"Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex

Kleenex

Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of toiletry paper-based products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, and diapers. The name Kleenex is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. Often used as a genericized trademark, especially in the United States, "Kleenex"...

" is an essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

 in which science fiction author Larry Niven

Larry Niven

Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...

 details the problems that Superman

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

 would face in having sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...

 and reproducing

Sexual reproduction

Sexual reproduction is the creation of a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms. There are two main processes during sexual reproduction; they are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the...

 with "a human woman designated LL for convenience", using arguments based on humorous (yet logical) reconciliation between physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

, biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 and the abilities of Kryptonians as presented in Superman comic books. It was first printed in Niven's 1971 collection, All the Myriad Ways

All the Myriad Ways

All the Myriad Ways is a collection of 14 short stories and essays by science fiction author Larry Niven, originally published in 1971.-Contents:* "All the Myriad Ways"* "Passerby"* "For a Foggy Night"* "Wait it Out"* "The Jigsaw Man"...

. It was also reprinted in the Niven compilation N-Space

N-Space (short story collection)

N-Space is a collection of short stories by American science fiction author Larry Niven released in 1990. Some of the stories are set in Niven's Known Space universe. Also included are various essays, articles and anecdotes by Niven and others, excerpts from some of his novels, and an introduction...

; as well, a comic book adaptation - illustrated by classic Superman artist Curt Swan

Curt Swan

Douglas Curtis Swan was an American comic book artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s.-Early life and career:Curt Swan, whose Swedish...

, and with all identifying logos and names removed - was published in Penthouse Comix

Penthouse Comix

Penthouse Comix was initially an American mass-market, magazine-sized comic book, published by Penthouse International from its inception in spring 1994 through July 1998, and thereafter by General Media Communications, parent company of Penthouse magazine. Initially edited by writers George...

.

In 1986, the essay was reposted onto Usenet

Usenet

Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...

; this led to what is thought to be the very first online report of copyright violation.

In 2007, a YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 video adaptation of the essay was made, with the permission of Niven. It was adapted by "JackDanyells" and starred him as Superman, Rachel Gorton as LL, and VenetianPrincess as Supergirl

Supergirl

Supergirl is a female counterpart to the DC Comics Superman. As his cousin, she shares his super powers and vulnerability to Kryptonite. She was created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino in 1959. She first appeared in the Action Comics comic book series and later branched out...

.

Other uses

Many of the points given in this essay are reused and paraphrased in Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith

Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

's 1995 movie Mallrats

Mallrats

Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota...

.

In Frank Miller

Frank Miller (comics)

Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...

's comic Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again is a Batman mini-series by Frank Miller with Lynn Varley. It is a sequel to Miller's 1986 miniseries, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.-Overview:...

, Superman touches on the theme of the essay when asked about sex by Lara, his teenage daughter by Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

.

In issue 6 of The Boys, Butcher mentions that his human wife was killed when, after being impregnated by a super-human, the super-powered fetus kicked its way out of her stomach.

The TV series Smallville

Smallville

Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...

also cited the same argument to explain why Clark refused to sleep with Lana Lang

Lana Lang

Lana Lang is a fictional supporting character in DC Comics' Superman series. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist John Sikela, the character first appears in Superboy #10...

 when he was in possession of his super powers. They were, however, able to have sex when she as well as he was (intermittently) super-powered in Seasons 7 and 8. In the Season 9 episode, "Escape," Clark tells Chloe that part of his training in the Fortress of Solitude included learning how to control his powers to such a degree that he wouldn't harm a human woman during sex.

In the 2008 movie Hancock

Hancock (film)

Hancock is a 2008 American action-comedy superhero film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, and Charlize Theron. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars...

, the 'dangerous ejaculation' scenario is illustrated in a deleted scene

Deleted scene

In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...

when, at the point of climax, he throws his partner aside to save her, blowing three large holes in the roof of his trailer.

Tom Smith's "Superman Sex-Life Boogie" recounts the problem from Superman's perspective.