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ELDRIDGE CLEAVER’S CODPIECE

(and other sidequests)

From Bringhurst’s “Eldridge Cleaver’s Passage through Mormonism.”  (2002)


೨ Side Quest
Guardians of the Sperm

The Guardians of the Sperm was a social auxiliary group that included classes and a hotline. Cleaver believed that  “'the dwelling place of God' was not in the North African desert in Mecca, as traditional Muslims believe, but 'in the male sperm.'” He sought to "teach men to conserve their vital bodily fluids and to protect them from lesbian idealogues who he believes thwarted the male sperm in its sacred mission of sexual intercourse."
... includes a group called "Guardians of the Sperm" and a course for young men which will teach them to accost young women on street corners...
 Henderson, Susan, Peter Prizer, and Stan Fortuna. "Mainely Gay (September/October 1980)." (1980).

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... notes that this auxiliary was formed in response to Cleaver's assertion that "'the dwelling place of God' was not in the North African desert in Mecca, as traditional Muslims believe, but 'in the male sperm.’
Bringhurst, Newell G. “Eldridge Cleaver’s Passage through Mormonism.” Journal of Mormon History, vol. 28, no. 1, 2002, pp. 80–110. JSTOR,  Accessed 25 May 2025.

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Cleaver’s Guardians of the Sperm, organization teaches men to conserve their vital bodily fluids and to protect them from lesbian ideologues who he believes thwart the male sperm in it’s sacred ...
Susan Goding, et al. “Big Mama Rag.” Big Mama Rag, vol. 8, no. 6, July 1980. Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University. Independent Voices. Reveal Digital, JSTOR, Accessed 25 May 2025.

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Cleaver has apparently split with segments of the Born-Again Christian
church community because of his attitudes about male sexuality...
L Lady, Chicken. “Chicken Lady.” Off Our Backs, vol. 10, no. 7, 1980, pp. 24–24. JSTOR,  Accessed 25 May 2025.

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But sex is dangerous for this vital bodily fluid today because, he continued, 'you're sending sperm into a minefield. There's artificial chemicals, nooses, traps inside the female body--put there to murder sperm...

Connecticut women's centers and programs, W-Z. In 1972. Women's action alliance records, 1971-1996; reference collections.,(accessed May 25, 2025).

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...and it bugs him that thanks to contraceptives, having sexual intercourse today is like “sending sperm into a minefield.”
Jet Magazine
June 12, 1980
pp. 41

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As far as I’m concerned this is passing the buck, or passing the sperm if you like. And really men are the guardians of sperm. Men are the ones who have to develop some kind of economy of sperm...
1977 International Women's Year (IWY) Oral History Collection
National Women's Conference
Houston, Texas

Interviewer: Rachael E. Myers
Date: November 18-21, 1977

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