<< Genital Stimulation, Oral >>

Mouth-genital contacts of some sort, with the subject as either the active or the passive member in the relationship, occur at some time in the histories of nearly 60 per cent of all males (Table 94). In marital relations, oral stimulation of male or female genitalia occurs in about 60 per cent of the histories of persons who have been to college, although it is in only about 20 per cent of the histories of the high school level and in 11 per cent of the histories of the grade school level (Table 94). Because of the long-standing taboos in our culture on mouth-genital activity, it is quite probable that there has been more cover-up on this point than on most others in the present study, and the above figures must, therefore, represent minimum incidences. In nearly all of the upper level histories which involve oral contacts the males make contacts with the female genitalia. In about 47 per cent of the histories, the females make similar contacts with the male genitalia. The frequencies of such contacts range from a single experimental instance to regular and abundant elaborations of oral techniques in connection with nearly every sexual relation.

Mouth-genital contacts (of any kind) occur much more often at high school and college levels (Table 94), less often in the grade school group. In the histories of the college group, about 72 per cent of the males have at least experimented with such contacts, and about 65 per cent of the males who have gone into high school but not beyond. Among those males who have never gone beyond eighth grade in school the accumulative incidence figure is only 40 per cent.

The percentages for males who have made mouth contacts with female genitalia prior to marriage are 9, 10, and 18 for grade school, high school, and college levels, respectively (Table 93). In marriage, such contacts are in 4, 15, and 45 per cent of the histories, for the three groups. Before marriage, the percentages of males with histories which included mouth stimulation of the male genitalia during heterosexual relations were 22, 30, and 39, for the three educational levels. In marriage, such relations have been had in 7, 15, and 43 per cent of the cases, for the three levels, respectively.

Although, as we have already noted, mouth-genital contacts are part of the pre-coital sex play of practically all mammals, such contacts are condemned in Judeo-Christian codes. In consequence, they are the last of the petting techniques to be accepted by males or females, for there are males as well as females who consider such activities biologically abnormal and perverse.

Among the younger females in the sample who had not had premarital coitus, only 3 per cent had allowed the male to touch their genitalia orally (Table 73f). The figure was still lower— between 1 and 2 per cent—among the females who were born before 1900.
Oral contacts with the female genitalia are also noted in: Adler 1911:164. Hamilton 1929:177, 217. Van de Velde 1930:169. Dickinson and Beam 1931: 366. Strakosch 1934:84-85. Havelock Ellis 1936 (11,3): 555-557. Stone and Stone 1937:222; 1952:183. Chesser 1947:139. Fromme 1950:99. Brown and Kempton 1950:223.

But among those females who had had some, even though not extensive coital experience, some 20 per cent in the younger generations had accepted such oral stimulation; and among those who had had more extensive coital experience, 46 per cent had accepted such contacts. There were surprisingly few differences between the older and younger generations in these respects.

Oral stimulation of the male genitalia by the female occurs somewhat less frequently than oral stimulation of the female genitalia by the male. Often the female makes such contacts only because she is urged to do so by the male, but there are a few females who initiate such activity and some who may be much aroused by it. A few may even reach orgasm as they manipulate the male genitalia orally. This greater inclination of the human male toward oral activity is duplicated among other species of mammals. Contrary to our earlier thinking, we now understand that there are basic psychologic differences between the sexes; and although cultural traditions may also be involved, the differences in oral behavior may depend primarily on the greater capacity of the male to be stimulated psychologically.
Oral contacts with the male genitalia are also noted in: Hamilton 1929:177, 217. Van de Velde 1930:171. Hartwich et al. 1931:118: Dickinson and Beam 1931:66, 366. Strakosch 1934:84-85.

In the younger generations in that portion of the sample which had not had pre-marital coitus, only 2 per cent had attempted to stimulate the male genitalia orally (Table 73f). The incidence was lower for the group which was born before 1900, but it was higher for the younger generation in the upper educational levels. For instance, 5 per cent of the females who were born after 1910, and who had graduate school training, had had such experience. 24

But among the females of the younger generations who had had some (even though limited) experience in coitus, 16 per cent had stimulated the male genitalia orally. And among those who had had more extensive pre-marital coitus, oral contacts with the male genitalia were recorded in 43 per cent of the petting histories. It is surprising to find that the figure was hardly lower (38 per cent) for the generation which was born before 1900. In the very youngest generation of the better educated groups, nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of the females who had had extensive coital experience had made oral contacts with the male genitalia before marriage. Obviously experience in coitus leads to a considerable acceptance of petting techniques which sexually inexperienced persons often consider taboo.

Most of the mouth-genital contacts are had between spouses. Prostitutes provide a portion of such contacts. However, it should be noted that most prostitutes are from the lower social levels, and consequently that few of them engage freely in oral activities. Even among those who make such contacts professionally, few of them would accept the same type of relationship with their boy friends. In her private life, even the prostitute does not depart from the mores of her social level, although she may do anything for pay.

Mouth-genital contacts in homosexual relations occur most commonly among the males of the high school level, and not quite so often in the males of the college and grade school groups (Table 94). Of the entire male population (U. S. Corrections), about 30 per cent has been brought to climax at least once in such relations with other males, and 14 per cent has brought other males to climax by the same techniques. The total of those who have had any type of oral relation in the homosexual is something over 30 per cent.

Since an appreciable portion of the male homosexual contacts, and some part of the female homosexual contacts, may involve mouth-genital techniques, oral activities between males and females have sometimes been considered ‘‘homosexual.” There is, of course, no scientific justification for such a use of the term, and an analysis of oral contacts in the heterosexual does not show any homosexual element involved. It is the basic, oral eroticism of the mammal which is concerned in all mouth-genital relations, whatever the sex of the partner.

The English-American common law and most of the American written codes condemn all mouth-genital contacts, whether they occur between partners of the same sex, or between partners of the opposite sex, and whether they occur within marriage or outside of marriage. While the laws are more commonly enforced in regard to such relations outside of marriage, there are instances of spouses whose oral activities became known to their children and through them to the neighborhood, and ultimately led to prosecution and penal sentences for both husband and wife. Because of the taboos in this country, not even psychiatrists have comprehended the considerable incidence of such relations among married partners. The suggestion that such techniques in our present-day society are a recent development among sophisticated and sexually exhausted individuals is curiously contrary to the specific record, for the figures for at least three generations do not show significant changes in this respect (Table 93).

As noted elsewhere (Chapter 18), these are quite common in the sexual activity of many of the other mammals, particularly among the other anthropoids (Beach 1947). There have been some other human cultures which have accepted such contacts as usual behavior, and even as a part of their religious service. Such activities have been more freely discussed in certain European cultures, and they have, of course, been recorded from every culture in the history of the world, including the most ancient from which there are documentary or pictorial records, pottery, or other materials (from Greece, Rome, India, China, Japan, Peru, Bah, etc.).

Because of the widespread taboos on the subject, the contemplation of participation in oral-genital activities often results in blocked emotional responses which erupt in bitter condemnations of the partner who initiated the activity, and sometimes produce alimentary peristalsis resulting in nausea or diarrhea. This is, of course, the clearest sort of evidence that the affected individual’s initial responses were positive, for it demands a blockage of a definite reaction to produce such a violent disturbance. The male, with his higher level of sexual responsiveness, is the one who is more often interested in making oral contacts, and it is the wife who is more often offended. This may lead to guilt feelings on the part of both of the partners. The refusal of the wife to accept such contacts, or the husband’s hesitancy to risk his wife’s refusal, may lead some upper level males to seek oral contacts with prostitutes.

There is a not inconsiderable list of histories in which dissension over oral relations has caused serious disagreements in marriage, and a fair number of divorces have revolved around this question, although the contesting partners rarely disclose the real source of their difficulty when they come to court action. There are several instances of wives who have murdered their husbands because they insisted on mouth-genital contacts. Unfortunately, marriage counselors, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists have not known enough about the basic biology of these contacts, nor enough about the actual frequencies of such behavior in the population, to be able to help their patients as often as they might, and they have not been able to supply courts with adequate scientific data when such cases have come up. The clinician who advises a patient that oral contacts are rare and abnormal and that they constitute sexual perversions is merely epitomizing the mores. He is not supplying scientific data. On the other hand, the clinician who freely advises acceptance of such contacts must not overlook the deep emotional values which are rooted in the long-time customs of our society, and which for many persons are prime factors in determining their individual behavior.

A list of the social problems which most often arise out of human sexual activity would give first places to venereal disease, bastardy, rape, and the contribution by adults to the delinquency of minor children. On the other hand, personal conflicts most often develop over masturbation, oral contacts, and the homosexual. These are the three that need especial help— not because they are rare, but because they are widespread, and because nearly every male in the population is at one time or other involved in one or more of them. These are the three that are most often encountered by the clinician, not because men are frequently abnormal or recently become perverse, but because all three of these are part of the basic biologic pattern of mammalian sexual behavior, and because no legislation or social taboos have been able to eliminate them from the history of the human animal.

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