Mars : brings animosity, anger, and desire to the fetus; forms the head of the fetus and divides the arms from the torso during the third month


Sun : bestows the power of knowing and remembering, as well as creates the heart


Venus : causes separation of hands and feet, and it creates exterior features, such as the mouth, nose, and outer sexual organs


Mercury : the sixth month is characterized by development of the voice, eyes, and hair; Joy is also created by Mercury


Moon : brings formation of the fetus to an end by completing the skin


The author also attributes certain body parts to the twelve signs of the  Zodiac . For example, the formation of the feet and sole is attributed to  Pisces . [ 1 ]  Thus, it can be seen that astrological influence on reproduction was a popular idea to this author and others in this time.


Lemay, Helen Rodnite.  Women's Secrets: A Translation of Pseudo-Albertus Magnus's  De secretis mulierum  with Commentaries.  SUNY Series in Medieval Studies.  Albany: SUNY Press, 1992.


A  soft butch , or  stem  ( stud-fem ), is a  lesbian  who exhibits some stereotypical  butch  traits without fitting the masculine stereotype associated with butch lesbians. Soft butch is on the spectrum of butch, as are stone butch and masculine, whereas on the contrary, ultra fem, high femme, and  lipstick lesbian  are some labels on the spectrum of lesbians with a more prominent expression of femininity, also known as  femmes . [ 1 ]  Soft butches have gender expressions of women, but primarily display masculine characteristics; soft butches predominantly express masculinity with a touch of femininity. [ 2 ]


The "hardness", or label depicting one's level of masculine expression as a butch is dependent upon the fluidity of her  gender expression . [ 3 ]  Soft butches might want to express themselves through their clothing and hairstyle in a more  masculine  way, but their behavior in a more traditionally  feminine  way. [ 2 ]  For example, these traits of a soft butch may or may not include short hair, clothing that was designed for men, and masculine mannerisms and behaviors. Soft butches generally appear  androgynous , rather than adhering to strictly feminine or masculine norms. [ 4 ]  Soft butches generally physically, sexually, and romantically express themselves in more masculine than feminine ways in the majority of those categories. [ 5 ]


In addition to a soft butch's gender expression through her outward appearance, she also has a distinctive way of sexually expressing herself. Soft butch women might want to have a more passive role  sexually  or  romantically  in their relationships, which is generally associated with feminine sexual behavior. [ 2 ]  This is an example of how a soft butch's sexuality and outward appearance are not completely masculine, but have some feminine traits. This desire to express both masculinity and femininity through one's gender and sexuality is clearly seen in soft butch women, but also across many people of a variety of  sexual orientations . [ 2 ]


A  stone butch  is a  lesbian  who displays  female butchness  or traditional " masculinity " and who does not allow their genitals to be touched during  sexual activity , [ 1 ]  as opposed to a  stone femme .


The term  stone butch  was popularized by  Leslie Feinberg 's 1993 novel  Stone Butch Blues , which describes the protagonist's explorations of the lesbian community. A large segment is devoted to the tribulations of being a stone butch person, and the experience of being a lesbian while identifying with masculine traits. [ 2 ]


Bonnie Zimmerman  documents a use of the term to refer to a lesbian who "does not allow herself to be touched during lovemaking", but may experience vicarious sexual pleasure from her partner's enjoyment. [ 3 ]  Zimmerman notes that this may have been particularly prevalent in the 1940s and 1950s. [ 3 ]


The term  stone butch  has also been used in reference to a subculture or set of mannerisms, [ 4 ]  as opposed to a statement about sexual behaviour. In this context, 'stone butch' can describe the opposite of 'femme' or 'high femme' attributes, [ 5 ]  although an individual can identify with both categories. [ 6 ]


Stone butch identities can overlap with  non-binary gender  identities and  transgender   masculine  identities among lesbians. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]  The sociologist Sara Crawley has written that, while stone butch and masculine transgender identities may share significant characteristics, the primary distinction between the two is that lesbian self-identification prioritizes communicating one's identity to a specifically lesbian audience, whereas transgender masculine self-identification does not. [ 11 ]  Similarly,  Jack Halberstam  has contextualised stone butch identities as one of many distinct female masculinities. [ 12 ]


This article about  lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer  topics is a  stub . You can help Wikipedia by  expanding it .


A  thigh gap  is a space between the inner  thighs  of some women when standing upright with knees touching. [ 1 ]


In the 21st century, some people in the  West  have begun to consider the thigh gap a special feature of  physical attractiveness  and physical fitness in women. [ 2 ] [ 3 ]


In the United States, it was reported that among teenage girls, a gap had become a  beauty ideal . [ 4 ]  Many women have found it difficult to achieve a thigh gap,  leading some to resort to extreme dieting [ 5 ]  or surgery [ 6 ]  in order to try to obtain it. [ 7 ]  Critics of the phenomenon have pointed out that the thigh gap is a physical feature natural only for women with a certain type of  body shape  and bone structure that most women do not have.  Experts say [ which? ]  that attempts to attain the unattainable ideal result in problems of self-esteem that can lead to  eating disorders . [ 8 ]


The thigh gap first received widespread news coverage in December 2012 after the  Victoria's Secret Fashion Show [ 9 ]  which featured several models with noticeable thigh gaps. Images of thigh gaps featured in " thinspiration " blogs [ 10 ]  and across  social networking  sites. [ 11 ]


In 2013, author Camille Hugh published her book  The Thigh Gap Hack , [ 12 ]  and in June 2013 she was interviewed about the book on  The Dr. Oz Show . [ 13 ]  The book was criticized by Lisa Delaney of Spryliving.com, who said the book "feeds girls' and women's obsessions with their bodies, promotes thinness at the expense of healthfulness (because of Hugh's disdain of fitness, exercise, muscles, etc.), and promotes flaky, unproven methods for weight/fat loss." [ 12 ]


A backlash quickly developed among those concerned about the potential negative consequences of the trend. Parenting experts and counselors formed anti-thigh gap movements. [ 1 ]  The medical community and female-empowerment advocates have also commented critically on the subject, [ 14 ]  and the U.S.  National Eating Disorders Association  launched a website to promote healthy  body image  and attitudes to food and weight. [ 15 ]


Australian  plus-size model   Robyn Lawley  criticized the thigh gap trend, denouncing it as "just another tool of manipulation that other people are trying to use to keep me from loving my body". [ 16 ]   Target Corporation  apologized after  Cassey Ho  discovered [ 17 ]  that a photo of a model had a  photoshopped  thigh gap for a girl's bathing suit ad. [ 18 ]   Old Navy  came under criticism by bloggers after a photo of a mannequin wearing women's  plus-size   jeans  on their website appeared to have a small thigh gap placed so that the jeans on the mannequin would look thinner than they would look on an actual person. [ 19 ]  Old Navy subsequently stated that they do not use any photo-editing techniques to alter the apparent shape of their products, but they do sometimes use pins on clothing to adjust how it fits a mannequin. [ 19 ]


The thigh gap has also spawned opinions from newspapers.  The Times of India  called it "mania". [ 20 ]  Columnist Kelly Richardson of the  Sacramento Bee  wrote that "for most people it is next to impossible to attain". [ 21 ]  In  The Observer  journalist Rosie Swash called the thigh gap "widespread, harmful and often unachievable". [ 22 ]  Columnist  Hadley Freeman  called it the "most extreme body fixation yet". [ 23 ]
Geneticist Sylvia Pagán Westphal was inspired to write an opinion piece on the thigh gap after her daughter brought the trend to her attention and was appalled by the results of her Google search for the term. [ 24 ]   San Jose State University  sociologist Natalie Boero has attributed the trend to living in a "sexist and sizeist culture" [ 8 ]  and clinical psychologist Barbara Greenberg has dismissed the trend as a "pipe dream", [ 8 ]  adding "most women are not built that way to have that space between their thighs". [ 25 ]


Beate Uhse-Rotermund  ( German pronunciation:   [beˈaːtə   ˈʔuːzə   ˈʁoːtɐmʊnt]   ⓘ ; born  Beate Köstlin   [ˈkœstliːn] , 25 October 1919 – 16 July 2001) was a German pilot, entrepreneur and sex pioneer. She was one of the very few female  stunt pilots  in Germany in the 1930s. During  World War II  she ferried planes for the German  Luftwaffe  and after World War II she started a  sex shop .  The company she started,  Beate Uhse AG , is listed on the  Frankfurt Stock Exchange .


Uhse was born in Wargenau, a neighborhood of  Cranz ,  East Prussia  (now  Zelenogradsk , Russia). She was the youngest of three children of the farmer Otto Köstlin and the doctor Magarete Köstlin (one of the first five female doctors in Germany).


When she was eight years old, her older brother told her the myth of  Icarus . Beate was fascinated by the story, and by the idea of flying—so much so that she gathered chicken feathers and glued together some wings and jumped from her parents' veranda. Beate was a wild child. Her parents did not try to control her; instead they encouraged their daughter in her interests and desires. They assisted her in getting a good education at progressive boarding schools " Schule am Meer " and " Odenwaldschule " where she graduated. They informed their children on sexual matters early, and spoke with them openly about sexuality and contraception. At 15, Beate became the Hessian javelin champion.


At 16, Beate Köstlin went to England for a year to learn English as an  au pair . Afterwards, she returned to her parents' home where, to satisfy her parents, she obtained a "proper" education (in  Home Economics ). During a trip to Berlin, her father met a Mr. Sachsenberg, a lecturer on motor sports from the German Aero-Club (a nonprofit organization dedicated to flying), and complained to him of his "flying-crazy" daughter and the "nonsensical" concept of a female pilot. Sachsenberg was, instead, excited by the idea, and sent the seventeen-year-old Beate information about obtaining a pilot's license.


Finally her parents gave in to her demands, and in 1937 she joined the  Rangsdorf  pilot school near  Berlin . In October of that year, on her 18th birthday, she received her pilot's license. In 1938, she passed the stunt pilot exam, and shortly thereafter competed in a race in Belgium. She won in her category, and also won 2nd place overall in target landing and 3rd in "punctual flight."


She then worked for the  Bücker  aircraft company in Rangsdorf as a test pilot and subsequently, at age 19, as a delivery pilot for the Alfred Friedrich aircraft concern in  Strausberg , east of Berlin. Soon afterwards, she was asked by the  UFA  film company to work as a stunt double in films. She worked with  Hans Albers , a film star she particularly admired, and with numerous others. In the German propaganda movie  German :  Achtung! Feind hört mit!  she performed a stunt as a double for German actor  René Deltgen , in which she flew through a balloon barrier and simulated an uncontrolled dive.


Beate fell in love with her stunt-piloting instructor, Hans-Jürgen Uhse, but repeatedly rejected his proposals of marriage. She swore she would "never ever give up flying for a man." Since Hans-Jürgen strongly supported her ambitions, however, she finally accepted, but her father resisted. For one whole year, her father refused to bless their union. Finally, a festive wedding was scheduled for 10 October 1939. However, it had to be canceled because of the beginning of the  Second World War . On 28 September, Hans-Jürgen Uhse was to be posted; the couple married quietly four hours before his departure.


During the war, stunt piloting became impossible and Beate Uhse was grounded. In her small home in  Rangsdorf , she felt  claustrophobic , so she accepted an offer by the  Luftwaffe  to work in an aircraft ferrying unit. Thus, she was occasionally also able to fly combat aircraft that she otherwise would not be allowed to fly: the  Junkers Ju 87 Stuka , the  Messerschmitt Bf 109  and  110 , the  Focke-Wulf Fw 190  and at the end of the war even the  Messerschmitt Me 262 , the world's first operational jet fighter. Although attacked several times by allied aircraft she continued, as she felt that after the war, with this experience, she would be able to have a career as a pilot.


In 1943, her son Klaus was born. After the birth, she was permitted to continue flying because she was in a role considered vital to the war effort, and she received permission to hire a nanny.


In October 1944, she was promoted to the rank of  captain  and was assigned to Ferry Squadron 1 ( German :  Überführungsgeschwader 1 ) based in Berlin- Staaken .


In 1945, her husband Hans-Jürgen died in an air crash, leaving Beate a 24-year-old widow with a year-old son.


In April 1945, Berlin was  surrounded by Soviet forces . The commander of Uhse's squadron wanted to move the battalion west. Uhse made her way through the ravaged city to her house in Rangsdorf and picked up her son and his nanny, but when she brought them to the airport, her unit had already left, along with her airplane. She found a small  Siebel Fh 104  plane that did not have a pilot, and while it was being fueled she studied the plane's manual, as she had never flown this type. With her son and the nanny, together with four other passengers, two of whom were injured, she left embattled Berlin flying northwest, finally landing in  Leck  in  North Friesland . [ 1 ]  There she was captured by British forces.


After her release, she settled in  Flensburg , in what would become West Germany, with her son.


In the early postwar period, former members of the Luftwaffe were not permitted to fly, and Uhse's aviation career ended.  First, she made a living on the black market.  She was selling products door-to-door and met many housewives and learned of their problems: former soldiers returning from the war were making their wives pregnant, not caring that there was "no apartment, no income and no future" for any children.  Many of the women went to untrained abortionists.  Uhse remembered lectures her mother (who had died during the war) had given her on sexuality, sexual hygiene and contraception.  She searched for information on the Knaus-Ogino rhythm method of contraception, and put together a brochure which explained to the women how to identify their fertile and infertile days.


By 1947, she had sold 32,000 copies of "Pamphlet X" via her "Betu" mail order company, and began to expand to larger cities such as Hamburg and Bremen.  Many people wrote her letters asking for advice on sexuality and eroticism.  "These people were unaware of the facts of life," she wrote in her autobiography.  Soon she was also selling condoms and "marriage guides."


In 1951, with four employees, she started the  Beate Uhse Mail Order Co. , offering condoms and books on "marital hygiene." Two years later, the company had 14 employees.  Uhse married retailer Ernst-Walter Rotermund and had a second child, Ulrich.


In 1962, in Flensburg, she opened her "speciality store for marital hygiene" largely focused on  sexuality , thus considered as the first  sex shop . She offered, both in her store and her catalog, more "articles for marital hygiene."  Soon the police began acting against the items in her store which supposedly served to "inflame and satisfy lustful desires in a manner contrary to decency and morality."  By 1992, her store had been indicted more than 2,000 times.  She was also discriminated against by other organizations, including the "Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels" (a financial organization of the German book industry), which refused to admit her publishing house due to "moral concerns."  The Flensburger tennis club refused to admit her due to "general concerns."


In 1979, she divorced her second husband. In 1983, she was diagnosed with stomach  cancer , but survived. At age 75 she obtained a diving licence. In 1996, she fulfilled a long-held dream, and opened the  Beate Uhse Erotic Museum  in  Berlin . Three years later, in 1999, her company,  Beate Uhse AG , was listed on the German stock exchange and was met with great interest in the financial community. The stock was oversubscribed 64 times in its  IPO .  The original stock certificates are greatly desired because of the depiction of two scantily dressed women.


The Beate Uhse business continues to trade throughout Europe under the names Beate Uhse, Pabo and et Eve.


In 2001, Uhse died of  pneumonia  in a clinic in  St. Gallen , Switzerland.


Uhse was one of the most important people for sexual liberation in the German-speaking world.  In 1989 she received the  Federal Cross of Merit  ( German :  Bundesverdienstkreuz ).


Despite the fact that she contributed to bettering female sex lives, Beate Uhse remains a controversial figure for radical feminists, who consistently complain about her refusing to hire female collaborators, and would "objectify the female" body in order to sell her products. [ 2 ]


Vaginal cysts  are uncommon  benign   cysts  that develop in the  vaginal wall . [ 1 ] [ 2 ]  The type of epithelial tissue lining a cyst is used to classify these growths. [ 3 ]  They can be congenital. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ]  They can present in childhood and adulthood. [ 7 ]  The most common type is the squamous inclusion cyst. It develops within vaginal tissue present at the site of an episiotomy or other vaginal surgical sites. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]  In most instances they do not cause symptoms and present with few or no complications. [ 8 ] [ 4 ]  A vaginal cyst can develop on the surface of the vaginal epithelium or in deeper layers. Often, they are found by the woman herself and as an  incidental finding  during a routine  pelvic examination . [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 3 ]  Vaginal cysts can mimic other structures that protrude from the vagina such as a  rectocele  and  cystocele . [ 1 ] [ 11 ]  Some cysts can be distinguished visually but most will need a  biopsy  to determine the type. [ 8 ] [ 12 ]  Vaginal cysts can vary in size and can grow as large as 7 cm. [ 1 ] [ 13 ]  Other cysts can be present on the vaginal wall though mostly these can be  differentiated . [ 8 ] [ 14 ]  Vaginal cysts can often be  palpated  (felt) by a clinician. Vaginal cysts are one type of vaginal mass, others include  cancers  and  tumors . [ 15 ]  The prevalence of vaginal cysts is uncertain since many go unreported but it is estimated that 1 out of 200 women have a vaginal cyst. [ 1 ] [ 10 ]  Vaginal cysts may initially be discovered during pregnancy and childbirth. These are then treated to provide an unobstructed delivery of the infant. [ 1 ]  Growths that originate from the urethra and other tissue can present as cysts of the vagina. [ 16 ]


Vaginal inclusion cysts can appear as small bumps and can develop during childbirth, or after surgery. [ 8 ]  A squamous inclusion cyst can rarely be found in a newborn. [ 7 ]  Other cysts can be  Bartholin's cysts ,  Gartner's duct cysts ,  mucous inclusions ,  epithelial inclusion cysts ,  embryonic cysts  and  urothelial cysts . [ 1 ] [ 17 ]  Less common vaginal cysts are endometrial cysts and  vaginitis emphysematosa . Vaginitis emphysematosum is a group of gas-filled cysts on the vaginal wall; these are benign and self-limiting (resolve on their own). [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 7 ]  Vaginal cysts can also be congenital and associated with urinary system anomalies  [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ]


The most common type of vaginal cyst are Müllerian cysts. These usually develop on the anterolateral vaginal wall. [ 1 ]  This cyst can be lined with epithelium from the  cervix ,  uterus  and  fallopian tubes . [ 21 ]


An epithelial inclusion cyst is also referred to as epidermal inclusion cyst or squamous inclusion cyst. [ 22 ] [ 10 ]  This type of cyst comprises 23% of all vaginal cysts and is the second most common. This cyst originates from epithelium tissue that has been 'trapped' from  surgery ,  episiotomy , or other trauma. It is most often found on the lower posterior vaginal wall. [ 22 ] [ 2 ]  An  epidermoid cyst  is one type of vaginal cyst. [ 23 ]   Inclusion cysts are small and located on the posterior, lower end of the vagina. Small pieces of vaginal epithelium are trapped beneath the surface due to perineal lacerations and imperfect surgical repair after an episiotomy. [ 3 ]


A  Gartner's duct cyst  develops from a small tissue remnant of the  mesonephric duct . Symptoms include:  infection , bladder dysfunction,  abdominal pain ,  vaginal discharge , and  urinary incontinence . [ 11 ]  It is often large enough to cause urinary incontinence but surgical removal provides treatment and recurrence is unlikely. [ 20 ] [ 4 ]  Diagnosis is confirmed with  ultrasound  imaging. [ 19 ]   The evaluation by biopsy provides the most accurate diagnosis. [ 19 ]   This cyst has a lining of epithelial tissue that varies from squamous to mucin-secreting transitional epithelium. [ 21 ]


Occasionally, a parasitic infection causes a vaginal cyst. [ 15 ]


In most instances, symptoms are minimal or absent. Some women may experience vaginal pressure, discomfort, swelling, painful sex, or bleeding. [ 10 ]  Cysts can also be sensitive and tender to the touch. [ 17 ]


Diagnosis is aided by the use of ultrasound, CT scan, voiding cystourethrogram, and MRI. [ 10 ] [ 24 ]  Ultrasound findings may be the visualization of smooth margins of a fluid-filled structure. [ 15 ]  Vaginal cysts resemble other structures that protrude from the vagina such as rectocele and cystocele. Histological assessment is needed to determine the specific type of cyst. [ 1 ]  Vaginal cysts are often discovered during a routine pelvic exam or pap smear. [ 10 ] [ 9 ]  Cysts are also discovered during a bimanual exam. [ 15 ]  Other structures that resemble vaginal cysts are connective tissue tumors,  hematocolpos , and hymenal atresia. [ 15 ]  The absence of  vaginal rugae  over the cyst is a clue to their presence. [ 3 ]


Many cysts remain small, are followed closely by a clinician, and resolve on their own. [ 8 ]  Surgery and/or drainage is performed to remove the cyst. [ 10 ]  Treatment continues after the surgical removal by scheduled followups with the medical provider who looks for changes in the cyst. [ 8 ]  Bartholin gland cysts often need to be drained. Sometimes, antibiotics are prescribed to treat them as well. [ 11 ]  Treatment for these usually includes  aspiration ,  marsupialisation  and  deroofing . [ 19 ] [ 13 ] [ 11 ]   When cysts are treated complications are few. Vaginal cysts rarely recur. When surgically removed, the cysts usually do not return. In some cases a Bartholin cyst can develop and need further treatment. [ 8 ]  In most cases, there are no complications from the cysts themselves. A surgical removal carries a small risk of complication. The risk depends on where the cyst is located.


A  Venus figurine  is any  Upper Palaeolithic   statue  portraying a woman, usually carved in  the round . [ 1 ]  Most have been unearthed in  Europe , but others have been found as far away as  Siberia  and distributed across much of  Eurasia .


Most date from the  Gravettian  period (26,000–21,000 years ago). [ 1 ]  However, findings are not limited to this period; for example, the  Venus of Hohle Fels  dates back at least 35,000 years to the  Aurignacian  era, and the  Venus of Monruz  dates back about 11,000 years to the  Magdalenian . Such figurines were carved from soft stone (such as  steatite ,  calcite  or  limestone ), bone or ivory, or formed of  clay  and fired. The latter are among the oldest  ceramics  known to historians. In total, over 200 such figurines are known; [ 2 ]  virtually all of modest size, between about 3 and 40 cm (1.2 and 15.7 in) in height. [ 3 ]  These figurines are recognised as some of the earliest works of  prehistoric art .


Most have wide hips and legs that taper to a point. Arms and feet are often absent, and the head is usually small and faceless. Various figurines exaggerate the abdomen,  hips ,  breasts , thighs, or  vulva , although many found examples do not reflect these typical characteristics. Depictions of hairstyles can be detailed, and clothing or tattoos may be indicated. [ 4 ]


The original cultural meaning and purpose of these artefacts is not known. It has frequently been suggested that they may have served a ritual or symbolic function. There are widely varying and speculative interpretations of their use or meaning: they have been seen as religious figures, [ 5 ]  an expression of health and fertility, grandmother goddesses, or as self-depictions by female artists. [ 6 ]


The  Vénus impudique , which was the figurine that gave the whole category its name, was the first Palaeolithic sculptural representation of a woman to be discovered in modern times. It was found in 1864 by  Paul Hurault, 8th Marquis de Vibraye  at  Laugerie-Basse  in the  Vézère  valley. This valley is one of the many important  Stone Age  sites in and around the commune of  Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil  in  Dordogne , southwestern  France . The figurines were mostly discovered in settlement contexts, both in open-air sites and caves. [ 1 ]  The  Magdalenian  Venus from  Laugerie-Basse  is headless, footless, armless, and displays a strongly emphasised  vulva . [ 7 ]


Four years later,  Salomon Reinach  published an article about a group of  soapstone  figurines from the caves of  Balzi Rossi . The famous  Venus of Willendorf  was excavated in 1908 from a  loess  deposit in the  Danube  valley located in  Austria . [ citation needed ]  Since then, hundreds of similar figurines have been discovered from the  Pyrenees  Mountains to the plains of  Siberia . [ 8 ]


In September 2008, archaeologists from the  University of Tübingen  discovered a 6 cm (2.4 in) figurine carved from a  mammoth 's tusk. This figurine was later called the  Venus of Hohle Fels  and can be dated to at least 35,000 years ago. It represents the earliest known sculpture of this type and the earliest known work of  figurative art . [ 9 ]


Upper Palaeolithic female figurines are collectively described as "Venus figurines" in reference to the  Roman  goddess of beauty  Venus .  The name was first used in the mid-nineteenth century by the  Marquis de Vibraye , who discovered an ivory figurine and named it  La Vénus impudique  or  Venus Impudica  ("immodest Venus"). [ 10 ]  The Marquis then contrasted the ivory figurine to the  Aphrodite Of Knidos , a Greco-Roman sculpture depicting Venus covering her naked body with both her hands. [ 10 ]   In the early 20th century, the general belief among scholars was that the figurines represent an ancient ideal of beauty.  Since their discovery, considerable diversity in opinion amongst  archaeologists  and in  palaeoanthropological  literature has arisen as to the function and significance of the figures. [ 11 ]   Most scholars that have differing opinions on the purpose of the figurines, such as anthropologist Randall White, also disapprove of the "Venus" name as a result. [ 12 ]


The use of the name is metaphorical as there is no link between the ancient figurines and the Roman goddess  Venus ; although they have been interpreted as representations of a primordial female goddess. This perception is said to have derived from the fact that attention is directed to certain features common to most of the figurines, in particular emotionally charged primary and secondary sexual characteristics such as the breasts, stomachs and buttocks. [ 13 ]  The term has been criticised for being a reflection of modern Western ideas rather than reflecting the beliefs of the sculptures' original owners, but the original names are unknown as well, so the term Venus has persisted. [ 14 ]


Like many prehistoric artefacts, the exact cultural meaning of these figures may never be known. Archaeologists speculate, however, that they may be symbolic of security and success,  fertility , or a  mother goddess . [ 15 ]  The female figures are a part of Upper Palaeolithic art, specifically the category of Palaeolithic art known as  portable art .


The majority of Venus figurines are depictions of women, and follow artistic conventions of the times. Most of the figurines display the same body shape with the widest point at the abdomen and the female reproductive organs exaggerated. Oftentimes other details, such as the head and limbs, are neglected or absent which leads the figure to be abstracted to the point of simplicity. The heads are often of relatively small size and devoid of detail. Some may represent pregnant women, while others show no indication of pregnancy. [ 17 ]


The  Venus of Willendorf  and the  Venus of Laussel  (a  rock relief  rather than a figurine) bear traces of having been externally covered in  red ochre . The significance of this is not clear, but is traditionally assumed to be religious or ritual in nature. Some human bodies from the  Palaeolithic  era are found similarly covered, so it is assumed this colour had a significant meaning in their culture even though we do not know what. [ 18 ]


All generally accepted Palaeolithic female figurines are from the  Upper Palaeolithic . Although they were originally mostly considered part of the  Aurignacian  culture, the majority are now associated with the  Gravettian  and  Solutrean  cultures. [ 19 ]  In these periods, the more rotund figurines are predominant. Within the  Magdalenian  cultures, the forms become finer with more detail and the styling of said figures started to become similar within areas of close contact. [ citation needed ]


Despite being thought as one of the most 'fertile sources of debate in all of archaeology', Venus figurines appear to be relatively understudied as a whole. [ 12 ]  A consequence of this is that they are subject to generalised stereotypes that minimize morphological variation and differing contexts. [ 12 ]   Nevertheless, there have been many differing interpretations of the figurines since their discovery. [ 1 ]


McCoid and McDermott suggested that because of the way these figures are depicted, such as the large breasts and lack of feet and faces, these statues were made by women looking at their own bodies. They state that women during the period would not have had access to  mirrors  to maintain accurate proportions or depict the faces or heads of the figurines. The theory remains difficult to prove or disprove, and Michael S. Bisson suggested that alternatives, such as puddles, could have been used as mirrors. [ 20 ]


It has also been suggested [ by whom? ]  that the size and shape of the figures makes them suitable for holding through  childbirth .


It has been suggested that they may be a sign of an earlier prevalence of  steatopygia , now associated principally to women of certain African or  Andamanese  ancestry.
However the Venuses do not qualify as steatopygian, since they exhibit an angle of approximately 120 degrees between the back and the buttocks, while steatopygia is diagnosed by modern medical standards at an angle of about 90 degrees only. [ 21 ]


Another modern interpretation, providing an explanation for visible weight variety amongst the figurines, comes from Johnson et al. [ 22 ]  Here, they argue that differences in the statues can be said to relate to human adaption to climate change. This is because figurines that are seen to be obese or pregnant originate to the earlier art from 38,000 to 14,000 BP - a period where nutritional stress arose as a result of falling temperatures. [ 22 ]  Accordingly, they found a correlation between an increase in distance from glacial fronts and a decrease in obesity of the figurines. This was justified as survival and reproduction, in glacial, colder areas, required sufficient nutrition and, consequently, over-nourished woman may have been seen as the ideal of beauty in these areas. [ 22 ]


In "The Mythology of Venus Ancient Calendars and Archaeoastronony," Helen Benigni argues that the consistency in design of these featureless, large-breasted, often pregnant figures throughout a wide region and over a long period of time suggests they represent an archetype of a female  Supreme Creator . [ 23 ]  Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age inhabitants likely connected women as creators innately tied to the cycles of nature. [ 24 ] [ clarification needed ]


Some scholars suggest a direct continuity between Palaeolithic female figurines and later examples of female depictions from the  Neolithic  or  Bronze Age . [ 27 ]


A female figurine which has "no practical use and is portable" and has the common elements of a Venus figurine (a strong accent or exaggeration of female sex-linked traits, and the lack of complete lower limbs) may be considered to be a Venus figurine, even if archaeological evidence suggests it was produced after the main Palaeolithic period. Some figurines matching this definition originate from the Neolithic era and into the Bronze Age. The period and location in which a figurine was produced helps guide archaeologists to reach conclusions as to whether the art piece found can be defined as a Venus figurine or not. For example, ceramic figurines from the late ceramic Neolithic may be accepted as Venus figurines, while stone figurines from later periods are not. This is a matter of ongoing debate given the strong similarity between many figurines from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and beyond. A reworked  endocast  of a  brachiopod  from around 6,000 BCE in Norway has been identified as a late Venus figurine. [ 28 ]


This means that a given female figurine may or may not be classified as a Venus figure by any given archaeologist, regardless of its date, though most archaeologists disqualify figurines which date later than the Palaeolithic, even though their purpose could have been the same. [ citation needed ]


1974 - 1976, 1978


Women's sexuality in Francoist Spain  was defined by the Church and by the State.  The purpose in doing so was to have women serve the state exclusively through  reproduction  and guarding the  morality  of the  state .   Women's sexuality  could only be understood through the prism of reproduction and  motherhood .  Defying this could have tremendous negative consequences for women, including being labeled a  prostitute , being removed from her family home, being sent to a  concentration camp , a Catholic run  institution  or to a  prison . It was only after the death of  Franco  in 1975 that women in Spain were finally allowed to define their own sexuality. Understanding Francoist imposed definitions of female sexuality is critical to understanding modern Spanish female sexuality, especially as it relates to macho behavior and women's expected responses to it.


Female bodies were stripped of their physicality and the regime did everything in their power to desexualize them. They existed for reproductive purposes.  Clothing norms were equally restrictive as they were designed to further emphasize the asexual nature of women. Women were required to dress demurely, with long sleeves or elbow, no necklines, long and loose materials.


Women were taught that their role was to belong to one man and one man only.  Female virginity became very important, and women who lost their virginity before marriage were considered to have dishonored themselves and their families.  They could be kicked out of their homes, be institutionalized, or be forced to take steps to hide evidence of loss of virginity by having  clandestine abortions  or engaging in  infanticide . Lesbians were not recognized, as they challenged the regime narrative that women's sole purpose was to procreate.   The regime tried everything they could to render lesbians invisible.  Despite this, lesbians created their own underground culture.


Hispanic eugenics  and  pronatalism  were viewed as key components of addressing the decline in the Spanish birth rate and the need for an increased population size to serve the needs of the Spanish state during the Francoist period.  Policies around this eugenics program involved bans on abortion, infanticide, contraception and information around contraception.  This practice was started as policy during the  Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera , discontinued by the Second Republic and then picked up again as a national level policy by Francoists. Anything that was viewed by the state as interfering with women's reproduction activities and increasing the size of the Spanish population size were viewed as being in opposition to the state.  All activities that stopped this began to become defined by the regime as crimes. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]


Because of state eugenics policies, women were unable to define their own sexuality in the Francoist period. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 4 ]   Instead, the regime imposed its own strict and narrow definition of female sexuality upon women. [ 4 ]  They said that women were to be "submissive, devoted and devout". [ 4 ]  Femininity in the Francoist period is defined as submission and spirit of sacrifice. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  Morality in Spain rested upon women, with their bodies being the keepers of the country's well-being through moral behavior.  Controlling women's sexuality was about the belief that doing so would make Spain a morally superior country. [ 6 ]


Women were defined in Francoist Spain exclusively around the reproductive needs of the state, with women's sexuality only being allowed to expressed in that context. [ 7 ]   Consequently, women's sexuality was not a consideration in the Franco period. [ 8 ]  Women's sexuality was relegated in society exclusively to the realm of medicine, and only allowed to be discussed in medical literature by male doctors. [ 1 ]  Female adultery, homosexuality, masturbation and premarital sex were all considered by the regime to be forms of sexual aberrations. [ 9 ]  As much as the regime tried to control women's sexuality in the 1940s, it proved difficult to actually do so. [ 1 ]  A 1944 edition of  Semanario de la  SF  said, "The life of every woman, despite what she may pretend, is nothing but a continuous desire to find somebody to whom she can succumb.  Voluntary dependency, the offering of every minute, every desire and illusion is the most beautiful thing, because it implies the cleaning away of all the bad germs—vanity, selfishness, frivolity—by love." [ 10 ]   Women who violated the state imposed definitions of female sexuality put themselves at tremendous risk.  This included being labeled a prostitute or sent away to a facility to try to change them into more moral women. [ 11 ]


Prisons were used as places to try to reshape women's sexuality. [ 12 ]  Parents in the 1950s and 1960s exerted strong control over their daughters' sexuality. [ 13 ]


Women's magazines were co-opted by the state to pressure women to conform to the state's definition of sexuality. The magazine told women how they should behave in the context of married life. [ 12 ]   Consultorio de Elana Francis  was a radio program that aired in Spain between 1947 and 1984, where women were able to ask for advice on problems they had.  Issues of marital gender violence often came up. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ]  The show was created by  Angela Castells , a member of  Sección Feminina ,  Patronato de Protección de la Mujer  and  Spanish League against Public Immorality , Spain's immorality police. [ 15 ] [ 19 ] [ 18 ]   It served a similar role, up to and including telling married women that they deserved to be raped or physically by their husbands and that these women should repent and stay with their abusers. [ 14 ] [ 16 ]


Student protests in the 1960s began to be a period where women's sexual liberation started to happen on university campuses.  On the whole, these protests though were much more liberating for men and male sexuality than women, who might accompany men along as part of demonstration. [ 20 ]  "Sexuality is not motherhood" ( Spanish :  Sexualidad no es maternidad )  became a slogan of many feminists and feminists organizations by the end of 1975. [ 21 ]


Starting in the 1970s, the feminist movement has started a movement to give women control over their own bodies and reproductive capacity, something which they believed men had historically controlled through coercion and violence.  Sexuality is covered in this context using a variety of political and cultural concepts, including abortion, gender roles, violence against women, reproductive health, contraceptives, family planning, sexual orientation and marriage.  Sexuality is a private thing which requires the contradictory need to be discussed in a public political and legal context to insure that rights around sexuality cannot be ignored or separated from other aspects that can result in a loss of rights. [ 22 ]   Feminists have also pushed for a discussion and understanding of these issues and how they impact women's everyday lives. [ 23 ]


The definitions of women's sexuality in the Francoist period are important for understanding the climate around women's sexuality in the 2010s, especially as it relates to macho behavior and women's expected responses to it. [ 24 ]


In Francoist Spain, the female body was stripped of its physicality and made into a desexualized object.  They existed only for utilitarian reasons only. [ 25 ]   They were things for use by the state to discover female moral and criminal transgressions. [ 26 ]  Despite Francoist invocations to desexualize women and transform them exclusively into mother figures, society still had idealized feminine forms that were often most visible in films of the era.  In the earlier Franco period, this ideal feminine form was one with wide  hips , prominent breasts and round faces.  It would change, after the post war period, to involve women who were thinner by choice, as opposed to a result of starvation. [ 27 ]


Physical education for women was often frowned upon by the regime. [ 12 ]  While exercise was viewed as important for preserving a women's ability to procreate and to avoid health problems, too much physical activity was frowned upon.  Some sports like athletics were discouraged because participation in them was considered masculinizing. [ 28 ]


Because of the support of sport for women in Spain through organizations like  Sección Feminina , the ideal female body type was one that showed her strength. Attractive women were also much more likely to be  flat chested . This notion of female beauty and body type was found in literature of the Francoist period. [ 29 ]  Because women's breasts were largely inaccessible to the male gaze as a result of clothing and cinematographic censorship, female beauty in the Francoist period often focused on legs and ankles. [ 27 ]  Agustina de Aragón was the first Spanish movie to feature a woman's naked breast.  Released in 1950, the naked breast largely passed without comment as it was attached to a nursing mother, and breasts of nursing women were consider asexual. [ 27 ]


Women themselves had contradictory desires over their own idealized form.  On the one hand, women wanted to be slender, but on the other, they wanted prominent breasts and hips and to be voluptuous.  Many of these women, no matter the contradiction in their beliefs around beauty, strove to maintain a beautiful external physical appearance for the purpose of finding a good husband.  She wanted a body that was sexual, but that also signified she was caring and loving.  At the same time, her thoughts around her own body had to be guarded as there were social consequences for appearing vain or coquettish.  Good, wholesome, innocent and pure girls did not appear to give considerations for their body shape. [ 27 ]  Sección Feminina defines this for women, saying, [ 27 ] [ 30 ]


Is it good taste to exhibit the physical charms when you have a perfect body? It is not in good taste or good manners to display it blatantly; our education and our coquetry will agree to what extent discretion and decency allow us to reveal our charms.


Women were required to dress demurely, with long sleeves or elbow, no necklines, long and loose materials. Women were prohibited from wearing shorts or transparent materials. The regime purpose for this was to try to force women not to gain attention as a result of their bodies. [ 31 ]  Women  "should be properly dressed, that is, with long sleeves or elbow, without necklines, with baggy skirts that will not indicate the details of the body nor they grab undue attention. The clothes could not be short and much less show through. Young women should not go out alone or be accompanied by men who were not from the family." [ 32 ] [ 33 ]   Lose clothing was often worn to hide a woman's figure. [ 29 ]


During the Franco regime, women were required to cover their hair in many contexts.  This was to prevent them from showing their femininity and being sexual beings. Veils were quite common among conservative Catholic women even into the 1980s. [ 34 ]


Women tried to fight these definitions in the 1960s by having short hair and wearing pants. [ 12 ]  In that same period, straight lines and geometric shapes began to play an important role in fashion, and more and more skin began to be exposed. [ 27 ]


Female sexuality as defined by the regime involved the woman being the property of one man. [ 35 ]   As a result, virginity was important, and women were expected to remain virgins until they married. [ 13 ] [ 24 ] [ 35 ]  Girls were taught that their virginity was the most precious gift they had that they could give to a future husband. [ 35 ]  A girl losing her virginity outside of marriage was a moral crime. [ 35 ]  If a girl lost her virginity before she got married, her whole family could be disgraced. [ 24 ]  In order for some women who became pregnant to maintain the illusion of being virgins, they had clandestine abortions or committed infanticide. [ 24 ] [ 35 ]  Some girls who found themselves pregnant and not married were kicked out of their family homes by their parents and forced to live on the streets; this was done to save the honor of the rest of the family. [ 35 ]  Single-sex education was designed to prevent girls from losing their virginity. [ 35 ]


Despite strong societal pressures during the 1940s for girls to remain virgins until marriage, 32.5% were, according to a survey by Dr. Serrano Vicens, not.  At least 8% of girls also had engaged in simulated sex acts not involving penetration with boyfriends before they got married.  This contrasted with their male counterparts who lost their virginity to prostitutes or maids and other women in employ in their households. [ 35 ]  Men faced their own issues as it related to female virgins.  Society dictated that they demonstrate their virility and masculinity by having sex with many women.  At the same time, they were also culturally charged with protecting women's virginity. [ 35 ]


Teenaged girls could become wards of the state through Patronato de Proteccion a la Mujer.  Starting in 1941 and lasting until 1985, girls were taken to centers run by nuns as part of a state goal to rehabilitate the "fallen". Girls put into these reformatories were subject to virginity tests conducted by nuns.  This was done on a daily basis, with girls forced to sit on a hospital bed where a doctor would ask them if they were a virgin.  After they said yes, the doctor would imply they were liars and then put a stick up a girl's vagina to check without her consent.  Many girls became hysterical during this process. [ 36 ]


Homosexuality was, according to the regime, a form of sexual aberration. [ 9 ]  Being a lesbian in this period was about being forced into the  closet  with no chance of escape. They hid their  identities  from family, friends, their church community and their employers. [ 37 ]  Homosexual women during the Franco period could only meet each other clandestinely, perpetuating a silencing of their voices and rendering them unintelligible to outsiders.  The clandestine nature of their relationships rendered lesbians invisible and prone to having collective imagery about them negatively defined by the state and its apparatus. [ 38 ]  The need to constantly be alert to the potential of discovery of their orientation stressed out many lesbians.  It could also lead to isolation, as they cut ties to groups who might discover they were lesbians.  This included religious and social groups. [ 39 ]  Some lesbians could not deal with the pressures they faced and committed suicide. [ 40 ]


Because of the Franco regime's beliefs about women, including an inability to understand lesbianism, there was an underground culture available for lesbian women.  Where multiple men using public urinals was suspect, girls having parties without boys in attendance was viewed less circumspectly as it was assumed by many that they were being pure by not inviting boys.  Their invisibility protected lesbians in ways that it did not protect men because many people believed lesbianism did not exist. [ 41 ] [ 42 ]  Lesbians would often use code words, such as librarian or bookseller ( Spanish :  libreras ), to identify one another. [ 43 ] [ 44 ] [ 8 ]  Younger lesbians might identify each other by asking, "Are you a comic?" ( Spanish :  ¿Eres tebeo? ). [ 45 ]   Because beaches were gender segregated, it was often an easy place for lesbians to socialize. [ 42 ] [ 46 ]  Lesbians created their own economic networks to insure their ability to survive. They also created their own spaces where they could feel free, including placed near Parallel and las Ramblas in Barcelona. [ 47 ]   Matilde Albarracín  described their actions as they related to the regime and cultural attitudes of the time as, "So subversive." [ 47 ]


There were arguments at the time over the way to be both a feminist and a lesbian. [ 21 ] [ 48 ] [ 49 ]   The lesbian political movement at the time largely concluded that lesbian sexuality "did not have to be soft or aggressive, nor follow any feminist or feminine pattern." [ 48 ] [ 21 ]  Some radical feminists in the immediate transition period would choose lesbianism as a form of exerting control over their sexuality that had been repressed by the Franco regime. [ 21 ] [ 50 ]


Despite gay men being the more visible homosexuals in the Franco and transition period, women writers would be at the forefront of normalizing homosexuality in literature for the average Spanish reader in the final Franco years and first years of the transition.  Women writers like  Ester Tusquets  were the first to break taboo subjects like female desire.  Political feminism that saw lesbianism as a natural endpoint for women began to become a bigger theme in some feminist works of this period. [ 51 ]


Sex was meant only for procreation. [ 52 ]  Girls were taught they were intellectually inferior to men, and that their role was to stay home and become mothers. [ 11 ] [ 24 ]  Education was single gender to prevent giving girls ideas about sex with males. [ 24 ]  Despite sex for women for any purpose other than procreation being strongly condemned and prostitution being illegal after 1956, prostitution was nonetheless tolerated in support of male sexuality that was defined around their virility. [ 52 ]  Adultery was a form of sexual aberration. [ 9 ]  Sex before marriage was strongly condemned, but as a moral issue, not a criminal one.  Violating this moral code, especially during the 1940s, could have strong negative consequences for women including being abandoned by their families. [ 35 ]  Women were constantly being watched and had to behave in circumspect ways to ensure their appearance of decency was maintained.  For many women and girls, this could mean that no matter her own desires, she could not take the initiative if she found a man that she found interesting. [ 35 ]


Some women were taught that their husbands should never see them naked. [ 4 ]  Conservative married Catholic women would only have sex with their husbands at night in the dark while clothed in their pajamas. [ 53 ]


Women's sexual pleasure was not high on the list of their male partner's priorities when engaging in pre-marital.  In the 1940s, only 2% of women knew about cunnilingus, while 2.8% had given their partners fellatio. [ 35 ]


By the mid-1960s, sexual activity involving non-penetrative sex was a common feature in  middle class  heterosexual courtship. [ 13 ]  In premarital sexual caressing,  only 40% of the caressing was done to women's genitals. [ 54 ]   Carles Carreras i Verdaguer  said of the leftist and communist culture found in places like Barcelona and Ibiza in 1968,  "It was time for the breaking of the family model and, for example, we did not have our vocabulary. People said 'my partner', but well ... The model was broken, even the communes tried to work without models and it was time to 'fuck, fuck, the world is going to end'." These attitudes were not common in student society.  Rather, they represented a limited sexual vanguard in Spain's more liberal and counterculture places. [ 20 ]  Women in PCE were pressured to have sex in the mid-1960s and 1970s to prove that they were free.  There was an element of lack of choice if they wanted to prove their leftist credentials. According to Merche Comalleba,  "The PCE militants told us that we were some sluts, some whores, that our goals were neither feminist nor political nor anything". [ 20 ]  As a result of the rebound effect following the end of the dictatorship, Spanish women are more sexually liberated than some of their European counterparts. [ 34 ]


During the mid-1970s, the Catholic Church preached that  no physical barrier should be present during sex, and that even post-coital washes were problematic as they interfered with the primary goal of sex being conception.  The Catholic Church taught the only acceptable reproductive control methods were abstinence and the rhythm method. [ 21 ]


In May 1978, adultery was eliminated as a criminal offense in Spain's penal code.  Definitions of abandonment were also changed, as they were not consistent for both sexes with women previously only being able to claim abandonment if her husband forced his wife to support his mistress while they were living in the same house. On 7 October 1978, the law was changed to decriminalize the sale of contraceptives, along with information on how to use them. [ 21 ]


Women's sexuality said pleasure was not important and they had no right to it. [ 6 ] [ 55 ]   Galician feminist  Tensi Álvarez  said of this, "It's very difficult, from the perspective of a young girl, to see what Francoism was. The woman had a little less than breeding function and satisfying male sexual needs. My generation was educated in obedience; we did not even have the right to orgasm or pleasure." [ 55 ]  Women who had pleasure during sex were often labeled whores and prostitutes, either in a real sense or in a metaphorical sense. [ 6 ]  The regime claimed that if a woman had an orgasm; it was an insult to her husband. [ 9 ]  Women who had orgasms were often told to go to church and confess this as a sin. [ 24 ]


Complutense University of Madrid  rector  José Botella Llusiá  said, [ 47 ]


There are many women, mothers of numerous children, who confess they have not noticed more than very rarely, and some have never noticed anything, sexual pleasure, and this however, does not frustrate them, because women, although they say otherwise, what she looks for in a man is motherhood ... I have come to think that the woman is physiologically frigid, and even the excitement of the libido in the woman is a masculine character, and that it is not the female women who have for the opposite sex a greater attraction, but on the contrary.


A report published by  José Antonio Valverde  and  Adolfo Abril  said, [ 47 ] [ 53 ]


We can estimate female sexual dissatisfaction between 74% and 78%. This is very clear, that every hundred Spaniards with sexual activity usually within marriage, seventy-six do not find satisfaction; out of every hundred, seventy-six do not reach orgasm and, on many occasions, they have not even known it.


The subject of female masturbation was taboo. [ 8 ]  Masturbation was a sexual aberration. [ 9 ]  Masturbation could manifest itself as a physical or mental illness. [ 24 ]  Father García Figar said of the effects of masturbation, [ 47 ]


Organic malnutrition. Body weakness. General anemia. Dental cavities. Slack legs. Sweat on the hands. Large pressure in the chest. Neck and back pain. Laziness and reluctance to work and even the impossibility of doing it. Shortening of sexual life, impossible to rescue later. Loss of attraction for the opposite sex and disgust for marriage. Sperm sterility. Null. Retentive. Darkness in the understanding. Obsessions and ravings. Weak will. Inability to sacrifice. Animal hobbies.


To prevent girls from masturbating while at boarding schools, staff would come into rooms to check that their hands were not under their blankets during the night. [ 53 ]  Some parents forbid their children from putting their hands in their pockets to prevent them from masturbating. [ 9 ]   Energy and purity  by  Tihamer Toth  was a regime sanctioned novel that gave advice on how to avoid masturbation. [ 9 ]


On 24 January 1941, abortion was formally made a crime against the state by Franco. [ 1 ] [ 56 ] [ 57 ]  It had already been a crime based on the Código Penal de 1932. [ 58 ] [ 59 ]   Doctors who performed abortions could be given sentences of between 6 years and 1 day to 14 years and 8 months in prison, along with fines between 2,500 and 50,000 pesetas.  Doctors would lose any professional qualifications they had for a period of 10 to 20 years. Pharmacists or anyone in their employ who gave any substance or medicine that would be considered abortive could face the loss of their professional qualifications for five to ten years and fines of between 1,000 and 25,000 pesetas. Any doctor, midwife or other  medical practitioner  who observed an abortion was required by law to report it to the authorities.  Failure to do so would result in a fine. At the same time, any sale of materials used for the purpose of contraception or promoting their usage could be imprisoned for between 1 month and 1 day to 2 months. [ 1 ] [ 56 ]   Sex education was also banned, with punishments attached for teaching it. [ 57 ]  Pregnant women in prison in the early Franco period were beaten badly, often with the intention of causing an abortion. [ 60 ]


The Franco government found an ally in their anti-abortion beliefs and practices in the Roman Catholic Church. [ 1 ]  Those within the Catholic Church wrote in support of the law, with Father Jaime Pujiula, Professor of the Colegio Máximo de San Ignacio de Sarriá and member of the Royal Academies of Sciences of Madrid and Medicine of Barcelona. [ 1 ]  saying, "The fruit that is lost criminally would be perhaps the most robust man, the healthiest, the most intelligent to raise the same society or to renew it or print new directions and directions." It is also an attack against population problems. of society and Eugenics, not only the women who cause the abortion, but the perverse midwives and doctors conspired with them to perpetrate the crime for the vile spirit of profit are responsible before God, before society and before the Eugenics. " [ 61 ]


Women could and did go to prison for having abortions.  During the 1940s in Almería, 9% of female prisoners were there because they had abortions, had committed infanticide or abandoned their children.  This compared to 20.45% who were in prison for sexual offenses that mostly included  prostitution , and 4.9% who were in prison for crimes against authority.  The remaining prisoners were there for other offenses, like  coercion , crimes against religion,  weapons possession  or having a  false identity . [ 62 ]


Condoms were illegal during almost the whole of the Franco regime. [ 63 ] [ 57 ]  While they were available in Spain, they were also almost impossible to come by.  Some pharmacies did clandestinely sell them alongside  diaphragms . [ 9 ] [ 13 ]   Because of their connections to avoiding men spreading venereal disease, condoms were often associated with prostitution. [ 13 ]  Consequently, buying contraceptives would often be dependent on men to acquire them on behalf of their partners.  Women were embarrassed to buy them. [ 13 ]  Most couples practicing family planning used  coitus interruptus  during the 1940s and 1950s.  The Catholic Church in this period allowed couples to use the  rhythm method .  As American culture began to influence Spain more during the mid-1950s, Spaniards began to adopt more American birth control methods. [ 63 ]  By 1965, even most Spanish Catholics thought birth control was a reasonable option to control the number of children women had. 51.5% of Spanish Catholics believed that the rhythm method was ineffective.  Even Spanish doctors agreed that birth control was important in family planning, even if 24% of them were generally opposed to birth control. [ 64 ]


Prohibitions against the sale of contraception in Andalusia in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were largely ineffective as women had various means to try to limit the number of children they had.  This was especially true for women engaging in sex outside of marriage at a time when that practice, along with having children when single, were highly condemned by the government.  Women were willing to take risks to have sex for pleasure by using some form of birth control. [ 13 ]  In 1966, the first man was convicted in Spain for selling contraceptives.  He was also charged with causing a public scandal. [ 65 ]  Because midwives appeared to be so frequently involved in sharing knowledge about abortion and contraceptives and performing abortions, the male led scientific community in Spain tried to marginalize these women. Professionalization in medicine would help to further relegate the importance of midwives in Spain. Further attempts to dislodge midwives from the birthing process included accusing them of witchcraft and quackery, trying to make them appear unscientific.  This was all part of a medical and eugenic science driven effort to reduce the number of abortions in Spain. [ 1 ]


Despite being contraception being illegal, by the mid-1960s, Spanish women had access to the  contraceptive pill . [ 63 ] [ 66 ]   It was first sold on the commercial market in the country in 1964, where Anovial 21 de Productos Quimicos Schering was also heavily advertised. [ 67 ] [ 64 ]  Women could be prescribed the pill by their doctors if they were married and could make a case that they had a gynecological problem which the pill could fix, but this reason could not be a desire to avoid being pregnant. [ 63 ] [ 66 ]   Its usage was largely only allowed for the regulation of a woman's period. Many married women found it difficult to get prescriptions from their doctors, having only more marginal luck when they sought out private practitioners. [ 13 ]  Consequently, most of the women who were on the pill were mostly married  upper-middle class  women. [ 66 ] [ 13 ]  In 1970, 2 million units of the pill were sold in Spain. [ 64 ]  By 1975, official estimates suggested half a million Spanish women were on the pill. [ 66 ] [ 65 ]   The media, both general and specialized, covered the pill, where it was known as an  anovulatory  treatment.  Its introduction in Spain allowed women's sexuality to be discussed for the first time, especially in medical and religious publications and more generally in women's publications. [ 13 ]  Despite this, the most popular method in the 1960s was  coitus interruptus . [ 13 ]


At the time of Franco's death, almost all the laws related to female sexuality were still intact, including prohibitions on the use of contraceptives. [ 65 ]


Rape and gender violence  was a problem that was a result of Nationalist attitudes developed during the  Spanish Civil War . Sexual violence was common on the part of Nationalist forces and their allies during the Civil War. [ 68 ] [ 69 ] [ 70 ] [ 71 ] [ 72 ] [ 73 ]   Falangist rearguard troops would rape and murder women in  cemeteries ,  hospitals ,  farmhouses , and  prisons .  They would rape, torture and murder Socialists, young girls, nurses and  milicianas . [ 74 ] [ 75 ]   Regular Nationalists soldiers engaged in similar patterns of rape, torture and murder in places like  Maials , Callus and  Cantalpino . [ 74 ] [ 73 ] [ 76 ]  Moroccan  Foreign Legionaries  were used to commit rape against women to create terror among local populaces.  Women in prison were not safe either; they were also raped, often facing death if they failed to have sex with their captors. [ 74 ] [ 73 ] [ 76 ]  The exact extent of the problem will likely never be known as there was less record keeping around women, and quantification attempts have largely resulted in the erasure of women's history. [ 71 ] [ 73 ] [ 76 ] [ 77 ]


After the Civil War ended, Spanish men returned home to a culture that insisted women were completely subservient to men, and where men were allowed to have sex with prostitutes and otherwise be promiscuous. [ 53 ]   Women were taught to be subservient and that their happiness was not important. This culture encouraged domestic violence by husbands towards wives, and it included rape. [ 78 ] [ 79 ] [ 13 ]   Laws made non-consensual sex illegal in some cases, but there was tremendous social pressure not to report this behavior. [ 80 ]  Women with Republican ties were often raped until at least the 1960s, with social acceptance of the practice.  These women often tried to move to cities to become more anonymous. Prison was also not safe for women.  They were raped and sexually harassed there too. Lidia Falcón O'Neill was one such victim in prison. [ 70 ] [ 75 ]


As a result of Franco's death in 1975 and the democratic transition starting, the first protest condemning violence against women was held in Barcelona in 1976. [ 57 ] [ 81 ]   Age of consent laws changed two years later, along with laws about honesty. [ 82 ] [ 83 ]   Men were also legally able to be considered rape victims. Divorce was legalized in 1981. [ 83 ] [ 15 ]  Other legal reforms took place in 1983. Still, rape was not treated as a serious institutional problem inside Spain and victims had little recourse. [ 83 ]


Historical memory laws in Spain have resulted in more attention about to the violence faced by women during the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist period. [ 84 ]   The Junta de Andalusia started offering women compensation for violence against them in 2010.  [ 85 ]  Court cases also began to be explored against perpetrators of these crimes, with some action taking place in Spain but most of the attempts to prosecute taking place in Argentina. [ 69 ] [ 75 ] [ 86 ] [ 87 ]


Menstruation in the Francoist period was often a taboo subject. [ 88 ]  One woman related an experience about dealing with her period in this era as, "My grandmother bought me the new cotton panties and I put them in my school bag in case I got stained." [ 88 ]    Women often lacked information on their own physiology around menstrual cycles, pregnancy and birth.  They had to learn on their own.  One woman described this process during her teenaged years as, [ 88 ]


Being in a town in  Extremadura  in the midst of Franco's repression in a town far from the capital, in one of the most backward regions of Spain, you can imagine! I read  Bécquer ,  Machado , you read what I know! to  Baroja ! and you said, this world is not my world and what I'm living is not really what I need, you know, they are discoveries of mine, through literature I realized, I knew the importance of women, what I could to contribute the woman for the fact of being, that we created.


Another woman said about seeking information, "Because besides, I know ... the issue of taking your daughter to the gynecologist, it was unthinkable that my mother in my time took me to the gynecologist." [ 88 ]  One woman said of using a  tampon , "The  tampax  was to hide it and hide the boxes because you are no longer a virgin. When I had the endometriosis they blamed the  tampax , but come on, they can not be blamed because they themselves were ignorant, because it was a taboo subject, it had to be hidden and nothing was said." [ 88 ]   Another woman said of her experiences in the early 1970s, "Yes, I could not touch anything, I experienced it in the first person, it was an insane thing in that sense, there was no information or where to see it, it is not like now with the internet, I am 47 years old, the 70s were my puberty, my youth, and that is that there were no women's things in the municipal libraries either, and there was no way to document you, I remember going to the municipal library to see what organs I have, how they work ... and not There was not a book, but none, but the nuns did not know anything either, the things that we know is that, from pure experience, in that sense the first years, just like my mother, until later you inform yourself and good. ... that part you overcome the traumas as we overcome them all." [ 88 ]


For religious women in the Francoist women, they did not go to church during their period. [ 89 ]   Women were strongly discouraged from participating in exercise activities when they were menstruating. [ 28 ]   Some women used menstruation as an excuse to avoid sex. [ 13 ]


Women in prisons often had many issues around hygiene that were compounded when they during menstruation.  Their jailers had little sympathy for the, and used it as just another way to humiliate prisoners. [ 90 ] [ 60 ]


As the pill became more widely used in Spain for regulating menstruation, some women had doctors who would fail to explain its contraceptive properties. [ 54 ]


The  Conference on Population and Development  (Cairo, 1994) and the  Fourth World Conference on Women  (Beijing) defined sexuality and reproductive rights as, "Rights of women and men to have control over their sexuality, to decide freely and responsibly without being subject to coercion, discrimination and violence; the right of all couples and individuals to freely and responsibly decide the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education and the means to do so, as well as to reach the highest level of sexual and reproductive health." [ 22 ]


The  World Health Organization  defined sexuality in 2006 as, [ 91 ] [ 92 ]


...a central aspect of being human throughout life encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships. While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always experienced or expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social, economic, political, cultural, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors.


The  Glosario de términos sobre diversidad afectivo sexual  published by Spain's  Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad  in April 2018 defines sexuality as, "Human sexuality is a central aspect of the human being present throughout his life. It covers sex, identities and gender roles, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, reproduction and sexual orientation. It is lived and expressed through thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles and interpersonal relationships. Sexuality can include all those dimensions, however, not all of them are experienced or expressed always. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, social, economic, political, cultural, ethical, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors." [ 93 ]


Lordosis behavior  ( / l ɔːr ˈ d oʊ s ɪ s / [ 1 ] ), also known as  mammalian lordosis  (Greek lordōsis, from  lordos  "bent backward" [ 1 ] ) or  presenting , is the naturally occurring body posture for sexual receptivity to  copulation  present in females of most  mammals  including  rodents ,  elephants ,  cats , and  humans . The primary characteristics of the behavior are a lowering of the forelimbs but with the rear limbs extended and  hips  raised,  ventral  arching of the  spine  and a raising, or sideward displacement, of the  tail . During lordosis, the spine curves  dorsoventrally  so that its apex points towards the abdomen.


Lordosis is a reflex action that causes many non-primate female mammals to adopt a body position that is often crucial to reproductive behavior. The posture moves the  pelvic tilt  in an anterior direction, with the posterior pelvis rising up, the bottom angling backward and the front angling downward. Lordosis aids in copulation as it elevates the hips, thereby facilitating penetration by the  penis . It is commonly seen in female mammals during  estrus  (being "in heat"). Lordosis occurs during copulation itself and in some species, like the cat, during pre- copulatory  behavior. [ 2 ]


The lordosis  reflex arc  is hardwired in the spinal cord, at the level of the lumbar and sacral  vertebrae  (L1, L2, L5, L6 and S1). [ 3 ]  In the brain, several regions modulate the lordosis reflex. The  vestibular nuclei  and the  cerebellum , via the vestibular tract, send information which makes it possible to coordinate the lordosis reflex with  postural balance . More importantly, the ventromedial  hypothalamus  sends projections that inhibit the reflex at the spinal level, so it is not activated at all times. [ 4 ]  Sex hormones control reproduction and coordinate sexual activity with the physiological state. Schematically, at the  breeding season , and when an  ovum  is available, hormones (especially  estrogen ) simultaneously induce  ovulation  and  estrus  (heat). Under the action of estrogen in the hypothalamus, the lordosis reflex is uninhibited. [ 5 ]  The female is ready for copulation and  fertilization .


When a male mammal mounts the female, tactile stimuli on the flanks, the  perineum  and the  rump  of the female are transmitted via the  sensory nerves  in the  spinal cord . In the spinal cord and lower  brainstem , they are integrated with the information coming from the brain, and then, in general, a  nerve impulse  is transmitted to the  muscles  via the  motor nerves . The contraction of the longissimus and transverso-spinalis muscles causes the ventral arching of the vertebral column. [ 3 ]


Sexual behaviour is optimized for reproduction, and the  hypothalamus  is the key brain area which regulates and coordinates the physiological and behavioural aspects of reproduction. [ 6 ]  Most of the time, the  ventromedial nucleus  of the hypothalamus (VMN) inhibits lordosis. But when environmental conditions are favorable and the female is in estrus, the  estrogen   hormone ,  estradiol , induces  sexual receptivity  by the  neurons  in the  ventromedial nucleus , [ 7 ]  the  periaqueductal gray , and other areas of the  brain . The ventromedial hypothalamus sends impulses down  axons  synapsing with neurons in the periaqueductal gray. These convey an impulse to neurons in the medullary  reticular formation  which project down the  reticulospinal tract  and synapse with the neurobiological circuits of the lordosis reflex in the  spinal cord  (L1–L6). These neurobiological processes induced by estradiol enable the tactile stimuli to trigger lordosis.


The mechanisms of regulation of this  estrogen-dependent  lordosis reflex have been identified through different types of  experiments . When the VMN is lesioned lordosis is abolished; this suggests the importance of this cerebral structure in the regulation of lordosis. Concerning hormones, displays of lordosis can be affected by ovariectomy, injections of estradiol benzoate and progesterone, [ 8 ]  or exposure to  stress  during puberty. [ 9 ] [ 10 ]  Specifically, stress can suppress the  hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis  and therefore decrease concentrations of gonadal hormones. Consequently, these reductions in exposure to gonadal hormones around puberty can result in decreases in sexual behavior in adulthood, including displays of lordosis. [ 9 ]


While lordosis behavior has not been observed in humans, positions similar to lordosis can be seen in those being  mounted from behind , with the autonomous lordosis reflex replaced by a conscious decision to expose the vulva for penetration. [ 11 ]


In a 2017 study, using 3D models and eye-tracking technology it is shown that the slight thrusting out of a woman's hips influences how attractive others perceive her to be and captures the gaze of both men and women. [ 12 ]  The authors argue "while reflexive lordosis posture is not exhibited by human females and receptivity is not passive or obligatory for them, a manifestation of lumbar curvature might serve as a vestigial remnant of proceptivity-/receptivity-communicative signal between men and women". [ 13 ]  Previously,  anthropologist   Helen Fisher  also speculated that when a human female wears  high-heeled footwear  the buttocks thrusts out and the back arches into a pose that simulates lordosis behavior, which is why high heels are considered "sexy". [ 14 ]  Recent evidence has also supported the perception of sexual receptivity in women when arching the back in supine and quadruped poses. [ 15 ] [ 16 ]  Researchers have found that women perceive other women exhibiting this posture as a potential threat to their romantic relationship. [ 16 ] [ 17 ]


Oral sex , sometimes referred to as  oral intercourse , is  sexual activity  involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth).  Cunnilingus  is oral sex performed on the  vulva  while  fellatio  is oral sex performed on the  penis . [ 1 ] [ 2 ]   Anilingus , another form of oral sex, is oral stimulation of the  anus . [ 1 ]


Oral sex may be performed as  foreplay  to incite  sexual arousal  before other sexual activities (such as  vaginal  or  anal  intercourse), [ 1 ] [ 3 ]  or as an  erotic  and  physically intimate act  in its own right. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]  Like most forms of sexual activity, oral sex can pose a risk for contracting  sexually transmitted infections  (STIs). However, the transmission risk for oral sex, especially  HIV  transmission, is significantly lower than for vaginal or anal sex. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]


Oral sex is often regarded as  taboo , [ 1 ]  but most countries do not have laws which ban the practice. Commonly, people do not think of oral sex as affecting the  virginity  of either partner, though opinions on the matter vary. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]  People may also have negative feelings or  sexual inhibitions  about giving or receiving oral sex, or may flatly refuse to engage in the practice. [ 1 ]


Oral sex may be practiced by people of any  sexual orientation .


Oral sex is  sexual stimulation  of another person's genitals by using the mouth, and may take various forms. During  facesitting , the receiver sits on the giver's face and pushes into it with their genitals. Oral sex can also be performed by both partners at the same time in the so-called  "sixty-nine" position .  Irrumatio  is a forced form of fellatio where one actively forces their penis into the partner's mouth. In regards to  masturbation , there is  autofellatio , a possible but rare variant, and  autocunnilingus , which may be possible for women with extremely flexible spines. [ 11 ]


An act of  group sex  restricted to one woman giving oral sex to several men is referred to as a  gangsuck ,  blowbang  or  lineup , all derivatives of the slang term  gang bang  for group sex.  Bukkake  and  gokkun  may also involve oral sex.


Oral sex may be practised to preserve  virginity , especially among heterosexual pairings; this is sometimes termed  technical virginity  (which may include  anal sex ,  manual sex , and other  non-penetrative sex  acts, but excludes  penile-vaginal sex ). [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 12 ]  The concept of "technical virginity" or  sexual abstinence  through oral sex is popular among teenagers. [ 13 ] [ 14 ]


Gay men  who regard oral sex as a way of maintaining their virginities view penile-anal penetration as resulting in virginity loss, while other gay males may define oral sex as their main form of sexual activity. [ 7 ] [ 15 ]  By contrast,  lesbian  pairings commonly view oral sex or  fingering  as resulting in virginity loss, though definitions of virginity loss vary among lesbians as well. [ 7 ] [ 10 ] [ 16 ]


Oral sex alone does not result in pregnancy and heterosexual couples may engage in oral sex for  contraception  reasons. [ 2 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ]  For conception to take place,  sperm  from the  penis  must enter the  uterus  and  fallopian tubes  and fertilize the female's  egg . In humans, there is no connection between the  gastrointestinal system  and the  reproductive system , [ nb 1 ]  and sperm ingested by the woman would be killed and broken down by  acids  in her  stomach  and  proteins  in the  small intestine . The breakdown products are then absorbed as a negligible quantity of  nutrients . However, there is a potential risk of pregnancy if  semen  comes in contact with the  vaginal  area in some way, such as semen in the  ejaculate  finding its way onto fingers, hands, or other body parts, which then comes in contact with the vaginal area. [ citation needed ]


Oral sex is not necessarily an effective method of preventing  sexually transmitted infections  (STIs), although some forms of STIs are believed to be less commonly spread in this way, and oral sex has been recommended as a form of  safe sex . [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ]  In the  United States , no barrier methods for use during oral sex have been evaluated as effective by the Food and Drug Administration. [ 22 ]  However, a barrier protection like a  condom  for  fellatio  or  dental dam  for  cunnilingus  can offer some protection from contact when practicing oral sex. [ 14 ]


Oral sex should be limited to the protected areas. A makeshift dental dam can be made out of a condom [ 23 ]  or a latex or  nitrile glove , [ 24 ]  but using a real dental dam is seen as preferable; this is because real dental dams cover a larger area, avoid accidents caused by "slipping" outside the covered area, and avoid the risk that makeshift versions may be accidentally damaged or poked with the scissors during the cutting procedure. Plastic wrap may also be used as a barrier during oral sex, but there exists no conclusive scientific research regarding how effective it may or may not be at preventing disease transmission. Certain  kinds of plastic  wrap are manufactured to be microwaveable and are designed to have pores that open when heated, but there also exists no scientific research on what effect, if any, this has on disease transmission when used during oral sex. [ 25 ]  Some people complain that the thickness of the plastic dulls sensation.


A report issued by the  National Center for Health Statistics  in 2005 was the basis of an article in the 26 September 2005 issue of  Time  magazine. The report comes from the results of a computer-administered survey of over 12,000 Americans between the ages of 15 and 44, and states that over half the teenagers questioned have had oral sex. While some headlines have interpreted this as evidence that oral sex among teenagers is "on the rise", this was the first comprehensive study of its kind to examine the matter. [ 26 ]  The  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  (CDC) stated in 2009: "Studies indicate that oral sex is commonly practiced by sexually active male-female and same-gender couples of various ages, including adolescents." [ 14 ]  Research also indicates that "males are more likely than females to have received oral sex, whereas equal proportions of men and women have given oral sex." [ 1 ]


In a Canadian study, 89% of heterosexual and  bisexual  men had practiced cunnilingus; 94% of them enjoyed it. Of the latter, 76% practiced it often or very often. Reasons for not practicing cunnilingus included lack of opportunity (73%) and disgust (13%). This suggests that much more than 89% of men would practice cunnilingus if they had a chance. [ 27 ]


Some sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as  Chlamydia  and  human papillomavirus  (HPV), can be transmitted through oral sex. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ]  Any sexual exchange of bodily fluids with a person infected with  HIV , the virus that causes  AIDS , 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. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 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 . [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 14 ]  Brushing the teeth, flossing, undergoing dental work soon before or after performing oral sex can also increase the risk of transmission, because all of these activities can cause small scratches in the lining of the mouth. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  These wounds, even when they are  microscopic , increase the chances of contracting STIs that can be transmitted orally under these conditions. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  Such contact can also lead to more mundane infections from common  bacteria  and  viruses  found in, around and secreted from the genital regions. Because of the aforementioned factors, medical sources advise the use of  condoms  or  other effective barrier methods  when performing or receiving oral sex with a partner whose STI status is unknown. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 28 ]


Links have been reported between oral sex and  oral cancer  with human papillomavirus (HPV)-infected people. In 2005, a research study at  Malmö University 's Faculty of Odontology suggested that performing unprotected oral sex on a person infected with HPV might increase the risk of oral cancer. The study found that 36 percent of the  cancer  patients had HPV compared to only 1 percent of the healthy control group.


Another study in  The New England Journal of Medicine  suggests a  correlation  between oral sex and  throat 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. [ 32 ] [ 33 ]


Fellatio may reduce the risk of  miscarriages  by inducing  immunological tolerance  in the woman by exposure to the proteins in her partner's semen, a process known as  paternal tolerance . While any exposure to a partner's semen appears to decrease a woman's chances for the various immunological disorders that can occur during pregnancy, immunological tolerance could be most quickly established through the oral introduction and gastrointestinal absorption of semen. [ 34 ] [ 35 ] [ 36 ]  Recognizing that some of the studies potentially included the presence of confounding factors, such as the possibility that women who regularly perform fellatio and swallow semen also engage in more frequent intercourse, the researchers also noted that, either way, "the data still overwhelmingly supports the main theory" behind all their studies—that repeated exposure to semen establishes the maternal immunological tolerance necessary for a safe and successful pregnancy. [ 36 ] [ 37 ]


Cultural views on oral sex range from aversion to high regard. [ 1 ]  It, especially fellatio, [ 38 ]  has been deemed  taboo , or at least discouraged, in many cultures and parts of the world. [ 1 ]  Laws of some jurisdictions consider oral sex to be  penetrative sex  for the purposes of  sexual offenses  with regard to the act, but most countries do not have laws which ban the practice itself, in contrast to anal sex or  extramarital sex .


In  ancient Rome , fellatio was considered profoundly taboo. [ 39 ]  Sexual acts were generally seen through the prism of submission and control. This is apparent in the two  Latin  words for the act:  irrumare  (to penetrate orally), and  fellare  (to be penetrated orally). Under this system, it was considered to be abhorrent for a male to perform fellatio, since that would mean that he was penetrated (controlled), whereas receiving fellatio from a woman or another man of lower social status (such as a slave or debtor) was not humiliating. The Romans thought of oral sex as being far more shameful than, for example, anal sex – known practitioners were supposed to have  foul breath  and were often unwelcome as guests at a dinner table. [ 39 ]  This was highlighted in Roman attitudes towards  irrumatio , in which it was strictly considered a form of oral rape, and any man who irrumated another person was considered to be extremely  virile . [ 40 ]  Irrumatio was so degrading in Roman society in fact that it was often used as a method of  punishment . [ 40 ]


In contrast to historical views on fellatio, cunnilingus is revered as a spiritually fulfilling practice in Chinese  Taoism , which regards it as having the ability to enhance  longevity . [ 41 ]  In modern  Western culture , oral sex is widely practiced among adolescents [ 26 ]  and adults. [ 1 ]


People give various reasons for their dislike of oral sex. [ 1 ]  Some state that since it does not result in reproduction, it is therefore unnatural. [ 42 ]  Others find it less intimate because it is not a face-to-face practice, [ 1 ]  or believe that it is a humiliating or unclean practice; [ 1 ] [ 43 ]  that it is humiliating or unclean are opinions that are, at least in some cases, connected with the symbolism attached to different parts of the body. [ 43 ]  Opposite these views, people also believe that oral sex "is one of the most intimate behaviors that a couple can engage in because it requires total trust and vulnerability." [ 1 ]


While commonly believed that  lesbian sexual practices  involve cunnilingus for all  women who have sex with women  (WSW), some have an aversion to cunnilingus due to not liking the experience or psychological or social factors, such as finding it unclean. [ 44 ] [ 45 ] [ 46 ] [ 47 ]  Other WSW believe that it is a necessity or largely defines lesbian sexual activity. [ 46 ] [ 47 ]  Lesbian couples are more likely to consider a woman's dislike of cunnilingus as a problem than heterosexual couples are, and it is common for them to seek therapy to overcome  inhibitions  regarding it. [ 46 ]


There are many words which refer to oral sex, including  euphemisms  and  sexual slang . Like all aspects of sexuality, there exists a large number of variations on a theme, a few common ones being:


Other slang terms for oral sex include  going down on  (male or female),  licking out  and  muff diving  (female),  blow job  (male),  dome  (male or female),  sucking off  (male),  playing the skin flute  (male recipient),  rolling cigars  (male recipient),  lolly-gagging  (gay male-on-male),  gaining knowledge  (male recipient) and  bust down  (male). Forced fellatio is often called  Egyptian rape  or simply  Egyptian ; this goes back to the time of the  Crusades  when  Mamluks  were alleged to force their Christian captives to do this. [ 49 ]


Oral sex  has been observed in the animal kingdom  among many species. [ 50 ] [ 51 ]  It has been suggested that there is an evolutionary advantage due to the tendency of primates, non-primates and humans to have oral sex. [ 52 ]   Fellatio  occurs with the  fruit bat  ( Cynopterus sphinx ); it has been observed when the bats are  mating . These bat pairs spend more time copulating if the female licks the male than if she does not. [ 53 ] [ 54 ]


Unlike many other animals, fish from the genus  Corydoras  reproduce orally. The  male faces perpendicularly to the female so that she may be able to attach to his reproductive apparatus. He then releases sperm into the mouth of the female, crossing her digestive system and fertilising her eggs. [ 55 ]


Explanatory notes


The  pelvic thrust  is the thrusting motion of the  pelvic  region, which is used for a variety of activities, such as dance, exercise, or  sexual activity .


The pelvic thrust is used during  copulation  by many species of  mammals , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  including humans, [ 4 ]  or for other sexual activities (such as  non-penetrative sex ).  In 2007, German scientists noted that female monkeys could increase the vigor and number of pelvic thrusts made by the male by  shouting during intercourse . [ 5 ]  In  whitetail deer , copulation consists of a single pelvic thrust. [ 6 ]


One of the first to perform this move on stage was  Elvis Presley . It was quite controversial due to its obvious sexual connotations.  Due to this controversy, he was sometimes shown (as seen on his third appearance on  The Ed Sullivan Show ) from the waist up on TV. [ 7 ]  Later, the pelvic thrust also became one of the signature moves of  Michael Jackson . [ 8 ]  It is also mentioned in " Time Warp ", a song from  The Rocky Horror Show , as a part of the choreography associated with the warp itself.  Twerking , a reverse and sometimes passive form of pelvic thrust dance move, is also a very popular form of  hip-hop dance  move. The sideways pelvic thrust is a famous female dance move in  India  and  Bangladesh  and known as  thumka . It appears in the lyrics of various  Bollywood  songs. [ citation needed ]


Hip thrusts can be used as an exercise to train the  gluteus maximus  muscle. The athlete will get into a reclined position and thrust their hips upward to lift weights balanced on their lap. [ 9 ] [ 10 ]


Pelvic thrusting is observed in infant monkeys, apes, and humans. These observations led ethologist John Bowlby (1969) to suggest that  infantile sexual behavior  may be the rule in mammals, not the exception. Thrusting has been observed in humans at eight to 10 months of age and may be an expression of affection. Typically, the infant clings to the parent, then nuzzles, thrusts, and rotates the pelvis for several seconds. [ 11 ]


Penile-vaginal intercourse  or  vaginal intercourse  is a form of  penetrative   sexual intercourse  in  human sexuality , in which an  erect   penis  is inserted into a  vagina . [ 1 ]  Synonyms are:  vaginal sex ,  cohabitation ,  coitus  ( Latin: coitus per vaginam ), (in elegant colloquial language)  intimacy , or (poetic)  lovemaking . (Some of the synonyms are used for other variants of sexual intercourse as well.) It corresponds to  mating  or  copulation  in non-human animals.


Various  sex positions  can be used. Following insertion, additional  stimulation  is often achieved through  rhythmic   pelvic thrusting  or a  gyration  of the hips, among other techniques. The biological imperative is to achieve  male ejaculation  so that  sperm  can enter the  female reproductive tract  and fertilize the  egg , thus beginning the next stage in  human reproduction ,  pregnancy .


The desire for sensual  pleasure  is usually the main motivation for humans, and sometimes the wish to have a  baby  or more  children . [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  The biological function of vaginal intercourse is  human reproduction . During coitus without a  condom ,  sperm  enter the vagina, first with the  pre-ejaculate  and then a larger amount through male  ejaculation . [ 4 ]


Sperm swim through the  cervix  and the  uterus  into the  fallopian tubes  of the woman. If they meet a fertilisable  egg cell  after or during an  ovulation , or if an ovulation occurs hours or days later, one sperm can  fertilize  it. The resulting  zygote  develops into the early embryonic stages and, in the meantime, migrates from the fallopian tube into the uterus. The  nidation  of the embryo called  blastocyst  at this stage of development with the beginning of the production of  hCG  marks the beginning of a  pregnancy . [ 5 ]  Without  contraceptives , during a woman's  fertile days ,  there is a relatively high probability that  conception  will follow.


For people who do not want (another) child,  contraception  has made it possible to separate vaginal intercourse from its biological function of  procreation . [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ page needed ] [ 8 ]  Worldwide, about 57 per cent of couples with women of reproductive age use modern methods of  contraception . [ 9 ]


Since there is no  mating season  ( estrus ) in humans, the partners can have penile-vaginal intercourse distributed over the  menstrual cycle  regardless of the time of ovulation, even when the woman is already pregnant and after the  menopause . [ 10 ] [ 11 ]
The principles of  safer sex  eliminate the reproductive function. Couples who wish to have  offspring  can avail themselves of the tests for  sexually transmitted infections  recommended by the  WHO , so that after ruling out or treating any detected infection they can have penile-vaginal intercourse without using a condom. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ excessive citations ]


There are currently more than 7.5 billion people ( World Population 8 billion ) whose biological  parents  conceived this way. The increasing proportion of people conceived through  intrauterine insemination  and  in vitro fertilisation  is still comparatively small.