The next position is the dorso-ventral position, in which the man’s penis enters the woman’s vagina from the back. If the entire intercourse is performed while lying sideways, this is perhaps the most “restful” of all positions. For obvious reasons it is sometimes the preferred form for intercourse during pregnancy.
This position is often extremely exciting to a man. I do not know exactly why this is so, though it has been suggested that the position suggests the “animality” of pure lust. And this idea could be stimulated by the fact that the position is the familiar one that animals take. Or perhaps the fact that the partners are not face to face may remove some of the personal factor from the sexual embrace, giving it a more primordial and impersonal character. This may be the reason men may find it more enjoyable than women, their sexual natures being, as we have seen, somewhat more deeply rooted in their biology than the woman’s sexual nature. I must emphasize, however, that these ideas are merely speculative.
The dorso-ventral position can also be assumed with the woman kneeling, or standing up and bending over, supporting herself against a chair or wall with her hands. It can be achieved less athletically if the man sits on a chair and his partner sits on his lap, although this obviously allows for less movement by both.
The last general position I shall describe here is the standing position. It is a particularly arduous position for the male; he generally must bend his knees slightly to enter and must hold onto his partner’s buttocks to maintain entrance.
I think these are the major sexual positions which it is relevant to know and to adopt when the mood is upon one. Most of the “hundreds” of others described in the literature of antiquity are subtle variations of these and have no particular application to the love-making a modern couple might engage in. Indeed, I think it is apparent that any excessive preoccupation with such nuances could indicate a morbidity, may be a confession that the person, far from having achieved sexual maturity, is in some profound way impotent.
There is one further point I should like to make about these positions. While men can usually have an orgasm in any position, many women, if not most, achieve it most completely and satisfyingly in one favorite position. This is perfectly consonant with full psychological and sexual maturity, and one should in no wise feel the slightest bit apologetic about it. It is absolutely advisable to make this fact known to one’s partner in love. He will, of course, if you are both feeling positionally experimental, return to the position you prefer when you are ready to have your climax.
A psychiatrist is asked a wide variety of questions about sexuality by his patients. Here are some of the more frequent areas about which individuals seem to wish further information:
(1) Frequency of intercourse
There are no rules whatever about this, though suggestions about what is “normal” have been made from earliest times. Mohammed the Prophet stated that once a week was best; Martin Luther found that twice a week “does harm neither to her nor to me.”