Discourses on Heterosexual Anal Sex Paper
The issues of sex, virginity, homosexual relations, etc used to be related to cultural aspects of each society during concrete historic periods. Some kinds of sexual behaviors were considered inappropriate or even deviant, attitudes towards virginity changed with time. Today a lot of attention is paid towards the issues of anal sex by heterosexual couples. Some time ago it was generally assumed that only homosexual couples could be associated with anal sex, but in reality more and more heterosexual couples are reported to have it regularly or from time to time. There is no concrete explanation why anal sex became more popular in the 21st century by heterosexual couples, this could be explained by the presence of anal sex scenes in porno and by wide discussion of this issue. “One small study has suggested that in the UK, around 20 per cent of pornographic DVDs feature rectal intercourse. Often, it is presented as something that is both routine and painless for women. In real life, this is not the case. Anal intercourse is often very painful for women, particularly the first few times.” (Delvin 2). This type of intercourse is rather controversial, as for some individuals it is related to painful feelings and lack of any kind of pleasure, whereas other people are able to have fun thanks to “rectal sex”. In addition anal sex is associated with certain health risks, which should be considered by both categories. Young people have always wanted to shift from old-fashioned attitudes and traditions for the sake of trying something new and even challenging and now it seems to be the correct time for reconsidering of the issues, related to heterosexual anal sex.Discourses on Heterosexual Anal Sex Paper
The history of anal sex is rather long, as the first depictions of heterosexual anal sex could be found in the artifacts of antique times. “Peruvian Moche stirrup-spout pots, erotic ceramic vases, from 300 AD may be some of the earliest and most prolific examples of such representations. A survey of Moche pots found that 31% depicted heterosexual anal intercourse, significantly more than any other sexual act” (Tannahill, 3). There were Chinese and Japanese shunga found, which have depictions of different sexual practices and heterosexual anal sex. Erotic photography of France in the 19th and 20th centuries depicts anal sex acts. Modern pornography has a lot of materials with anal sex depictions and videos. The times of the Medieval Inquisition contributed to development of the connection between satanism and hereticism and anal intercourse. There were official bans of the acts of sodomy mostly with the aim of limiting of the homosexual relations between men. This explains the later attitude towards anal sex in Western culture. In America anti-sodomy laws were issued during the colonial period, but in 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court stated that they were unconstitutional. Tracing the history of anal sex, it is evident that cultural and legal positions had impact upon general public perception of the process, it was neither widely described in scientific sources. The situation changed in the 1980s, when HIV and AIDS were spread. Relatively long history of anal sex and controversies, related to it, support the fact that it is an integral part of erotic imagination of humans.Discourses on Heterosexual Anal Sex Paper
Also there is enough scientific information and findings about anal sex health. Some of the sources compare the change of attitude towards anal sex to the similar situation with oral sex, as before it was also rather controversial and unacceptable to some people. Today oral sex fits into the frames of generally accepted norm in sexual relations. The content of the publications has also changed significantly, before most of the attention was focused upon informing the readers about the risks of AIDS and HIV. Most of the modern sources discuss the issues of sexual expression and sexual liberties. The shift towards the theme of heterosexual anal sex could be traced also in movies, television programs, books, which is an evident response towards general public interest. Even if to take into consideration the fact that there was no systematic research conducted in this field, there are enough factors, which prove that the theme of heterosexual anal sex is of great interest for younger generations. In reality this is a significant and important shift in cultural norms and perceptions, thus it definitely has and would continue to have impact upon interpretation of heterosexual relations, their frequency and form,
Sanders and Reinisch (1999) have conducted a study, which showed that almost 20% of young people do not consider anal intercourse to be equal to usual sex. In other words, those individuals, who are engaged into anal sex and do not have vaginal sex, are still considered to be virgins. There is even a position expressed that such interpretation of virginity makes young people refuse from vaginal sex and try anal sex only. “More recently, a focus group study that evaluated the language and meaning that abstinence- only-until-marriage program participants (8–17 years old) assigned to the term abstinence found that anal intercourse was only mentioned in one focus group of six that were conducted.” (McBride, Fortenberry 130). On the basis of these studies it is possible to assume that changes in the notion of “virginity” are important for involvement of adolescents into anal sex practicing. Pornography has always had impact upon sexual behaviors of individuals. Partially this could be true for changing of perceptions of heterosexual anal sex as well. There are no credible proofs at the moment, still it is neither possible to refute this possibility.Discourses on Heterosexual Anal Sex Paper
Getting sexual pleasure is a universal motivation for most individuals to have sex. Actually it should also be seen as a motivating factor for those, who want to have anal sex. “A study that investigated the associations between the pleasurability of various sexual activities and behavioral experiences with the activities found gender main effects for anal intercourse, with heterosexual men rating anal intercourse significantly more pleasurable than women.” (Wamoy 2). Other studies of young people proved that men get much more pleasure from anal sex in comparison to women. Most of the females decide to be engaged into anal intercourse purely because they are asked by their male partners to do it. Such different attitude could be explained during studying of the real reasons, why heterosexual women agree to have anal sex, the risks for their health are and their emotional and physical reactions to anal sex. Upon investigating of the results of work in focus groups showed that there could be several motivations for anal sex by females pointed out:
- being high during sex
- being interested in having anal sex
- having the desire to please the make partner
- having the desire to avoid vaginal sex
- having no chance to refuse
The study, conducted by the British Medical Journal in 2014, proved that males and females have different attitudes to anal sex. Men relate this kind of intercourse to specific pleasure and imitating of pornography. For women anal sex in most cases is associated with physical pain, some kind of humiliation and this is the reason, why they do not want it in most cases, and even if they agree, they do it for the sake of their partners. Important is to note that really not all people are aware of the fact that sexual infections could be easily transmitted during rectal intercourse. Anal sex is surrounded by a great number of various taboos, as for some individuals it is related to anxiety and moral indignation. At the same time biologically the anal area has a lot of erotic nerve endings and this is the main reason, why some heterosexual partners accept this form of sexual contact. In addition the studies showed that most of the consensual situations were initiated by men, whereas women either did not want it initially, or did not expect to be asked by their partners or even did not have the similar experiences before. Heterosexual anal sex is not that widespread at the moment, thus it is considered by many individuals to belong to the sphere of exotic sexual pleasures, which need to be experienced. This is one of the reasons, why men ask their female partners for their consent to try it. Some women reported that they do not mind anal sex, but only with special partners, as they compared anal sex with a gift, they were ready to present only to them.Discourses on Heterosexual Anal Sex Paper At the same time there were studies conducted, which proved that there is no such strong connection between anal intercourse and closeness in relations, especially by certain categories of women, for example drug-users. It is also reported that a greater part of participants of HAS never consented to having it either verbally or explicitly. In most cases this consent was understood from sexual behaviors and lack of direct “no” answer. Reynolds (2015). looked more closely at gender differences in sexual consent and found that women were more likely to consent verbally, and men were more likely to consent non verbally to sexual activity. The explicit use of verbal consent on the part of women may reflect a traditional conceptualization of women as sexual gatekeepers and provides support for the role of traditional sexual norms influencing heterosexual anal intercourse behavior. The same study also commented that most of young men use some kind of deception technique in order to convince their female partners to have either vaginal or anal sex. They were looking for various ways of engaging of women into intercourse. Generally there are a lot of controversies about sexual behaviors and reactions, as it is difficult to put a clear border between sexual consent and sexual coercion in many cases.
It was already mentioned that a lot of women are concerned abut the risks, brought by anal sex. Of course they could be high at the very moment of having it and being able to trust their partners completely, still they start to consider the risks for their health after the anal intercourse. In many cases, they do not have any barriers for protecting during anal sex. In addition if they are not aware of the whole sexual history of their partners, they could face real risk of being infected. Pain is considered to be one of the strongest obstacles for consent of women for anal sex. Not many of them are able to have sexual pleasure from anal intercourse, instead most of they experience pain during it. Even those women, who acknowledge to have had some kind of sexual pleasure, they still prefer vaginal intercourse. In addition these women indicated certain factors, which were important for their consent, like for example an experienced partner, use of lubricants. Egocentric partners without any experience are mostly avoided, as these are the major reasons for pain. Apart of various psychological and physiological issues, related to the process of heterosexual anal sex and its consequences, there is one more utterly important factor, which is health risk. Discourses on Heterosexual Anal Sex Paper
. Young people reveal their tendency to treat it almost in the way they treat vaginal or oral sex, without even considering it to be exotic any more. Older generations seem to be more distanced from this kind of sex. Such perception of heterosexual anal sex as one of the modern trends in sexual relations could be interpreted as the result of significant socio-economic changes in the communities and views of younger generations. On the one hand this process is natural and takes place in all life spheres, including sexual relations; on the other hand there are a lot of moral and physical risks, related to heterosexual anal sex, this means that it is not correct just to follow some kind of fashion, ignoring personal desires and experiences. There is a need to be informed and there is a need to have free choice for all participants. Only under the condition of mutual trust, respect and care, it is possible to try out new things in sexual relations with minimal negative outcomes.Discourses on Heterosexual Anal Sex Paper