Anal sex: The whole story
Christina Liciaga
Issue date: 4/21/05 Section: Life!
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Anal intercourse has been called everything from arse piracy to uphill gardening, including back shafting, the chocolate cha-cha, David Hockney, fudge packing, gaand maarna (Hindi), mudpacking, petando el culo (Spanish), riding the Hershey highway, spooning and tailgunning. Yet, this A-level, ass-drilling is most simply rectal penetration: a normal part of human sexual behavior, and perhaps (per last week's argument) fundamental to the definition of sex.
However because anal sex does not break the hymen, it has been considered a preservation of virginity, and therefore not sex. In fact, celibate religious orators of particular sects in the Middle Ages allowed anal intercourse, and in some contemporary cultures, anal intercourse is approved in a heterosexual context because it is less likely to result in pregnancy.
Who has anal sex? Statistics are uncertain: the Journal of Adolescent Health says eleven percent of sexually active college students participate in anal sex; Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States, a book by Edward Laumann notes 20 percent of heterosexuals have engaged in anal sex; and Alfred Kinsey quoted a participation close to 40 percent. These heterosexual findings coupled with the lack of homosexual anal intercourse research (although Laumann suggests 80 percent of homosexual males have engaged in anal intercourse), makes it difficult to deduce exactly who engages in anal intercourse. Yet historically, nearly every culture has engaged in rectal intercourse.
In the ancient world, from Greece to Japan, anal sex was a hallmark of many male-male couples and recorded artistically and academically. In fact, although the frequency of anal sex in Ancient Greece pederasty is still disputed in scholarly circles, the common practice was coined "Greek Love," modernly tagged "Greek" because of its frequency.
Western cultures since the Middle Ages have not been as embracing of anal intercourse, introducing the heretic "buggery" as an insult for anal sex and other homosexual practices. The etymological roots are in medieval Bulgaria, where Buggre heretics were assaulted for their "sin" of anal intercourse; buggery, however, is most known for Henry VIII's 1533 Buggery Act which deemed anal sex, and consequently homosexuality, punishable by hanging.
However because anal sex does not break the hymen, it has been considered a preservation of virginity, and therefore not sex. In fact, celibate religious orators of particular sects in the Middle Ages allowed anal intercourse, and in some contemporary cultures, anal intercourse is approved in a heterosexual context because it is less likely to result in pregnancy.
Who has anal sex? Statistics are uncertain: the Journal of Adolescent Health says eleven percent of sexually active college students participate in anal sex; Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States, a book by Edward Laumann notes 20 percent of heterosexuals have engaged in anal sex; and Alfred Kinsey quoted a participation close to 40 percent. These heterosexual findings coupled with the lack of homosexual anal intercourse research (although Laumann suggests 80 percent of homosexual males have engaged in anal intercourse), makes it difficult to deduce exactly who engages in anal intercourse. Yet historically, nearly every culture has engaged in rectal intercourse.
In the ancient world, from Greece to Japan, anal sex was a hallmark of many male-male couples and recorded artistically and academically. In fact, although the frequency of anal sex in Ancient Greece pederasty is still disputed in scholarly circles, the common practice was coined "Greek Love," modernly tagged "Greek" because of its frequency.
Western cultures since the Middle Ages have not been as embracing of anal intercourse, introducing the heretic "buggery" as an insult for anal sex and other homosexual practices. The etymological roots are in medieval Bulgaria, where Buggre heretics were assaulted for their "sin" of anal intercourse; buggery, however, is most known for Henry VIII's 1533 Buggery Act which deemed anal sex, and consequently homosexuality, punishable by hanging.