Circle jerk

A group of men jerking off together, often in a circle: a gay safer-sex institution of the 1980s and still a party today.

A circle jerk is a group of men jerking off together, often standing or sitting in a circle, sometimes each man on his own, sometimes reaching for his neighbor. It is the most social form of masturbation there is: no penetration, no pairing off, just a room of guys getting off together and watching each other do it.

It is also a figure of speech that has nothing to do with sex. A meeting where everyone agrees and nothing happens, or a forum where people just praise each other, is a "circle jerk" too. In gay life, though, the literal sense is very much alive.

Where it comes from

The phrase is just what it sounds like: circle plus jerk off. Green's Dictionary of Slang marks it as originally American and finds it in print in 1959. The figurative sense, a pointless discussion among several people, follows by 1978, when Stephen King wrote "Public meeting? Public circle jerk." in The Stand.

Jack-off clubs

For gay men, circle jerks became something close to an institution in the 1980s. The New York Jacks set the template, and the San Francisco Jacks were drawing up to a hundred men to weekly parties where guys touched and jerked each other off while oral and anal sex were left out. In the middle of the AIDS epidemic that mattered: the parties kept physical contact alive for men who were becoming isolated, and gave health educators a room full of men to talk to. One Melbourne educator called these clubs instrumental in building a safe-sex culture.

Many of those clubs still exist, along with newer JO parties in cities around the world. The rules are usually simple: clothes off or down, hands only, respect the guy who just wants to watch.

How it is used today

On the apps, circle jerk shows up as an invitation to a group JO session, at someone's place, a bathhouse or a sex club. It is a favorite of side guys and of men who like the group energy without the pressure of fucking. A regular one-on-one partner for this is a JO buddy, and the same activity between two men is often called mutual.

In porn, circle jerks are a classic scene type, especially in frat porn and military porn, where the setup, a dare, a contest, a bored barracks, is half the fantasy.

Related terms