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In a sexual context, a facial or facial cumshot is the slang term for the sexual activity in which one person directs an ejaculation of semen onto the face of another person, often following oral sex, intercourse, or other stimulation.

Attitudes toward and acceptance of the act vary widely depending upon the specific country, culture, and individual preferences. One common criticism of this act is that it objectifies the receiving partner. It can also be seen as an expression of domination and submission and erotic humiliation. Many practitioners enjoy the act and assert it as legitimate.^{[citation needed]}

Man ejaculating on a womans face.

In pornography, the facial is the most common and accepted convention used to end a scene (also known as a "money shot"). The facial has now taken, to a great extent, the place of the "money shot" that usually targeted the abdomen or on the back after "doggy style" sex. Various pornographic video series' (particularly in the fellatio genre) and various websites are dedicated to and centered purely to facials. An "open mouth facial", where the partner receives some or all of the semen in their mouth, is particularly prevalent, with recipients at times swallowing the sperm as the final act of eroticism. Many viewers of pornography find the facial to be the most satisfying, arousing, erotic and exciting portion of the film. Accordingly, many seasoned porn viewers specifically fast-forward to this portion of the film. In newer DVDs, where scenes are broken up into parts, often the final break of the scene is the facial cumshot. Facials targeting open eyes ("eye cumshot") have given way to a new pornographic niche. A facial can follow any sexual activity, including masturbation. Bukkake is a related practice, where multiple people ejaculate onto one person.

Being that facials are so prominent in pornography, primarily viewed by males, the exact reason for their prevalence and accordingly their patently arousing effect on the viewer has been postulated by various persons and sources. As noted above, facials can be considered a form of domination, erotic humiliation, or merely another form of fetishism which could explain some of the attraction to them.^{[citation needed]}

Since the male orgasm is associated so literally with ejaculation, the facial can be seen as a conduit to visually and illustratively depict the male orgasm. Moreover, facials also represent a male-centric sexual act which could also contribute to their appeal. That is, often the pornographic actor will be positioned standing in front of a kneeling female masturbating for a significant portion of time before ejaculating. At this stage, in contradistinction to sexual intercourse, only the male is experiencing orgasm (although, of course, this can and often does happen during regular intercourse as well). This might help explain the attraction in terms of male dominance. However, some women are sexually excited by the act of receiving a facial and being the "center of attention" after the male orgasm, so the "male dominance" argument also has its detractors.^{[citation needed]}

Often viewers will be particularly aroused when copious amounts of semen are ejaculated onto the female's face. Sometimes this is met with wincing, flinching, and disgust from the female. Other times she is excited or surprised, which can add to the viewer's arousal. Pornographic actors such as Peter North are renowned for this. Other viewers claim the appeal is a snowflake or uniqueness argument. Namely, that the appeal and the excitement of facials is linked to the fact that no two facials are identical. Each facial has unique elements of: splash pattern, amount of semen, number of semen shots, location of semen deposits on the face, speed at which semen is ejaculated, etc.^{[citation needed]}

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

• Oral sex
• Sexual slang
• Cum shot
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