An illustration of a woman performing fellatio on a man
Fellatio (also known asfellation,[1] and in slang asblowjob,BJ,giving head, orsucking off)[2] is anoral sex act consisting of the stimulation of apenis by using the mouth.[3][4] Oral stimulation of thescrotum may also be termedfellatio,[5][6] or colloquially asteabagging.[7]
Most countries do not have laws banning the practice of fellatio, though some cultures may consider ittaboo.[8] People may also refrain from engaging in fellatio due to personal preference, negative feelings, orsexual inhibitions.[8] Commonly, people do not view oral sex as affecting thevirginity of either partner, though opinions on the matter vary.[13][14][15][16]
Etymology
The English nounfellatio comes from theLatinfellātus, the pastparticiple of the verbfellāre, meaning "to suck".[17] Infellatio, the-us is replaced by the-io while the declension stem ends in-ion-, which gives the suffix the form-ion (cf. Frenchfellation). The-io(n) ending is used in English to create nouns from Latinadjectives and it can indicate a state or action wherein the Latin verb is being, or has been, performed.
Further English words have been created based on the same Latin root. A person who performs fellatio upon another (i.e. whofellates) may be termed afellator. Latin'sgender based declension means this word may be restricted to describing a male. The equivalent term for a female isfellatrix.
The essential aspect of fellatio is oral stimulation of the penis (including theshaft andglans) through sucking with the mouth, use of the tongue for licking, using the lips, or some combination.[8] One method is the sex partner taking the penis into the mouth and moving smoothly up and down to a rhythm while being careful to avoid contact with the teeth.[8] Fellatio also includes oral stimulation of the scrotum, whether licking, sucking or taking the entire scrotum into the mouth.[5][6] During the act,orgasm may be achieved andsemen may beejaculated into the partner's mouth.[8][4] When the penis is thrust into someone's mouth, it is calledirrumatio, though the term is rarely used; "face-fucking" is a more prevalent colloquial term.[18]
It is physically possible for men with sufficient flexibility, penis size, or both, to perform fellatio on themselves as a form ofmasturbation, in an act calledautofellatio. However, few men possess the flexibility and penis length to safely perform the necessaryfrontbend.[20]
During fellatio, a partner may ingest semen from the penis. As late as 1976, some doctors were advising women in the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy not to swallow semen lest it induce premature labor, but it was later determined to be safe.[21]
The receiver of fellatio typically becomessexually aroused. Once the prerequisite level of sexual stimulation has been achieved and ejaculation becomes imminent, the semen may be discharged onto his partner. The male may position his penis prior to ejaculation so that semen will be deposited onto his partner's face (known as a "facial"), or other body part such as theirneck, chest orbreast.[22]
Deep-throating
An illustration of a woman deep-throating a man
Deep-throating is a sexual act in which a person takes a partner's entire erect penis into the mouth and throat.[23] The technique and term became popularized by the 1972pornographic filmDeep Throat.[citation needed] For deep-throating, the penis must be long enough so that it can reach the back of the receiver's throat.[24]
Deep-throating can be difficult because of the naturalgag reflex that is triggered when thesoft palate is touched.[25][26] People have different sensitivities to this reflex. With practice, some learn to suppress it. Deep-throating leads to a different kind of sexual stimulation of the penis than regular fellatio: the tongue's movement is restricted during deep-throating and sucking becomes impossible;[27] the tightness of thepharynx can intensely stimulate the glans of the penis.
Other aspects
An illustration of two men performing fellatio on each other in the69 position
The male receiving fellatio receives direct sexual stimulation, while his partner may derive satisfaction from giving him pleasure. Giving and receiving fellatio may happen simultaneously in sex positions like 69 anddaisy chain.
Fellatio is sometimes practiced when vaginal or anal penetration would create a physical difficulty for a sex partner. For example, it may be practiced during pregnancy instead of vaginal intercourse by couples wishing to engage in intimate sexual activity while avoiding the difficulty of vaginal intercourse during later stages of pregnancy.[28]
Other reasons why a woman may not wish to have vaginal intercourse include apprehension of losing her virginity or of becoming pregnant,[13][15] conditions such asendometriosis,vulvodynia/vestibulodynia, orvaginismus that make vaginal penetration painful or impossible, or because she may bemenstruating.
Health aspects
Sexually transmitted infections
Chlamydia,human papillomavirus (HPV),gonorrhea,herpes,hepatitis (multiple strains), and othersexually transmitted infections (STIs) can be transmitted through oral sex.[10][11][29] Any sexual exchange of bodily fluids with a person infected withHIV, the virus that causesAIDS, poses a risk of infection. Risk of STI infection, however, is generally considered significantly lower for oral sex than for vaginal or anal sex, with HIV transmission considered the lowest risk with regard to oral sex.[11][12][30][31]
There is an increased risk of STI transmission if the receiving partner has wounds on their genitals, or if the giving partner has wounds or open sores on or in their mouth, or bleeding gums.[11][12][32] Brushing the teeth, flossing, or undergoing dental work soon before or after giving fellatio can also increase the risk of transmission, because all of these activities can cause small scratches in the lining of the mouth.[11][12] These wounds, even when they aremicroscopic, increase the chances of contracting STIs that can be transmitted orally under these conditions.[11][12] Such contact can also lead to more mundane infections from commonbacteria andviruses found in, around and secreted from the genital regions. Because of the aforementioned factors, medical sources advise the use ofcondoms orother effective barrier methods when performing or receiving fellatio with a partner whose STI status is unknown.[10][11][12][29]
HPV and oral cancer link
Links have been reported between oral sex andoral cancer with HPV-infected people.[33]
A 2007 study suggested acorrelation between oral sex andthroat cancer. It is believed that this is due to the transmission of HPV, a virus that has been implicated in the majority of cervical cancers and which has been detected in throat cancer tissue in numerous studies. The study concludes that people who had one to five oral sex partners in their lifetime had approximately a doubled risk of throat cancer compared with those who never engaged in this activity and those with more than five oral sex partners had a 250 percent increased risk.[34][35][36]
Clinical research has tentatively linked fellatio with immune modulation,[37] indicating it may reduce the chance of complications during pregnancy. The potentially fatal complicationpre-eclampsia was observed to occur less in women who regularly engaged in fellatio, with those who also ingested their partner's semen being at the least risk.[38] The results were consistent with the fact that semen containsTGF-β1, the exchange of which between partners has a causal reduction in risk of pre-eclampsia caused by animmunological reaction. However, fellatio is not the only viable mechanism for the transmission of TGF-β1.[37][39][40]
Cultural views
Virginity
Oral sex is commonly used as a means of preservingvirginity, especially among heterosexual pairings; this is sometimes termedtechnical virginity (which additionally includes anal sex,manual sex and othernon-penetrative sex acts, but excludes penile-vaginal sex).[13][14][15][41] The concept of "technical virginity" orsexual abstinence through oral sex is particularly popular among teenagers in the United States,[15][32][42] including with regard to teenage girls who not only fellate their boyfriends to preserve their virginities, but also to create and maintain intimacy or to avoid pregnancy.[15] Other reasons given for the practice among teenage girls are peer-group pressure and as their introduction to sexual activity.[15] Additionally, gay males may regard fellatio as a way of maintaining their virginities, with penile-anal penetration defined as resulting in virginity loss, while other gay males may define fellatio as their main form of sexual activity.[13][16]
Fellatio is legal in most countries. Laws of some jurisdictions regard fellatio aspenetrative sex for the purposes ofsexual offenses with regard to the act, but most countries do not have laws which ban the practice, in contrast to anal sex orextramarital sex. InIslamic literature, the only forms of sexual activity that are consistently explicitly prohibited within marriage are anal sex and sexual activity during menstruation.[43] However, the exact attitude towards oral sex is a subject of disagreements between modern scholars of Islam. Authorities considering it "objectionable" do so because of the penis' supposedly impure fluids coming in contact with the mouth.[44] Others emphasize that there is no decisive evidence to forbid oral sex.[45]
InMalaysia, fellatio is illegal, but the law is seldom enforced. Under Malaysia's Section 377A of the Penal Code, the introduction of the penis into the anus or mouth of another person is considered a "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and is punishable with imprisonment of 20 years maximum and whipping.[46]
Tradition
Depiction of fellatio on Attic red-figure kylix, c. 510 BC
Galienus called fellatiolesbiari since women of the island ofLesbos were supposed to have introduced the practice of using one's lips to give sexual pleasure.[47]
TheAncient IndianKama Sutra, dating from the first century AD, describes oral sex,[48] discussing fellatio in great detail (theKama Sutra has a chapter onauparishtaka (oroparishtaka), "mouth congress")[49] and only briefly mentioningcunnilingus. However, according to theKama Sutra, fellatio is above all a characteristic ofeunuchs (or, according to other translations, ofeffeminate homosexuals ortrans women similar to the modernHijra of India), who use their mouths as a substitute for femalegenitalia.[50]
Vātsyāyana, the author of theKama Sutra, states that it is also practiced by "unchaste women", but mentions that there are widespread traditional concerns about this being a degrading or unclean practice, with known practitioners being evaded as love partners in large parts of the country. The author appears to somewhat agree with these attitudes, claiming that "a wise man" should not engage in that form of intercourse while acknowledging that it can be appropriate in some unspecified cases.[51][52]
Female bats perform fellatio to increase copulation time. This species is the only non-primate known to exhibit this behaviour.[63]
Flying foxes (a type of bat) have been observed engaging in oral sex.[64]Indian flying fox males will lick a female's vulva both before and aftercopulation, with the length of pre-copulationcunnilingus positively correlated with length of copulation.[65] Thefruit batCynopterus sphinx, has been observed to engage in fellatio during mating. Pairs spend more time copulating if the female licks the male than if she does not.[63][66] MaleLivingstone's fruit bats have been observed engaging inhomosexual fellatio, although it is unknown if this is an example of sexual behavior orsocial grooming.[67]Bonin flying foxes also engage in homosexual fellatio, but the behavior has been observed independently of social grooming.[64]
^abBryan Strong; Christine DeVault; Theodore F. Cohen (2010).The Marriage and Family Experience: Intimate Relationship in a Changing Society.Cengage Learning. p. 186.ISBN978-0-534-62425-5. Archived fromthe original on July 24, 2020. RetrievedOctober 8, 2011.Most people agree that we maintain virginity as long as we refrain from sexual (vaginal) intercourse. But occasionally we hear people speak of 'technical virginity' [...] Data indicate that 'a very significant proportion of teens ha[ve] had experience with oral sex, even if they haven't had sexual intercourse, and may think of themselves as virgins' [...] Other research, especially research looking into virginity loss, reports that 35% of virgins, defined as people who have never engaged in vaginal intercourse, have nonetheless engaged in one or more other forms of heterosexual sexual activity (e.g., oral sex, anal sex, or mutual masturbation).
^abJoseph Gross, Michael (2003)."Like a Virgin".The Advocate. Here Publishing. pp. 44–45. 0001-8996.Archived from the original on 2021-05-03. Retrieved2011-03-13.
^Freud, Sigmund (1916).Leonardo da Vinci: A Psychosexual Study of an Infantile Reminiscence. New York: Moffat Yard & Company. pp. 39. RetrievedJanuary 7, 2012.The situation contained in the phantasy, that a vulture opened the mouth of the child and forcefully belabored it with its tail, corresponds to the idea of fellatio, a sexual act in which the member is placed into the mouth of the woman.
^McDougal, David; Van Lieshout, Dave; Harting, John."Medical Neurosciences". UW-Madison Medical school. Archived fromthe original on March 6, 2012. RetrievedJanuary 7, 2012.
^Ken Plummer (2002).Modern Homosexualities: Fragments of Lesbian and Gay Experiences.Routledge. pp. 187–191.ISBN978-1-134-92242-0.Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. RetrievedAugust 24, 2013.The social construction of 'sex' as vaginal intercourse affects how other forms of sexual activity are evaluated as sexually satisfying or arousing; in some cases whether an activity is seen as a sexual act at all. For example, unless a woman has been penetrated by a man's penis she is still technically a virgin even if she has had lots of sexual experience.
^Penrose, Walter (2001). "Hidden in History: Female Homoeroticism and Women of a "Third Nature" in the South Asian Past".Journal of the History of Sexuality.10 (1):3–39.doi:10.1353/sex.2001.0018.ISSN1043-4070.JSTOR3704787.
^abSugita, N. (2016). Homosexual Fellatio: Erect Penis Licking between Male Bonin Flying Foxes Pteropus pselaphon. PLoS ONE, 11(11), e0166024.
^Maruthupandian, J., & Marimuthu, G. (2013). Cunnilingus apparently increases duration of copulation in the Indian flying fox, Pteropus giganteus. PLoS ONE, 8(3), e59743.
^Courts, S. E. (1996). An ethogram of captive Livingstone's fruit bats Pteropus livingstonii in a new enclosure at Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. The Dodo: Journal of the Wildlife Preservation Trusts, 32, 15–37.
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