Another sex blog? Damn tooting! Why? Because I strongly believe, especially in today’s times, that we should not go back and revisit those buttoned-up times of my youth. I strongly believe that both body and sex positivity are critical to women’s health. This particular topic arose when a reader contacted me to comment on an old blog, titled “Erotic Cave Art” (one of my most popular posts). Since I never remember what I’ve written, I had to refresh my memory and re-read the blog. The reader provided some additional insight into the topic, and I couldn’t be more delighted to share this with all of you. I asked her if I could quote her, and her fabulous response was to state that, “Dr. Nancy A. Neff, an evolutionary biologist, gives what I say an aura of verisimilitude!” Now, I’m not nearly as intelligent as Dr. Neff, but I can use Google to look up words I’m not familiar with. I do love a woman with an impressive vocabulary. Here’s what the word means: the appearance of being true or real. Anyhow, to do anything less than quote her entire response would be a travesty, so here’s the wonderful insight Dr. Neff provided, as well as a few more tidbits I learned via further research:

Dr. Neff provided this incredible insight, “Evolutionary biologist here: I’ll bet that “doggy style” was indeed the original position for male/female copulation in early Homo sapiens. In many cultures today, it is the default position. In the South Pacific, for example, face-to-face was so unusual that it was referred to as “the missionary position” in the 1800s. It was the normal position among Native Americans when Europeans colonized North America. Also indicative is that it is the default position in the other anthropoid apes, suggesting that it is the primitive condition for the hominid line as well. As for intimacy, I saw a male gorilla approach a female, touch her arm with great tenderness, and mount her from behind. During copulation, she reached one hand back, and the male took it — they held hands for more than half the time of intercourse. It was a very intimate act (and I felt incredibly privileged to have witnessed it). So the preponderance of the evidence suggests that mounting from the rear is the default style for humans, and Europeans developed a rather aberrant style later.”
One such theory, also tied to evolution, involves the evolution of female anatomy, specifically the pelvis, and its connection to the development of bipedalism. Some argue that this evolution was what made the missionary position possible.
The actual term, “missionary position,” started showing up in the late 1960s and early 70s in popular sex manuals like “The Joy of Sex.” However, there is considerable controversy regarding the origin of the term, which dates back to 1948, when Alfred Kinsey published “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.” In that report, he referenced Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski’s “The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia,“ published in 1929. However, Kinsey’s analysis of Malinowski’s work has been challenged. Kinsey embellished a bit because Malinowski never specifically cites the missionary position or missionaries, only that the Trobrianders (people of the Trobriand Islands) played and sang mocking songs under the full moon, whereas Kinsey assumed that the Trobrianders were mocking the missionary position. Malinowski did write about a couple holding hands and leaning against one another, which the natives described as misinari si bubunela — the missionary fashion.
It’s a myth that the missionary position came about due to medieval Christian morality that viewed it as the only proper, “civilized,” and procreative method. In reality, that morality focused on virtue, charity, and the spiritual good of the soul, not the actual sexual position adults chose to engage in. Although some note that, from the 6th to 16th centuries, church authorities taught that intercourse should be face-to-face, mostly because they believed that semen flowed with gravity, leading to conception. Additionally, Thomas Aquinas, an Italian Dominican Friar, believed that crimes against nature included intercourse in “unnatural” ways.
Contrary to popular belief, the missionary position has been around for a lot longer than one might expect, appearing in ancient pottery and art in what is now the Middle East, as well as in the art of the early Greeks, Romans, Peruvians, Indians, Chinese, and Japanese. Then, of course, we can’t forget about the Kama Sutra, the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text, which includes the missionary position.

So, there you have it…everything you probably didn’t want or need to know about the missionary position. Honestly, I love reading about the creative ways people have sex and all the different possible sex positions. For more instructive books, there are now a lot more out there than The Joy of Lesbian Sex, first published in 1977. A more contemporary book, which was a Lambda Literary winner in 2015, is The Lesbian Sex Bible. Here’s a link to Amazon (It’s on Kindle Unlimited) https://www.amazon.com/Lesbian-Sex-Bible-Diana-Cage-ebook/dp/B00NTF8SN4/ However, if you want the fantasy, I do have some novels that get creative every now and again. I will admit, however, that lately my novels contain more limited sex scenes that aren’t as steamy as perhaps Pleasure Workers. For those who prefer less spice and more plot and character development, I recommend my more recent novels (sorry, I started getting bored with writing sex scenes). You know the drill, just click the links below.