Bukkake (Japanese: ぶっかけ, [bɯkkake] ( listen); English: /bʊˈkækeɪ/ buu-KAK-ay^[1]) is a sex act in which one participant is ejaculated on by two or more other participants. It is often portrayed in pornographic films.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Bukkake videos are a relatively prevalent niche in contemporary pornographic films.

Originating in Japan in the 1980s, the genre subsequently spread to North America and Europe, and crossed over into gay pornography.

Bukkake is the noun form of the Japanese verb bukkakeru (ぶっ掛ける, to dash or sprinkle water),^[8] and means "to dash", "splash", or "heavy splash".^[4][6][9] The compound verb can be decomposed into a prefix and a verb: butsu (ぶつ) and kakeru (掛ける). Butsu is a prefix derived from the verb "buchi", which literally means to hit, but the usage of the prefix is a verb-intensifier.^[10]

Kakeru in this context means to shower or pour. The word bukkake is often used in Japanese to describe pouring out a liquid with sufficient momentum to cause splashing or spilling. Indeed, bukkake is used in Japan to describe a type of dish where hot broth is poured over noodles, as in bukkake udon and bukkake soba.

There is a popular belief that links the origin of the practice to a form of punishment for adultery on women in medieval Japan.

In fact, that description of its origin is false, mainly because the actual punishment for cheating wives was decapitation.^[11] Bukkake was first represented in pornographic films in the mid to late 1980s in Japan.^[6] According to one commentator, a significant factor in the development of bukkake as a pornographic form was the mandatory censorship in Japan where genitals must be pixelated by a "mosaic".^[12] One consequence of this is that Japanese pornography tends to focus more on the face and body of actresses rather than on their genitals.^[12] Since film producers could not show penetration, they sought other ways to depict sex acts without violating Japanese law and since semen did not need to be censored, a loophole existed for harder sex scenes.^[12] However, popularization of the act and the term for it has been credited to director Kazuhiko Matsumoto in 1998.^[12] The Japanese adult video studio Shuttle Japan registered the term "ぶっかけ/ＢＵＫＫＡＫＥ" as a trademark (No. 4545137) in January 2001.^[13]

The practice then spread from Japan to the United States and then Europe in the late 1990s.^[14][15] The appearance of bukkake videos was part of a trend towards "harder" pornography in the 1990s, preceded by a fashion for double penetration videos in the mid-1990s, and occurring in parallel to the appearance of gang bang videos towards the end of that decade.^[16] There was an economic advantage for Western pornographers to produce bukkake films since they only require one actress, and often amateur male performers whose pay-rates are low.^[15] However, Western-style bukkake videos differ in some aspects from those in Japan; in Japanese bukkake videos, female performers are frequently dressed as office ladies or in school uniforms, and they are being humiliated, whereas women in Western-style bukkake videos are portrayed as enjoying the scene.^[17][18] Another Japanese variant of bukkake is gokkun, in which several men ejaculate into a container for the receiver to drink.^[4][19] Bukkake is less popular than some other porn niches in the West, possibly because the implicit subordination of the woman does not appeal to many consumers, and because cum shots are normally the climax of a scene, rather than the main events.^[15]

The genre has also spread to gay pornography, featuring scenes in which several men ejaculate on another man.^[6][7] "Lesbian bukkake" videos are also produced.^[20][21] The 17th World Congress of Sexology in Montreal in July 2005 included a presentation on bukkake.^[22]

American editor and publisher Russ Kick, quoting a sexologist, states that men enjoy a "sense of closure and finality about sex", something that watching other men ejaculate provides.^[7] The viewer identifies with the ejaculating men, experiencing a sense of vicarious pleasure.^[7] According to English–American anti-pornography campaigner Gail Dines, the ejaculate on the female performer's body "also marks the woman as used goods", conveying a sense of ownership; she quotes veteran American porn actor and producer Bill Margold stating: "I'd like to really show what I believe the men want to see: violence against women. I firmly believe that we serve a purpose by showing that. The most violent we can get is the cum shot in the face. Men get off behind that because they get even with the women they can't have."^[23]

A number of authors have described bukkake as premised on humiliation.

Forensic psychologist Karen Franklin has described bukkake as symbolic group rape, characterising its primary purpose as the humiliation, degradation and objectification of women.^[24] Lisa Jean Moore and Juliana Weissbein view the use of ejaculation in bukkake as part of a humiliation ritual, noting that it generally does not involve any of the female participants experiencing orgasm.^[25] Feminist anti-pornography activist Gail Dines describes the money shot of a man ejaculating on the face or body of a woman, taken to a new extreme in bukkake through the involvement of multiple men, as "one of the most degrading acts in porn".^[23]

Tristan Taormino, feminist author and sex educator, has likened bukkake to a "gay circle jerk", noting the inconsistency between its billing as a heterosexual practice and the fact that it features a group of naked men standing in close proximity to each other, masturbating together.^[26]

Phillip Vannini, associate professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University, quotes "self-proclaimed net sex commentator" George Kranz, who views recent American interpretations of bukkake as a "significant advance in human behaviour", emphasising the lively, almost party-like atmosphere of American bukkake videos compared to the more subdued Japanese style.^[18]