This will be my last column of 2010-11, and since I would be talking about sex at the end of the year, I figured, why not talk about sex at the end of your rear? That’s right: This column is going to be about anal sexuality.
Whether you just cringed with disgust, flinched with pain or squealed with glee, it’s clear that anal sexuality elicits strong emotional reactions.
We are trained early on in childhood that fecal matter is dirty, and so the anus is an unclean place. It’s no wonder that “a—hole” is such a common American insult. We shouldn’t look at or touch our collective anus, and so we grow unfamiliar, uncomfortable and unwelcoming toward anal eroticism.
On top of this revulsion, we associate anal sex with pain. There is a high concentration of nerve endings around the anus, which explains our particular sensitivity to pain in that area. We expect that anal sex must be painful, so we avoid it.
There are social stigmas around anal sex as well. Many straight men feel threatened by anal eroticism because it’s considered gay, or they reserve the idea of receptive intercourse for female roles. These connections, and the related homophobia and misogyny, have likely encouraged the anti-sodomy laws prevalent in many countries.
While it is true that three out of four gay men have anal sex at some point in their lives and that roughly half of these men enjoy receptive anal intercourse, this also means that not all gay men enjoy anal, and that other genders or orientations are not precluded from enjoying anal sex.
Regardless of your opinion about anal, it is becoming more prevalent in heterosexuals, or at least more visible. Many people are finding pleasure in that same cluster of nerves around the anus, through outer stimulation, penetration, or inner pressure on the prostate or vagina.
The Project RESPECT study (1993-1995) found that 9 percent of heterosexual men and women reported any anal intercourse in the previous three months. These numbers rose to 21 and 22 percent in Project RESPECT II (1999-2000). An analysis of the 2002-2003 National Survey of Family Growth revealed that 34 percent of men and 30 percent of women have reported ever having heterosexual anal sex.
With this increased prevalence, we must acknowledge the risks and implications for public health. Unprotected receptive anal intercourse is a risk factor for HIV transmission in both homosexuals and heterosexuals, and anal HPV infection has been associated with anal cancers. Condom use during anal sex is low in heterosexuals, likely due to a perception of low STI risk with long-term partners or to the unlikelihood of pregnancy.
