Eros & Capricorn: A Cross-Cultural Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Techniques (John Warren Wells on Sexual Behavior Book 1)

by John Warren Wells

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  The practice of rubbing was well-known in the Middle East, where a special class of prostitutes known as fricatrices still exists. Such women make a specialty of masturbating their clients, either by manipulating the penis with their agile hands or by engaging in mock-coitus by gripping the penis between their thighs or receiving the male organ between their breasts. Very young girls whose virginity is being preserved for the future are often put to this use. Certain Arab bordellos specialize in this type of activity, while others employ fricatrices to prepare male clients for further sexual relations with other prostitutes. A man may engage in masturbatory foreplay with a fricatrice before having coitus with another more mature prostitute.

  Finally, Arab men and boys may employ this sexual technique in the rape of a young girl. Several of them will throw her to the ground and hold her down. Then one by one they thrust their organs between her thighs without attempting penetration, and rub against her immature genitalia until they reach orgasm without the actual violation of the little girl’s virginity.

  Eros and Capricorn

  Positions for Coitus

  Coitus, or heterosexual genital intercourse, is in any number of cultures the most important single concern in the overall realm of sexual technique. In societies that are either extremely repressive or extremely primitive—‌and it is extraordinary how often these two non-coincidental adjectives apply to the same culture—‌simple coitus is often the sole form of sexual behavior endorsed by either the existential or the normative mores of a society. (A primitive tribe may permit other forms of sexual behavior without having discovered them, and a puritanical culture will surely have extracoital sex while proscribing it, but in neither will such practices be both permitted and engaged in.)

  Even in societies in which sexual sophistication and sexual liberalism are both highly advanced, coitus nevertheless almost invariably serves as the “main event” of sex, the most important practice, most often employed and most greatly desired by the majority of the people. The writings of the past and the teachings of other parts of our world amply demonstrate the great importance of coital sex, as do the teachings and writings of sexologists of our own time. The great body of data in existence offers much that is relevant to our time and much that is not.

  The techniques of coitus fall readily into three main classifications. The first category, and one to receive enormous attention almost everywhere, consists of the various possible postures for coitus or the various ways of lovemaking. The second category is comprised of a myriad of techniques for improving individual or joint performance in coitus by heightening excitement, prolonging the performance, achieving simultaneous climax, improving the quality of the orgasm, and so forth. Finally, different sources supply a group of techniques that might be called specialties—‌that is, certain unusual coital practices worthy of attention but not fitting into either of the two prior categories. Each of these groups has a noteworthy feature to recommend it. The positions of coitus seem to arouse the highest degree of interest in average individuals, especially in those whose sexual experience has been limited. The specialty items are the most dramatic. And the actual techniques to be observed in coitus itself, though less dramatic, seem to offer the most real benefit to individuals who may attempt to profit by them to improve or deepen the quality of their sexual experiences.

  The existing body of sexological literature, contemporary and ancient, foreign and domestic, scientific and frankly erotic, often seems to be dedicated to the proposition that variety is not only the spice of life, but its salt and sugar as well. This devotion to varietism most often finds expression in a search for all the possible postures in which sex may be enjoyed. Marriage manuals today classify positions almost as a matter of course, to the point where these manuals are often familiarly referred to as position books, an apt if singularly charmless title for works of this nature.

  The equation of a variety of positions with variation in the sexual experience is an interesting consideration. One leading psychiatrist and sexologist remarked to this author that there seemed to be a definite correlation between the age and sexual experience of individuals and their enthusiasm for and interest in the different positions of coitus. “Newlyweds who combine enthusiasm for sex, a general attitude of sexual liberalism, and a lack of profound premarital experience are most interested in finding new ways to do it,” he advised. “The first two points explain themselves—‌without the enthusiasm for sex they would not care, and without a degree of liberalism they would find experimentation objectionable. But with more experience, they would know that a change in position rarely has much to do with sexual variety, that the actual sensory responses are basically the same, and that, by and large, the most singularly exciting aspect of a ‘new’ position is its simple novelty. Once the novelty wears off, one position is rather like another.”

  The standard joke of the Frenchman and the American well illustrates the attitude often displayed toward postures of coitus. Briefly, it goes something like this. The two are attempting to see who can think of the greatest number of positions for lovemaking. The Frenchman allows that he knows of seventy-four. The American shakes his head, sure that he cannot match that figure, and attempts to name those he knows. “First,” he says, “there’s the normal one.”

  “Oh?” says the Frenchman. “And what is that?”

  “Why, the normal position. The woman lies on her back, her legs parted, and the man lies on top of her, facing her, and—‌”

  “Voilà!” exclaimed the Frenchman. “That makes seventy-five!”

  The modern marriage manuals that best represent the mainstream of contemporary sexological thinking make no attempt to equal the legendary Frenchman’s total. On the contrary, they are more likely to dismiss some of the standard postures as insignificant variations on a theme while rejecting others as more suited to a sideshow contortionist than a normal individual. The following main positions are generally described and discussed at some length.

  1. The Man-above Position. This is the “normal” position of the joke. Simply, the woman reclines on her back, thighs parted; the man lies upon her face to face, his legs between hers, and introduces his penis into her vagina. This, as most authorities have pointed out, is the most common position in Western culture and is regarded by many individuals as the sole “normal” or “acceptable” manner in which coitus may be undertaken. This feeling is by no means universal. In parts of Polynesia, the posture is known as the “missionary position” because of its specific association with those worthy representatives of the Occident.

  2. The Woman-astride Position. Essentially, this is the “normal” position simply inverted. The man lies on his back in this instance and the woman, facing him, positions herself atop him, either kneeling over him or lying full-length upon him, with the penis introduced into the vagina. This position is frequently advocated for occasions when the male is tired or when the woman desires to direct the pace of coitus, the better to assure her own satisfaction. Dr. Morse has observed a correlation between women with a strong latent or overt homosexual impulse and a preference for this position in heterosexual relations and has suggested that the position constitutes a physical inversion paralleling the female’s own sexual inversion. In simpler terms, the woman is enabled to act out masculine impulses through usurpation of the male’s role and posture in the performance of the sex act.

  3. The Side-by-side Position. Fundamentally, this is the same thing turned sideways. Some authorities recommend this variation particularly, because it “places the partners on an equal footing, with neither playing a dominant role.” But so what? The position may be varied with the positioning of the woman’s legs, with both of them around the man’s legs, or with the woman’s lower leg held between the man’s legs.

  4. The Rear-entry Position. In this position, the woman lies down on her stomach, kneels, or bends forward, permitting the man to approach her from the rear, with the penis inser
ted into the vagina. Contemporary sexologists are apt to advocate this position for obese partners or during pregnancy, applauding the fact that it permits the male to caress his partner’s breasts and genitalia freely with his hands. However, the position is faulted in that it prevents the partners from seeing one another, renders mouth-to-mouth kissing impossible (or at least unwieldy), and is associated by many persons in Western culture with animal intercourse or with anal copulation. The rear-entry position, with variations, is the most common posture for coitus in most portions of the Middle East and much of Africa.

  5. The Side-rear-entry Position. As the name implies, this position is a simple variation on position 4. The woman lies on her side, and the man lies on his side and approaches her from the rear; this position, when employed for homosexual anal intercourse, is described by James Baldwin in Another Country as being like spoons, with the image being that of spoons nesting together, one fitted into another. The objection to position 4 as animalistic seems less in force here, for one reason or another.

  6. The Seated Position. Though there are infinite variations of this posture, the one most often cited in contemporary writings has the male sit slightly slumped in a chair with the woman sitting on his lap, facing him, legs astride, the penis inserted into the vagina. A major variation in which the woman sits on the man’s lap and faces away from him, with intromission affected from the rear, has been jocularly termed the “television position” because it permits both parties to give their attention to that pastime which has become the nation’s second favorite indoor sport.

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  We shall shortly see any number of positions above and beyond the six cited above, but that should not be taken as evidence that modern sexological thinking is somehow stuffy or shortsighted. On the contrary, it seems quite likely that the six positions discussed above will probably be most useful to the vast majority of persons apt to use them and that much of the material to follow is comprised of either minute variations or impracticable postures. Yet when one examines the literature in existence, one can hardly avoid being struck by the tremendous number of positions mentioned by various writers as constituting separate and distinct manners for the enjoyment of sexual intercourse,

  The Perfumed Garden lists eleven major positions for coitus. After pronouncing the divine judgment that “God, the magnificent, has said: ‘The women are your field. Go upon your field as you like,’” the author enumerates the eleven basic ways of going upon a woman. These include three of the positions discussed above—‌the man above position (“Then, pressing your toes to the ground, you can rummage her in a convenient, measured way; this is good for a man with a long verge”), the side-by-side position (“But the sidelong coition predisposes for rheumatic pains and sciatica”), and the rear-entry position. The others include

  Manner the second.—If your member is a short one, let the woman lie on her back, lift her legs into the air, so that her right leg be near her right ear, and the left one near her left ear, and in this posture, with her buttock lifted up, the vulva will project forward. Then put in your member.

  Manner the third.—Let the woman stretch herself upon the ground, and place yourself between her then putting one of her legs upon your shoulder, and the other under your arm, near the armpit, get into her…

  Manner the seventh.—Place the woman on her side, and squat between her thighs, with one of her legs on your shoulder and the other between your thighs, while she remains lying on her side. Then you enter her vagina, and make her move by drawing her towards your chest by means of your hands, with which you hold her embraced…

  Manner the tenth.—Place the woman near to a low divan, the back of which she can take hold of with her hands; then, getting under her, lift her legs to the height of your navel, and let her clasp you with her legs on each side of your body; in this position plant your verge into her, seizing with your hands the back of the divan. When you begin the action your movements must respond to those of the woman…

  The author of The Perfumed Garden then goes on to discuss other coital postures indigenous not to the Middle East but to India and enumerates a full twenty-nine additional methods for copulation. The language employed suggests that these were distilled from the Kama Sutra, the Ananga Ranga, and any of several other classic works of Hindu erotica. While there would seem to be little point in attempting to present this catalog in toto, a few of the more notable postures might be studied in order to discover the flavor of Hindu sexual techniques. The following random sampling should convey the general idea.

  El mokefa (with the toes cramped). Place the woman on her back, and squat on your knees, between her thighs, gripping the ground with the toes; raise her knees as high as your sides, in order that she may cross her legs over your back, and then pass her arms around your neck…

  Er zedjada (piercing with the lance). You suspend the woman from the ceiling by means of four cords attached to her hands and feet; the middle of her body is supported by a fifth cord, arranged so as not to hurt her back. Her position should be so that if you stand upright before her, her vagina should just face your member, which you introduce into her. You then communicate to the apparatus a swinging motion, first pushing it slightly from you and then drawing it towards you again; in this way your weapon will alternately enter and then retire from its sheath, you taking care to hit the entrance on her approach. This action you continue till the ejaculation arrives…

  El kelouci (the summerset). The woman must have a pair of pantaloons on which she lets drop down upon her heels; she then stoops down, placing her head between her feet, so that her neck is in the pantaloons. You then, taking hold of her legs, turn her upon her back, making her perform a summerset; then you bring your member right against her vulva and… insert it…

  El kouri (the hump of the camel). The woman, standing on her feet, places her hands on the ground and elevates her hinder parts; the man, standing behind her, explores her, taking hold of her thighs in front of her buttocks.

  If in this position the man, after having introduced his member, withdraws it, and the woman remains steady in her attitude, there will escape from her vagina a sound resembling the lowing of a calf. But this kind of coitus is not easy to obtain, as women who knew that circumstance refuse to lend themselves for it…

  El hedouli (suspension). The man brings the woman’s hands and feet together in the direction of her neck, so that her vulva is standing out like a dome, and then raises her up by means of a pulley which is fixed in the ceiling. Then he stretches himself out below her, holding in his hand the other end of the cord, by means of which he can lower her upon himself, and so is able to penetrate into her. He thus causes her alternately to rise and descend upon his tool until the ejaculation takes place.

  Vatsyayana’s Kama Sutra is less inclined to provide detailed analyses of various positions of congress; instead, the author prefers to catalog various positions with brief descriptions and assign names to them. Just as he is capable of an infinite amount of subdivision and classification in respect to various manners of kissing and caressing, so does he outline minor distinctions that we would scarcely be apt to regard as different positions for coitus. The extract that follows is typical.

  When the legs of both male and female are stretched straight out over each other, it is called the clasping position. It is of two kinds, the side position and the supine position, according to the way in which they lie down. In the side position the male should invariably lie on his left side, and cause the woman to lie on her right side, and this rule is to be observed in lying down all kinds of women.

  When, after the congress has begun in the clasping position, the woman presses her lover with her thighs, it is called the pressing position.

  When the woman places one of her thighs across the thigh over her lover, it is called the twining position. When the woman forcibly holds in her yoni (vagina) the lingam (penis) after it is in, it is called the mare’s position. This is learned by pra
ctice only, and is chiefly found among the women of the Andra country.

  When the woman raises both of her thighs straight up, it is called the rising position. When she raises both of her legs, and places them on her lover’s shoulders, it is called the yawning position. When the legs are contracted, and thus held by the lover before his bosom, it is called the pressed position. When only one of her legs is stretched out, it is called the half-pressed position.

  When the woman places one of her legs on her lover’s shoulder, and stretches the other out, and then places the latter on his shoulder, and stretches out the other, and continues to do so alternately, it is called the splitting of a bamboo.

  When one of her legs is placed on the head, and the other is stretched out, it is called the fixing of a nail. This is learned by practice only…

  As we may readily see, Vatsyayana has furnished ten positions, and each is little more than a simple variation on the basic man-above posture. It is this penchant for subtle classification that has given Hindu sexology an extraordinary reputation for varietism, a reputation it perhaps does not entirely deserve. For example, a contemporary American couple might have intercourse in the man-above posture time after time, with considerable variation in the placement of arms and legs, the motions of coitus, the precise placement of bodies, and so forth. In their own minds they would think of themselves as having a single kind of coitus and an extremely ordinary kind at that. In the framework of Hindu sexology, they might employ altogether ten or more separate and singular positions.

  To be sure, the Orient has always been especially obsessed with sexual varietism. Sacred Hindu sculptures record quite graphically the various postures of coital and extracoital copulation. Erotic and sexological writings emphasize the topic excessively. Nevertheless, the theme of postural varietism in coitus is as much a staple of Western sexual lore as it is an ingredient of Eastern sexology. Western civilization has been less inclined to publish this material openly, and written and visual records of the search for “new ways of loving” are in less abundant supply. But when one probes beneath the surface, a similar absorption is readily encountered.