What is the history of non-vaginal sex in heterosexual relationships?

by That_bat_with_a_hat

So this question just popped into my head while watching a comedian doing a routine about blowjobs. Do we know if and how much heterosexual couples engaged in oral or anal sex before the 1960s or 70s? I fear that other than some isolated writings by people like the marquise de sade good sources might be hard to find so I didnt narrow this question to a specific period in time. If you have any knowledge about this topic during any period I would be glad to read your answer.

Ratyrel

I can in no way answer this broadly. For my specialty, Graeco-Roman Antiquity, there is no way of assessing this quantitatively, but there is enough material that references such practices to know that it was part of the imagined world of sex for pleasure within the literary socio-economic elite. Marital sex, on the other hand, was heavily earmarked for procreation and not for pleasure or enjoyment of the act, and marital sex was probably the “normal sex” of Antiquity. This suggests that the practices you listed were probably not immensely common overall, though they are all attested.

In Roman (and to an extent Greek) society, cunnilingus was seen as a degrading and passive act that contaminated the man performing it and made his breath smell due to his sullied mouth (os impurum; e.g. Aristophanes Knights 1280–9; Martial 11.61). I believe it is exceedingly rare in depictions, but was considered extremely pleasurable to women, so much so that it could be used to seduce wives away from their husbands. In Plautus’ play Pseudolus, the sympathetic character of the prostitute Phoenicium may bear this name because her clients pay her for the privilege of licking (phoenikizein) her, underscoring the criticism of their feeble masculinity in the play. These rare testimonies may suggest that cunnilingus was a “fetish” of sorts.

Obviously, fellatio was considered empowering and amazing by contrast (Martial 9.67), though is also said to be enjoyed by older men with lower virility (Suetonius Life of Tiberius 44–45; Martial 3.75; 4.50) and to be performed by older women (whose other charms havewithered: Hor. Epod. 8.19–20). Petting and digital stimulation is routinely used in depictions of sex acts in Pompeii and on Greek vases. Intercrural sex (penetration between the thighs) is attested for male on male sex and anal sex is broadly attested, perhaps also as a means of contraception in heterosexual couplings (Seneca Controversiae 1.2.22; Martial 11.78).

I am not certain how far this goes towards answering your question as it is very difficult to say how sexual the “average” Roman or Greek was and how open they were to practices of this kind. In cramped living conditions and darkness marital sex could often be a rushed affair that had little room for non-penetrative intercourse. The direct textual evidence mostly relates to risky upper-class encounters or prostitutes.

Skinner, M. B. (2005) Sexuality in Greek and Roman culture. Oxford.

Krenkel, W. A. (2006) Naturalia non turpia. Sex and gender in ancient Greece and Rome. Schriften zur antiken Kultur-und Sexualwissenschaft. Hildesheim.

Younger, J. (2004) Sex in the ancient world from A–Z. London.