Sexual practices between women
Sex educator and feminist Shere Hite stated that one of her female research subjects had written, "Sex with a woman includes: touching, kissing, smiling, looking serious, embracing, talking, digital intercourse, caressing, looking, cunnilingus, undressing, remembering later, making sounds, sometimes gently biting, sometimes crying, and breathing and sighing together.
Allowing such acts of physical intimacy, especially the stimulation of a partner's breasts and nipples, is an indication of reciprocal interest in sexual activity.
[citation needed] A woman's mouth, lips and tongue may be sensitive erogenous zones; they are commonly used by partners during the preliminary stages and throughout a sexual activity, whether for kissing, sucking, licking or specifically for oral sex.
[8][10] Stimulation of the clitoris or other parts of the vulva by using the lips and tongue (cunnilingus) is a commonly practiced form of oral sex between women.
It typically involves vulva-to-vulva contact or a woman rubbing her vulva against her partner's thigh, stomach, buttocks, arm, or other body parts.
For example, a person in a doggy style position may be passive and open to a variety of sex acts, generally at the choice of the active partner, such as fingering from behind, massage or stimulation of erogenous zones, including the genitals, nipples, or buttocks, and receiving a playful spank to the buttocks.
To ensure passivity and to enhance the feeling of or actual female submission, a partner may also take part in bondage (such as wearing handcuffs) or in other BDSM activities.
[19][27] Studies by Pepper Schwartz and Philip Blumstein (1983) and Diane Holmberg and Karen L. Blair (2009) contradict research indicating that women in same-sex relationships are more sexually satisfied than their heterosexual counterparts.
[1][32] Replicating Kinsey's findings, studies by scholars such as Peplau, Fingerhut and Beals (2004) and Diamond (2006) indicate that lesbians have orgasms more often and more easily in sexual interactions than heterosexual women do.
Some lesbian or bisexual women dislike oral sex because they do not like the experience or due to psychological or social factors, such as finding it unclean.
[11] A 2014 study of partnered lesbian women in Canada and the U.S. found that 7% engaged in anal stimulation or penetration at least once a week; about 10% did so monthly and 70% did not at all.
[41] Bacterial vaginosis, which doubles the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections like HIV/AIDS,[45][46] occurs more often in lesbian couples.
[47][48] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not recognize female-to-female transmission as a possible method of HIV infection until 1995.
[43] However, the CDC states that pathogens such as metronidazole-resistant trichomoniasis, genotype-concordant HIV, human papillomavirus (HPV, which has been linked to nearly all cases of cervical cancer) and syphilis can be spread through sexual contact between women.
[43] While the rates of these pathologies are unknown, one study showed 30% of lesbians and bisexual women had medical histories with sexually transmitted infections.
Health Canada noted "the prevalence of all types of HPV (cancer and non-cancer-causing) in different groups of Canadian women ranges from 20%–33%" and an American university study found 60% of sexually active females were infected with HPV at some time within a three-year period.
[50] The American Family Physician suggests that lesbian and bisexual women "cover sex toys that penetrate more than one person's vagina or anus with a new condom for each person" and to "consider using different toys for each person", to use a protection barrier (for example, a latex sheet, dental dam, cut-open condom or plastic wrap) during oral sex and to "use latex or vinyl gloves and lubricant for any manual sex that might cause bleeding unprotected contact with a sexual partner's menstrual blood and with any visible genital lesions".
