cum… which is not our own, hence the genre crossover of creampies with cheating and cuckoldry. More than voyeurism, creampies are about a “soft” form of degradation.

Last weekend, the Internet lit up in response to the duet of Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke on MTV’s Video Music Awards. The duet was considered obscene by many for the way that it celebrated rape culture and pedophilia, as Cyrus had just finished a song about teens claiming their own way, their own sexuality… and of course that Cyrus was dancing/twerking with teddy bears, a staple of childhood. Social media had a field day condemning Thicke for participating in and celebrating not just the blurred lines/rape of his song, but that he would engage in softcore porn on stage… at a teen music venue.

I found the response telling. Instead of accepting responsibility for the ways that our society has endorsed the song they sang, even the excess of the VMAs year after year (ex: Madonna’s performance of Like a Virgin at the VMAs in 1984, the threesome kiss of Britney, Madonna and Christina in 2003), many of us were “outraged” and “incensed” at such “excess.” Yes, many of us were outraged even though we’ve been complicit in blurring those lines. As I pointed out to one of my friends earlier this week, Fifty Shades of Grey hasn’t been buying itself. And most of the men I know haven’t read it. Which means women are the primary audience for “degrading” erotica. Further, Fifty Shades isn’t new. Erotica like The Story of O, Venus in Furs, and The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty have been underground bestsellers for decades. More, Fifty Shades has inspired hundreds of copycats novels just in the last year which are doing quite well in the Amazon ranking. Not to mention the copycats of the other titles named here.

And the power differential is not gendered, as Venus in Furs evidences. Authors like Tiggy Mills and Sara Desmaris tap into male degradation, femdom, cuckoldry, emasculation, and “forced creampies” in their erotica and have a strong following of readers. Online collections like ASSTR and Literotica are bursting with stories along these lines, where men are shamed and degraded for the enjoyment of their female superiors.

What’s more, pornstar Sasha Grey – known for “getting off” on degradation – has expanded her brand to tap into the erotica market with the first book in a series, The Juliette Society. In an interview with The Daily Beast, she explains that she fantasized about being shamed at the age of 14, and celebrates that women are coming out with their secret, shameful desires to seek fulfillment rather than settle for “vanilla sex.” She welcomes and encourages young girls who are tapping into such fantasies and mentions the influence of male porn star James Deen, whose films have a strong following among young girls… even though his work is known for shaming girls. It should be no surprise then that younger audiences are enjoying sexual entertainment that focuses on power differentials and sex play. Our fascination (and that of our neighbors, younger siblings, et al) is not just with creampies, it is a larger movement in sexual expression. We get off on being shamed. We get off on power. We get off on abuse. We get off on age differences.

Instead of clapping a hand over our mouths and saying how shocking Pornhub’s stats are, maybe we should look at what this movement is all about. Given the widespread popularity of creampies, there is something here worth looking into. We’re getting off on doing the taboo (or being made to do the taboo) and we’re getting off on things other than standard, traditional, monogamous pairings. Instead of acting shocked, maybe we should take a long look in the mirror and come to terms with our own interests. Maybe we’re not being honest with ourselves and protesting against the very thing that turns us on the most. Even “family-friendly” television like Sister Wives on TLC or the late-night cable shows Polyamory, Hung, and Big Love are seeing increased ratings, even continued sales of DVDs after they have been cancelled.

In my own fantasy life, it’s no secret that I’m into some crazy things. Many, many people have raised objections to, questions of, and challenges for my views. I’m not vanilla, and I’m not dark and sinister. In point of fact, I’m a grad student who lives a very quiet, unassuming life. I don’t flaunt my sexuality, but I don’t hide it either. And so it is that when I hear about other people’s interests I’m not surprised and my reaction is not to shame – because each of us gets off on different things. I’ve known quiet librarians who are into bondage, I’ve known two really sweet, Christian girls who were into threesomes… with family members, I’ve known very masculine men who present themselves as hypersexual only to be impotent and quite docile in the bedroom. Nothing shocks me anymore.

The thing is, we can have public and private personas and be okay with that, or at least come to terms with it when it concerns our own lives. It is when those same desires break from the private into the public that we begin expressing our “lines” and “limits.” This is good. It’s not problematic. But it does show an incongruency worth noting and evaluating.