The Cultural Taboo of Women and Anal Sex

The word taboo describes “a ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion”.1 There are many taboos that circulate around women’s sexuality that influence perception of and attitudes towards the female body and elicit these sentiments of inhibition. These taboos affect how women are viewed by society as well as how women relate to their own bodies. The taboo around anal sex for women is intensely present in Western culture today. From early childhood informal interpersonal and formal institutional social controls enforce the idea that that the anus is a private and dirty part of the body.2 This results in a social perception that it is wrong and unnatural to regard the anus as a sexually erotic body part. The history and perpetuation of the taboo around anal sex is routed in the institutions of the Church, the medical community, the legal system, and the family. This taboo is enforced through interpersonal social controls within these institutions. These controls make anal sex especially deviant for women. Breaking down this taboo would not only allow women to experience sexual pleasure other than vaginal penetration without shame, but it would allow them to gain power and control in sex by having the ability to penetrate their partners with strap-on dildos acting as artificial penises.3 This allows women to take on the traditionally more dominant role as penetrators instead of having no choice but to be the submissive receptacle for the penis. This female power can be perceived as threatening as it contradicts traditional positions of women in sex and in society. It also questions a taboo that has been so heavily perpetuated. Thus the Western cultural taboo around anal sex for women exists as a result of social controls and can be broken down by heterosexual and queer couples engaging in anal sex play, and generating more sexual health information about anal sex, to create a more positive image of anal sex and sexual power for women.

Formal social controls are put in place by institutions to maintain a certain order in society.4 Institutions like the church, the medical community, the legal system, and the family all influence the social perception of anal sex. As the religious text of the Church, the Bible has been used for centuries to condemn non-procreative, non-heterosexual sex acts.5 In his text Anal Pleasure and Sexual Health, Jack Morin writes:
In the Judeo Christian tradition, the taboo against anal intercourse is seen as coming from God. In the Old Testament story, God completely destroys the city of Sodom, presumably as punishment for rampant sodomy among its people. […] Among believers, condemnation of anal sex is not based on any discernible principle except the desire to avoid the wrath of God.6

This fear and belief invoked in Judeo-Christian has had a great affect on the maintenance of the taboo around anal sex in general for women and men. The Bible contains many references to the evil and wickedness of sodomites. Sodomy refers to “Any of various forms of sexual intercourse held to be unnatural or abnormal, especially anal intercourse or bestiality”.7 The Bible contains explicit statements about the Lord’s condemnation of sodomy: “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly”.8 This depiction in the Old Testament of anal sex as being sinful, evil, and condemned by God has caused the Church to enforce rules against anal sex. Though the Church does not have as much control in current Western society as it did in the past, residue of these attitudes remain present in society today. Bible excerpts about sodomy are also often used to condemn homosexuality. This homophobia in society is largely influenced by the Church’s concern around the maintenance of heterosexual procreative couple as the norm.9 The homophobic attitude towards anal sex as being only practiced between gay males, has influenced why it is so taboo for women to engage in anal intercourse.10

The medical community has heavily influenced the homophobic perception around anal sex as it has framed AIDS as a “gay male disease”.11 When the fear of AIDS became widespread in the nineteen eighties there was a large amount of misinformation around the spread of the disease. Originally “propaganda about safer sex claimed that heterosexuals and lesbians weren’t at risk. Then heterosexuals and lesbians started getting sick”.12 Anal sex without a condom is a high-risk sexual activity in terms of contracting AIDS and HIV no matter who your partner is. Because society has made the connection between anal sex and gay males, and the connection between gay males and AIDS, a fear has been instilled that anal sex is the easiest way to contract AIDS. Anal sex has become so linked with the disease that “many people assume that anal sex in and of itself will cause the disease”.13 The medical community has greatly contributed to the taboo around anal sex for women because it has evoked fear of anal sex by linking it with AIDS and has perpetuated the homophobia around anal sex being solely for gay males.

The medical community also lacks information about anal sex for women. Though women are encouraged to ask questions and learn about safer sex, birth control, and risks of pregnancy in heterosexual sex, the medical community does not make it comfortable for women to ask questions about anal intercourse and it is not generally brought up by healthcare professionals.14 Since the medical community does not allow for women to freely and comfortably acquire information about anal sex, it is contributing to the attitude that anal sex is a shameful practice. Taboos around non-procreative sex would be broken down if they were more often discussed in institutional settings like the medical community, as these would cause more discussion and acceptance within greater society.
The legal system also influences the taboo of anal sex for women because it has controlled sexual acts in society by regulating which are legal, and thus condoned by the State, and which are not. As society has moved away from the control of the Church into the control of the State, law around sexuality have just as much impact in the formation of attitudes towards sexual practices as the rules of the Bible. Canada’s Criminal Code was amended in 1969 to decriminalize sexual practices between same sex partners. This amendment also included the legalization of anal sex committed in private between persons 21 years or older.15 Prior to this, the criminal code included anal sex between two men, or between a man and a woman under the term “sodomy” and was considered an “unnatural sex act” and a “crime against nature”.16 Because anal sex was previously considered a criminal offence and was labeled as “unnatural” the conclusion can be drawn that the legal system has had an impact in enforcing the taboo around anal sex as it was presented as a threat to the well-being of society. The current age of consent for anal sex in Canada is eighteen years of age, while all other sex acts vaginal and (oral intercourse, etc.) are considered consensual at age fourteen.17 The fact that anal sex can only be consented to at the age of majority enforces the taboo as it causes anal sex to be perceived as some how different from all other sex acts. By making the consensual age eighteen the Criminal Code causes anal sex to continue to be feared and perceived as more dangerous as it seems to require the responsibility of an adult.

The institution of the family enforces the anal sex taboo, as the family is one of the primary institutions where children are taught about sex and sexuality. Though the family is a formal institution, and thus involved in formal social controls, the interpersonal interactions within the family enforce informal social controls. Informal social controls include actions like staring, laughing, frowning, avoiding, and shaming around taboo topics such as anal sex and anal pleasure.18 From an early age children are “taught that the anus is the dirtiest part of our bodies and that it needs to be brought under strict control. The same orifice that was a source of innocent pleasure during infancy becomes a source of shame and confusion in childhood”.19 Children feel ashamed of anal pleasures as a result of adult authority figures. This greatly affects their sexual development and influences the rest of their lives as “We are each individually shaped by our early presexual lives, which are constructed on a biological base, and a socially and historically transformed through our lived experiences as men and women.”20 With a negative attitude towards anal sex in the early stages of sexual development, the framework is laid for adult apprehension around anal sex that is caused by social institutions. As there are so many formal social controls maintaining the taboo of anal sex for women it is easy to believe that “[…] many adults are unable to conceive of the anus as an erogenous zone.”21 This fear and aversion to the anus as a site of pleasure is a direct result of the anal sex taboo.

Formal and informal social controls label anal sex as a deviant behaviour. Though the practice of anal sex has been named deviant in an attempt to enforce the taboo and make the practice shameful, this very label can be sexually appealing. The taboo around anal sex gives it an air of the forbidden; “[…] feelings of shame and transgression can be highly erotic, and that some people doubtlessly enjoy anal play in part because they feel they’re messing around where they shouldn’t.”22 The fact that anal sex seems naughty and that people are ashamed to admit to it enhances the eroticism and appeal of anal sex. In this way the anal sex taboo has been reclaimed to enhance the sexual experience for those engaging in the act. This enjoyment of the cultural taboo of anal sex is a positive step towards deconstructing the taboo as people are subverting its original purpose.

This subversion can also be found in the fact more heterosexuals are openly engaging in anal sex causing the homophobic perception of anal sex as a “gay male sex act” to be deconstructed. Teenagers seem to be engaging in anal sex more often as an option to vaginal intercourse that will not result in pregnancy; “Heterosexual anal intercourse, while uncommon, is more frequent among young people who have already experienced vaginal intercourse than among any older age groups.”23 The fact that teens are engaging in anal sex more than older age groups could signify that the taboo around anal sex and women is becoming less persistent in society. A study done in two thousand and three with eight hundred and thirteen female students at a United-States College generated statistics regarding heterosexual women and anal intercourse. Ninety-four percent (seven hundred and sixty one) of these students were sexually experienced, meaning that they had engaged in vaginal-penile intercourse. Within that group, thirty two percent had engaged in anal intercourse. It is interesting to note that of the fifty-two women who were not sexually experienced, three of them reported engaging in anal intercourse.24 The perception of anal sex as being a first penetrative sexual experience, again, calls into question the effectiveness of the taboo of anal sex for young women in today’s society. The mere existence of this study indicates that society is moving towards breaking down the cultural taboo around anal sex because it is recognizing anal sex as a valid topic in sex research.

The appeal and acceptance of anal sex despite the taboo has not only been used for males to anally penetrate females, but also for heterosexual females to be able to penetrate male partners, and queer females to penetrate each other anally. Females are able to penetrate their partners through the use of artificial phalluses called dildos or strap-ons. Dildos are used in conjunction with a harness to enable women to penetrate their partners.25 The use of strap-ons counters the taboo around anal sex for women because it empowers them to give penetrative anal pleasure, as well as the ability to receive it. The act of a woman penetrating her partner effectively subverts the homophobic perception of anal sex being strictly for gay males. This act also gives women a sexual power they would not usually have because in the Western patriarchal society power is often associated with the phallus. “Natural” sex is culturally considered in the West to be “man-on-top” vaginal penetration.26 Masculine dominance can be seen as being perpetuated through this type of sex act as it maintains the woman’s position as submissive and compliant to the man’s penile penetration.27 To give a woman the ability to have a penis allows her to take on that gendered power within sex and escape from the traditional submissive sexual role of the women.

Anal sex can be effectively used in power play “Because it is already considered taboo, naughty, and forbidden, those attitudes can be exaggerated and played with in the context of an erotic encounter.”28 The eroticization of the taboo allows for power and gender roles to be explored and challenged with the use of strap-ons. Carol Queen is quoted in The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women as saying “What I like about assholes is, everybody has one.”29 Because both men and women have an anus, anal sex being performed by a woman on a man can be an equalizing experience even though the woman does not have a real penis.30 This is an opportunity for the man in a heterosexual scenario to experience the powerlessness that society enforces on women. In both a heterosexual and a queer scenario, the woman dominating the experience of anal sex is able to experience and play with the male gender power role. It is in this way that anal sex can allow men and women to experience equal power and equal sexual experience.

Though the anal sex taboo is heavily enforced on women through formal and informal social controls, there is a possibility for change. The values that are being perpetuated within social institutions are deeply rooted in historical outlooks on sexuality. Though there continue to be followers of the Judeo-Christian faith that condemn anal sex as morally apprehensible, this conservative outlook is not the dominant one. Progression in the medical system to include anal sex in sexual health education is not an impossible request. Safer sex initiatives can easily be made to include anal sex and anal health within the context of women’s sexuality. Doctors could begin to provide this information and create a space where questions about anal sex can be as easily asked as questions about birth control. The legal system has already progressed to move away from discriminating against consensual sexual acts, though this can continue to be improved. The institution of the family is greatly responsible to create a safe and comfortable space where children can learn about and love their bodies. A greater awareness about how to teach children about body parts and hygiene in a way that does not shame them is necessary to diminish the power of the anal sex taboo. Evidence that this taboo is already starting to be broken down can be seen statistically as young women are engaging in anal sex, and are willing to participate in studies about this taboo topic. As long as there continue to be women engaging in anal sex for pleasure as both the givers and receivers of penetration, and women who are willing to discuss anal sex honestly and openly, it is possible that in the future the taboo of anal sex for women will be forgotten and anal sex will be free of such intense social control.