Stories and Facts
An Empress of the Chinese T'ang dynasty, which ruled from
AD683 to 705, decided that the act of fellatio promoted male
supremacy, an idea abhorrent to a female who was the chosen
of heaven. She decided that cunnilingus - or "licking the
lotus stamen" - needed to be elevated to a position of
primacy during sex, and so lead from the front by demanding
oral sex from visiting diplomats and government officials. According
to A. Edwardes & R. E. L. Masters in "The
Cradle of Erotica", there are paintings of
the Empress holding open her robes while men kneel between her
legs and kiss her clitoris as a mark of obeisance and respect.
Perhaps the best part of this story is the Empress' name: Wu
Until as late as 1998, it was illegal to perform oral sex
in the US state of Georgia. That state's sodomy laws defined
the act as "any sexual act involving
the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another".
This law was only repealed after one unfortunate man was sent
to prison for 5 years for performing cunnilingus. Anthony Powell
was acquitted of the rape of his ex-wife's niece, but in the
course of the trial he told the court they had engaged in consensual
oral sex. The judge then ordered the jury to try poor Anthony
on the charge of "consensual sodomy". He was convicted
and spent 14 months in prison, even while politicians were repealing
the law under which he had been tried.
Nine years earlier another man spent over two years in prison
for performing cunnilingus on his wife.
Historian Matthew Panciera has written about a mosaic at
the ancient Roman baths at Ostia. The mosaic has an inscription
which reads statio cunnulingiorum (oral sex station)
below a raised bench. While other historians have dismissed
the inscription as a Roman joke, Panciera believes it marks
a place at the baths where male prostitutes performed cunnilingus
for eager women.
Apparently the average Roman man hated the idea of cunnilingus
and would never think of performing it on his wife. Panciera
says this means they would be unlikely to make a joke of it
in the mosaic. Not to mention the fact that there was probably
quite a demand for that kind of service from Roman women. Cunnilingus
does not result in pregnancy and is a near-guarantee of female
orgasm, so it was probably a profitable enterprise for the one
or two men willing to do it. Panciera also believes the inscription
may have served as a warning against men sitting down on the
evidence that such prostitution existed in the doomed city of
By the way, "cunnilingus" stems from Latin, cunnus
meaning vulva, and lingus meaning tongue, or using the mouth.
According to Kinsey's Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female,
published in 1953, 54% of married women had experienced cunnilingus.
Nearly 30 years later Masters and Johnson published Human
Sexuality (1984), which reported that 93% of women had engaged
in the act.
The Jehovah's Witnesses consider oral sex to be sinful.
Their official site says: "We believe that, aside from
those who have been indoctrinated with the view that 'in marriage
anything goes,' the vast majority of persons would normally
reject as repugnant the practice of oral copulation, as also
anal copulation. If these forms of intercourse are not "contrary
to nature," then what is?" Any form of oral sex is
apparently perverting the "natural use of the female".
According to World Sex Records, someone called Legman has
decided that there are 14,288, 400 positions for performing
cunnilingus. Unfortunately, this man didn't go into detail into
what all those positions were. (World-sex-records.com)
The Starr Report
The strong mint Altoids is recommended as an aid to cunnilingus.
The menthol stimulates the wet membranes of the vulva and adds
a tingling sensation to the experience. According to the Starr
Report, Monica Lewinsky told President Clinton of this effect
and, chewing an Altoid at the time, suggested they try it out.
Clinton replied that he was too busy to have oral sex. Another
missed opportunity occurred when Monica turned down Bill's offer
of cunnilingus because she had her period. And so are the days
of our lives...
* On Ponape, a South Pacific island, typical foreplay would
involve a man placing a fish in his lover's vulva. He would
then slowly lick it out. *
* On the island of Inis Beag near Ireland, sex education is
non-existent. No-one has ever heard of cunnilingus and a female
orgasm is considered to be deviant. *
* Meanwhile, on the island of Mangaia in the South Pacific,
13 year old boys are taught cunnilingus by an older woman, and
trained to bring a woman to orgasm at least twice before he
has his own orgasm. *
* Bonobo chimps are the only animal known to give cunnilingus.
* From the book by Janet Shibley
Hyde, Understanding Human Sexuality