Synonyms
Definition
“Desire by a man to be cuckolded as a way to receive sexual pleasure.”
A cuckold is a man whose wife has had sex with another man. Typically, he feels deeply hurt, to the point that he may kill his wife and her lover.
Some cuckolds, however, do not feel hurt or even indifferent. They actually feel intense pleasure. This is, in fact, a common paraphilia. A Google search for the term “wife breeding” turned up 1,800,000 hits in 2023, up from 793,000 in 2011, including videos specially developed for that market. Many, if not most, have a black man as the cuckolder, perhaps because dark skin and fantasies of black hypersexuality enhance the image of a rival male (Lokke, 2019).
That paraphilia was already common in early twentieth-century America. An elderly Black American described it to Eldridge Cleaver during the 1960s:
There is a sickness in the white that … makes them act in many different ways. But there is one way...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Anderson, J. W. (1982). Social structure and the veil: Comportment and the composition of interaction in Afghanistan. Anthropos, 77, 397. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40460477
Belote, L. (1978). Prejudice and pride: Indian-White relations in Saraguro, Ecuador. University Microfilms International.
Bruster, D. (1990). The horn of plenty: Cuckoldry and Capital in the Drama of the age of Shakespeare. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900(30), 195–215. https://doi.org/10.2307/450514
Buckingham, E. L. (1928). Campion’s art of English Poesie and Middleton’s chaste maid in Cheapside. PMLA, 43, 784–792. https://doi.org/10.2307/457500
Campbell, J. K. (1964). Honour, family and patronage: A study of institutions and moral values in a Greek mountain community. Clarendon Press.
Chagnon, N. (1967). Yanomamö warfare, social organization and marriage alliances. University Microfilms.
Cleaver, E. (1999). Soul on ice. Delta.
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1937). Witchcraft, oracles and magic among the Azande. Clarendon Press.
Frost, P. (2020). Are fungal pathogens manipulating human behavior? Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 63, 591–601. https://doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2020.0059
Galipaud, M., Gauthey, Z., & Bollache, L. (2011). Pairing success and sperm reserve of male Gammarus pulex infected by Cyathocephalus truncatus (Cestoda: Spathebothriidea). Parasitology, 138, 1429–1435. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182011001247
Gelo, D. (1986). Comanche belief and ritual. University Microfilms International.
Goody, J. (1973). Polygyny, economy and the role of women. In J. Goody (Ed.), The character of kinship (pp. 175–190). Cambridge University Press.
Howard, J. A., & Gibson, M. A. (2019). Is there a link between paternity concern and female genital cutting in West Africa? Evolution and Human Behavior, 40, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.011
Kamps, I., & Singh, J. (2001). Travel knowledge: European “discoveries” in the early modern period. Palgrave.
Kuchar, G. (2001). Rhetoric, anxiety, and the pleasures of Cuckoldry in the Drama of Ben Jonson and Thomas Middleton. Journal of Narrative Theory, 31, 1–30.
Lokke, G. (2019). Cuckolds, cucks, and their transgressions. Porn Studies, 6, 212–227. https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2018.1555053
McDaniel, S. (2021). Did the Ancient Greeks and Romans practice BDSM? Tales of times forgotten. September 19. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2021/09/19/did-the-ancient-greeks-and-romans-practice-bdsm/
Mormann, K. (2010). Factors influencing parasite-related suppression of mating behavior in the isopod Caecidotea intermedius. Theses and Dissertations, paper 48. http://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/48
Panek, J. (2001). “A Wittall cannot be a cookold”: Reading the contented cuckold in early modern English Drama and culture. Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, 1, 66–92. https://doi.org/10.1353/jem.2001.0020
Pebley, A. R., & Mbugua, W. (1989). Polygyny and fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. In R. J. Lesthaeghe (Ed.), Reproduction and social organization in sub-Saharan Africa (pp. 338–364). University of California Press.
Pelton, R. D. (1980). The trickster in West Africa. A study of mythic irony and sacred delight. University of California Press.
Strassmann, B. I. (1992). The function of menstrual taboos among the Dogon. Human Nature, 3, 89–131. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692249
van den Berghe, P. L. (1979). Human family systems. An evolutionary view. Elsevier.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Frost, P. (2023). Cuckoldry: Sexual Fantasies. In: Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_757-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_757-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-08956-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-08956-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences