Sexual intercourse

The act of a person inserting their penis into a vagina is called sexual intercourse. In some segments of the LGBTQ community, anal penetration by a penis is called sexual intercourse. However, the act is referred to by many other names as well, for instance: coitus, copulating, vaginal sex, and numerous slang terms. The biological purposes of sexual intercourse are to stimulate a pleasurable sensation and to enable sperm to enter the female reproductive tract and potentially fertilize an egg, thereby ensuring reproduction of the species.

There are also other purposes for sexual intercourse: Rape by sexual intercourse is the abusive exercise of power and control by one person over another. Sexual intercourse is a technique employed in pornography intended to stimulate sexual excitement.

Background

Sexual intercourse is but one physical act in a panoply of emotional and carnal behavior called sexuality. Hindus produced ancient texts 2,500 years ago collectively titled The Vedas. They are chants, mantras, prayers, and hymns addressing sexuality, marriage and fertility prayers, and praising thousands of gods. The Kama Sutra texts are divided into seven books and sixty-four sections on the art of living for pleasure. Each form does not involve sexual intercourse. When it does, it may be vigorous or slow copulation. Buddhist teachings de-emphasize ejaculation, arguing it inhibits enlightenment for the sake of pleasure.

Early Chinese philosophers developed attitudes toward sexual intercourse, protecting women’s virginity, while men were not held to this standard. Men possessed concubines and bondservants available for sexual intercourse. Ancient Greek and Roman men taught youths about life and sex by having relations with young males and females. Rape in the context of spoils of war was acceptable to Greeks, Romans, Christians, and Hebrews. In Judaism, premarital intercourse is forbidden, but intercourse is encouraged in marriage. A man is required to first pleasure and satisfy his wife before he completes sexual intercourse. Intercourse is considered a holy experience, but the Bible forbids sexual intercourse between males. Christianity and Islam later adopted rules treating homosexual acts as an abomination and often called for violent actions against those who participated. Attitudes towards lust dictate that lust must be subservient to faith and reason; however, if a woman has sexual intercourse outside of marriage, her penalty can be death, while a male is not so condemned. Religious rules and regulations in Judaism also forbid sexual intercourse when a woman is menstruating and for days afterwards.

Inserting the penis in a person’s anus is a form of sexual intercourse. Other activities, such as oral sex or the use of stimulating devices, are not generally considered sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse is a means of fulfilling human sexual desire for intimacy, pleasure, and procreation.

The term birth control is applied to methods couples use when having intercourse, while not wanting to impregnate the woman, should the male ejaculate during penetration. A virgin is the term used to describe a person who has not had sexual intercourse.

Sexual Intercourse Today

The act of sexual intercourse can be overwhelming and personally meaningful. Romance novels highlighting sexual intercourse are among the most popular reading materials sold. The wildly popular book and movie, 50 Shades of Grey, romanticizes abusive sexual intercourse between two strangers. Individuals might want to wait to engage with the “right” person because copulating can create an emotional bond. Nevertheless, sexual intercourse, popularly known as “having sex,” can be for pleasure, or it can be for negative reasons, jealousy, retribution, punishment, personal aggrandizement, or control, with strangers, friends, or relatives.

The mystery about sexual intercourse is replete with beliefs and improbable stories: Some people believe that whoever reaches orgasm first determines the newborn’s sex. It must happen in total darkness, according to an aphorism from Aristotle, and in modern times by ultra-religious people. White became the traditional color for wedding gowns in Western cultures, signifying spiritual purity but also as an assertion of the woman’s virginity.

The frequency of sexual intercourse is largely a function of age in the modern world, but that is changing with new pharmaceuticals on the market, repairing an older male’s possible problem of erectile dysfunction. In the US, research has shown that younger couples have sex eighty-four times a year on average. Couples in their forties have sexual intercourse sixty-three times a year, but only ten times a year after seventy years old.

Birth control options are no longer just abstinence and or the rhythm method; a third of the population uses condoms, and the improved safety to women’s health has given birth control pills and day-after pills newfound popularity. Other methods, such as an intrauterine device (IUD) or an injectable birth control shot such as Depo-Provera, are also popular.

School-age pregnancy rates in the United States are dropping from their peak numbers in 1991, despite higher rates of sexual intercourse among younger school-age children. In 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that US teen birth rates have continued to decline since 1991. In countries where conservative religious beliefs dominate, and fewer people can afford contraception, there are measurable trends that the incidences of premarital sexual intercourse and adolescent pregnancies outside marriage are on the rise. Westerners are shocked by Old World sexual values, traditions, attitudes, and behaviors that migrants from traditional societies bring with them, such as honor killings when females lose their virginity by rape, premarital sex, or extramarital sexual intercourse. Westerners classify female genital cutting to reduce the pleasurable effects of sexual intercourse for women as a human rights violation.

Scientists in the twenty-first-century have continued to research topics related to sexual intercourse, including how to relieve vaginal pain some women experience during sexual intercourse; to find best positions for men suffering back pain; to ascertain the safest methods of birth control; to find ways to increase sexual pleasure through vaginal intercourse; and how to identify, treat, and prevent sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, HIV, AIDS, and the Zika virus causing birth defects transmitted by mosquitos and sexual intercourse.

More advances have been made in the past one hundred years for improving the chances of women’s fertilization, and pleasure and male enhancements in cases of age, sexual disabilities, and functioning than throughout all of human history. For all the money spent annually on sex research, pharmaceuticals, professional and popular publications, and documentaries, one thing people have learned is that the act of sexual intercourse for couples lasts on average only from three to thirteen minutes. Couples often spend more time on cajoling, romancing, and sweet-talking than on the act itself.

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