Wet Dream

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Wet Dream

Wet dream is a slang term used to describe an involuntary orgasm that occurs during sleep, and which is caused by psychosexual stimuli or erotic dreams. It is a particular type of involuntary orgasm called nocturnal emissions. The term wet dream describes any ejaculation that occurs while asleep, regardless of the cause. Because the majority of nocturnal emissions are wet dreams, and because no single accepted clinical term exists to describe wet dreams, the two are used almost completely synonymously in popular culture.

Some debate exists about whether wet dreams occur solely in males, or if they also occur in females. There is clear evidence of nocturnal orgasm among women (some studies show it to be even more frequent than among males), but because the physiology of orgasm is so different between the sexes, no consensus exists about the applicability of the term bilaterally. One of the earliest studies to examine wet dreams is The Sexual Life of the Child (1912) by psychiatrist Albert Moll. He argued against the then-common term pollution, claiming that it unfortunately "connotes the ideas of physical uncleanness and moral defilement" (Moll 1929, p. 3). Moll recognized the possibility of both heterosexual and homosexual desire as causes for "involuntary sexual orgasms," but described them primarily as a function of sexual frustration: "[T]hese occur chiefly in persons without opportunities for sexual intercourse, who do not practice masturbation" (Moll 1929, p. 94). His concern about wet dreams in females is tied to ejaculation; while this is the primary evidence for wet dreams in males, no corresponding secretions are common to women. Also while males in his study tended to report involuntary ejaculation in response to erotic dreams about specific sexual acts or involving specific partners, females reported orgasm arising from dreams of a more generally sexual nature leading to a "voluptuous sensation," but without the specificity of male dreams (Moll 1929, p. 94). Although this differentiation might easily be seen as a product of a kind of sexual stereotyping, the difficulties in studying orgasm based in erotic dreams of females became largely accepted, and the term wet dream became almost exclusively used to describe male sexual function.

Alfred Kinsey's landmark study Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) provided the first large-scale picture of wet dreams among American males. He reported that the incidence of wet dreams appeared to be quite high. Eighty-seven percent of men had reported experiencing at least one wet dream, and a substantial majority had experienced them more than once. Unlike Moll, Kinsey's study did not confine itself to adolescent behavior, and found that, while most frequently occurring in puberty, "in the male, nocturnal emissions or wet dreams are generally accepted as a usual part of the sexual picture" (Kinsey 1948, p. 518). He also found that while sexual frustration may lead to a higher incidence of wet dreams, they also occurred in males who led otherwise active sexual lives. Subsequent studies have largely reinforced these figures, although most researchers admit some difficulty in getting accurate data. The population in which wet dreams most often occur (adolescence through the late teens) is likely to resist open discussion of sexual activity. Additionally people sometimes feel that wet dreams are shameful (either because, as Moll pointed out, they indicate impurity, or conversely because they are a product of insufficient sexual activity), and thus are reluctant to discuss the experience. Even with these difficulties in collecting data, the statistics are relatively standard in studies throughout the twentieth century.

Wet Dream

Wet Dream

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Wet Dream

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