Missionary position

[5] Variations of the position allow varying degrees of clitoral stimulation, depth of penetration, participation on the part of the woman, and the likelihood and speed of orgasm.

[6] The missionary position is often preferred by couples who enjoy the romantic aspects of ample skin-to-skin contact and opportunities to look into each other's eyes and kiss and caress each other.

The position is not suitable for late stages of pregnancy, and is less desired when the woman wants to have greater control over the rhythm and depth of penetration during intercourse.

[8] However, the term probably originated from Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) through a confluence of misunderstandings and misinterpretations of historical documents.

In Sexual Behaviors, Kinsey wrote that the Trobrianders mocked face-to-face man-on-top woman-below intercourse, but does not give context.

Finally, Malinowski wrote that he saw an engaged Trobriand couple holding hands and leaning against each other, which the natives described as misinari si bubunela — the 'missionary fashion'.

Writers began using the expression for sexual intercourse in the late 1960s, and as Alex Comfort's bestseller The Joy of Sex (1972) and the Oxford English Dictionary (1976) spread the term 'missionary position', it gradually replaced older names.

In the missionary position, a woman lies on her back on a bed or other surface with her legs comfortably spread with the soles of the feet resting.

Subject to the man's weight and position, the woman may have some control by pushing her feet and legs against the mattress and by side movements in her pelvis as well as by clutching onto and moving with her partner.

[17] A receiving woman's legs and arms are generally free to move about, though her position and movement may be constrained by the penetrating partner's weight and in some other way.

[citation needed] The woman may find this variant more comfortable,[24] and it can allow her to push against the man's thrust, giving her some control over the rhythm.

[27] In the butterfly position, the woman can lie on her back with her hips on the edge of a platform such as a bed, table, kitchen bench, desk, etc.

This results in more consistent clitoral stimulation at the cost of a man's deep thrusting; accordingly, some men prefer to use it during only part of sex.

[32][33] Female couples may also engage in the missionary position while one or both partners use their fingers or sex toys for stimulation of the clitoris,[4] other parts of the vulva, or vagina.

The trust is demonstrated by the woman spreading her legs in an implicit invitation for the man on top to enter the most sexually sensitive part of her body.

Muscles of the pelvic floor are more relaxed if, initially, the missionary position is chosen and a couple of pillows are arranged under the woman's bottom so her hips are tilted upwards.

"[26] On the other hand, Sacha Tarkovsky advises women to not use the missionary position when having sex for the first time, stating, "You are not in control, and it will be more painful and you cannot do anything but lay [sic] there and take it."

If the woman holds on to her legs behind her knees and draws her thighs right back, sperm can be deposited deep in the vagina—at the neck of the womb.

"[7] Francoeur states that "male-above sex promotes fertility by keeping the opening of the vagina higher than the seminal pool, which, in turn, helps sperm get into the womb and find the egg.

[45] Pregnancy Info states that the missionary position may become increasingly awkward for pregnant women as their belly begins to grow.

For example, a woman should avoid lying flat on her back after the fourth month of pregnancy, because the weight of the growing uterus puts pressure on major blood vessels.

"[47] David Port states, "Beginning early in the second trimester, doctors tend to discourage pregnant women from supine exercise.

Christakos assures, "This position can give the woman plenty of clitoral stimulation if the man leans forward thus rubbing his pelvic bone against her clitoris.

Kagaba natives in Colombia preferred missionary because of the stability it offers; they believed that if the woman moved during intercourse, the earth would slip off the shoulders of the four giants who held it up above the waters.

Although the Bible does not mention sexual positions[citation needed], from the 6th to 16th centuries, some Church authorities taught that intercourse should be face-to-face, man-on-top, primarily because they believed that semen flows with gravity, leading to conception.

According to John Bancroft's Human Sexuality and Its Problems, Thomas Aquinas believed that crimes against nature included intercourse in "unnatural" ways.

[71] Ruth Mazo Karras states that William Peraldus' treatise Summa de virtutibus et vitiis distinguished between sins against nature that were "according to the substance" (intercourse other than vaginal) and "according to the manner, as when a woman mounts.

[74] D'Emilio and Freedman, who are historians of sexuality, note that historical use of the missionary position in the US is marked by social class as well as ethnicity.

[76] A The Journal of Sexual Medicine study entitled What Kind of Erotic Film Clips Should We Use in Female Sex Research?

[43] The Cashinahua people use the missionary position to stay stable when they have sex in a forest stream to avoid insect bites.