circle jerk

plural circle jerks · alternative circle-jerk · alternative circlejerk

1. slangvulgarliteralA group of people jerking off (“masturbating”) together (with or without interpersonal contact).

   This is Melville's real heaven, an all-male platoon, each with his hand in someone's pocket. The circle jerk is another Romantic uroboros.

   1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 587

   1 more example

   Three screaming queens, the Abbot, the Abbes an the Bishop, who hold circle jerks in their rooms for other students with similar proclivities.

   1977 August 20, Robert Etherington, “John Horne Burns and His Enemies”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 7, page 11

2. derogatoryslangvulgarAny group or group activity indulging in excessive mutual praise.

   When organisations celebrate their anniversaries you can usually expect a dull circle jerk of self-congratulation, so the BBC played a blinder in getting Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse to do it for them. Patting yourself on the back looks better when you send yourself up.

   2022 October 27, Carol Midgley, “The Love Box in Your Living Room review — Harry and Paul toast the Beeb with a roast”, in The Times

3. InternetslangvulgarAn environment (especially an online community) in which people express or validate a narrow set of ideas and feelings.

   You should join a circle jerk community if you like this so much.

   Synonyms: echo chamber, filter bubble, hugbox, mutual admiration society

4. derogatoryslangvulgarA situation in which a group of people engage in self-indulgent or self-gratifying behavior, especially by reinforcing each other's views or attitudes.

   1 more example

   There is a long line of these types, some cleverer than others: Rod Liddle, Richard Littlejohn and Jeremy Clarkson, with Toby Young, James Delingpole and Martin Daubney on the subs’ bench. They present as dissenting voices, speaking truth to the elite. In reality, they just preach to people their age. To call this circle jerk of intolerance a culture war is to ennoble it.

   2020 January 20, Suzanne Moore, “I’d never heard of Laurence Fox until he started lecturing us about racism”, in The Guardian

5. slangvulgardrug user slangA person who shares syringes when injecting drugs.

present singular third person circle jerks · participle present circle jerking · participle past circle jerked · past circle jerked · alternative circle-jerk · alternative circlejerk

1. slangvulgarTo participate in a circle jerk.