This paper offers the notion of the “ejaculation imperative” to describe the theoretical and pragmatic processes by which physiological ejaculation becomes intrinsically inseparable from discourses of time, sexual performance and social expectations. By applying theories about male bodies originated by Susan Bordo and Lenore Tiefer and while expanding on Judith Halberstam's concept of “queering” repronormative time, I illustrate the complex negotiations social actors play in the development of hegemonic notions of masculinity through the ejaculation response. By offering this critique, this paper attempts to complexify the seemingly “natural” relationships drawn about physiological sexual performativity and what it means to be male in contemporary US society.
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