THE NEW WAY FOR SEX
Growing up in this culture, it is nearly impossible to escape the
taboo of anal sexuality and all the myths surrounding it. From
an early age, we are taught that our assholes are private, dirty,
and shouldn't be touched in a sexual way. Whether we learn
about the birds and the bees from popular books or in sex
education class, the anus is rarely mentioned, unless to say it's
behind our genitals. As I grew up, I heard "fag jokes" about men
who "do each other in the butt"; these men were derided for
their practice of anal sex. If we do hear about people other than
gay men having sex, they are usually labeled "kinky" or
"perverted," and the sex is clearly considered abnormal. When
anal sex is acknowledged as an erotic preference in sex research
and popular advice columns, it is portrayed as a fantasy of
straight men whose women partners endure pain in order to
please Video Porno. There are rarely representations of women who enjoy
anal sex with either men or women. Most recently, anal sex has
been linked to the AIDS virus and represented as dangerous and
4 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ANAL SEX FOR WOMEN
even deadly.
I became sexually active in the eighties, just at the
beginning of the AIDS crisis; by the time I became more
sexually literate and experienced and discovered the pleasures
of anal sex, AIDS had become epidemic. Because gay men
were becoming infected in alarming numbers, they became
designated the high-risk group. According to the majority of
safer sex guidelines at the time, anal sex was how you got
AIDS. And I was having anal sex. It's scary when major
medical institutions tell you that one of your favorite things to
do in the world is no longer just naughty, but actually
life-threatening.
The progress made in the sexually liberated 1970s and the
decadent 1980s, which contributed to a wider acceptance of
many sexual practices previously considered taboo (including
anal sex)Porno XXX, was squelched by AIDS phobia in the 1990s.
For
example, in the first edition of the very popular The Joy of Sex,
published in 1972, Dr. Alex Comfort writes:
This [anal intercourse] is something which nearly every
couple tries once. A few stay with it usually because the
woman finds that it gives her intenser feelings than the
normal route and is pleasurably tight for the man.1
However, in The New Joy of Sex: A Gourmet Guide to
Lovemaking for the Nineties, Comfort describes the rectum
as "a canal primarily engineered for other purposes." He
dismisses the practice of anal sex because of the risks
associated with HIV infection: "In the light of present
knowledge, this is best avoided altogether."'
When the fear of AIDS first became widespread, much of
the so-called safer sex guidelines were rife with misinformation.
Video Sex The same institutions releasing propaganda about safer sex
5 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ANAL SEX FOR WOMEN
claimed that heterosexuals and lesbians weren't at risk. Then
heterosexuals and lesbians started getting sick.
Members of the
gay community and AIDS activists realized that the key to
saving lives was having correct information and making it
widely available. The problem is that myths and
misinformation about anal sex are rampant in our society, while
accurate statistics, facts, personal experiential accounts, and
healthy, positive representations are nearly impossible to find.
Soon, activists realized that they had to start producing their
own information.
The Truth About Girls and Boys
Of the little that has been written about anal eroticism, much
has been by and for men who have anal sex with other men. In
fact, in spite of the cultural taboo and largely because of AIDS,
many members of the gay community have openly
acknowledged that gay men have anal sex. In general, gay men
seem to embrace anal sexuality and discuss it more honestly
than others. In the wake of the AIDS epidemic and its
devastating effects on the gay male community, exploration of
the practice and risks of anal sex has become a way to save
lives. Yet, because discussions, informative workshops, and
literature tend to be community-based, people outside the
community don't always have access to them.
This book is written primarily for women who want to
learn more about anal sex and health and to explore insertive
and receptive anal pleasure with women, men, and transgender
people. My work focuses on the particular psychological,
emotional, physical, and health-related issues that women face.
Although the book concentrates on the experiences of women,
many of the guidelines and generalizations about anal sex apply
to everyone, regardless of gender.
INTRODUCTION 6
"I'd Like Another, Please, Sir"
It is surprising to me that only one book exists that is devoted
solely to anal eroticism: Anal Pleasure and Health by Jack
Morin. While it is an incredibly groundbreaking, informative,
and insightful work, it seems odd that it is the only one in a
field populated by so much selection and variety. 1 recently
decided to investigate just what sex books are being sold in
America's bookstores. As my test site, I chose a well-known
national chain bookstore in a fairly conservative neighborhood
of Manhattan.
As I perused the shelves of the "Sexuality" section, I found
an extensive selection. The majority of the books were devoted
to improving the sexual awareness and the sex lives of
readers—they discussed how to have hot sex, better sex,
orgasmic sex, Hard Sex,more sex, and safer sex. There were books by
sex therapists, sexologists, sex researchers, sex workers, sex
advisors, and other sexuality specialists. There were even a
half-dozen titles dedicated to fairly alternative sexual practices,
such as sadomasochism (S/M), dominance and submission,
pain and pleasure, and bondage and discipline. Obviously, there
is a significant market for sex books. This is due in part to our
society's obsession with sex and sexuality, but it also reflects
the importance of sex in our lives. People are hungry for
information, ideas, and advice on all aspects of sexuality.
Among the thousands of books about sex currently in print,
many are quite focused and specialized, covering such topics as
solo sex, oral sex, vibrator sex, sex after fifty, fantasy sex,
lesbian sex, phone sex, role-playing sex, gay sex, tantric sex,
healing sex, transgender sex, cybersex, leather sex, kinky sex.
There are also titles devoted to erotic massage, foreplay,
romance, cross-dressing, monogamy, and nonmonogamy. And
yet among the sea of sex volumes, there is only one about anal
sex.
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ANAL SEX FOR WOMEN
Anal Pleasure Stuck in the Margins
In general self-help sex manuals and other books that claim to
cover the full spectrum of sexual practices, anal sex usually
receives a mere few pages or a couple of sentences—if it is not
left out altogether. In popular titles like Dr. Ruth Westheimer's
Sex for DummiesTM and Sex in America: A Definitive Survey,
there is only brief information about anal eroticism and health.
The coverage of anal sexuality pales in comparison to
thoughtful, thorough, and informative sections on just about
every other kind of sexuality; in addition, the information
presented is often negative,Tube Porno misinformed, outdated, and even
incorrect. So, while these volumes are described as "complete,"
"definitive," and "comprehensive," those of us searching for
information on anal pleasure are often left wondering why it's
missing.
No comments:
Post a Comment
ALL comment is approved