Nocturnal emission

"The study, authored by Antonio Zadra, PhD, of the Universite de Montreal, focused on over 3,500 home dream reports collected from men and women. Sexual intercourse was the most common type of sexual dream content, followed by sexual propositions, kissing, fantasies and masturbation. The study found that both men and women reported experiencing an orgasm in about four percent of their sexual dreams. Orgasms were described as being experienced by another dream character in four percent of the womens sexual dreams, but in none of the male dream reports. Current or past partners were identified in 20 percent of womens sexual dreams, compared to 14 percent for men, and public figures were twice as likely to be the object of womens sexual dream content. Multiple sex partners were reported twice as frequently in mens sexual dreams."

"Generally speaking, a wet dream occurs when we experience sexual arousal during sleep. This is especially common in men, since we naturally experience erections during the REM (rapid eye movement) phase of sleep. Combine that with an erotic dream, and there’s a good chance you’ll wake up in a (wet) spot of bother. There’s also some utility to wet dreams: “For men, nocturnal emissions are a way for the body to clear out old sperm,” Ley explains. “Sperm has an expiration date, and if you haven’t ejaculated in a while, your body gets rid of the old stuff to ensure the sperm on tap is fresh and ready to hit the field of play.”"

"Nocturnal sperm emission is an autonomous reflex mediated by the sympathetic nervous system. Because this reflex may not be fully stimulated, the concentration and motility of the ejaculated sperm might be affected. For obvious reasons, it is difficult to obtain data on the quality of nocturnal sperm emission. However, these ejaculates may be useful in assisted reproduction treatments, particularly in men with psychogenic anejaculation."

"When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. If any man among you becomes unclean [Hebrew lo yihyeh tahor, literally will not be clean] because of a nocturnal emission [literally: by reason of what happens to him by night], then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp."

"In 1953, Alfred Kinsey, Ph.D., the famous sexuality researcher, found that nearly 40 percent of the 5,628 women he interviewed experienced at least one nocturnal orgasm (orgasms during sleep), or "wet dream," by the time they were forty-five years old. A smaller study published in the Journal of Sex Research in 1986 found that 85 percent of the women who had experienced nocturnal orgasms had done so by the age of twenty-one... some even before they turned thirteen. In addition, women who have orgasms during sleep usually have them several times a year. Dr. Kinsey and his colleagues defined female nocturnal orgasm as sexual arousal during sleep that awakens one to perceive the experience of orgasm. Girls and women who dont have orgasms in their sleep, or who dont know whether or not theyve had them, are perfectly normal. It may be easier for men to identify their wet dreams because of the "ejaculatory evidence." Vaginal secretions could be a sign of sexual arousal without orgasm. Similar studies find that a much higher percentage of boys and men experience wet dreams. This, combined with a greater focus on male sexuality by science and the public in general, are probably two big reasons why we dont hear very much about womens nighttime orgasms."

"... Again, those males Into the surging channels of whose years Now first has passed the seed (engendered Within their members by the ripened days) Are in their sleep confronted from without By idol-images of some fair form— Tidings of glorious face and lovely bloom, Which stir and goad the regions turgid now With seed abundant; so that, as it were With all the matter acted duly out, They pour the billows of a potent stream And stain their garment."