Intercrural sex

File:Intercrural Sex, Vase.jpgting.]]

Intercrural sex, which is also known as coitus interfemoris, thigh sex, thighing, thighjob and interfemoral sex, is a type of non-penetrative sex in which the penis is placed between the receiving partner's thighs and friction is generated via thrusting. It was a common practice in ancient Greek society prior to the early centuries AD, and was frequently discussed by writers and portrayed in artwork such as vases. It later became subject to sodomy laws and became increasingly seen as contemptible. In the 17th century, intercrural sex was featured in several works of literature and it took cultural prominence, being seen as a part of male-on-male sexual habits following the trial and execution of Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven, in 1631.

In modern times, intercrural sex is commonly practiced in relationships of various orientations; adult women are said to use it to stimulate orgasm and in Paris, it was commonly performed as a part of prostitution. In parts of Africa and Asia, the practice is normalised and is carried out among heterosexual and homosexual males. In South Africa, it was used to combat acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); this practice was eventually phased out.

Knowledge of intercrural sex that was extracted from studies and its relationship to AIDS and pregnancy is low. It has been reported as a means of safe sex for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients and has a lower risk of infection than peno-vaginal sex. Studies have found a fluctuating percentage of sexual assault cases have involved intercrural rape, with little to no physical evidence.

Etymology

File:Hyacinthus and Zephyrus 3.jpg or Zephyrus) and a youth (perhaps Hyacinthus)]]

Kenneth Dover first introduced the term "intercrural sex" in his 1978 book Greek Homosexuality. Dover used the term to refer to sexual activity between an older man and a young boy. The Ancient Greek term for this practice was {{Lang|grc|διαμηρίζειν}} {{transliteration|grc|diamērizein}} ("to do [something] between the thighs").{{cite book|last=Dover|first=K. J.|title=Greek Homosexuality|title-link=Greek Homosexuality (book)|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1978|isbn=0674362616|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|page=98|chapter=The Prosecution of Timarkhus|oclc=3088711|author-link=Kenneth Dover|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fstPVlTPBRQC&pg=PA98}} Webster's Dictionary defines intercrural sex as an act in which one partner "plac[es his] penis ... between the other partner's [closed] thighs ... [and thrusts] to create friction".{{Cite journal|last=Fisher|first=Will|date=2015|title="Wantoning with the Thighs": The Socialization of Thigh Sex in England, 1590–1730|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24616467|journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality|volume=24|issue=1|pages=1–24|doi=10.7560/JHS24101|jstor=24616467|s2cid=141561814|issn=1043-4070|url-access=subscription}} Synonyms include coitus interfemoris,{{Cite journal|last1=Mistry|first1=Hannah|last2=Jha|first2=Swati|date=2015-11-02|title=Pregnancy with a pinhole introitus: A report of two cases and a review of the literature|url=https://doi.org/10.3109/13625187.2015.1044083|journal=The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care|volume=20|issue=6|pages=490–494|doi=10.3109/13625187.2015.1044083|issn=1362-5187|pmid=25960283|s2cid=207523628|url-access=subscription}} thigh sex{{Cite journal|last1=De Vries|first1=Hein|last2=Eggers|first2=Sander Matthijs|last3=Jinabhai|first3=Champak|last4=Meyer-Weitz|first4=Anna|last5=Sathiparsad|first5=Reshma|last6=Taylor|first6=Myra|date=2014-08-01|title=Adolescents' Beliefs About Forced Sex in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|language=en|volume=43|issue=6|pages=1087–1095|doi=10.1007/s10508-014-0280-8|issn=1573-2800|pmc=4133072|pmid=24729133}} and interfemoral sex.{{cite web|last1=Blondell|first1=Ruby|last2=Ormand|first2=Kirk|date=2015|title=Ancient Sex: New Essays|url=https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/70431/1/Blondell_Ormand_Book4CD_W.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220143645/https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/70431/1/Blondell_Ormand_Book4CD_W.pdf|archive-date=20 December 2020|access-date=19 December 2020|publisher=The Ohio State University Press|page=32}}

Kang Tchou of Cambridge University notes Dover's definition is similar to the idea of "heavenly love" articulated by Pausanias that "encourages a stable life-long relationship between the boy and the man and enhances the intellectual development of the younger boy".{{Cite journal|last=Tchou|first=Kang|date=2008|title=Purificatory Hermeneutics of Desire|url=https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/chr/vol2/iss1/2|journal=Comparative Humanities Review|volume=2|issue=1|access-date=18 December 2020|archive-date=19 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219133141/https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/chr/vol2/iss1/2/|url-status=live}}

History and modern practice

File:Pederastic erotic scene Louvre F85bis.jpg

File:Hyacinthus and Zephyrus.png and Hyacinthus. Attributed to Manner of Douris Painter. 500 - 450 BCE]]

= Ancient history and the Middle Ages =

File:Intercrural Sex, Cup.jpg and a boy. Style resembles Douris Painter. 490 - 480 BCE]]

Intercrural intercourse was a common manifestation of pederasty in ancient Greece; young men were forbidden from having sex with older men in a manner beyond intercrural.{{Cite book|last=Black|first=Donald|url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737147.001.0001/acprof-9780199737147|title=Moral Time|date=2011-04-14|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-973714-7|pages=27|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737147.001.0001}} It has been associated with Eromenos, although its prominence in such a relationship is undetermined and anal sex may have been more common.{{Cite journal|last=Lanni|first=Adriaan|date=2010-04-01|title=The Expressive Effect of the Athenian Prostitution Laws|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/ca/article/29/1/45/25694/The-Expressive-Effect-of-the-Athenian-Prostitution|journal=Classical Antiquity|language=en|volume=29|issue=1|pages=45–67|doi=10.1525/CA.2010.29.1.45|issn=0278-6656|url-access=subscription}}{{efn|Dover, alongside other Classical scholars, argues that it was solely intercrural.{{Cite book|last=Boyarin|first=Daniel|url=https://www.bibliovault.org/BV.landing.epl?ISBN=9780226069166|title=Socrates and the Fat Rabbis|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-226-06917-3|pages=318|doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226069180.001.0001}} He identified it as a "standard practice"; this assessment has been challenged due to simply equating artistic depiction with historical documentation.{{Cite journal|last=Marra|first=Kim|date=2014|title=Queer Aging Bareback: A Ride with the Parthenon Sculptures|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24584991|journal=TDR|volume=58|issue=4|pages=147–157|doi=10.1162/DRAM_a_00407|jstor=24584991|s2cid=57568728|issn=1054-2043|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal |last=Vorster |first=Johannes N. |date=2006 |title=The making of male same-sex in the Graeco-Roman World and its implications for the interpretation of biblical discourses: perspectives on 'homosexuality and the Bible' |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/EJC100797 |journal=Scriptura: Journal for Contextual Hermeneutics in Southern Africa |volume=93 |issue=1 |pages=432–454 |hdl=10520/EJC100797 }}}} Intercrural sex was not exclusively executed by homosexual men; by the early-AD era, it fell out of practice as sex with women became more encouraged in Greek society.{{Cite book|last=Gaca|first=Kathy|url=http://california.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520235991.001.0001/upso-9780520235991|title=The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity|date=2003-04-08|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-23599-1|pages=76|doi=10.1525/california/9780520235991.001.0001}}

Intercrural sex has been depicted on artworks such as vases, where they were called "courting scenes", and was much discussed by writers.{{Cite book|last=Percy|first=William A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TCvoj1efp8UC&q=Intercrural+sex|title=Pederasty and Pedagogy in Archaic Greece|date=1996|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06740-2|pages=116|language=en|access-date=19 December 2020|archive-date=20 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220143646/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TCvoj1efp8UC&dq=Intercrural+sex&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s|url-status=live}}{{Efn|There exists no examples of male-on-female intercrural sex in either form listed.{{cite web|last1=Blondell|first1=Ruby|last2=Ormand|first2=Kirk|title=Ancient Sex: New Essays|publisher=The Ohio State University Press|url=https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/70431/1/Blondell_Ormand_Book4CD_W.pdf|date=2015|page=40|access-date=19 December 2020|archive-date=20 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220143646/https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/70431/1/Blondell_Ormand_Book4CD_W.pdf|url-status=live}}}} After the 5th century BC, visual depictions of it were sparse and almost exclusively found on black-figure pottery.{{Cite book|last=Osborne|first=Robin|title=Imaginary Intercourse|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2018|isbn=9780190649890|pages=313–337}} Zeno of Citium and Aristophanes have been said to reference the act; the latter was the first to document intercrural sex being practiced in a heterosexual capacity.{{Cite journal|last=Davidson|first=James|date=2001|title=Dover, Foucault and Greek Homosexuality: Penetration and the Truth of Sex|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3600793|journal=Past & Present|issue=170|pages=3–51|doi=10.1093/past/170.1.3|jstor=3600793|issn=0031-2746|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last=Houser|first=J. Samuel|date=1998|title="Eros" and "Aphrodisia" in the Works of Dio Chrysostom|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25011084|journal=Classical Antiquity|volume=17|issue=2|pages=235–258|doi=10.2307/25011084|jstor=25011084|issn=0278-6656|url-access=subscription}} Aeschylus' play Myrmidons features the implication of adult men engaging in the act.{{Cite book|last1=Collard|first1=C.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1155233379|title=Euripides: Cyclops and major fragments of Greek satyric drama|last2=O'Sullivan|first2=Patrick|date=2013|publisher=University of Liverpool|isbn=978-1-80034-613-0|pages=528|oclc=1155233379}} Joan Roughgarden refers to intercrural intercourse as the "gay male missionary position" of Ancient Greece.{{cite book|last=Roughgarden|first=Joan|url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionsrainbo00roug|title=Evolution's Rainbow|publisher=University of California Press|year=2004|isbn=9780520240735|location=Berkeley|pages=385|author-link=Joan Roughgarden|url-access=registration}}

Historical sodomy laws have included intercrural intercourse within their purview.{{Cite journal|last=Karras|first=Ruth Mazo|date=1999-06-01|title=Prostitution and the Question of Sexual Identity in Medieval Europe|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/17256|journal=Journal of Women's History|language=en|volume=11|issue=2|pages=159–177|doi=10.1353/jowh.1999.0005|s2cid=143952834|issn=1527-2036|access-date=19 December 2020|archive-date=20 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920060554/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/17256|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}} In 15th-century Italy, it was a part of sodomy's infamous reputation; in renaissance Venice, capital punishment was considered against the partner initiating intercrural sex.{{Cite journal|last=Fisher|first=Nick|date=2013|title=Erotic "Charis": What Sorts Of Reciprocity|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44215176|journal=Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement|issue=119|pages=39–66|issn=2398-3264|jstor=44215176}}{{Cite book|last=Levin|first=Eve|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/61734|title=Sex and Society in the World of the Orthodox Slavs 900–1700|date=2018|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-1-5017-2762-7|pages=200–202}} Medieval penitentials often highlighted intercrural sex as sinful and gave instructions on ways to repent; early Christianity regarded intercrural intercourse as "more respectable" than anal sex. Islamic jurisprudents considered intercrural sex "reprehensible," although its lesser status led to practitioners avoiding harsh punishments.{{Cite journal|last=Amer|first=Sahar|date=2009|title=Medieval Arab Lesbians and Lesbian-Like Women|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40663351|journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality|volume=18|issue=2|pages=215–236|doi=10.1353/sex.0.0052|jstor=40663351|pmid=19768852|s2cid=26652886|issn=1043-4070|url-access=subscription}}

= Modern history =

In early modern English, writers referred to intercrural sex as "rubbing" or "frigging". Literary works and satire depicted intercrural sex, possibly encouraging people to perform the act. Cases of sodomy, such as the trial of Mervyn Tuchet in 1631 that resulted in his execution, occasionally mentioned intercrural sex.{{efn|Tuchet engaged in intercrural masturbation to the point of orgasm, which led to him being sentenced for "buggery".{{Cite book|last=Peraino|first=Judith|url=https://california.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520215870.001.0001/upso-9780520215870|title=Listening to the Sirens: Musical Technologies of Queer Identity from Homer to Hedwig|publisher=University of California Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-520-92174-0|pages=252|language=en-US|doi=10.1525/california/9780520215870.001.0001}}}} Tuchet's case took on significant cultural prominence and informed many people of gay male sexual habits, likely conjuring a cultural perception of intercrural sex as the main method of sex between men.

From 1660, intercrural intercourse was increasingly mentioned in literature.{{Cite book|last=Traub|first=Valerie|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/41684|title=Thinking Sex with the Early Moderns|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2015|isbn=9780812223897|pages=150}} Richard Ellmann believed Oscar Wilde solely performed intercrural sex in the hope he could consequently declare his innocence against the allegation of "posing as a sodomite".{{Cite journal|last=Robson|first=Julie-Ann|date=2004|title="The Time of Opening Manhood": Mahaffy, Wilde, and Pater|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41274283|journal=Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies|volume=10|issue=1/2|pages=299–310|jstor=41274283|issn=1218-7364}}{{efn|By 1670, sodomy's legal definition was narrowed and intercrural sex was excluded from its scope.}} In 1885, the UK Parliament passed a statute penalizing "gross indecency" between men under the Labouchere Amendment; intercrural sex was within the law's remit because it fell short of sodomy.{{Cite journal|last=Goldstein|first=Anne B.|date=1993|title=Reasoning about Homosexuality: A Commentary on Janet Halley's "Reasoning about Sodomy: Act and Identity in and after Bowers v. Hardwick"|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1073386|journal=Virginia Law Review|volume=79|issue=7|pages=1781–1804|doi=10.2307/1073386|jstor=1073386|issn=0042-6601|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite book|last=Temkin|first=Jennifer|url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198763550.001.0001/acprof-9780198763550|title=Rape and the Legal Process|date=2002-12-05|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-876355-0|pages=148|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198763550.001.0001}}{{Efn|The Sexual Offences Act 1967 permitted homosexual acts between two consenting adults over the age of 21 in a private residence with no one else present.{{Cite web|last=writer|first=Parliament of the United Kingdom|date=n.d.|title=Sexual Offences Act 1967|url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/collections1/sexual-offences-act-1967/sexual-offences-act-1967/|access-date=2021-08-06|publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom|language=en}}}}

File:Nineteenth-century erotic alphabet L cropped.jpg

In both the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany, intercrural sex between men was an indictable offense, although German South West African law did not see it punishable under sodomy.{{Cite journal|last=Giles|first=Geoffrey J.|date=2002|title=The Denial of Homosexuality: Same-Sex Incidents in Himmler's SS and Police|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3704558|journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality|volume=11|issue=1/2|pages=256–290|doi=10.1353/sex.2002.0003|jstor=3704558|s2cid=142816037|issn=1043-4070|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite book|last=Rober|first=Lorway|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gh72g|title=Namibia's rainbow project: gay rights in an African nation|date=2015|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253015204|pages=23|jstor=j.ctt16gh72g}} Female prostitutes in 18th-century Paris commonly performed intercrural sex, which was second only to vaginal intercourse.{{Cite journal|last=Cheek|first=Pamela|date=2016|title=Demi-Monde|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/603442|journal=Eighteenth-Century Life|volume=40|issue=1|pages=119–123|doi=10.1215/00982601-3337983|s2cid=246016529|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite book|last=Kushner|first=Nina|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt5hh29s|title=Erotic Exchanges: The World of Elite Prostitution in Eighteenth-Century Paris|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-8014-7068-4|pages=142|jstor=10.7591/j.ctt5hh29s}} Malawians and Mozambiquean men practiced it in mines, as did South African men in "mine marriages".{{Cite journal|last=Rupp|first=Leila J.|date=2001|title=Toward a Global History of Same-Sex Sexuality|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3704817|journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality|volume=10|issue=2|pages=287–302|doi=10.1353/sex.2001.0039|jstor=3704817|s2cid=142695691|issn=1043-4070|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last=Msibi|first=Thabo|date=2011|title=The Lies We Have Been Told: On (Homo) Sexuality in Africa|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55|journal=Africa Today|volume=58|issue=1|pages=55–77|doi=10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55|jstor=10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55|s2cid=144208448|url-access=subscription}} Before European colonization, Azande warriors would only have intercrural sex with their young partners; it was a popular form of eroticism in pre-colonial Asia.{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Walter L.|date=1992|title=Review of Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijras of India|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/644923|journal=American Ethnologist|volume=19|issue=4|pages=826–827|doi=10.1525/ae.1992.19.4.02a00130|jstor=644923|issn=0094-0496|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last=Evans-Pritchard|first=E. E.|author-link=E. E. Evans-Pritchard|date=1970|title=Sexual Inversion among the Azande|journal=American Anthropologist|language=en|volume=72|issue=6|pages=1428–1434|doi=10.1525/aa.1970.72.6.02a00170|s2cid=162319598|issn=1548-1433|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Awondo|first1=Patrick|last2=Geschiere|first2=Peter|last3=Reid|first3=Graeme|date=2012|title=Homophobic Africa? Toward A More Nuanced View|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43904852|journal=African Studies Review|volume=55|issue=3|pages=145–168|doi=10.1017/S0002020600007241|jstor=43904852|s2cid=145161021|issn=0002-0206}}

In Zulu intercrural sex is referred to as okusoma. It has a long history as an accepted practice for young people in southern Africa and was often practiced to prevent population growth.{{cite journal|last1=Kaarsholm|first1=Preben|year=2005|title=Moral Panic and Cultural Mobilization: Responses to Transition, Crime and HIV/AIDS in KwaZulu-Natal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.0012-155X.2005.00405.x|journal=Development and Change|volume=36|pages=133–156|doi=10.1111/j.0012-155X.2005.00405.x|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last=Klugman|first=Barbara|date=1991-02-01|title=Population policy in South Africa: A critical perspective|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03768359108439567|journal=Development Southern Africa|volume=8|issue=1|pages=19–34|doi=10.1080/03768359108439567|issn=0376-835X|pmid=12284789|url-access=subscription}} Traditional Zulu culture encouraged youth to engage in intercrural sex as a part of sexual socialisation—intercrural sex as practiced by young unmarried couples was also supported.{{Cite journal|last=Varga|first=Christine A.|date=1997|title=Sexual decision-making and negotiation in the midst of AIDS: youth in KwaZulu/Natal, South Africa|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40608688|journal=Health Transition Review|volume=7|pages=45–67|jstor=40608688|issn=1036-4005}} A 1989 report regarding the city of Durban stated that in South Africa:

{{Blockquote|text=There is some evidence ... to suggest that children from conservative homes are still schooled in the practice of ukusoma, that is intercrural intercourse, but in Christian homes this was stopped long ago in favour of chastity.{{Cite journal|last1=Preston-Whyte|first1=Eleanor|last2=Zondi|first2=Maria|date=1989|title=To Control Their Own Reproduction: The Agenda of Black Teenage Mothers in Durban|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4547930|journal=Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity|issue=4|pages=47–68|jstor=4547930|issn=1013-0950}}}}

Statistics

= Sexual assault =

Hickson et al.. (1994) found intercrural sex took place in five of 219 cases of male sexual assault reviewed in England and Wales.{{Cite journal|last1=Hickson|first1=Ford C. I.|last2=Davies|first2=Peter M.|last3=Hunt|first3=Andrew J.|last4=Weatherburn|first4=Peter|last5=McManus|first5=Thomas J.|last6=Coxon|first6=Anthony P. M.|date=1994-06-01|title=Gay men as victims of nonconsensual sex|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541564|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|language=en|volume=23|issue=3|pages=281–294|doi=10.1007/BF01541564|pmid=8024441|s2cid=26991937|issn=1573-2800|access-date=19 December 2020|archive-date=20 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220143649/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01541564|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}} In 2014 in Sri Lanka, 270 instances of sexual assault were medically examined; 18 occurrences of intercrural intercourse were reported. No physical injuries to the victims occurred. These assaults reportedly occurred when the victim was between the age of 4 and 19 years.{{Cite journal|last1=Senanayake|first1=S. M. H. M. K.|last2=Karunathilaka|first2=H. A.|date=2017-06-30|title=Age and injury patterns of female survivors of different alleged sexual assaults examined in the Teaching Hospital Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka|journal=Sri Lanka Journal of Forensic Medicine, Science & Law|language=en|volume=8|issue=1|pages=23–32|doi=10.4038/sljfmsl.v8i1.7790|issn=2465-6089|doi-access=free}} A more specific earlier study of boys between the ages of 14 and 19 living in Colombo District found intercrural sex to be the second-most common form of abuse before oral sex, as reported by the victims; 20 of the 52 reported cases consisted of intercrural sex.{{Cite journal|last1=Abeywardene|first1=A S A|last2=Atukorale|first2=S H|last3=Abeynayaka|first3=K K D C C|last4=Athauda|first4=Thamara|date=2004|title=A study on knowledge and prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse among schoolboys in Colombo District|journal=Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health|volume=33|issue=1|pages=9|doi=10.4038/sljch.v33i1.661|issn=2386-110X|doi-access=free}}

A 1957 analysis of 148 sexual offenders in the United States who assaulted children under the age of 14 found that 6 percent committed their offences by means of intercrural intercourse.{{Cite journal|last=Parr|first=Denis|date=1958|title=Psychiatric Aspects of the Wolfenden Report: II|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23640854|journal=The British Journal of Delinquency|volume=9|issue=1|pages=33–43|jstor=23640854|issn=0524-6369}} Another study, two decades later, observed "intercrural ejaculation" as a "common way of sexual expression in paedophiles".{{Cite journal |last=Gaitonde |first=Alison |date=1987 |title=Sexual Abuse in Schools |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-0118.1987.tb00986.x |journal=British Journal of Psychotherapy |language=en |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=315–322 |doi=10.1111/j.1752-0118.1987.tb00986.x |issn=0265-9883|url-access=subscription }} In cases of child sexual abuse, there are usually no physical signs of intercrural intercourse.{{Cite journal|last1=Bamford|first1=Frank|last2=Roberts|first2=Raine|date=1989|title=Child Sexual Abuse: II|journal=BMJ: British Medical Journal|volume=299|issue=6695|pages=377–382|doi=10.1136/bmj.299.6695.377|jstor=29704943|pmid=2506974|pmc=1837205|issn=0959-8138}}

= Education =

Ripley et al.. (1973), demonstrated only 3 out of every 10 boys and 4 of every 10 girls in the 14-year-old age group surveyed thought intercrural intercourse could not result in pregnancy – according to Ripley et al.. (1973), intercrural sex is not a recommended method of contraception.{{Cite journal|last=Ripley|first=G D|date=1973|title=Sex Education – Whose Baby?|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine|language=en|volume=66|issue=3|pages=267–269|doi=10.1177/003591577306600332|pmid=4697995|pmc=1644813|issn=0035-9157}} In Nigeria, 13 of 298 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive respondents said the disease could be transmitted through intercrural sex while a further 30 said "no" and the remaining 255 responded with uncertainty.{{Cite journal|last1=Ikechebelu|first1=J.|last2=Mbamara|first2=S.|last3=Joe-Ikechebebelu|first3=N.|last4=Ezenwabachili|first4=A.|date=2009|title=Sexual practices of people living with HIV in south eastern Nigeria|url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/njcp/article/view/54642|journal=Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice|language=en|volume=12|issue=4|pages=416–20|issn=1119-3077|pmid=20329684}} Intercrural sex has been reported as a safe means of sex that prevents transmission of HIV and is "lower-risk" than peno-vaginal sex.{{Cite journal|last1=Karim|first1=Q A|last2=Karim|first2=S S|last3=Soldan|first3=K|last4=Zondi|first4=M|date=1995|title=Reducing the risk of HIV infection among South African sex workers: socioeconomic and gender barriers.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/ajph.85.11.1521|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=85|issue=11|pages=1521–1525|doi=10.2105/ajph.85.11.1521|pmid=7485664|pmc=1615708|issn=0090-0036}}{{Cite journal|last1=Hott|first1=Jaqueline Rose|last2=Bell|first2=Jane L.|last3=Barile|first3=Linda A.|date=1991|title=Speaking of Sex|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3426449|journal=The American Journal of Nursing|volume=91|issue=1|pages=82|doi=10.2307/3426449|jstor=3426449|pmid=1984363|s2cid=208296614|issn=0002-936X|url-access=subscription}} Epprecht (2019) said that as mine marriages involved intercrural sex "there was no danger of sexually transmitted infection".{{Cite book|last=Epprecht|first=Marc|url=https://www.gale.com/intl/ebooks/global-encyclopedia-lgbtq|title=Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=2019|isbn=9781787859906|volume=1|pages=384–390}} Mistry & Jha (2015) wrote in regards to pregnancy; "Because there is no anal or vaginal penetration, [intercrural sex] is regarded as a safe sexual practice".{{Cite journal|last1=Mistry|first1=Hannah|last2=Jha|first2=Swati|date=2015-11-02|title=Pregnancy with a pinhole introitus: A report of two cases and a review of the literature|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/13625187.2015.1044083|journal=The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care|language=en|volume=20|issue=6|pages=490–494|doi=10.3109/13625187.2015.1044083|pmid=25960283|s2cid=207523628|issn=1362-5187|url-access=subscription}}

In South Africa, intercrural sex has been seen as a method of preventing the transmission of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). From a 1997 study, 12.5 percent of girls who were asked how to avoid acquiring AIDS responded by suggesting intercrural sex. It was once the most common form of contraception for rural adults in South Africa. By 2012, Mary van der Riet of KwaZulu-Natal University noted; "The shift from intercrural sex to the use of the injectable contraceptive set up particular conditions for condom use in response to HIV and AIDS".{{Cite journal|last=van der Riet|first=Mary|date=2012|title=Working with historicity: tracing shifts in contraceptive use in the activity system of sex over time|url=http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1015-60462012000100002&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en|journal=Psychology in Society|issue=43|pages=23–39|issn=1015-6046}}{{Cite journal|last=Macleod|first=Catriona|date=1999|title=The 'Causes' of Teenage Pregnancy: Review of South African Research — Part 2|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/008124639902900102|journal=South African Journal of Psychology|language=en|volume=29|issue=1|pages=8–16|doi=10.1177/008124639902900102|s2cid=144455158|issn=0081-2463|url-access=subscription}}

= Demographics =

Shere Hite's 1976 and 1981 research on female sexuality found some adult women reported being able to achieve orgasm via intercrural contact to stimulate the clitoris.{{cite book | first = Shere | last = Hite | author-link = Shere Hite | title = The Hite Report: A Nationwide Study of Female Sexuality | publisher = Seven Stories Press | year = 2004 | location = New York, NY | isbn = 978-1-58322-569-1 | pages = 277–284 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=s3OZaVn2wfkC&pg=PA277 | access-date = 8 May 2016 | archive-date = 15 June 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130615004952/http://books.google.com/books?id=s3OZaVn2wfkC&pg=PA277 | url-status = live }} Intercrural sex is popular in Sri Lanka; in a 2006 study, 4.2 percent of women reported having engaged in it while 20.7 percent of men said they had had homosexual intercrural sex.{{Cite journal|last1=Perera|first1=B.|last2=Reece|first2=M.|date=2006-07-01|title=Sexual behavior of young adults in Sri Lanka: Implications for HIV prevention|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09540120500241538|journal=AIDS Care|volume=18|issue=5|pages=497–500|doi=10.1080/09540120500241538|issn=0954-0121|pmid=16777642|s2cid=22962445|access-date=19 December 2020|archive-date=20 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220143648/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540120500241538|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}} A 1997 report on the sexual health needs of males who have sex with males in the Calcutta suburbs found 73 percent of men they asked engaged in intercrural sex, though the frequency varied based on demographic factors. Only 54 percent of sex workers, 50 percent of lower-income men and 40 percent of Muslims reported having had intercrural sex while 82 percent of Hindus and 88 percent of middle-income men reported engaging in it.{{cite web|year=1997|title=Needs Assessment of Males who have Sex with Males in Calcutta and its Suburbs|url=http://www.nfi.net/downloads/knowledge_centre/NFI%20publications/Situational%20assessments/1997_Calcutta%20Rpt.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908073722/http://www.nfi.net/downloads/knowledge_centre/NFI%20publications/Situational%20assessments/1997_Calcutta%20Rpt.pdf|archive-date=8 September 2008|access-date=26 October 2009|publisher=Naz Foundation International}}

Notes

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20061001192135/http://www2.rz.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/ZULU.HTM Pre-marital intercrural sex known as soma in Zulu tradition]
[http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=20380 Dan Savage on Abraham Lincoln and femoral intercourse (third letter)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008231529/https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=20380 |date=8 October 2019 }}

Category:Male homosexuality

Category:Non-penetrative sex

Category:Sexual acts