Anal sex: Encyclopedia II - Anal sex - Overview

Anal sex - Overview

The term "sodomy" is imprecise, but is often used as a synonym for anal sex, particularly in older works. However, it often also refers to various other sexual activities. For instance, depending upon the jurisdiction, the legal definition of sodomy may include any non-coitus act, including oral sex and zoophilia.

Anal sex has been taboo in many Western countries since the Middle Ages, when heretical movements were sometimes slandered by rumours that their members practiced anal sex among themselves. At that time the mainstream Christian clergy was not celibate, but the highest orders of some heretical sects were, leading to rumours that their celibacy was a sign of their attraction to members of the same sex. The term buggery originated in medieval Europe as an insult used to describe the rumoured same-sex sexual practices of the heretics from the Buggre sect. This sect originated in medieval Bulgaria, where its followers were called bogomils, but when they spread out of the country they were called buggres (from the ethnonym Bulgars).

Some medieval European woodcuts portray persons kissing the anus of a goat-like figure representing the Christian Devil.

As recently as 2003, several jurisdictions in the United States had laws making anal sex and other forms of sodomy a crime. Many of these statutes purported to prohibit anal sex by same-sex partners. In 2003, John Lawrence and Tyron Garner brought a landmark suit that challenged as unconstitutional Texas's anti-sodomy law before the United States Supreme Court. Lawrence and Garner had previously been apprehended in Lawrence's home in the act of anal sex, after a neighbour had made a false noise complaint to the local police. The Supreme Court struck down the Texas law by a 6–3 vote. Five of the justices joined the deciding opinion, which overturned the Court's previous ruling on sodomy in Bowers v. Hardwick. The Court reached the conclusion that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited the state from regulating private behaviours between adults without furthering a legitimate state interest. The governmental interest behind the law, moral objection to homosexuality, was held to not be a legitimate interest. (See Lawrence v. Texas.)

Although it is also practiced by heterosexuals and bisexuals, anal sex is often associated with homosexual men. However, like persons of other sexual orientations, some gay and bi men enjoy sexual activities of this kind while others do not.

The vagina normally produces its own lubrication during sex; the rectum does not, so a store-bought personal lubricant is recommended by most sexologists for an enjoyable anal sex experience. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, unprotected anal sex carries more risk of STI transmission than vaginal or oral sex. To reduce the risk of transmitting STIs such as HIV, proper use of a latex condom is recommended for all sexual contact which could result in transfer of bodily fluids, including anal sex.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Overview", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki