Gerbilling

For a hazard relating to piloting a monowheel, see monowheel gerbiling

Gerbils are the most common rodents to be allegedly inserted.

Gerbilling, also known as gerbil stuffing or gerbil shooting, is a rumoured sexual practice of inserting small live animals (usually gerbils but also mice, hamsters, rats and various other rodents) into the human rectum to obtain stimulation. Some variations of reports suggest that the rodent be covered in a psychoactive substance such as cocaine prior to being inserted.

Overview

According to folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand, accounts of gerbilling were first recorded in 1984 and initially were said to involve a mouse and an unidentified man. In subsequent versions of the story, the animal was a gerbil and the story applied to several male celebrities. Rumors surrounding various male celebrities engaging in gerbilling have become persistent urban legends.

As of the mid-1980s, there were no reports in peer-reviewed medical literature describing gerbilling among the variety of rectal foreign objects removed from people's bodies.

Mike Walker, a National Enquirer gossip columnist, spent months attempting to verify the gerbilling rumors about a celebrity. "I've never worked harder on a story in my life," Walker told the Palm Beach Post in 1995. After much investigation, he was unable to find any evidence that a gerbilling incident ever happened: "I'm convinced that it's nothing more than an urban legend."

Dan Savage, a sex-advice columnist who frequently discusses unusual sexual practices, stated in 2013 that he has never received a first-hand or even a second-hand account of the practice.

According to the editors of Snopes.com, gerbilling is an unverified and persistent urban legend.

In popular culture

In a stand-up comedy bit recorded for his 1990 album, Leader of the Banned, Sam Kinison vents his frustration at public protests of his controversial material by suggesting that gerbilling is a commonplace practice among gay men. In the same bit, Kinison also implies that gerbilling is the inspiration behind the name of synth-pop band, Pet Shop Boys.

A very prominent mention of gerbilling occurred on mainstream TV in the episode "The Death Camp of Tolerance", the fourteenth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series South Park, aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 20, 2002. Finally promoted to teaching fourth graders, Mr. Garrison realizes that getting fired for being homosexual could allow him to sue the school for millions. He decides to perform outrageous sex acts in the classroom, hiring his partner Mr. Slave as his teaching assistant. Though the children complain about Garrison's inappropriate activities, their parents mistakenly think their children are intolerant of homosexuality. Garrison, annoyed that no one has complained about his actions, steps up his campaign to get fired by shoving "Lemmiwinks", the class gerbil, into Mr. Slave's rectum, as an act of gerbilling.

In the song "Fack" from his 2005 album Curtain Call: The Hits, rapper Eminem recites a verse about gerbilling. "Now see that gerbil, grab that tube/stick it up my butt/let that little rascal nibble on my asshole".

A February 2015 episode of Family Feud featured a woman who immediately answered "a gerbil" when host Steve Harvey asked "Name something a doctor would pull out of a person." The response produced prolonged laughter from the audience and a stunned silence from Harvey; even the other contestant at the podium burst out laughing over her response. The clip of the scene from the episode quickly went viral.

In the ninth episode of the fourth season of the HBO original series "The Sopranos", Ralph Cifaretto becomes angry with fellow mafioso Paulie Walnuts for spreading rumors about him that nearly got him killed. In a humorous act of petty retribution, Ralph calls Paulie's elderly mother claiming to be a detective who had arrested Paulie, saying that he was "sucking a Cub Scout's dick," and adding that "We had to have emergency surgery performed upon arrival at headquarters after discovery of a small rodent in the rectal passage... A gerbil, ma'am."

In their song Ich Tu Dir Weh from the album Liebe ist für Alle Da, the German metal band Rammstein refers to this practice: "Wünsch' dir was ich sag' nicht nein / Und führ' dir Nagetiere ein." which translates into "What you wish, I don't say no / And insert rodents into you." Furthermore, while performing on stage, the band's singer Till Lindemann occasionally resorts to suggestive gestures that make the meaning of the lyrics quite explicit.

In the novel American Psycho the protagonist Patrick Bateman inserts a rat into the vagina of a woman he later murders.

See also

• Sodomy
• Zoophilia

Further reading

• Norine Dresser (July 1994). "The Case of the Missing Gerbil". Western Folklore. 53 (3): 229–242. JSTOR 1499810.
• Barbara and David P. Mikkelson (2001-11-18). "From Gere to Eternity". Urban Legends Reference Pages.
• Cecil Adams (1986-03-28). "Is it true what they say about gerbils?". The Straight Dope.
• Becky Vorpagel (1988). "A rodent by Any Other Name: Implications of a Contemporary Legend". International Folklore Review. 6: 53–57.
• Jane Hu (2012-11-19). "A Complete History Of Gerbiling So Far". The Awl.
• Plaintiffs' Response, Conseco Services, L.L.C., v. Alexander, 2009 WL 2492186 (D.Kan.)(case where former employee created websites that suggested other employees utilized gerbils as a sexual prop). Court Order

External links

• A study of felching and gerbiling in language, culture, and popular imagination.