Do you know what a “cum dumpster” is? The phrase, which dates back to at least 2003 (according to Urban Dictionary), has received national attention before, usually for nothing good. In 2020, the CEO of Parler announced that, “Your Username cannot be obscene like ‘CumDumpster.’” In 2019, a so-called “Cum Dumpster” Cop was fired in Phoenix for brutally beating civilians, mishandling investigations, and telling a female coworker that he fantasized about raping her, saying she was a “cum dumpster.”
But there’s been a recent shift in the way “cum dumpster” is used, and more people are embracing what it means to be a cum dumpster. A casual scroll through popular fan-fiction site Archive of Our Own reveals over 100 lovingly written, cum dumpster-themed “fics,” women on Reddit advertise themselves as eager cum dumpsters, and there’s an endless supply of Twitter users who identify themselves as somebody’s cum dumpster. This is natural: the phrase has been a part of our collective consciousness for nearly two decades. Like the reclaimed word “slut,” hearing “cum dumpster” can feel dirty and unnatural, but for some people, incredibly powerful and empowering. But have we, as a society, ever confronted what a cum dumpster is, exactly?
Urban Dictionary has wrestled with this exact question over the years, to varying degrees of success. The top definition describes it as “a receptacle for you and the rest of your town to put your ejected semen in. Said receptacle is usually a slutty ho.” A later definition from 2005 tries to get more specific, explaining that a cum dumpster is, “Any girl who takes loads of semen up her snatch, down the hatch, in her crack, and on her back.” That sounds kind of cool and impressive, and possibly difficult, but is this the universally understood definition of “cum dumpster”? And if it is, does it have to be a bad?
No. Although Urban Dictionary has an unfavorable (and misogynistic) opinion of “cum dumpster,” a lot of modern usage has broadened the term to mean a person of any gender who just genuinely enjoys cum on, in, or around them. But of course, “cum dumpster” can still be an insult.
“Kamala… The only thing you are going to win is cum dumpster of the year,” one Twitter user said in October 2020. “Oh my gosh the at&t girl is a fucking cum dumpster,” said another about actress Milana Vayntrub, who at one point received so much harassment online for her appearance in AT&T commercials, that she had to stress over Instagram Live that she didn’t consent to any of it. Regressive “cum dumpster” users almost always target women and belittle them. This usage echoes centuries-old disgust in response to female sexuality, and equates women to a sexual object while implicitly criticizing them for it. In this usage, “cum dumpster” becomes a painful tool in the arsenal of men who seek to degrade women. I tried to understand “cum dumpster” as an insult better by getting the opinion of the straightest guys I know—frat brothers, who I will identify as Brad and Chad for the purpose of this article.
When I asked Brad over text if he thought that “cum dumpster” was a gendered or degrading insult, he said “definitely.”
“I think if someone asked me to call them that, I’d oblige, but it’s certainly not something I’d choose to call someone unsolicited,” said Brad. “I kinda get the sexual appeal of the phrase, because good sex can come from a sense of mutual degradation, but the phrase is so caveman-stupid I just can’t get around that.”
But in response to the same question, Chad felt a bit differently. “I see it first and foremost as an example of word-vomiting, a silly phrase that’s fun to say,” said Chad. “Gendered, not so much, since anyone can be cumpstered on. But definitely has the potential to be hurtful and degrading.”
This vision of “cum dumpster” is in line with its common usage today. Online, self-proclaimed cum dumpsters are proud and public in their declarations of the virtues of cum, with subreddits like r/DumpsterSluts encouraging the existence of “drunk sluts, cum sluts” and an “all slutty attitude,” as per their inspiring group description. The modern cum dumpster can span generations, as evidenced by a 62-year-old Reddit user who posted a photo of his face covered in cum with the casual title, “What can I say? I’m a cum dumpster. I love cock and cum.” The modern cum dumpster can also span the bounds of human possibility. Look at this anthropomorphized green crocodile in the subreddit r/fnafpornrp (translation for the uninitiated: erotic role play for the Chuck E. Cheese-inspired horror video game Five Nights at Freddy’s), who also happens to have a massive, pink (?) penis, although his huge balls are green.
“Looking for a slutty Mangle for my anthro Croc security guard to ‘reprogram’ into my personal cum dumpster,” the post says. “Maybe you thought you were going to kill me, but you’ll soon learn the joys of obeying your new master.”
I came across 18-year-old Patch when looking for self-identifying cum dumpsters to talk to, and they gave me their thoughts on the polarizing phrase over Twitter DM. “Cum dumpster to me is one of the nastiest words you can use for a Sub,” Patch said. “To me, it means you're nothing but somewhere your master, or anyone for that matter, can use to empty their cum into.” They said that as a term, “cum dumpster” was more about degradation than age or gender, though they found it distasteful at certain times, like if someone used it out of a sexual context or hadn’t previously established trust in the bedroom. “I have to trust who I'm having [a sexual] relationship with so I feel confident and safe,” they said. “On the other hand, I enjoy hearing it when sexting or sex gets very intense. Dirty talking is a must for me, so being told that I'm a ‘cum dumpster’ is sort of a nice thing to hear from time to time.”
I asked Dr. Gregory Ward, a Professor of Linguistics, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and Philosophy at Northwestern University, to give me his thoughts on this reclaimed, boundless version of cum dumpster, and we had a Zoom call to discuss the phrase. Although “cum dumpster” has been used as a term to debase women, Dr. Ward said that in some ways, the phrase defies heteronormative expectation. “A woman self-identifying as a ‘cum dumpster’ is violating so many taboos in addition to her femininity,” said Dr. Ward. “It’s such an unladylike thing to be—to be sexual at all is [considered] unladylike, let’s be real—and then to really degrade oneself into the bare essential is super transgressive, super anti-gender.”
He also implored me to consider the meaning of “dumpster” in a sexual context. “What is a dumpster? It’s a receptacle for garbage. This is so interesting to me, because it really does bring both players down into the mud,” he said. “The man is producing junk. In a way, it’s an interestingly egalitarian term. We’re in this together, we share these norms, we’re just down to our raw, animalistic, fluid-producing selves, and, crucially, that’s all we are to each other.’”
The new wave of positive “cum dumpster” users reflects a shift in the way people openly explore sex and gender, a cultural change also evidenced in things like the recent ubiquity of self-disclosing pronouns and women speaking out against people who disrespect their sexuality. Searching through the mud of those committed to keeping “cum dumpster” oppressive, we find women emboldened to call themselves “cum dumpsters,” a self-motivated choice that can be sexually exciting, and everyone else, for whom “cum dumpster” is mapping uncharted territory.
It challenges sex and gender expectations since anyone, or anything, can be cumpstered on. “A lot of our sexual terms and sexual identity terms are reactive,” said Dr. Ward. “Ever since human beings have been human beings, there have been cultural impositions on our sexuality. Women have suffered from that more than men, of course. [But] people are still testing ideas, rejecting them, adopting some. I think we’re in a period of increased fluidity, of people trying on different things.”
Next time you see “cum dumpster” in the wild, think about what it could mean to you—perhaps a whole new sexy, and equal, world.