# Surviving on Ejaculate?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 3, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891 "2005-07-03T02:26:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pseudandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dfb087/32.png) [@pseudandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudandry)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891/1 "2005-07-03T02:26:41Z")

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Could a male, who is stranded alone without food or water, survive on his own semen? And for how long?

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**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891/2 "2005-07-03T02:31:11Z")

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Your body must be a lot different than mine. How do I suck my own dick? I ain’t a dog.

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**Author:** ![pseudandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dfb087/32.png) [@pseudandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudandry)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891/3 "2005-07-03T02:36:06Z")

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Why couldn’t the male ejaculate into a leaf or even his palm?

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**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891/4 "2005-07-03T02:37:59Z")

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I’ll hazard a WAG and say no. Isn’t semen salty? Wouldn’t it thereby speed up the dehydration process? Even if it isn’t, it wouldn’t be anywhere near enough to stave off dehydration.

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**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891/5 "2005-07-03T02:50:22Z")

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Drunken idiot here:

As a chubby woman, I’ve had fantasies of being caged and living on nothing but the cum I was allowed. I wonder if it would work? You know…as a weight loss plan. At least you’d be getting your protein.

If anyone figures it out…let me know.

L

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**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891/6 "2005-07-03T02:53:52Z")

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That’s just silly. Where would the energy come from for producing the ejaculate? That’s like asking if a snake could survive by eating its own tail.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891/7 "2005-07-03T02:54:32Z")

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> [@pseudandry](#):
>
> Could a male, who is stranded alone without food or water, survive on his own semen? And for how long?

No, he could not.

Just like autophagy (eating bits of oneself, we did a thread on this topic a while back) there would be a net loss in calories and basic essential amino acids and fatty acids. Even if operating at 100% efficiency in digesting the semen, the body’s losses via urine and sweat and feces would eventually result in dehydration and malnutrition.

But heck, want to try the experiment? Go for it and let us know how it turns out.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surviving-on-ejaculate/310891/8 "2005-07-03T03:05:17Z")

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Question answered . . . thread closed.

**Cajun Man**  
for the SDMB