Popularity of oral sex. What has changed it?

[Anonymous]

I was raised "up scale:". When I was in High School, "eating a girl out" was deep into "gross" territory. It was considered extreme for guys and was almost unknown to upscale girls. Now it is common as spring rain and many (including me) are as comfortable with giving it as can be. What changed this? I have an opinion, but I'm interested in others'.

[Red_Arrow]

Sex education (both classroom and in the street) has changed. When I was in school, we did not even have sex education. But outside of the classroom, what one could learn about was usually what one could see. When being intimate, girls could just look down and see a guy's penis, and young people talking about the what and the how would understand because they had seen what was being talked about. But a guy looking down usually would not even see the vulva because back then "wild bush" was the standard and everything was hidden behind a jungle. (Guys had pubic hair, too, but the genitals, penis and scrotum, stick out from the hair) So a guy did not get to see the actual "organs of interest" unless he want beyond looking down and actually digging in. But the girls usually were not open to that familiarity. So the guy would already have to know what to do and to what because she did not give him a chance to explore without actually doing something pleasurable, which he did not yet know how to do.

Now sex education teaches a lot in the schools (yet young people still do not seem to know that the vulva is not the vagina). Armed with more knowledge, guys and gals are more willing to experiment and be open to exploration, even with casual hookups.

Once given a green light by women in general, most men are ready to "dive in" and are not grossed out at all. But the biggest downside is that there seems to be no fear of STDs and they are beginning to run rampant. The HPV virus is being passed at a phenomenal rate (even today it does not seem that testing for it is among the usual tests). And the HPV virus can be passed both ways though oral sex. And that virus can cause dangerous, even deadly, cancers. So today's culture is more "free love" than the hippies of our age, and with it diseases that were not even known then are spreading all over the place.

I doubt condoms will become common place for oral sex, so I would simply suggest more people get to really know how clean their partner is and not believe that oral sex is safe sex, at least for diseases.

[Otrolite]

Very good answer, just one comment: condoms won't protect you against HPV (nor herpes). It's a skin infection and you only need exposed skin touching infected skin to get infected yourself. Of course it covers you to a point, but you have to be careful. Unfortunately, you or your partner might be infected and not being aware of it, many HPV varieties don't show visible warts. Bottom line, yes, we should use condoms when having oral sex (both ways) but that doesn't guarantee complete safety.

[kheserthorpe]

There is no question there have been shifts.

I'm personally suspicious that one factor that drove fellatio being normalized in the us was the earlier expansion of routine infant circumcision. Handjobs are harder and blow jobs suddenly seem less messy.

I would say that earlier tend then merged with increasingly public discussion about female orgasm and equality in sexual enjoyment. If he's receiving oral sex and she deserves similar treatment ...

The shaving trend actually happened later and if anything was fuelled by cunnilingus being common rather than the other way around.

[tammymac]

Wow this astounds me, I never knew it was considered low class to give face. I am assuming that getting oral (as a man) was perfectly acceptable and probably insisted upon by most men at that time. I think the change would have to come from us woman getting in touch with our bodies and from us being comfortable enough with the subject of sex and sexual acts to actually ask to be pleasured in that manor. It has also come to light that most women do not orgasm from penetration alone. I don't think it really has as much to do with p*rn, as it does with education. We know what makes us come now, and we are not afraid of asking for it.

[Asker]

It WAS considered lower class back then in upper class culture. The hypocrisy is all of us wanted to get "blown" and there were "pass around girls", but wed never expect it from our girlfriends.

[bluexqueen]

So back in your day it was 'gross' for a guy to give a girl oral. Was it so gross if the girl gave the guy oral? Probably not. Because of the internet sexual education (porn is entertainment not education) has become more available. And people are starting to wise up about sexual myths now. Most women don't orgasm from just vaginal intercourse. We need clitoral stimulation during intercourse by touch or toy. And oral is great for an orgasm too. As well as fingers.

[katiesmuff]

I don't think anything has changed except maybe you breaking out of the shell you were in. 69 for example (and that requires a guy to eat some sweet pussy and hairy back then) has been in sexual articles, magazines old old vintage p*rn and medical articles on sex years before you came on this earth. Look up the term cunnilingus for a woman or fellatio as related to a man and see just how far back in history it goes.

[Red_Arrow]

What you say is true, but it was mostly restricted to p*rnographic literature. It was not something that was very common. The availability of just about everything on the internet has brought it out and made it more common.

[katiesmuff]

What makes you think not? We didn't have Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Cell Phones, I pads etc all this wonderful crap where one can spew everything to the world in a matter of seconds. Also you agree with the p*rn, well if people weren't interested in it and practicing it the p*rn itself would not have evolved. What the internet does is make it easier to learn about it.

[kheserthorpe]

Well, one piece of evidence is that 100 years ago, fellatio cost significantly -more- then sex from a prostitute and most wouldn't do it, where it's now cheaper. White girls in north America tend to give oral sex at a younger age then having vaginal sex, which is also a change. Even on this site, you talk to 50 year olds, they're more likely to view oral sex as more intimate, not as something between making out and sex. So the change is real.

[Red_Arrow]

My point. We didn't have Facebook, etc,. and internet in general, so if you wanted p*rn you pretty much had to get it off the rack, put it and some money on the counter, then take it. That slowed a lot of people a lot. The internet does make it easier and more widely known and all the users together push to evolve it. So there has been a lot of change just because of the internet.

[Troian]

Mostly p*rn I would say. Many people watched it as teenagers. People who right the sex books probably watched it too. There are so much oral sex in p*rn that it became a normal thing to do.

[indy7]

gd. Glad I wasn't raised "up scale" then. I'm over 45, and very much enjoyed eating out my girlfriend of 2 years in high school. sorry to hear you missed out on the early years.

[Asker]

As am I. But what separated us?

[indy7]

Perhaps the desire or willingness to ask questions and explore anything beyond what was considered normal boundaries.

[Kinstrome]

Most of it is public perception change, as literature and art have depicted cunnilingus at other points in human history.

Possibly it is also due to improved hygiene. I've heard greatly varying accounts of how good or bad vagina tastes, and the popular impression that it tastes bad might be due to infrequent showering in not-so-far-back times.

[yaddayaddayadda02]

The beauty of being "up scale" is you get to pretend you find certain things "gross", but still probably do them in the privacy of your home.

[Anonymous]

I'm around 20 years younger than you and even when I left school (8 years ago) it was actually looked down upon then too. Eating a girl out would make you the lowest of the low when it came to sexuality. Guys would always advise each other NOT to give a girl oral sex, that it was gross and disgusting and, even in some cases, if your friends found out about it you would begin to become a loner. I had a friend who lost all his friends and got treated like a joke because he ate a girl out.

I think the popularity of oral sex has risen due to the social acceptance of sexuality and what it takes to give extreme pleasure to your sexual partner. Also, p*rn is being watched by younger ages with each generation.

Funnily enough, I'm from London and, like I said, when I was in school eating a girl out could result in you losing all your friends. However, things seem quite different across the pond. Apparently oral sex is more pleasurable and accepting than intercourse itself.

[tammymac]

Wow that's crazy lol Was it the same way if you got a bj would you lose your friends then too?

[Opinion Owner]

No, and that is where the double standards come in. If a guy got a bj he would probably gain more popularity. But the girl would be looked down upon. I explained what happens when a guy eats out the girl. The girl who receives oral wouldn't see any changes in her social conditions.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I never knew this wasn't common back in the day

[Anonymous]

One could ask why is gay marriage now considered normal by some people

Culture changes this is why

[Anonymous]

Liberalism.

Shaving of women's privates.

Porn.

[Anonymous]

Did it really? Go back and read some Roman erotic literature or maybe something Ancient Greek - even Sumerian or the Song of Songs in the Bible. The language used in some of the mentioned works might have tried to avoid explicite wording, but it was still pretty obvious what people talked about.

That anti-sexual culture dates back to the middle to late 19th century. Read e.g. poems from the 18th century. Even there you can find some with quite explicite language.

I don't think that it is something that special how people deal with it nowadays. I'd rather say that little interludium of extreme anti-sexuality from middle of 19th to middle of 20th century was special.

[Anonymous]

Education and information. Taboos are falling apart, that's all :-)

[Opinion Owner]

@update: Oh! But they did masturbate! Dildos have been used for millennia and vibrators were invented in the Victorian era. It was taboo, but it certainly happened.

[Anonymous]

The word out out among girls that it (often) gave them much more pleasure than intercourse and reduced the risk of pregnancy. In the process, they also learned about hygiene and grooming that their mothers did not teach them.

Guys. Compact dicque? Only last 5 minutes? Become expert at oral and after the novelty of intercourse wears off and orgasm is the goal, you will be a rock star. Get really good at it.

[Anonymous]

The internet ruined everything

[bluexqueen]

What was ruined?

[Opinion Owner]

Pretty much desensitized us

[bluexqueen]

In what way? I've haven't had any desensitization in my genitals and nor has my partner.

[Opinion Owner]

Overexposure

[bluexqueen]

There is worse exposure than the internet. People have to use it wisely and realize p*rn is entertainment and not sexual education (Entertainment for men mostly. Seriously those women fake it.) There are plenty of credible sights where people can learn about their bodies and sexual skills and how the genitals work. The internet didn't ruin anything: people did.