Maury Beniowski said:
I cannot answer this poll, as it lacks the "It's not my cup of tea" choice...
Perhaps the pollster inadvertently revealed his own inclination by omitting this (deliberate?). The poll therefore is not so much about a range of preferences, but rather is about how much the respondent likes/dislikes anal sex, or feels about it. Strange poll; two polarizations - one for, one against, and three observational choices.
Yeah, I agree... this poll is pretty fucked up.... I was trying to think about what the various possible views on anal sex would be... or at least what rough headings those views could be grouped under. The way the poll is now probably says more about myself than the perb members views... as you point out.
Some choices that I think would
have to be on a poll like this are:
It is unnatural behaviour (by which I mean, those who desire to penetrate or be penetrated like this are deviant and abnormal)
It is natural behaviour (by which I mean it is a
natural sexual impulse, both for a man to want to penetrate the anus, but also for a woman to be penetrated like this. I don't think necessarily implies that it is mutually pleasurable, but it seems related)
My own feeling is that neither of these is actually the case... which gets into the more subtle categories...
It is a taboo (and thus can be desirable by both partners on this basis, even if it is not mutually pleasurable)
It is an expression of dominance (and by this I mean that the man is expressing/proving his dominance over his female partner by penetrating her in this way, whereas the woman is submitting to or accepting the dominance of her partner by partaking in anal sex..... in this way it is not a true "forced" situation, which would be a rape)
My own gut feeling... as you can probably tell... is that it is the dominance thing, or possibly a combination of dominance and taboo.
I'm sure there are lots of conceptions of anal sex that I am missing... what other ones can you think of?
It could be
sadism/masochism.... the man is sexually arosed by inflicting pain and/or discomfort on his partner by penetrating her in this way... whereas (and these don't necessarily have to link up in a particular couple)... the woman derives sexual pleasure from experiencing pain and/or discomfort in connection with this sexual act being performed on her.
This almost seems like a subset of the dominance idea... but it is not conceptually the same thing. The way I have described it here (as sadism/masochism) seems, to me at least, to more accuratley describe the dynamic involved where a woman ass-fucks a man with a strap on... clearly whatever appeal there is is mostly mental, as the woman is not going to be deriving much if any sexual stimulation from the strap on she is wearing...
As for, it's not my cup of tea? Well, I think that is the case with a great many people, as can be seen in this poll. But male-female anal sex is a phenomenon that is common, so I'm just wanting to explore the reasons of those who
do engage in it.
Give me some suggestions for other explanations... I'm not going to set up another poll, but I'd be curious to hear people's ideas.