I’m sure you’re reading that question and thinking “why would you ask that?” I have been watching the Hulu original show The Great. It is wildly historically inaccurate in almost every way (but still hilarious), so I feel like I already know the answer, but I figured I would ask anyways. In this show, cunnilingus (eating pussy, going down on a girl, whatever you want to call it) is a sexual act that is brought up surprisingly often, and even talked about and treated like a treat for both men and women. My question is: how common was it for a man to perform this act on a woman? Was it viewed as outrageous? Normal? Did people just pretend that women had no pleasure in sex? And if it did happen, how was it treated? Was it a source of pride, like in the show? Or was it treated as something sinful or shameful, like in the Sopranos (a completely unrelated show, but the only other one I can think of where they talk about this). Thank you in advance for your answer!
Here's a collection of related questions and answers from the subreddit as compiled by u/kygroar from an older post.
So I think part of the issue that arises with this question is that it's pretty hard to pinpoint "the time before hygiene." Was that ancient history? The Middle Ages? The 1700s? And where? Asia? Europe? Africa? The US? Different time periods and different places all had their own views of cleanliness and hygiene, so it might help if you were to narrow your focus a bit.
But here are some previous posts to check out while you wait for an answer:
• Fabulous thread from just a few days ago that discusses Roman views on body hair that really aren't too different from our own today. /u/Celebreth's comments include not only an artistic depiction of cunnilingus, but some interesting info on how the Romans viewed oral on a man vs on a woman. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/a1z5e9/is_removing_pubic_hair_a_modern_fad_or_did_any/
• A nice thread on views on bathing in 15th/16th century Europe: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5tzvng/is_it_true_that_baths_and_personal_hygiene_were/
• Which leads us neatly to Japanese bathing practices, and another discussion about oral sex prior to the modern era. This one has some great answers from various places and time periods: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2cjuxy/how_did_people_tolerate_oral_sex_before_the_age/
• This thread features oral sex in Rome, China, South America, and (gasp) even the Bible: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4lyy9e/was_oral_sex_an_invention_of_modern_western/
• Another thread on oral sex, this one specifically in the Middle Ages: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8hze50/medieval_sex_how_did_the_idea_originate_in_the/
Happy reading!!