Sexuality

"It is if you're doing it right."

"For women, the best aphrodisiacs are words. The G-spot is in the ears. He who looks for it below there is wasting his time."

"In the old days a lot of people, men as well as women, didn't quite know what to expect from sex so they didn't worry when it didn't work too well."

"While God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone'. He also created a woman, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air."

"There was a young pair of Aberystwyth Who united the organs they kissed with. But as they grew older They also grew bolder, And united the organs they pissed with."

"Remember the good old days when the air was clean and sex was dirty?"

"Proeliare et fortiter proeliare, nec enim tibi cedam nec terga vertam. Comminus in aspectum, si vir es, derige, et grassare naviter et occide moriturus. Hodierna pugna non habet missionem."

"What food is to a man's well being, such is sexual intercourse to the welfare of the whole human race."

"[N]ecessary sexual intercourse for begetting is free from blame, and itself is alone worthy of marriage. But that which goes beyond this necessity, no longer follows reason, but lust."

"Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex. You thought of nothing else if you didn't have it and thought of other things if you did."

"Sex: the thing that takes up the least amount of time and causes the most amount of trouble."

"Yes, I haven't had enough sex."

", n. A mineral frequently found beneath a corset. Soluble in solicitate of gold."

"Sex, a great and mysterious motive force in human life, has indisputably been a subject of absorbing interest to mankind through the ages."

"Natural" is a very dangerous word to use about sexuality … Our society's notions of normality are completely fake and meta-trendy, since they rely on the changing standards of superstition, religion, Christianity and gender bias to define themselves. Americans, in particular, exhibit very childish reactions to sexual practices that are new to them, much like little kids who are offered a vegetable they haven't seen before: "That's disgusting!" "But darling, you haven't even tried it!" "I don't care, I hate it, I hate it!"

"He said it was artificial respiration but now I find I'm to have his child."

"A man can fuck a whore but, unless his wife is a whore, he cannot fuck his wife….fuck is a…dysphemism….there is no love in it."

"There is more difference within the sexes than between them."

"Like and enjoy; to will and act is one: We only sin when Love’s rites are not done."

"Do you know why they call it a blowjob? So it'll sound like it has kind of a work ethic attached to it. Make you feel like you did something useful for the economy."

"Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way. The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity"

"Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency."

"To have coitus other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature."

"The prettiest dresses are worn to be taken off."

"It would take a far more concentrated woman than Amanda to be unfaithful every five minutes."

"If this secret [of sexual magic], which is a scientific secret, were perfectly understood, as it is not by me after more than twelve years' almost constant study and experiment, there would be nothing which the human imagination can conceive that could not be realized in practice."

"It is a terrible error to let any natural impulse physical or mental stagnate. Crush it out, if you will, and be one with it; or fulfill it, and get it out of the system; but do not allow it to remain there and putrefy. The suppression of the normal sex instinct, for example, is responsible for a thousand ills. In Puritan countries one inevitably finds a morbid preoccupation with sex coupled with every form of perversion and degeneracy."

"Nothing is better than sex and anyone who says so has never had a good woman."

"The act of sex, gratifying though it may be, is God's joke on humanity. It is man's last desperate stand at superintendency. The whole ritual is a grotesque anachronism, an outdated testament to man's waning power. It's all we've got and so we make the best of it. It is not, however, sufficient reason for matrimony."

"It is very hard for a man to ask questions about sex. The smart ones do."

"She's all states, and all princes, I."

"Oh, my America, my Newfoundland, My kingdom, safest when with one man mann’d."

"Sylvia the fair, in the bloom of Fifteen Felt an innocent warmth, as she lay on the green; She had heard of a pleasure, and something she guest By the towzing and tumbling and touching her Breast: She saw the men eager, but was at a loss, What they meant by their sighing and kissing so close; By their praying and whining, And clasping and twining, And panting and wishing, And sighing and kissing, And sighing and kissing so close."

"’Tis unkind to your Love, and unfaithfully done, To leave me behind you, and die all alone. [...] Then often they died; but the more they did so, The Nymph died more quick, and the Shepherd more slow."

"Sex and drugs and rock and roll Is all my brain and body need. Sex and drugs and rock and roll Is very good indeed."

"Can a woman not keep her lover without she study to always please him with pleasure? Pew! then let her give up the game. Or shall my lover think with pleasing of me to win me indeed? Faugh! he payeth me then; doth he think I am for hire?"

"Grishkin is nice: her Russian eye Is underlined for emphasis; Uncorseted, her friendly bust Gives promise of pneumatic bliss."

"No one warns young people to follow Adam's example. He waited till God saw his need. Then God made Adam sleep, prepared for his mate, and brought her to him. We need more of this 'being asleep' in the will of God. Then we can receive what He brings us in His own time, if at all. Instead we are set as bloodhounds after a partner, considering everyone we see until our minds are so concerned with the sex problem that we can talk of nothing else when bull-session time comes around. It is true that a fellow cannot ignore women — but he can think of them as he ought — as sisters, not as sparring partners!"

"Not being able to ban sexuality altogether, Catholicism has tried to reduce it to a mere biological fact, allowing its use in marriage only for procreation. Unlike certain ancient traditions, Catholicism has recognized no higher value, not even a potential one, in the sexual experience taken in itself. There is lacking any basis for its transformation in the interests of a more intense life, to integrate and elevate the inner tension of two beings of different sexes, whereas it is in exactly these terms that one should conceive of a concrete "sacralization" of the union and the effect of a higher influence involved in the rite."

"The sex life of the working class is nasty, brutish and short. Every survey of behaviour, whether it's sexual offences or marital behaviour or premarital behaviour shows that. I had a dear friend who used to say 'tell me how a man makes love and I'll tell you how he votes', and that is absolutely justified in terms of what we know about class attitude and conduct in sexual matters."

"What happens is that, as with drugs, one needs a stronger shot each time, and women are just women. The consumption of one woman is the consumption of all. You can't double the dose."

"Always fatuity, vulgarity, as soon as human passion is touched. [...] Just as some poetry is of the eye (form, colour) and some of the ear, so Keats is of the palate. Not only has he constant reference to its pleasures, but the general sensation after reading him is one of tasting. 'What's the harm?' Well, taste for some reason or the other can't carry one far into the world of beauty—that reason being perhaps that though you don't want comradership there you do want the possibility of comradership, and A cannot swallow B's mouthful by any possibility:....and this exclusiveness (to maunder on) also attaches to the physical side of sex though not the least to the spiritual."

"Sex is like the pursuit of wild mushrooms: Both are fascinating hobbies, both can prove most addictive, and both for the most part yield tasty results. And yet, for the novice, there exists always the chance of making that one fatal mistake."

"And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

"Life to him was identified with the intimate charm of the feminine form in its greatest variety: and so he spent his days in quest of the red light."

"Bobby said he did it when he was 13 Twenty five times take a look at me Do it as often as you possibly can Give it to me four times! Do it a gain (1) and again (2) and again (3) and ag-ga-ain (4) Sex!"

"When lovely woman stoops to folly, And finds too late that men betray, What charm can soothe her melancholy, What art can wash her guilt away?The only art her guilt to cover, To hide her shame from every eye, To give repentance to her lover, And wring his bosom—is to die."

"When authorities warn you of the sinfulness of sex, there is an important lesson to be learned — avoid having sex with the authorities."

"Amœbas at the start Were not complex; They tore themselves apart And started Sex. [...] ’Tis Sex that rules the lives Of clods and kings; It gives us books and wives And other things—Ambition, love, and strife And all the ills And ecstasies of life— And Freuds and Brills."

"Why do they call them love-spells, anyway?" he added bitterly. "It isn't love, you know." "Maybe because some people can't tell the difference. ... Or if they suspect there's a difference, they don't want to know."

"Sex is a sure cure of boredom and an antidote to violence that is so American. Power to the People!"

"The major civilizing force in the world is not religion, it is sex."

"I don't see why human people make such a heavy trip out of sex. It isn't anything complex, it is simply the best thing in life, even better than food."

"For him it was a dark passage which led to nowhere, then to nowhere, then again to nowhere, once again to nowhere, always and forever to nowhere, heavy on the elbows in the earth to nowhere, dark, never any end to nowhere, hung on all time always to unknowing nowhere, this time and again for always to nowhere, now not to be borne once again always and to nowhere, now beyond all bearing up, up, up and into nowhere, suddenly, scaldingly, holdingly all nowhere gone and time absolutely still and they were both there, time having stopped and he felt the earth move out and away from under them."

"Adam had learned the jolly deed of kind: He took her in his arms and there and then Like the clean beasts, embracing from behind, Began in joy to found the breed of men."

"Mr. Mercaptan went on to preach a brilliant sermon on that melancholy sexual perversion known as continence."

"A woman makes a guy come, it's standard. A guy makes a woman come, it's talent."

"I think that sex is necessary and bankers are not."

"Viewed from a wholly logical point of view the bearing and rearing of children is a thoroughly unattractive proposition. To a woman it means pain and endless worry. To a man it means extra work extending over many years to support his family. So, if we were wholly logical about sex, we should probably not bother to reproduce at all. Nature takes care of this by making us utterly and wholly irrational."

"It is only when it takes the form of physical addiction that sex is evil. It is also evil when it manifests itself as a way of satisfying the lust for power or the climber's craving for position and social distinction."

"The great thing about sex is that everybody has an opinion about it and you can't say "Oh you're not an expert.""

"’Tis no sin love’s fruit to steal; But the sweet thefts to reveal, To be taken, to be seen, These have crimes accounted been."

"Pop culture and porn would have us believe women's desire can be ignited by a single sultry gaze, and their genitals are ready to go at a moment's notice — much like those of men. This is not accurate information and can lead to painful or unsatisfying sex."

"Remember a regular and pleasurable sex life either with yourself or a partner is linked to a youthful appearance, reduced chance of coronary incidents, fewer menopause symptoms and increased energy."

"Not even when I was who I was, before, not even then had I ever known a woman so skilled in those arts of the body that are really the arts of the mind."

"Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got and fifty percent what people think you've got."

"A promiscuous person is someone who is getting more sex than you are."

"How alike are the groans of love to those of the dying."

"Let us roll all our Strength, and all Our sweetness, up into one Ball: And tear our Pleasures with rough strife, Thorough the Iron gates of Life. Thus, though we cannot make our Sun Stand still, yet we will make him run."

"[T]hough the fact seems little known, the clitoris of one woman may be stimulated nearly as effectively by the vulva of another woman, as can the penis of a male with the vagina of the female. The female emotion resulting from stimulation of the clitoris by another woman (as apparent in the behavior of women prisoners) seems fully as extensive as the male emotion resulting from stimulation of the penis. In this type of physical relationship, both women most frequently experience simultaneous stimulation of the clitoris with appropriate emotional states following. Neither woman, of course, receives stimulation of the mouth of the vagina."

"Girls five or six years, or older, are quite likely to experience passive love for other girls of similar age, with or without mutual stimulation of the genital organs, as the case may be....At least two completed love affairs of this type between girls five to seven years old have been brought to my attention. In both cases the children were wholly normal so far as could be determined by medical and psychological examination."

"Sex is natural, sex is good Not everybody does it, but everybody should."

"Continental people have sex-life; the English have hot-water bottles."

"Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation. The other eight aren't important."

"All of us have got some kinds of feelings and thoughts about sex, but the only genre connected to it is this grubby, shameful one. That's a real pity. Sex is glorious, it's how we all got here, and it's most people's favourite activity."

"Most of the people who get sent to die in wars are young men who've got a lot of energy and would probably rather, in a better world, be putting that energy into copulation rather than going over there and blowing some other young man's guts out."

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."

"I recall certain moments, let us call them icebergs in paradise, when after having had my fill of her—after fabulous, insane exertions that left me limp and azure-barred—I would gather her in my arms with, at last, a mute moan of human tenderness (her skin glistening in the neon light coming from the paved court through the slits in the blind, her soot-black lashes matted, her grave gray eyes more vacant than ever—for all the world a little patient still in the confusion of a drug after a major operation)—and the tenderness would deepen to shame and despair, and I would lull and rock my lone light Lolita in my marble arms, and moan in her warm hair, and caress her at random and mutely ask her blessing, and at the peak of this human agonized selfless tenderness (with my soul actually hanging around her naked body and ready to repent), all at once, ironically, horribly, lust would swell again—and "oh, no," Lolita would say with a sigh to heaven, and the next moment the tenderness and the azure—all would be shattered."

"Sex is a part of love. You shouldn't go around doing it unless you are in love."

"Foeda est in coitu et brevis voluptas Et taedet Veneris statim peractae."

"On a sofa upholstered in panther skin Mona did researches in ."

"Sex is an antidote to death, or at least, an adequate placebo."

"There be three things which are too wonderful for me, Yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; The way of a serpent upon a rock; The way of a ship in the midst of the sea; And the way of a man with a maid."

"Some fuckin' is good for you, Jack. Gettin' some pussy beats havin' a war."

"These two did oftentimes do the two-backed beast together, joyfully rubbing and frotting their bacon 'gainst one another."

"Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness."

"What we refuse to believe is that it was intended by nature as a manufacturing process. In order to make certain the race would continue, nature made it the most exciting and alluring of experiences; thus, we have turned it into a diversion and an entertainment. Nonetheless, it is a manufacturing process."

"Had she picked out, to rub her arse on, Some stiff-pricked clown or well-hung parson, ... Such natural freedoms are but just: There’s something generous in mere lust. But to turn a damned abandoned jade When neither head nor tail persuade; To be a whore in understanding, A passive pot for fools to spend in!"

"Civilized people cannot fully satisfy their sexual instinct without love."

"Venereal: From Venus, the goddess of love, this word refers to the reality of desire. With the rise of Protestantism and science, the word "disease" was tacked on in a revealing combination of categorization and moralizing. "Which disease?" "The disease of love.""

"He on her belly falls, she on her back. Now is she in the very lists of love, Her champion mounted for the hot encounter."

"Your brother and his lover have embraced; As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time That from the seedness the bare fallow brings To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry."

"Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, Stew’d in corruption, honeying and making love Over the nasty sty,—"

"By Gis and by Saint Charity, Alack, and fie for shame! Young men will do't, if they come to't; By cock, they are to blame. Quoth she, before you tumbled me, You promised me to wed. He answers: So would I ha' done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed."

"Hymen hath brought the bride to bed, Where, by the loss of maidenhead, A babe is moulded."

"Imagine what would happen if instead of centering our beliefs about heterosexual sex around the idea that the man "penetrates" the woman, we were to say that the woman's vagina "consumes" the man's penis. This would create a very different set of connotations, as the woman would become the active initiator and the man would be the passive and receptive party. One can easily see how this could lead to men and masculinity being seen as dependent on, and existing for the benefit of, femaleness and femininity."

"The pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, the expense damnable."

"What freedom men and women could have, were they not constantly tricked and trapped and enslaved and tortured by their sexuality! The only drawback in that freedom is that without it one would not be a human. One would be a monster."

"For all that she’d had no great expectations for it, sex was turning out to be even more squalid, tawdry, and cynical than she had suspected it would."

"I lose my respect for the man who can make the mystery of sex the subject of a coarse jest, yet when you speak earnestly and seriously on the subject, is silent."

"Sex without love is as hollow and ridiculous as love without sex."

"The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation."

"Once you've had a lover-robot, you'll never want a real man again."

"All this fuss about sleeping together. For physical pleasure I'd sooner go to my dentist any day."

"I consider sex a misdemeanor; the more I miss, de meaner I get."

"A woman for duty, A boy for pleasure, But a melon for ecstasy."

"There are two kinds of sex, classical and baroque. Classical sex is romantic, profound, serious, emotional, moral, mysterious, spontaneous, abandoned, focused on a particular person, and stereotypically feminine. Baroque sex is pop, playful, funny, experimental, conscious, deliberate, amoral, anonymous, focused on sensation for sensation's sake, and stereotypically masculine. The classical mentality taken to an extreme is sentimental and finally puritanical; the baroque mentality taken to an extreme is pornographic and finally obscene. Ideally, a sexual relation ought to create a satisfying tension between the two modes (a baroque idea, particularly if the tension is ironic) or else blend them so well that the distinction disappears (a classical aspiration)."

"The problem is that sex is the most dangerous way of trying to achieve personal growth, because the life force has mixed it so liberally with a string sense of "magic", which, in the attempt at possession turns out to be an illusion. The attempt to possess a woman through an act of sex is as frustrating as trying to possess the scent of a rose by cooking and eating it."

"You never fuck the same woman twice."

"Love is what makes sex more than masturbation. If there is no love even if you are really with a partner you masturbate with a partner."

"Her instruments of torture were more numerous than those of any other governess. Her supply of birch was extensive, and kept in water, so that it was always green and pliant: she had shafts with a dozen whip thongs on each of them; a dozen different sizes of cat-o'-nine-tails, some with needle points worked into them; various kinds of thin bending canes; leather straps like coach traces; battledoors, made of thick sole-leather, with inch nails run through to docket, and currycomb tough hides rendered callous by many years flagellation. Holly brushes, furze brushes; a prickly evergreen, called butcher's bush [?butcher's broom]; and during the summer, a glass and China vases, filled with a constant supply of green nettles, with which she often restored the dead to life. Thus, at her shop, whoever went with plenty of money, could be birched, whipped, fustigated, scourged, needle-pricked, half-hung, holly-brushed, furze-brushed, butcher-brushed, stinging-nettled, curry-combed, phlebotomized, and tortured till he had a belly full."

"She does not believe that Wonder Woman tends to masochism or sadism. Furthermore, she believes that even if it did-you can teach either perversion to children-one can only bring out what is inherent in the child. However she did make the reservation that if the woman slaves wore chains (and enjoyed them) for no purpose whatsoever, there would be no point in chaining them."

"I urge you all today, especially today during these times of chaos and war, to love yourself without reservations and to love each other without restraint. Unless you're into leather."

"What all these people are doing is not aggressive; they are inventing new possibilities of pleasure with strange parts of their body - through the eroticization of the body. I think it's...a creative enterprise, which has as one of its main features what I call the desexualization of pleasure."

"My fantasy since I was a small child was to dominate a dominating man. That turns me on more than anything, a man who does not want to be dominated—like Sean Connery, a really macho man. The kind of man who has no desire for submission. It’s truly perverse. It’s the power play: who has it, how long you have it for, and what you do with it."

"It is the night-black Massachusetts legendry which packs the really macabre 'kick', Here is the material for a really profound study in group neuroticism; for certainly, no one can deny the existence of a profoundly morbid streak in the Puritan imagination....The very pre-ponderance of passionately pious men in the colony was virtually an assurance of unnatural crime; insomuch as psychology now proves the religious instinct to be a form of transmuted eroticism precisely parallel to the transmutations in other directions which respectively produce such things as sadism, hallucination, melancholia, and other mental morbidities. Bunch together a group of people deliberately chosen for strong religious feelings, and you have a practical guarantee of dark morbidities expressed in crime, perversion, and insanity. This was aggravated, of course, by the Puritan policy of rigorously suppressing all the natural outlets of excuberant feeling--music, laughter, colour, pageantry, and so on. To observe Christmas Day was once a prison offence...."

"Pamela Connolly (2006) compared BDSM practitioners to published norms on 10 psychological disorders. Compared to the normative samples, BDSM practitioners had lower levels of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychological sadism, psychological masochism, borderline pathology, and paranoia. (They showed equal levels of obsessive-compulsive disorder and higher levels of dissociation and narcissism.) Similarly, Andreas Wismeijer and Marcel van Assen (2013) compared BDSM practitioners to non-BDSM-practitioners on major personality traits. Their results showed that in comparison to non-practitioners, BDSM practitioners exhibited higher levels of extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and subjective well-being. Practitioners also showed lower levels of neuroticism and rejection sensitivity. The one negative trait that emerged? BDSM practitioners showed lower levels of agreeableness than non-practitioners."

"Both bottoms and tops reported increases in relationship closeness and decreases in psychological stress from before to after their scenes (Ambler et al., under review; Sagarin, Cutler, Cutler, Lawler-Sagarin, & Matuszewich, 2009), but bottoms also showed increases in physiological stress as measured by the hormone cortisol (Sagarin et al., 2009). We found this disconnect between psychological stress and physiological stress to be very interesting, and we wondered whether it might indicate that bottoms have entered an altered state of consciousness. To test this theory, we ran a study in which we randomly assigned switches (BDSM practitioners who sometimes take on the top role and sometimes take on the bottom role) to be the top or the bottom in a scene (Ambler et al., under review). The results revealed that both bottoms and tops entered altered states of consciousness, but they entered different altered states. Bottoms entered an altered state called “transient hypofrontality” (Dietrich, 2003), which is associated with reductions in pain, feelings of floating, feelings of peacefulness, feelings of living in the here and now and time distortions. Tops, in contrast, entered the altered state known as “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991), which is associated with focused attention, a loss of self-consciousness and optimal performance of a task. We believe that these pleasurable altered states of consciousness might be one of the motivations that people have for engaging in BDSM activities."

"Whether writing for or against corporal punishment, correspondents provided detailed accounts of inflicting, receiving, and witnessing ritual chastisements in which older women restrained, undressed, and whipped younger ones. Letters described mothers, aunts, teachers and female servants forcing girls and young women to remove their drawers, tying girls to pieces of furniture, pinning back their arms, placing them in handcuffs, or requiring them to count the number of strokes administered. Some letters were written from the point of view of the mother, and guardians who had to impose discipline, others from the perspective of those reminiscing about having been disciplined. Many provided testimonials that began with the recollection of having "screamed, and shrieked and implored" to no avail and ended by celebrating the moral benefits of chastisement."

"There are one or two rules of thumb which are useful in distinguishing sadism from exciting adventure in the comics. Threat of torture is harmless, but when the torture it’s self is shown it becomes sadism. When a lovely heroine is show bound to the stake, comics followers are sure that the rescue will arrive just in the nick of time. The readers wish is to see save the girl, not to see her suffer. A bound or chained person does not suffer even embarrassment in the comics, and the reader, therefore is not being taught to enjoy suffering."

"Harmless erotic fantasies are terrific, it’s the lousy ones you have to look out for—the harmful, destructive, morbid erotic fixations—real sadism, killing, blood-letting, torturing where the pleasure is in the victim’s actual pain, etc. Those are 100 per cent bad and I won’t have any part of them."

"[N]o one appeared to wonder whether this S-M proliferation was a lesbian copy of a faggot imitation of patriarchal backlash against feminism."

"Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness."

"The suppression of natural sexual gratification leads to various kinds of substitute gratifications. Natural aggression, for example, becomes brutal sadism which then is an essential mass-psychological factor in imperialistic wars."

"Cause I may be bad but I'm perfectly good at it Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it Sticks and stones may break my bones, But chains and whips excite me."

"It's been so long since I made love, I can't even remember who gets tied up."

"Sadomasochism has always been the furthest reach of the sexual experience: when sex becomes most purely sexual, that is, severed from personhood, from relationships, from love. It should not be surprising that it has become attached to Nazi symbolism in recent years. Never before was the relation of masters and slaves so consciously aestheticized. Sade had to make up his theater of punishment and delight from scratch, improvising the decor and costumes and blasphemous rites. Now there is a master scenario available to everyone. The color is black, the material is leather, the seduction is beauty, the justification is honesty, the aim is ecstasy, the fantasy is death."

"Giantess porn tends to perplex non-kinksters because it falls outside of normative sexual interests. But macro and micro are better understood through BDSM, particularly dominance and submission (D/s) play. As Sex Therapy Australia’s director Pamela Supple told Vice in 2016, “power, domination, and vulnerability” are at macrophilia’s core. The giantess is usually the dominant, while the smaller person is the submissive (but that may not always be the case). “It’s allowing your mind to go wherever it wants to go, whilst engaging in play to gain the maximum sexual arousal,” Supple told Vice. “Some want to feel and experience terror—being crushed or controlled. Everyone is different in what they want to experience.”"

"In principle there is a difference between violence which is incidental and violence which is inflicted for the indulgence of cruelty. The violence of sadomasochistic encounters involves the indulgence of cruelty by sadists and the degradation of victims. Such violence is injurious to the participants and unpredictably dangerous. I am not prepared to invent a defence of consent for sadomasochistic encounters which breed and glorify cruelty . . . . Society is entitled and bound to protect itself against a cult of violence. Pleasure derived from the infliction of pain is an evil thing. Cruelty is uncivilized."

"In addition to his bio-physical heresies, Dr. Reich vastly offended many people by his sociological theory, which holds that fascism is just an exaggerated form of the basic structure of sex-negative societies and has existed under other names in every civilization based on sexual repression. In this theory, the character and muscular armor of the average citizen — a submissive and frightened attitude anchored in body reflexes — causes the average person to want a strong authority figure above them. Tyranny, in this model, is not created by tyrants alone but by neurotic masses who want tyrants."

"One of the most distinctive features of the current regime under which we live is the prominence of heterosexuality and homosexuality as central, organizing categories of thought, behaviour, and erotic subjectivity. The rise to dominance of those categories represents a relatively recent and culturally specific development, yet it has left little trace in our consciousness of its novelty. As a result, not only do we have a hard time understanding the logic at work in other historical cultures' organizations of sex and gender, but we have an even harder time understanding our own experiences of sexuality that are not universal."

"Although sexual theorists might like simple, parsimonious, conceptualization of sexual orientation and sexual identity or unidirectional theories of sexual behaviour. Recent studies of various groups in the United States show that simple conceptualizations of sexual orientation and sexual identity development do not accurately reflect the rich variation in behaviour or self-classification."

"Although humans tend to view sex as mainly a fun recreational activity sometimes resulting in death, in nature it is a far more serious matter."

"I see the birth of a new-boy system instead of the old-boy system. The new-boy system consists of athletic men who are self-confident and intelligent enough to be supportive of women, particularly those with their own self-confidence, sexual athleticism and intelligence. Men find these qualities in me a "turn on"."

"No-one was ever made wretched in a brothel."

"Women need a reason to have sex while all men need is a place."

"As Darwin puts it in The Descent of Man, 'Male snakes, though appearing so sluggish, are amorous.' Isn't that just like Darwin? It was one of his main ideas, you know, that the males of almost all animals have stronger passions than the females. Since then we've learned a thing or two. At any rate, the female snake is right there when spring arrives in the woods."

"Sexually transmitted diseases, ranging from the serious to the fatal, are a fact of life in high schools and neighborhoods across the country. Misinformation and scare tactics about common sexual practices like masturbation are rampant. Despite these facts, and despite parents' overwhelming desire for their children to receive detailed sex education at school as well as at home, our society remains unwilling to make sexuality part of a comprehensive health education program in the schools and anxious to the point of hysteria about young people and sex...Hysteria about sex has hindered attempts to address these pressing concerns, and the people hurt most are those who most need the information—our young people, the poor, and the uninformed. Ignorance is not bliss."

"The twenty-first century has seen wider acknowledgment of the fact that human sexuality is much more complex than the rigid and unchanging categories of heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual can express; the experiences of trans people are just one part of this increased sexual diversity. In the case of non-binary people – whose gender identities and expressions may sit outside of the categories of man and woman, or move between the two – the nineteenth-century categories of human sexuality make little sense – which is why the term ‘queer’ has risen in popularity."

"Sexual frustration is the single most powerful force in the world. We are the only species where that frustration affects things like the amount of money given to the poor and the length of welfare lines. I hate that the fact that George Bush's wife is an ugly old piece of shit who could cause suffering among millions and could cause wars. I don't think it's any coincidence that Kennedy was the last president who had a wife worth fucking and he was the last good president."

"It’s the strange thing about this church, it is obsessed with sex, absolutely obsessed. Now, they will say we with our permissive society and our rude jokes, we are obsessed. No, we have a healthy attitude, we like it, it’s fun, it’s jolly, because it’s a primary impulse it can be dangerous and dark and difficult, it’s a bit like food in that respect only even more exciting. The only people who are obsessed with food are anorexics and the morbidly obese, and that in erotic terms is the Catholic Church in a nutshell."

"Appropriate patterns of reproductive, gender, and sexual conduct are all products of specific cultures and all can be viewed as examples of socially scripted conduct. Western societies now have a system of gender and sexual learning in which gender differential scripts are learned prior to sexual scripts, but take their origins in part from the previously learned gender scripts... There are two important points: The first is that both gender and sexuality are learned forms of social practice, and the second is that looking to "natural differences" between women and men for lessons about sexual conduct is an error."

"It is precisely because I believe it is not possible to neatly separate the sexual from other sorts of relations that I find the movement to bar the sexual from pedagogy not only dangerous but supremely impractical."

"The dilemma of traditional sex research lay in the unconscious, but unquestioningly assumed division into opposing drives and hereditary factors. . . The division into heterosexuality and homosexuality, into heterosexuals and homosexuals, is also an artifact that rests on a grave mistake, namely, on the assumption that a fundamentally different model is necessary to explain heterosexual and homosexual behavior. The entire investigation of etiology was ideologically loaded beforehand because it separated a segment of the sexual continuum and attempted to make analyses with the help of fundamentally different concepts."

"However much people might be enlightened about their own sexuality, indeed about sexuality in general, there is always in them a modicum of some subconscious aversion to the knowledge that their own parents too are beings with the same kind of sexual needs and desires, which they actually put into practice, more or less regularly. Everyone knows that they weren’t brought by the stork, and yet, where it is the actual sex act that is at issue, as far as it concerns their own parents, most people would rather that they had been."

"When authorities warn you of the sinfulness of sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities."

"The loneliest place in this world is the no-man's-land of sex."

"Maybe God isn't the sex police, Richard. Sometimes I think Christians get all hung up on the sex thing because it's easier to worry about sex than to ask yourself, am I a good person? […] It makes it easy to be cruel, because as long as you're not fucking around, nothing you do can be that bad. Is that really all you think of God?"

"There is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large."

"Social and cultural factors very broadly channel and limit sexual variation in human populations. Sexual laws, codes, and roles do restrict the range and intensity of sexual practices, as far as we can judge from the cross-cultural literature (Herdt and Stoller 1990). Kinsey lent his support to this view; Ford and Beach (1950) documented it in surveys; and Margaret Mead (1961) did so in her ethnographic studies. But biosocial, genetic, and hormonal predispositions also broadly limit and channel. Each culture's theory of the combination of these social and biological contraints we could call its theory of human sexual nature. Yet none of these broad principles, nor the local theory of human sexual nature, entirely explains or predicts a particular person's sexual desires or behaviors. A sexual behavior, that is, does not necessarily indicate an erotic orientation, preference, or desire. The homosexual is not the same as the homoerotic; whether in our society or one very exotic, I will claim, we can distinguish the homosexual from the homoerotic, as Oscar Wilde's case first hinted."

"Nobody knows what "causes" homosexuality any more than they know what "causes" heterosexuality. (Of course, there is far less interest in what causes the latter.) Overtly, the old psychoanalytic bugaboos are dead; there is no evidence, according to the Kinsey Institute, that male homosexuality is caused by dominant mothers and/or weak fathers, or that female homosexuality is caused by girls' having exclusively male role models. Furthermore, children who are raised by gay and lesbian couples are no more likely to be homosexual than children of heterosexual couples. Nor do people become adult homosexuals because they were seduced by older people or went to same-sex boarding schools... Though the causes of sexual orientation are unknown and the definitions fluid, the likelihood of converting a homosexual to a heterosexual orientation, or vice versa, is very slight. Some homosexual men and women voluntarily come for therapy to change from same-sex to opposite-sex partners, but it is not clear whether the limited "success" rate refers to a change in their feelings and the pattern of their desire, or just in their ability to consciously restrict their sexual contact to members of the opposite sex."

"No person may enjoy outstanding success without good health. Many of the causes of ill health are subject to mastery and control. These, in the main are: a. Overeating of foods not conducive to health. b. Wrong habits of thought... c. Wrong use of, and over indulgence in sex. d. Lack of proper physical exercise e. An inadequate supply of fresh air, due to improper breathing.... The most damaging forms of intemperance are connected with eating, strong drink, and sexual activities. Overindulgence in any of these is fatal to success..."

"Professors rarely speak of the place of eros or the erotic in our classrooms. Trained in the philosophical context of Western metaphysical dualism, many of us have accepted the notion that there is a split between the body and the mind. Believing this, individuals enter the classroom to teach as though only the mind is present, and not the body."

"The very general occurrence of the homosexual in ancient Greece, and its wide occurrence today in some cultures in which such activity is not taboo suggests that the capacity of an individual to respond erotically to any sort of stimulus, whether it is provided by another person of the same or opposite sex, is basic in the species."

"The history of medicine proves that in so far as man seeks to know himself and face his whole nature, he has become free from bewildered fear, despondent shame, or arrant hypocrisy. As long as sex is dealt with in the current confusion of ignorance and sophistication, denial and indulgence, suppression and stimulation, punishment and exploitation, secrecy and display, it will be associated with a duplicity and indecency that lead neither to intellectual honesty nor human dignity."

"Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheeps and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning human sexual behavior, the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex."

"Women find it easier to talk about eroticism, sensuality and relationships than men. I think men tend to cover up their feelings by using locker room macho talk."

"Sex isn't disgusting unless you make it disgusting!"

"Sex is not harmful to children. It is a vehicle to self-knowledge, love, healing, creativity, adventure, and intense feelings of aliveness. There are many ways even the smallest children can partake of it. Our moral obligation to the next generation is to make a world in which every child can partake safely, a world in which the needs and desires of every child—for accomplishment, connection, meaning, and pleasure—can be marvelously fulfilled."

"Sexual play was a regular practice among the children from the earliest period. The adult attitude toward it, if not one of active encouragement, was at least that of mild amusement. [...] Regular intercourse began before puberty with patterns of group sexual play, two or three girls in the gang serving a number of boys in rapid succession with the other boys looking on. Occasionally there were individual affairs. Sexual techniques were learned through imitation of the adults. [...] Homosexuality was present in the form of mutual masturbation, but I have no data as to its frequency. [...] The gap between adults and children was such that it was impossible for an adult to win the child’s confidence. Relations between them were amiable but entirely dissociated."

"It is the night-black Massachusetts legendry which packs the really macabre 'kick', Here is the material for a really profound study in group neuroticism; for certainly, no one can deny the existence of a profoundly morbid streak in the Puritan imagination....The very pre-ponderance of passionately pious men in the colony was virtually an assurance of unnatural crime; insomuch as psychology now proves the religious instinct to be a form of transmuted eroticism precisely parallel to the transmutations in other directions which respectively produce such things as sadism, hallucination, melancholia, and other mental morbidities. Bunch together a group of people deliberately chosen for strong religious feelings, and you have a practical guarantee of dark morbidities expressed in crime, perversion, and insanity. This was aggravated, of course, by the Puritan policy of rigorously suppressing all the natural outlets of excuberant feeling--music, laughter, colour, pageantry, and so on. To observe Christmas Day was once a prison offence...."

"I just think it's double standards the whole time. On the one hand people say, 'Oh, women have equal rights now, women can be as powerful as men and do the same jobs as men', but we're still not allowed to talk about sex, 'cos that's unladylike. It's like that old thing, if a man has slept with loads and loads of women, he's a stud. But if a woman has slept with loads of boys, she's a slag. Well, why? Why? What makes a man a stud 'cos he's pulled loads of women? And what makes me a slag 'cos I've slept with more than 10 men? It's ridiculous!"

"Sexually progressive cultures gave us mathematics, literature, philosophy, civilization and the rest, while sexually restrictive cultures gave us the Dark Ages and the Holocaust. Not that I’m trying to load my argument, of course."

"The degree and kind of a man's sexuality reach up into the ultimate pinnacle of his spirit."

"Writers may note that some pictures have succeeded without sex appeal. First of all, the pictures of Charlie Chaplin. Then those of Douglas Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd. Then Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon. Then come occasional pictures, with lesser stars, such as The Covered Wagon, The Big Parade, The Four Horsemen, and so on. Have all of these anything in common? Only one feature stands out unmistakably. In every one of them, sex interest is completely submerged. It is subordinated to character drawing, or to complications, or to sheer spectacle. Whenever you find a romance here, it is thin and tacked onto something far bigger or far funnier. And you find no trace of red hot sex appeal, such as Pola Negri injected into the screen."

"Here we see reflected the curious conglomerate of humanity which makes up the world's picture audience. Most of its members are young people, many of them children under twelve years of age. The latter do not respond violently to sex appeal. And the adolescents respond unpleasantly to it, on the whole; they are just growing into sex life, and it sets up "growing pains." Frank, suggestive pictures embarrass some boys and girls between the years of twelve and eighteen. This is partly a by-product of Puritanism, at a time when profound psychic changes are taking place. Now enters still another factor to block the normal interest in sex appeal stories. The motion picture house is a family gathering place."

"Psychic health depends on orgastic potency, i.e., upon the degree to which one can surrender to and experience the climax of excitation in the natural sexual act. It is founded upon the healthy character attitude of the individual's capacity for love. Psychic illnesses are the result of a disturbance of the natural capacity for love."

"Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness."

"Sigmund Freud’s second great discovery was that even the small child develops a lively sexuality, which has nothing to do with procreation; that, in other words, sexuality and procreation, and sexual and genital, are not the same. The analytic dissection of psychic processes further proved that sexuality, or rather its energy, the libido, which is of the body, is the prime motor of psychic life. Hence, the biologic presuppositions and social conditions of life overlap in the mind. The third great discovery was that childhood sexuality, of which what is most crucial in the child-parent relationship (‘the Oedipus complex’) is a part, is usually repressed out of fear of punishment for sexual acts and thoughts (basically a ‘fear of castration’); the child’s sexual activity is blocked and extinguished from memory. Thus, while repression of childhood sexuality withdraws it from the influence of consciousness, it does not weaken its force. On the contrary, the repression intensifies it and enables it to manifest itself in various pathological disturbances of the mind. As there is hardly an exception to this rule among ‘civilized man’, Freud could say that he had all of humanity as his patient."

"It was not until relatively late, with the establishment of an authoritarian patriarchy and the beginning of the division of the classes, that suppression of sexuality begins to make its appearance. It is at this stage that sexual interests in general begin to enter the service of a minority’s interest in material profit; in the patriarchal marriage and family this state of affairs assumes a solid organizational form. With the restriction and suppression of sexuality, the nature of human feeling changes; a sex-negating religion comes into being and gradually develops its own sex-political organization, the church with all its predecessors, the aim of which is nothing other than the eradication of man’s sexual desires and consequently of what little happiness there is on earth."

"The moral inhibition of the child’s natural sexuality, the last stage of which is the severe impairment of the child’s genital sexuality, makes the child afraid, shy, fearful of authority, obedient, ‘good’, and ‘docile’ in the authoritarian sense of the words. It has a crippling effect on man’s rebellious forces because every vital life-impulse is now burdened with severe fear; and since sex is a forbidden subject, thought in general and man’s critical faculty also become inhibited. In short, morality’s aim is to produce acquiescent subjects who, despite distress and humiliation, are adjusted to the authoritarian order. Thus, the family is the authoritarian state in miniature, to which the child must learn to adapt himself as a preparation for the general social adjustment required of him later. Man’s authoritarian structure - this must be clearly established - is basically produced by the embedding of sexual inhibitions and fear in the living substance of sexual impulses."

"When sexuality is prevented from attaining natural gratification, owing to the process of sexual repression, what happens is that it seeks various kinds of substitute gratifications. Thus, for instance, natural aggression is distorted into brutal sadism, which constitutes an essential part of the mass-psychological basis of those imperialistic wars that are instigated by a few. To give another instance: From the point of view of mass psychology, the effect of militarism is based essentially on a libidinous mechanism. The sexual effect of a uniform, the erotically provocative effect of rhythmically executed goose-stepping, the exhibitionistic nature of militaristic procedures, have been more practically comprehended by a salesgirl or an average secretary than by our most erudite politicians. On the other hand it is political reaction that consciously exploits these sexual interests. It not only designs flashy uniforms for the men, it puts the recruiting into the hands of attractive women. In conclusion, let us but recall the recruiting posters of war-thirsty powers, which ran something as follows: ‘Travel to foreign countries — join the Royal Navy I’ and the foreign countries were portrayed by exotic women. And why are these posters effective? Because our youth has become sexually starved owing to sexual suppression."

"At this point the obvious objection makes itself heard, namely, that the primitive who led a natural life in a matriarchal order also had mystical feelings. A very thorough proof is needed to show that there is a fundamental difference between the matriarchal man and the patriarchal man. Above all, this can be proven by the fact that religion’s attitude towards sexuality underwent a change in patriarchal society. Originally, it was a religion of sexuality; later it became an anti-sexual religion. The ‘mysticism’ of the primitives who were members of a sexually affirmative society is partially direct orgastic experience and partially animistic interpretation of natural processes."

"Clinical experience shows incontestably that religious sentiments result from inhibited sexuality that the source of mystical excitation is to be sought in inhibited sexual excitation. The inescapable conclusion of all this is that a clear sexual consciousness and a natural regulation of sexual life must foredoom every form of mysticism; that, in other words, natural sexuality is the arch enemy of mystical religion. By carrying on an anti-sexual fight wherever it can, making it the core of its dogmas and putting it in the foreground of its mass propaganda, the church only attests to the correctness of this interpretation."

"It was first shown in connection with the suppression of the natural sexuality of children and adolescents that there are funda­mental biologic functions of the human animal that have nothing to do with the economic distribution of the classes and that class boundaries overlap and cut across one another. The suppression of sexuality relates not only to all strata and classes of every patriarchal society; it is precisely in the ruling classes that this suppression is often most pronounced. Indeed, sex-economy was able to show that a large part of the sadism made use of by the ruling class to suppress and exploit other classes is to be ascribed chiefly to the sadism that stems from suppressed sexuality."

"Well, there’s always this human instinct about that, even from a very, very young age. I agreed that we are born with a sort of innate sexuality. But by like age 11, girls were talking about what they had and hadn’t done. I hadn’t even kissed a boy yet, so it always made me feel insecure, like I was never gonna be good or ready or know what to do — I didn’t even have boobs."

"Were kisses all the joys in bed, one woman would another wed."

"Isn’t it desperately sad that, at a time when we face formidable problems – poverty, HIV/AIDS, conflict – that the Anglican Communion can invest so much energy on disagreements about human sexuality? A communion that used to boast that one of its distinctive characteristics was something called comprehensiveness, that our communion, the Anglican Church, included just about everybody. Even if you had the most weird theology you could come in, you were allowed. And now we, who used to be held up in admiration by many because of this inclusiveness, are now spending time working out how we can excommunicate one another. God looks on and God weeps. God weeps."

"Molly Notkin often confides on the phone to Joelle van Dyne about the one tormented love of Nokin's life thus far, an erotically circumscribed G.W. Pabst scholar at New York University tortured by the neurotic compulsion that there are only a finite number of erections possible in the world at any one time and that his tumescence means e.g. the detumescence of some perhaps more deserving or tortured Third World sorghum farmer. . ."

"There are two kinds of sex, classical and baroque. Classical sex is romantic, profound, serious, emotional, moral, mysterious, spontaneous, abandoned, focused on a particular person, and stereotypically feminine. Baroque sex is pop, playful, funny, experimental, conscious, deliberate, amoral, anonymous, focused on sensation for sensation's sake, and stereotypically masculine. The classical mentality taken to an extreme is sentimental and finally puritanical; the baroque mentality taken to an extreme is pornographic and finally obscene. Ideally, a sexual relation ought to create a satisfying tension between the two modes (a baroque idea, particularly if the tension is ironic) or else blend them so well that the distinction disappears (a classical aspiration)."

"These apparently opposed perspectives meet on the common ground of sexual conservatism. The monogamists uphold the traditional wife's "official" values: emotional commitment is inseparable from a legal/moral obligation to permanence and fidelity; men are always trying to escape these duties; it's in our interest to make them shape up. The separatists tap into the underside of traditional femininity – the bitter, self-righteous fury that propels the indictment of men as lustful beasts ravaging their chaste victims. These are the two faces of feminine ideology in a patriarchal culture: they induce women to accept a spurious moral superiority as a substitute for sexual pleasure, and curbs on men's sexual freedom as a substitute for real power."

"In addition to his bio-physical heresies, Dr. Reich vastly offended many people by his sociological theory, which holds that fascism is just an exaggerated form of the basic structure of sex-negative societies and has existed under other names in every civilization based on sexual repression. In this theory, the character and muscular armor of the average citizen — a submissive and frightened attitude anchored in body reflexes — causes the average person to want a strong authority figure above them. Tyranny, in this model, is not created by tyrants alone but by neurotic masses who want tyrants."

"while Michael Warner (1993) defines queer as "resistance to regimes of the normal.""

"Lauren Berlant and Michael Warner (1995) suggest that participation in "queer publics," is, "more a matter of aspiration than it is the expression of an identity or a history,""

"Queerness...[is] more a posture of opposition than a simple statement about sexuality. It [is] about principles, not particularities. 'To me,' explained [Queer Nation/San Francisco activist Karl] Knapper, 'queerness is about acknowledging and celebrating difference, embracing wha sets you apart. A straight person can't be gay, but a straight person can be queer."

"[There are] cases of straight queerness, and of other forms of queerness that might not be contained within existing categories or have reference to only one established category...new queer spaces open up (or are revealed) whenever someone moves away from using only one specific sexual identity category--gay, lesbian, bisexual, or straight--to understand and to describe mass culture, and recognizes that texts and people's responses to them are more sexually transmutable than any one category could signify--excepting, perhaps, that of 'queer.'"

"The preference for 'queer' represents, among other things, an aggressive impulse of generalizations; it rejects a minoritizing logic of toleration or simple political interest-representation in favor of a more thorough resistance to regimes of the normal. For academics, being interested in queer theory is a way to mess up the desexualized spaces of the academy, exude some rut, reimaging the public from and for which academic intellectuals write, dress, and perform....For both academics and activists, 'queer' gets a critical edge by defining itself against the normal rather than the heterosexual....The insistence on 'queer'...has the effect of pointing out a wide field of normalization, rather than simple intolerance, as the site of violence."

"Queer" involves "the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning [that occur] when the consituent elements of anyone's gender, of anyone's sexuality aren't made (or can't be made) to signifying monolithically... [including] drags, clones, leatherfolk...fantasists...feminist men...masturbators...people able to relish, learn from, or identify with such." She praises, "work around 'queer' [which] spins the term outward along dimensions that can't be subsumed under gender and sexuality at all." However, queer must denote "almost simply, same-sex sexual object choice, lesbian or gay...given the historical and contemporary force of the prohibitions against every same-sex sexual expression, for anyone to disavow those meanings, or to displace them from the term's definitional center, would be to dematerialize any possiblity of queerness itself."

"Queer has become "the discursive rallying point for younger lesbians and gay men and, in yet other contexts, for lesbian interventions and, in yet other contexts, for bisexuals and straights for whom the term expresses an affiliation with antihomophobic politics. That it can become such a discursive site whose uses are not fully constrained in advance ought to be safe-guarded not only for the purposes of continuing to democratize queer politics, but also to expose, affirm, and rework the specific historicity of the term.""

""'Queer' derives its force precisely through the repeated invocation by which it has become linked to accusation, pathologization, insult. This is an invocation by which a social bond among homophobic communities is formed through time. The interpellation echoes past interpellations, and binds the speakers, as if they spoke in unison across time. In this sense, it is always an imaginary chorus that taunts 'queer'"."

"As the essence of queer, I think of Tim Dean's work on being queer and queer not as being about who you're having sex with—that can be a dimension of it—but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and it has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live."

"Thomas, Calvin, ed. (2000). "Introduction: Identification, Appropriation, Proliferation", Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality. University of Illinois Press. ."

"Heard she bisexual; she fuck what that girl. But boy, oh boy, fucking with me is a whole 'nother world."

"Could you imagine wanting to fuck everybody you meet? Think of all the phone numbers you'd accumulate! You might as well just walk around the White Pages under your arm."

"Even though adult homosexuals have fought hard to win rights and liberties... too many people are still scandalized by the mere idea that youth discovering their gay orientation could be given the same liberties and possibilities as straight ones. Whereas the discovery of heterosexual desire is celebrated as the sign that "he's becoming a man" and therefore largely encouraged, without anyone seeing any sort of proselytizing in it, it's a completely different story when it's homosexual desire that's surfacing. Everything happens as if gays and bisexuals under 18 didn't exist, or at least shouldn't exist.’"

"I do not in the least underestimate bisexuality. . . I expect it to provide all further enlightenment."

"And now, the main thing! As far as I can see, my next work will be called "Human Bisexuality." It will go to the root of the problem and say the last word it may be granted to say--the last and the most profound."

"Appropriate patterns of reproductive, gender, and sexual conduct are all products of specific cultures and all can be viewed as examples of socially scripted conduct. Western societies now have a system of gender and sexual learning in which gender differential scripts are learned prior to sexual scripts, but take their origins in part from the previously learned gender scripts... There are two important points: The first is that both gender and sexuality are learned forms of social practice, and the second is that looking to "natural differences" between women and men for lessons about sexual conduct is an error."

"The dilemma of traditional sex research lay in the unconscious, but unquestiongly assumed division into opposing drives and hereditary factors. . . The division into heterosexuality and homosexuality, into heterosexuals and homosexuals, is also an artefact that rests on a grave error, namely, on the assumption that a fundamentally different model is necessary to explain heteorsexual and homosexual behavior. The entire investigation of etiology was ideologically loaded beforehand because it separated a segment of the sexual contiuum and attempted to make analyses with the help of fundamentally different concepts."

"Nick Nelson: Mum. Sarah Nelson: Mm-hm? Nick Nelson: You know Charlie's like my best friend. Sarah Nelson: If you're going to ask if he can come along on holiday this year, the answer's no, 'cause I've already booked the ticket. Nick Nelson: No, that's, um, that's not what I was gonna say. [stops, hesitates] He's my boyfriend. Charlie's my boyfriend. I... I still like girls, but, um... We... I like boys too. And me and Charlie, we're... We're going out. And I just... wanted you to know. Sarah Nelson: Oh, baby. [hugs Nick] Oh, thank you for telling me. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you couldn't tell me that. You don't have to say you like girls if you don't. Nick Nelson: No, I, um... It's definitely not just girls. It-it's called bisexuality, if you've heard of that. Sarah Nelson: [laughs] I have heard of that. I wasn't born in the 18th century. How long've you known? Nick Nelson: Well, um, me and Charlie started going out, couple months ago. But I started liking him way before that. Sarah Nelson: [hugs Nick] Oh, I love you."

"A decade and a half on, I know the certainty of myself. Bisexual. Sometimes a partner, often a lover, always a friend, refusing to discriminate along gender lines. It keeps my brain ticking over. I'll never get bored. If this is a phase, I don't want it to end."

"The very general occurrence of the homosexual in ancient Greece, and its wide occurrence today in some cultures in which such activity is not taboo suggests that the capacity of an individual to respond erotically to any sort of stimulus, whether it is provided by another person of the same or opposite sex, is basic in the species."

"Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning human sexual behavior, the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex."

"It is my opinion that while the word bisexual may have its uses as an adjective, . . . it is not only useless but mendacious when used as a noun."

"When you lie with a woman, at least so girls say, You shit the same moment you come. But what do you do, Polycharmus, I pray, When a lovers stiff prick stops your bum?"

"The time has come, I think, when we must recognize bisexuality as a normal form of human behavior. . . we shall not really succeed in discarding the straitjacket of our cultural beliefs about sexual choice if we fail to come to terms with the well-documented, normal human capacity to love members of both sexes."

"Homosexuality was invented by a straight world dealing with its own bisexuality."

"I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted – romantically and/or sexually – to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree."

"Oh my GOD, you are NOT bisexual! Don't be stupid! I mean, I went to a bar mitzvah once, that doesn't make me Jewish!"

"I have a dick and it gets hard then that's good. I walk down the street and if I see a girl and my dick gets hard that's good and if I see a boy that's good too and same with seeing a chicken. If my dick gets hard and I want to fuck it then that's good. People like to attach labels to themselves, straight, gay, S&M, it's just so simple. It doesn't matter what you do whether its horrible or mainstream or boring, you know what turns you on. So why the big brouhaha?"

"He has told me he likes men as well as he likes women, which seems only natural, he says, since he is the offspring of two sexes as well as two races. No one is surprised he is biracial; why should they be surprised he is bisexual? This is an explanation I have never heard and cannot entirely grasp; it seems too logical for my brain."

"Vive la différence!"

"[Long] live the difference!"

"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

"The dilemma of traditional sex research lay in the unconscious, but unquestiongly assumed division into opposing drives and hereditary factors. . . The division into heterosexuality and homosexuality, into hetersexuals and homosexuals, is also an artefact that rests on a grave error, namely, on the assumption that a fundamentally different model is necessary to explain heterosexual and homosexual behavior. The entire investigation of etiology was ideologically loaded beforehand because it separated a segment of the sexual contiuum and attempted to make analyses with the help of fundamentally different concepts."

"After the repast is ended, we return to the dance, and, when the hour of repose arrives, we draw from a kind of lottery, in which every one is sure of a prize; that is, a young girl as his companion for the night. They are allotted thus by chance, in order to avoid jealousy, and to prevent exclusive attachments. Thus ends the day, and gives place to a night of delights, which we sanctify by enjoying with due relish that sweetest of all pleasures, which Faraki has so wisely attached to the reproduction of our species. We reverently admire the wisdom and the goodness of Faraki, who, desiring to secure to the world a continued population, has implanted in the sexes an invincible mutual attraction, which constantly draws them towards each other. Fecundity is the end he proposes, and he rewards with intoxicating delights those who contribute to the fulfilment of his designs."

"Compulsory heterosexuality: The idea that heterosexuality is preserved by gender and sexual binaries and other social forces. This concept battles the idea that we choose to be heterosexual and instead says that heterosexuality is a compulsory (or enforced) state of being."

"Heteronormativity: Naturalizes the heterosexual identity, or privileges it as timeless and universal."

"Heterosexism: Describes the biases and prejudices that favor heterosexual people or relationships."

"Heterosexuality: The term describing emotional, affectional, sexual, or physical attraction to members of the opposite sex."

"Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheeps and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning human sexual behavior, the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex."

"It would encourage clearer thinking on these matters if persons were not characterized as hetereosexual or homosexual, but as individuals who have had certain amounts of heterosexual experience and certain amounts of homosexual experience. Instead of using these terms as substantives which stand for persons, or even as adjectives to describe persons, they may better be used to describe the nature of the overt sexual relations, or of the stimuli to which an individual erotically responds."

"We are particularly in favor of multiple partners having a chance to meet each other, or at least hear about each other, to dispel our self-created mythology that the other person is younger, thinner, sexier, etc. You might be surprised, when you meet your lover's lover, to find the experience downright reassuring."

"We believe that it is fundamentally a radical political act to deprivatize sex. So much oppression in our culture is based on shame about sex: the oppression of women, of cultural minorities, oppression in the name of the (presumably asexual) family, oppression of sexual minorities. We are all oppressed. We have all been taught, one way or another, that our desires, our bodies, our sexualities, are shameful. What better way to defeat oppression than to get together in communities and celebrate the wonders of sex?"

"A ring around the finger does not cause a nerve block to the genitals."

"A slut shares their sexuality the way philanthropists shares their money: because they have a lot of it to share, because it makes them happy to share it, because sharing makes the world a better place."

""Easy": Is there, we wonder, some virtue in being difficult?"

"It is amazing to us to think ... that most people in our culture have never had a chance to watch another person enjoy sex. No wonder we worry so much about our appearance."

"Joe was very possessive. I was perfectly faithful. He would beat me, screaming imprecations, 'You slut!' when another man looked at me. After I left, I decided he was right — I am a slut, I want to be a slut, I will never promise monogamy again. After all, why would anyone care who I fucked? I will never be a piece of property again, no matter how valuable that property is considered. Joe made a feminist of me. A feminist slut."

"Myth #3: Loving someone makes it OK to control his behavior."

"Sex is for pleasure, a complete and worthwhile goal in and of itself. People have sex because it feels very good, and then they feel good about themselves."

"So we are proud to reclaim the word "slut" as a term of approval, even endearment. To us, a slut is a person of any gender who has the courage to lead life according to the radical proposition that sex is nice and pleasure is good for you."

"Some people consider any form of sex education to be child abuse, and many do not feel that children should have any information at all about adult sexual activities. ...How are we to teach our children to say 'no' to an abusive adult if we are not frank about what it is that they should say no to?"

"To believe that God doesn't like sex is like believing that God doesn't like you: we all wind up carrying a secret shame for our own perfectly natural sexual desires and fulfillments. We prefer the beliefs of a woman we met who is a devoted churchgoer. She told us that when she was about five years old, she discovered the joys of masturbation in the back seat of the family car, tucked under a warm blanket on a long trip. It felt so wonderful that she concluded that the existence of her clitoris was proof positive that God loved her."

"We have been taught by our culture that when our partner has sex with another, we have lost something. Not to sound dumb, but we are confused. What have we lost?"

"We measure the ethics of a good slut not by the number of his partners, but by the respect and care with which he treats them."

"We see ourselves surrounded by the 'walking wounded' — by people who have been deeply, if not irrevocably, injured by fear, shame, and hatred of their own sexual selves. We believe that happy connected sex is the cure for these wounds, that it is important, possibly even essential, to most people's sense of self-worth, to their belief that life is good. We have never met anyone who had low self-esteem at the moment of orgasm."

"We've ... been called "indiscriminate" in our sexuality, which we resent: we can always tell our lovers apart."

"When both genders feel free to answer 'yes' or 'no' with no concern for anything but their own desires, a truer understanding, and a more positive sexuality, can be achieved. Dossie tells the story of a woman friend of hers back in the '70s who, as an experiment, sat patiently in a singles' bar one night, being approached by many men, until finally one to whom she felt attracted came along and began to flirt. She asked him nicely if he would like to come back to her place and fuck. He swallowed his ice. It took the poor fellow a couple of minutes before he could talk coherently again, and when they actually got to her place he found himself impotent. That's how deeply ingrained some of these cultural stereotypes can be."

"[Wilhelm] Reich theorized that without the suppression of sexuality and the imposition of anti-sexual morality, you could not have an authoritarian government, because people would be free from shame, and would trust their own sense of right and wrong. Such people are unlikely to march to war against their wishes, and we would like to think they would be unlikely to agree to operate the death camps too."

"Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted. To have coitus other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature."

"But I wonder why he the heretic Jovinianus set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he grudged his brother his seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the procreation of children?"

"Frighted she wakes, and waking frigs: Nature thus kindly eased In dreams raised by her grunting pigs And her own thumb betwixt her legs, She’s innocent and pleased."

"Homer, in the second book of the Iliad says with fine enthusiasm, "Give me masturbation or give me death." Caesar, in his Commentaries, says, "To the lonely it is company; to the forsaken it is a friend; to the aged and to the impotent it is a benefactor. They that are penniless are yet rich, in that they still have this majestic diversion." In another place this experienced observer has said, "There are times when I prefer it to sodomy." Robinson Crusoe says, "I cannot describe what I owe to this gentle art." Queen Elizabeth said, "It is the bulwark of virginity." Cetewayo, the Zulu hero, remarked, "A jerk in the hand is worth two in the bush." The immortal Franklin has said, "Masturbation is the best policy." Michelangelo and all of the other old masters--"old masters," I will remark, is an abbreviation, a contraction--have used similar language. Michelangelo said to Pope Julius II, "Self-negation is noble, self-culture beneficent, self-possession is manly, but to the truly great and inspiring soul they are poor and tame compared with self-abuse." Mr. Brown, here, in one of his latest and most graceful poems, refers to it in an eloquent line which is destined to live to the end of time--"None knows it but to love it; none name it but to praise."

"In the summer of [18]'79 while sojourning in the Adirondacks, I was asked to visit a gentleman at a hotel....and thus relieved him of the greater part of his suffering. He afterwards said to me, "Dr. I know now that if that operation had been performed when I was a boy, and I had been told anything about the normal condition of my genital organs, I would now be in good health, I would not now be dying from consumption. I blame it all on my parents. When I was a mere lad, I had every night a very painful erection which kept me awake the best part of the night. Again and again I went to my father and begged him to tell me where to go for relief, but he only laughed, and said it was all right. Like appeals to others had a similar result. Finally the irritation became so great that without any instruction I commenced to masturbate, and finally went frequently with loose women to such an extent that my health broke down, my lungs gave out, and now I am dying. I never knew until too late what was the cause of my frequent erections, and I was never told that any relief could be afforded by an operation.""

"If the pupil has exhibited signs of unusual sexual precocity, it would be well to point out the results of all unhealthy familiarity with the genitals before discoursing upon their uses in the accomplishment of a most beneficent plan of nature, to imbue the mind with that laudable sense of fear which should invariably accompany any infringement of the law."

"I would further instruct a youth that this degrading practice obtains such a hold upon any one indulging in it that he seems unable to free himself from its grasp. Again and again he yields to its importunity, and life ebbs away from him. It is a sad and melancholy truth that many whose childhood has been most pure and spotless have fallen most deeply when their passions have been awakened through absence of all warning on the subject and in ignorance of the self-destruction they were committing."

"the effects of masturbation or excessive sexual congress present this peculiar change in the shape of the organ."

"Insanity among masturbators is more apt to develop in those whose intellectual capacity is below the average, and in cases where loss of memory occurs as a prominent feature in the early stages of the vice. Persistent loss of memory is always a precursor of serious mental disease."

"Another man is tempted by evil thoughts at night. Let him be directed to cross his arm upon his breast, and extend himself as if he were lying in his coffin. Let him endeavor to think of himself as he will be one day stretched in death. If such solemn thoughts do not drive away evil imaginings, let him rise from his bed and lie on the floor."

"This is the type of emotional condition that appears to govern the habits of onanism in children who are otherwise very unlikely to suspect sexual precocity."

"The accusation of onanism does not appear any more than that of running away to result from the sole desire to burden the child, in order to obtain his internment. Most often, she responds well to her appearance as a repulsed, sad and shy little being. Humiliation, the feeling of abandonment and loneliness clearly encourage the child to masturbate. If it is in adolescents or adults that this habit is found, it seems linked to the evocation of situations or scenes related to the genital complexion of the subject: most often a jealous or a masochist, who therefore further combines sexual excitement with depressive dispositions. His reaction is of the conditional type, like all those that arise from emotion. Local excitement is only an adjuvant, of which the subject rather seeks to divert his thoughts, far from being attentive to it as to stimulations of a sensory and truly tactile nature."

"Onanism sometimes gives way to pederasty and tribadism. There is clearly, in all these cases, emotional excitement. It results in irritability and also in the taste for caresses, zoophilia (2 - need for animal caresses) and even the need for affection. It is not unrelated to a state of boredom, vague, nostalgic appetite, emotional insufficiency and worry, which are very often the germ of perverse behavior. Anxiety without object, disgust, painful impression of moral anesthesia, search for appropriate stimulation, desire for risk, adventure, subterfuges of imagination or sensitivity are at the origin of running away, wandering, theft, lies, niches, teasing, acts of cruelty, of which this category of children is predilection guilty."

"Masturbation is the thinking man's television."

"Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth, it's a cure."

"Don't knock masturbation, it's sex with someone I love."

"Venereal orgasm can help resolve anxious tone. Masturbation is a common reaction of melancholic people. Anxious waiting often results in erotic needs."

"To intervene in this personal, secret activity, which masturbation was, does not represent something neutral for the parents. It is not only a matter of power, or authority, or ethics; it's also a pleasure"

"As for the part of sexuality which can mix with anxiety, it is indeed an observable fact (...) I pointed out how frequent onanism is among children rejected by those around them and who usually live in the constraint and apprehension."

"If God had intended us not to masturbate, he would've made our arms shorter."

"You're gonna be pleasing each other, and if he already knows what pleases him, and he's gonna please himself, then why am I in the picture?"

"I would masturbate in a red speedo."

"When scolded for masturbating in public, he said "I wish it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly.""

"We know that more than seventy to eighty percent of women masturbate, and ninety percent of men masturbate, and the rest lie."

"In this room, right now, each of you, in your own lives, has agonized over the fact that you have masturbated. Masturbation isn't sinful. If it feels good — do it. You have my blessing, and you yourself know how it relaxes you."

"Among all types of sexual activity, masturbation is, however, the one in which the female most frequently reaches orgasm."

"Self improvement is masturbation."

"This is a strange -- and rather alarming -- realisation. For it clearly implies that masturbation is one of our highest faculties that human beings have developed. Many animals masturbate -- but never without the presence of another animal, or some similar stimulus. A human being can masturbate in an empty room: a triumph of pure imagination."

"watch carefully over the young man; he can protect himself from all other foes, but it is for you to protect him against himself. Never leave him night or day, or at least share his room; never let him go to bed till he is sleepy, and let him rise as soon as he wakes. Distrust instinct as soon as you cease to rely altogether upon it. Instinct was good while he acted under its guidance only; now that he is in the midst of human institutions, instinct is not to be trusted; it must not be destroyed, it must be controlled, which is perhaps a more difficult matter. It would be a dangerous matter if instinct taught your pupil to abuse his senses; if once he acquires this dangerous habit he is ruined. From that time forward, body and soul will be enervated; he will carry to the grave the sad effects of this habit, the most fatal habit which a young man can acquire. If you cannot attain to the mastery of your passions, dear Emile, I pity you; but I shall not hesitate for a moment, I will not permit the purposes of nature to be evaded. If you must be a slave, I prefer to surrender you to a tyrant from whom I may deliver you; whatever happens, I can free you more easily from the slavery of women than from yourself."

"I didn't get to masturbate this morning, and I've been dying to, so I've gotta go."

"I have touched filth. Only with the finger tip I touched it, inquisitive of the taste of it. But it creeps. It has spread over my body a slime, and into my soul a stupor."

"It's a lot of work and it gets you nowhere; I was never big into that world."

"Was that cannon fire, or is it my heart pounding?"

"Let’s go somewhere we can be alone. Ah, there doesn’t seem to be anyone on this couch."

"Give me a kiss or I’ll sock you."

"If I were to send you flowers... No wait, let me rephrase: If I were to let you suck on my tongue, would you be grateful?"

"If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"

"Do you love as good as you look?"

"In discussions on pornography, a lot depends on the very definition of what is considered to be “pornographic” material. Pornography may be defined as (a) a moral wrong, (b) a moral good or (c) a non-moral issue. Thus, “the right to pornography” (as a “liberty”, not as a “claim-right”) may either be argued “because” it is amoral or non-moral good, or “although” it is a moral wrong. But whether one relates the notion of pornography intrinsically to (the showing/describing of) sexual acts, considered to be morally reprehensible, or uses a morally neutral or positive definition, one cannot escape the task of arguing what exactly makes (some or all) pornography a moral wrong or good."

"I once stole a pornographic book that was printed in Braille. I used to rub the dirty parts."

"Pornographic sex is a kind of sex that can be described. Which told you something, he felt, about pornography, and about sex. During Keith's time, sex divorced itself from feeling. Pornography was the industrialization of that rift."

"In this connection we may refer to fornicatory acts effected with artificial imitations of the human body, or of individual parts of that body. There exist true Vaucansons in this province of pornographic technology, clever mechanics who, from rubber and other plastic materials, prepare entire male or female bodies, which, as hommes or dames de voyage, subserve fornicatory purposes. More especially are the genital organs represented in a manner true to nature. Even the secretion of Bartholin's glans is imitated, by means of a "pneumatic tube" filled with oil. Similarly, by means of fluid and suitable apparatus, the ejaculation of the semen is imitated. Such artificial human beings are actually offered for sale in the catalogue of certain manufacturers of "Parisian rubber articles.""

"Sexual drives are core aspects of human functioning, but the quantity and quality of sexual behaviors show high variability across individuals. Pornography use has become a normative behavior among adults, and individuals show differences in quantity/frequency measures of consumption. Considering the broad spectrum of “normal” sexual behaviors and the finding that the number of people with NPHFU is 3–6 times larger than the number with PHFU, pornography use may be linked to adverse health measures in a minority of adults."

"Pornography has been so thickly glossed over with the patina of chic these days in the name of verbal freedom and sophisication… Part of the problem is that those who traditionally have been the most vigorous opponents of porn are often those same people who shudder at the explicit mention of any sexual subject… There can be no equality in porn, no female equivalent, no turning of the tables in the name of bawdy fun. Pornography, like rape, is a male invention, desgined to dehumanize women… Pornography is the undiluted essence of anti-female propaganda."

"Listen, I'm no social scientist and haven't done a survey. I don't pretend to know what John Q citizen thinks about this. But I've lived in prison for a long time now and I've met a lot of men who were motived to commit violence just like me. And without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography. Without question, without exception. Deeply influenced and consumed by an addiction to pornography."

"Those of us who are, who have been so much influenced by violence in the media, in particular pornographic violence, are not some kinds of inherent monsters. We are your sons and we are your husbands. And we grew up in regular families. And pornography can reach out and snatch a kid out of any house today. It snatched me out of my home twenty, thirty years ago."

"...well meaning decent people will condemn [the] behavior of a Ted Bundy while they're walking past a magazine rack full of the very kinds of things that send young kids down the road to be Ted Bundys."

"Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials."

"Horror and pornography are the only two genres specifically devoted to the arousal of bodily sensation. They exist solely to horrify and stimulate, not always respectively, and their ability to do so is the sole measure of their success: they 'prove themselves upon our pulses""

"It was Raimondi who created the images for the first work of printed pornography, a book called "I Modi" (“The Positions” or “The Ways”), also known as "The Sixteen Pleasures" (or, if you’re into Latin, "De omnibus Veneris Schematibus"). As per the title, the book was built around engravings of 16 sexual positions, based on a lost series of paintings by Giulio Romano, Raphael’s pupil, which he had painted for Federico II Gonzaga, to decorate and provide inspiration at his Palazzo Te in Mantua (destroyed in 1630, during the War of Mantuan Succession)."

"...pornography is the orchestrated destruction of women's bodies and souls; rape, battery, incest, and prostitution animate it; dehumanization and sadism characterize it; it is war on women, serial assaults on dignity, identity, and human worth; it is tyranny. Each woman who has survived knows from the experience of her own life that pornography is captivity–the woman trapped in the picture used on the woman trapped wherever he's got her."

"[I]n the male sexual lexicon, which is the vocabulary of power, erotica is simply high-class pornography: better produced, better conceived, better executed, better packaged, designed for a better class of consumer. As with the call girl and the streetwalker, one is turned out better but both are produced by the same system of sexual values and both perform the same sexual service."

"Pornography is used in rape - to plan it, to execute it, to choreograph it, to engender the excitement to commit the act."

"The pornographers actually use our bodies as their language. We are their speech. . . . Protecting what they 'say' means protecting what they do to us, how they do it. It means protecting their sadism on our bodies, because that is how they write: not like a writer at all; like a torturer."

"Men characterize pornography as something mental because their minds, their thoughts, their dreams, their fantasies, are more real to them than women's bodies or lives; in fact, men have used their social power to characterize a $10-billion-a-year trade in women as fantasy."

"Pornography is the essential sexuality of male power: of hate, of ownership, of hierarchy; of sadism, of dominance.""

"Pornography incarnates male supremacy. It is the DNA of male dominance. Every rule of sexual abuse, every nuance of sexual sadism, every highway and byway of sexual exploitation, is encoded in it."

"Everyone knows that child pornography is bad because it's been demonstrated over and over that people who look at that stuff end up acting it out—and really destroy people's lives. That's beyond the unconscionably cruel exploitation of the children involved. Other forms of pornography are harmful for a similarly oft-repeated reason: Pornography makes women into objects of desire rather than real people. We want to have relationships between person and person, not person-to-object."

"Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people... and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable. Avoiding both these extremes, the Tathagata (the Perfect One) has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana."

"Peter Griffin: What's the difference between art and pornography... a government grant!"

"In conjunction with prior literature, we conclude that there is little or no evidence of an association between mere pornography use and ED, consistent evidence of an association between self-reported problematic use and ED cross-sectionally, and no evidence of causal links between any pornography variables and ED."

"In the United States, Internet pornography use is a common behavior that has risen in popularity in recent years. The present study sought to examine potential relationships between pornography use and well-being, with a particular focus on individual perceptions of pornography use and feelings of addiction. Using a large cross-sectional sample of adults (N = 713), perceived addiction to Internet pornography predicted psychological distress above and beyond pornography use itself and other relevant variables (e.g., socially desirable responding, neuroticism). This model was replicated using a large cross-sectional sample of undergraduates (N = 1,215). Furthermore, a 1-year, longitudinal follow-up with a subset of this sample (N = 106) revealed a relationship between perceived addiction to Internet pornography and psychological distress over time, even when controlling for baseline psychological distress and pornography use. Collectively, these findings suggest that perceived addiction to Internet pornography, but not pornography use itself, is uniquely related to the experience of psychological distress."

"In 2019, my colleagues and I published a review of over 130 scientific studies of pornography use and motivation. We found that the most common reason people report for why they view pornography is sexual arousal. Research is abundantly clear that the majority of time that pornography is used, it is used as a part of masturbation."

"Despite the fact that, prior to COVID-19, 17 states introduced or passed legislation calling pornography use a public health crisis, public health professionals have argued that it really is not one, and I tend to agree. COVID-19, on the other hand, certainly is a public health crisis."

"Using an online sample of participants in committed relationships, support was found for a moderated mediation model in which depression mediated the relationship between pornography use and relationship satisfaction, and this indirect effect was moderated by level of moral disapproval. Results indicate that, among consumers of pornography, their level of moral disapproval exacerbates adverse intra- and interpersonal outcomes such as distress and decreased relationship satisfaction. These results extend the empirical literature that examines the conditional effects of moral disapproval of pornography use to relational outcomes."

"Pornography, it seems to me, is no different from war films or propaganda films in that it tries to make the visceral, horrific, or transgressive elements of life consumable. Propaganda is far more pornographic than a home video of two people fucking."

"The oppressive measures on pornography by the Korean government are totally insane... It is actually seen that it oppresses masculinity and that it distorts the essentials. It is all done by the Ministry of Gender Equality and women’s organizations led by Korean feminists."

"Though watching porn may seem degrading to some women, the fact is that it's one of the few jobs for women where you can get to a certain level, look around, and feel so powerful, not just in the work environment but as a sexual being. So, fuck Gloria Steinem."

"To this day, I can't watch my own sex scenes."

"In this study, we examined the unique contribution of pornography consumption to the longitudinal prediction of criminal recidivism in a sample of 341 child molesters. We specifically tested the hypothesis, based on predictions informed by the confluence model of sexual aggression that pornography will be a risk factor for recidivism only for those individuals classified as relatively high risk for re-offending. Pornography use (frequency and type) was assessed through self-report and recidivism was measured using data from a national database from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Indices of recidivism, which were assessed up to 15 years after release, included an overall criminal recidivism index, as well as subcategories focusing on violent (including sexual) recidivism and sexual recidivism alone. Results for both frequency and type of pornography use were generally consistent with our predictions. Most importantly, after controlling for general and specific risk factors for sexual aggression, pornography added significantly to the prediction of recidivism. Statistical interactions indicated that frequency of pornography use was primarily a risk factor for higher-risk offenders, when compared with lower-risk offenders, and that content of pornography (i.e., pornography containing deviant content) was a risk factor for all groups. The importance of conceptualizing particular risk factors (e.g., pornography), within the context of other individual characteristics is discussed."

"The current study adopted a participant-informed, “bottom-up,” qualitative approach to identifying perceived effects of pornography on the couple relationship. A large sample (N = 430) of men and women in heterosexual relationships in which pornography was used by at least one partner was recruited through online (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and offline (e.g., newspapers, radio, etc.) sources. Participants responded to open-ended questions regarding perceived consequences of pornography use for each couple member and for their relationship in the context of an online survey. In the current sample of respondents, “no negative effects” was the most commonly reported impact of pornography use. Among remaining responses, positive perceived effects of pornography use on couple members and their relationship (e.g., improved sexual communication, more sexual experimentation, enhanced sexual comfort) were reported frequently; negative perceived effects of pornography (e.g., unrealistic expectations, decreased sexual interest in partner, increased insecurity) were also reported, albeit with considerably less frequency. The results of this work suggest new research directions that require more systematic attention."

"Pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling. Pornography emphasizes sensation without feeling."

"But the most obscene American phenomenon of all is the growth of commercialized sex and hard- and soft-core pornography. In the last decade, hardcore film and print porn, which features perversion, sadism, and masochism, has become a billion dollar business. It is a business which is not only tolerated, but defended by the press in the sacred name of “freedom of the press.” One would find it easier to believe in this noble reason for defending the filth that is flooding the nation if the newspapers did not reap such handsome profits from advertising and reviewing porn. In my view, newspaper publishers who carry X-rated ads are no better than pimps for the porn merchants. Billy Graham may have been exaggerating when he said “America has a greater obsession with sex than Rome ever had.” But he was not exaggerating very much."

"Men may buy pornography but women pay for it – in terms of exploitation, rape, violence, and a society that sees them as disposable sexual objects."

"Pornography? I've been looking at it all my life and it hasn't affected me anything."

"Before the advent of the internet and sexual videos, preadolescent and adolescent boys plotted a secret acquisition of Playboy magazines. They snuck peeks while adults weret watching and hid magazines under beds, in tree forts, and buried them in closets. Adolescent boys have always been fascinated with sex and nudity because curiosity is a part of their emerging sexuality. Such behavior is understandable, if not to be encouraged. But what might have titillated teenage boys when we were young is tame compared to what is available to them now. Women in Playboy magazines twenty or thirty years ago were alone. While they stared seductively at the viewer, they were not engaged in a sexual act. But Playboy over the last few decades has been nudged aside by more graphic magazines and other media. In 1985, 92 percent of adult males had a Playboy magazine by age fifteen. Today the average age of a boy's first exposure to pornography is eleven, and where he might once have seen only a naked woman, now he is much more likely to view sex acts between partners. Nearly half of boys between the third and eighth grades have visited Internet sites with "adult content." The more graphic the content, the more severe the trauma it inflicts on our boys. And we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that it is not traumatic. Pornography warps the natural development of sexuality in boys. It can lead them down paths of perversity that, in their normal development, they would never have otherwise considered. Young boys who view pornography are having their morality, their sense of what is acceptable, shaped by it. And the Internet is full of seducers ready to prey on them, including sexual predators. The problem isn't that many young boys seek pornography out of curiosity, but that pornography pops up at them unawares and drags them in."

"Research has shown that viewing pornography can be quite disturbing to boys and that viewing explicit sex changes the way boys behave sexually. For example, viewing sexual material (not just pornography) has been shown to make college students significantly more accepting of the use of aggression against women, both in a sexual and nonsexual manner. And contrary to what one might think, studies have shown that when college students recall memories of sexual media their memories are overwhelmingly negative. Their responses include (from most common to least common): disgust, shock, embarrassment, anger, fear, and sadness. Interestingly, sexual response to those viewings was very low."

"An overwhelming majority of parents I encounter shake their heads and smirk when discussing boys and sexual media. "Come on," they quip, "it's just sex after all. They're all interested; they're all going to try it." Such comments I'm afraid, reveal a profound ignorance about sex and boys. If we were truly interested in letting boys be boys, we would let them be just that- boys, not voyeurs lured into a dark underworld of pornography. If pornography did not exist, boys would not be out there creating it. It is adults who thrust it upon them. Sex is a big deal for boys. They are not naturally emotionally dull human beings, Boys are feeling, thinking, and spiritual beings, and a healthy sexuality is one that grows within that well-rounded framework. A healthy sexuality is not exercised too young, it is not artificially aroused and diverted, and it is not promiscuous. And deep down our boys know this, but we allow them to be pressured by the pornographers of pop culture. We shouldn't."

"I saw no reason why you couldn't create a work of pornography that adhered to all the same standards as the best art or literature. The big difference between art and pornography is that art, at its best, makes you feel less alone. You see a painting or read a piece of writing that expresses a thought that you had but didn't express, and you suddenly feel less alone. Pornography, on the other hand, tends to engender feelings of self-disgust, isolation and wretchedness. I wanted to change that."

"Pornography is such a degraded genre with absolutely no standards. It doesn’t serve any function other than to make people feel wretched, ashamed and alone. It reinforces our loneliness and our wretched human misery. And it shouldn’t."

"Pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice."

"But fantasy kills imagination, pornography is death to art."

"Pornography does not directly or imminently lead to death, infectious disease morbidity, property destruction, or population displacement. Research suggests that there may be adverse health consequences of pornography use for some, no substantial consequences for the majority, and positive effects for others. For example, for the minority predisposed to perpetrate sexual violence, viewing violent pornography may exacerbate risk. Additionally, individuals who frequently view pornography portraying risk behaviors (e.g., condomless sex) may be more likely to engage in them. Research on how pornography affects the cohesion and fidelity of relationships and sexual satisfaction is mixed, but the majority of users do not experience substantial problems. Importantly, death, infection, property destruction, and population displacement are not resulting from pornography use. And for some, pornography use is associated with health-promoting behaviors, including increased intimacy, “safer” sexual behaviors (e.g., solo masturbation), and feelings of acceptance."

"Calling something a “public health crisis” when it is not demonstrably so may result in unwarranted policy or funding shifts. For example, government agencies may spend money to convene experts for high-level meetings or require businesses and individuals to comply with unwarranted regulations. Moreover, pathologizing any form of sexual behavior, including pornography use, has the potential to restrict sexual freedom and to stigmatize, which is antithetical to public health. If the public health workforce wants to save its power to mobilize people when an acute threat is imminent, reserving the phrase “public health crisis” for strategic, select times is advisable."

"The story begins in the 1920s, when the Bolsheviks turned what was once the Rumyantsev arts museum into the country’s national library. As the newly named Lenin Library began amassing new literature, it also opened a rare book department to house compromising materials acquired primarily from confiscated noble libraries. One of the most stunning items seized from an unknown owner is The Seven Deadly Sins, an oversized book of engravings self-published in 1918 by Vasily Masyutin, who also illustrated classics by Pushkin and Chekhov. Among its depictions of gluttony is a large woman masturbating with a ghoulish smile. Before the revolution, it was fashionable among the upper classes to assemble so-called knigi dlya dam (Ladies’ Books) – a kind of bawdy scrapbook. An ostentatious leather-bound album with Kniga Dlya Dam embossed in gold on the cover opens to reveal a Chinese silk drawing of an entwined couple. Further on, dozens of engravings show aristocratic duos fornicating in sumptuously upholstered settings. Erotica was also consumed by Russia’s masses, as evidenced by a set of pamphlets from the 1910s. A pamphlet labeled Pikantnaya Biblioteka (Naughty Library), containing a tale from the 14th century Italian classic Decameron and a story titled A Consultation, sold for 50 kopeks. On the cover, a satanic figure grips a silky-tressed damsel in distress. In the 1930s, increasing control over books led to hundreds of new additions. Items deemed inappropriate now extended to Soviet writings on sexuality from the previous decade, when abortion was legalised and Alexandra Kollontai, the most famous woman in the Bolshevik government, called for the destruction of the traditional family — a movement reversed under Stalin."

"After Skorodumov’s death, the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB, raided his collection. According to a letter sent by library director Vasily Olishev to the Council of Ministers, a post-mortem search of his apartment revealed a staggering 40,000 items, 1,763 of which were “books of an erotic nature” while 5,000 were “pornographic or vulgar” brochures and magazines. The Soviet state snapped up the collection from Skorodumov’s widow for 14,000 rubles, then a considerable sum. However, Olishev was careful to note that the money did not extend to the erotica. “The library did not deem it appropriate to pay citizen Burovaya [Skorodumov widow] for the erotic literature, broadsheets and magazines, as this literature presents neither scientific nor historical value to the library’s readers, and is an especially harmful vestige of bourgeois ideology,” he wrote. For just this reason, however, it was necessary to hang on to it: “The Lenin Library did not deem it appropriate to return literature of such a harmful nature to citizen Burovaya, as its possession in the home of a private citizen presents considerable danger.”"

"Gail Horalek, the mother of a 7th-grade child in Michigan in the US, has made international headlines by complaining that the unabridged version of Anne Frank's diary is pornographic and should not be taught at her daughter's school. At issue for Horalek is a section detailing Anne's exploration of her own genitalia, material originally omitted by Anne's father, Otto Frank, when he prepared the manuscript for publication in the late 40s."

"Pornography is material intended to arouse sexual excitement, and I very much doubt that was Anne's intention when she wrote to her imaginary confidant Kitty about her journeys of self-discovery."

"Nevertheless, consistent findings have emerged linking adolescent use of pornography that depicts violence with increased degrees of sexually aggressive behavior."

"Traditional factors that once explained men’s sexual difficulties appear insufficient to account for the sharp rise in erectile dysfunction, delayed ejaculation, decreased sexual satisfaction, and diminished libido during partnered sex in men under 40. This review (1) considers data from multiple domains, e.g., clinical, biological (addiction/urology), psychological (sexual conditioning), sociological; and (2) presents a series of clinical reports, all with the aim of proposing a possible direction for future research of this phenomenon. Alterations to the brain's motivational system are explored as a possible etiology underlying pornography-related sexual dysfunctions. This review also considers evidence that Internet pornography’s unique properties (limitless novelty, potential for easy escalation to more extreme material, video format, etc.) may be potent enough to condition sexual arousal to aspects of Internet pornography use that do not readily transition to real-life partners, such that sex with desired partners may not register as meeting expectations and arousal declines. Clinical reports suggest that terminating Internet pornography use is sometimes sufficient to reverse negative effects, underscoring the need for extensive investigation using methodologies that have subjects remove the variable of Internet pornography use. In the interim, a simple diagnostic protocol for assessing patients with porn-induced sexual dysfunction is put forth."

"Pornography. That which excites, whether from approval or disapproval."

"Sure, pornography is full of anti-feminist imagery, and women are often exploited in the making of it (though there's a growing movement towards ethically produced pornography, as Jones notes). But that this does not translate to the behavior of its users can be seen in another study from 2015, published in the Journal of Sex research. The study found that users of pornography held more egalitarian attitudes than non-users when it came to women in positions of power, women working outside the home, and even abortion. The study also found that those who did and those who did not indulge in pornography “did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward the traditional family and in their self-identification as feminist.”"

"When considering shunga, it is important to shed censorious attitudes towards sexuality that have been a fundamental part of western Christian culture for so long. Although printed shunga was officially illegal in Japan after 1722, it was widely tolerated – indeed, during the three centuries of its popularity many thousands of images were produced in a variety of formats: multi-volume books, bound albums sometimes exchanged as wedding gifts, painted handscrolls, and sets of small-format prints possibly sold in wrappers. Shunga could be sensuous and comic, but it was rarely violent or exploitative. Most shunga depicts vigorous heterosexual couples in mutual bliss – and these prints were likely cherished by men and women, both young and old, from different strata of society, including samurai lords as well as prosperous merchants and commoners. “The division between art and obscene pornography is a Western conception,” says Clark. “There was no sense in Japan that sex or sexual pleasure was sinful.”"

"Pornography is about dominance and often pain. Erotica is about mutuality and always pleasure."

"I can’t tell you how surrealistic it is to find myself and others called “puritanical”, “the new Victorians”, or “anti-sex” for the same views that got us condemned as “sexual libertarians” and “immoral women” until a few years ago. Women and men who oppose pornography for its normalization of violence will have to fight hard if we’re going to avoid the suffragists’ fate of being recorded in history as boring, asexual bluestockings... Depictions of mutual pleasure and the sexualization of equality are so rare that pornographers seem to have the franchise on sex. They can get away with claiming that to oppose pornography is to oppose sex… The answer to pornography lies not only in exposing it as an institution, but making sure that individuals who are drawn to it, but who are not hurting others, don’t feel condemned. It’s partly the feeling of being personally accused that has caused some women, including some feminists, to defend pornography."

"[I can't define what is pornography.] "But I know it when I see it.""

"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of [hard-core pornography] material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."

"Erotica: The depiction of naked men. Depictions of naked women are far less innocent and are known as "pornography"."

"What do my science fiction stories have in common with pornography? Fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world, I'm told."

"Not unlike urban gangs, police, carnival workers and certain other culturally marginalized guilds, the US porn industry is occluded and insular in a way that makes it seem like high school."

"I would never want to film hard-core pornography, because it always looks like open-heart surgery to me."

"In practice, attempts to sort out good erotica from bad porn inevitably comes down to 'What turns me on is erotic; what turns you on is pornographic.'"

"Pornography is not a monolith, either of apolitical pleasure or of unpleasurable power."

"Watching pornography [..] is like going to a Wikipedia page. You search for a specific thing, a specific feeling, a specific result, and that’s exactly what you find."

"A classic question in the communication literature is whether pornography consumption affects consumers' satisfaction. The present paper represents the first attempt to address this question via meta-analysis. Fifty studies collectively including more than 50,000 participants from 10 countries were located across the interpersonal domains of sexual and relational satisfaction and the intrapersonal domains of body and self satisfaction. Pornography consumption was not related to the intrapersonal satisfaction outcomes that were studied. However, pornography consumption was associated with lower interpersonal satisfaction outcomes in cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal surveys, and experiments. Associations between pornography consumption and reduced interpersonal satisfaction outcomes were not moderated by their year of release or their publication status. But analyses by sex indicted significant results for men only."

"Internet pornography consumption has been increasing due to the widespread use of the internet and become very common practice among people. Today, it has been considered that 46–74% of men and 16–41% of women are active pornography users in modern nations. These data are supported by one of the most popular porn website, PornHub, as reported over 39 billion searches and 42 billion visits during 2019, suggesting 115 million visits and 18,073 terabytes of data transferred per day. the coronavirus continues to spread globally, social distancing, self-isolation/quarantine, and national lockdowns have become the cores to control the pandemic. However, these measures may also lead to increases in social isolation, loneliness, and stress, which can alter the consumption of pornography habits."

"Individual difference variables representing personality traits are emerged as motivators of pornography consumption. The elements of individual difference variables associated with pornography consumption are sensation seeking, dispositional sexual affect (erotophobia–erotophilia), and narcissistic traits (entitlement). In addition to individual difference variables of pornography consumption, self-reported reasons can also be considered as factors that drive individuals to use pornography. Studies reported that sexual arousal and sexual enhancement were the predominant motivations for pornography consumption among the self-reported reasons. Aside from the sexual arousal and enhancement, coping and boredom are linked with greater use of pornography as well. Studies showed that higher levels of psychological distress often end up with greater levels of pornography consumption. When people have negative feeling like stress or anxiety, viewing pornography could offer temporary relief from those feelings. Similarly, curiosity and information seeking were the other contributing domains for pornography consumption. However, these reasons are less endorsed reasons for pornography use than hedonic reasons."

"Boredom is also considered a possible trigger of hypersexual behavior by Kafka. This notion is supported by a psychology research demonstrating that leisure boredom is a significant predictor of pornography use, suggesting that people consume porn more when they are bored. Rothman et al. define the use of pornography as a tool to relieve boredom. Similarly, a recent systemic review evaluating the association between boredom and hypersexuality identified a link between boredom and increased online sexual activity. The rationale behind this boredom effect may be due to the men’s novelty-seeking behaviors to reduce monotony and increase arousal. Another reason for increased porn consuming could be that some people are using sex as a surviving mechanism for coping with their loneliness, depressive symptoms, and even fear of death. In a study, Baltazar et al. reported that people are endorsing porn use to cope with negative affect. Again, in a study, pornography consumption is an important tool for mood management and stress relief. It should be noted that problematic pornography consumption is also considered to cope with negative emotions. As described by Lehmiller, the key idea behind Terror management theory is that “when we are reminded of our own mortality, we subconsciously alter our attitudes and behaviors to help us cope with the ‘terrifying’ prospect of our eventual death.” A research demonstrated that when we are faced with the prospect of our own mortality, this prompts sexual desire and behavior as a coping mechanism."

"The modeling of perceiving consumption of Internet pornography as problematic has already received scientific attention (Grubbs et al., 2019). Gola, Lewczuk, and Skorko (2016) studied the predictors of help-seeking behavior relevant to problematic pornography use. They reported that the quality of symptoms explains a significantly higher proportion of variance than the quantity of consumption of Internet pornography, suggesting that the frequency of use should be less diagnostically weighted to better meet the complexity of patients’ presenting concerns. Although abstinence from pornography might be regarded as a feasible intervention to alleviate any negative symptoms, no experimental investigations (but a few clinical case reports) have been made to date (Fernandez, Tee, & Fernandez, 2017)."

"Of the roughly half who had seen pornography, 53 percent of boys and 39 percent of girls said it was “realistic.” And in the recent Indiana University national survey, only one in six boys and one in four girls believed that women in online porn were not actually experiencing pleasure: As one suburban high school senior boy told me recently, “I’ve never seen a girl in porn who doesn’t look like she’s having a good time.”"

"“There’s nowhere else to learn about sex,” the suburban boy told me. “And porn stars know what they are doing.” His words reflect a paradox about sex and pornography in this country. Even as smartphones have made it easier for teenagers to watch porn, sex education in the United States — where abstinence-based sex education remains the norm — is meager."

"Daley went on to detail a 2010 study that coded incidents of aggression in best-selling 2004 and 2005 porn videos. She noted that 88 percent of scenes showed verbal or physical aggression, mostly spanking, slapping and gagging. (A more recent content analysis of more than 6,000 mainstream online heterosexual porn scenes by Bryant Paul and his colleagues defined aggression specifically as any purposeful action appearing to cause physical or psychological harm to another person and found that 33 percent of scenes met that criteria. In each study, women were on the receiving end of the aggression more than 90 percent of the time.)"

"A., the young woman who said she had never seen an image of a penis until she watched porn, resisted the idea that porn was uniformly bad for teenagers. “At least kids are watching porn and not going out and getting pregnant,” she said. But recently, she told me that she’d given up watching it altogether. She disliked looking at women’s expressions now, believing that they probably weren’t experiencing pleasure and might be in pain. When Drew watched porn, he found himself wondering if women were having sex against their will. As another student said with a sigh: “Nicole and Jess ruined porn for us.”"

"The effect of pornography on sexual response is understudied, particularly among women."

"On average, women using pornography were younger, and reported more interest in sex. Pornography frequency differed significantly by menopausal status, sexual orientation, anxiety/depression status, number of sexual partners, and origin of data collection. During masturbation, more frequent pornography use predicted lower arousal difficulty and orgasmic difficulty, greater pleasure, and a higher percentage of masturbatory events leading to orgasm. Frequency of pornography use predicted only lower arousal difficulty and longer orgasmic latencies during partnered sex, having no effect on the other outcome variables. Pornography use frequency did not predict overall relationship satisfaction or sexual relationship satisfaction. Overall, more frequent pornography use was generally associated with more favorable sexual response outcomes during masturbation, while not affecting most partnered sex parameters. Several demographic and relationship covariates appear to more consistently and strongly predict orgasmic problems during partnered sexual activity than pornography use."

"Research pertaining to pornography has traditionally been conducted from three perspectives. First, pornography use has been evaluated in relation to couples’ relationship satisfaction, often under the assumption that greater reliance upon erotic materials during masturbation is associated with poorer relationship outcomes. Second, pornography has been studied from a neurobehavioral perspective to determine whether individuals who report “compulsive” use exhibit neurophysiologic or epigenetic alterations that typify models of addiction. Third, content analyses of pornographic materials have been conducted to examine the extent to which exposure to beneficial/educational (e.g., providing clitoral stimulation during partnered sex), risky (e.g., condom-less sexual activity), or demeaning (e.g., lack of verbal consent during intercourse, sexual aggression, etc.) sexual scripts might increase the preponderance or social acceptability of such behaviors. Despite the insights gained from these approaches, few studies have analyzed putative direct effects of pornography use on the sexual response cycle, including arousal and orgasmic parameters, comparing masturbatory and partnered sexual activities. In stark contrast to prior research findings and public opinion, we did not find strong empirical support for the hypothesis that pornography use is consistently associated with greater sexual dysfunction or relationship dissatisfaction. In all five regression analyses related to masturbation, more frequent pornography use predicted greater ease of becoming aroused and reaching orgasm, longer latencies to orgasm, greater pleasure upon orgasm, and a higher percentage of masturbatory events leading to orgasm. Among the same parameters for partnered sexual activity, more frequent pornography use predicted greater ease becoming aroused and longer latencies, but no significant associations, either positive or negative, were observed for any of the other outcomes in the regression analyses. Overall, women’s use of pornography to enhance orgasmic response and pleasure was strongly supported by our findings, yet pornography use during masturbation appeared to have no deleterious effects on sexual functioning during partnered sex. Indeed, it was actually associated with lower arousal difficulty during partnered sex. Furthermore, no associations were observed between pornography use frequency and general relationship satisfaction or sexual relationship satisfaction with one’s primary partner in the previous 12 months. In these respects, our results highlight the potential positive effects that pornography use might have for women’s enjoyment of sex. Furthermore, to the extent that pornography use might represent greater openness to using less conventional strategies for enhancing their sexual experience, it may reflect one of a number of techniques that differentiate women who use pornography from women who do not."

"In our multinational, cross-sectional survey of pornography use and sexual response in women, higher frequency of pornography use predicted greater sexual functioning across all outcome variables during masturbation, yet had no deleterious effects on sexual outcomes during partnered activity. Across masturbation and partnered sex, lower levels of educational attainment and the presence of ongoing anxiety or depression were the two most consistent predictors of orgasmic dysfunction in the regression models. Greater sexual relationship satisfaction, in contrast, was associated with more favorable outcomes during partnered sex. Taken together, these findings suggest that the frequency of pornography use per se does not contribute to sexual problems during partnered sex., However, it could well be that a subset of women use erotic materials to compensate for psychosocial factors (e.g., dissatisfaction in one’s sexual relationships, ongoing anxiety or depression) that independently impinge upon sexual responsivity."

"What it comes down to is this: the grocer, the butcher, the baker, the merchant, the landlord, the druggist, the liquor dealer, the policeman, the doctor, the city father and the politician – these are the people who make money out of prostitution, these are the real reapers of the wages of sin."

"Slickback: So you see, my dearest Riley, it is this instinctive and burning need to procreate between a man and a bitch that not only keeps the human race going but also fuels many important industries such as my very own. Riley: So what do you think about Homies Over Hoes? Slickback: Is that something at Denny's? I don't know what that is. Riley: Homies Over Hoes? You know, like, you supposed to put your homie over a ho. That's how pimps do, right? Slickback: I don't think Homies Over Hoes is a sentiment that A Pimp Named Slickback can cosign, Riley. I mean don't get me wrong. A Pimp Named Slickback would put a lot of things over a ho. Money over a ho? Always. Brand new gators over a ho? Absolutely. A turkey sandwich with just tomato? Guaranteed. But homies? Oh no."

"To you, a prostitute is some kind of beautiful object. You respect her as you do the Mona Lisa, in front of whom you also would not make an obscene gesture. But in so doing, you think nothing of depriving thousands of women of their souls and relegating them to an existence in an art gallery. As if we consort with them so artistically! Are we being honest when we call prostitution "poetic." I protest in the name of poetry. And we are being infinitely smug when, with subjective self-promotion, we believe we are able to endow the prostitute's life with meaning. I would like you to acknowledge the shallow aestheticism of what you write. You yourself do not want to relinquish humanity. Yet you would have us believe that there are people who are objects. You arrogate human dignity to yourself. As for the rest, they are pretty things. And why? So that we have a noble gesture for ignoble deeds."

"But most thro’ midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlot's curse Blasts the new-born Infant's tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse."

"On the evening of the last day of October, 1501, Cesare Borgia arranged a banquet in his chambers in the Vatican with "fifty honest prostitutes", called courtesans, who danced after dinner with the attendants and others who were present, at first in their garments, then naked. After dinner the candelabra with the burning candles were taken from the tables and placed on the floor, and chestnuts were strewn around, which the naked courtesans picked up, creeping on hands and knees between the chandeliers, while the Pope, Cesare, and his sister Lucretia looked on. Finally, prizes were announced for those who could perform the act most often with the courtesans, such as tunics of silk, shoes, barrets, and other things."

"Prostitution accordingly not only became a tolerated occupation in many medieval communities, but was even treated in some places as a public utility of sorts. In the fourteenth century many towns carried this principle to its logical conclusion and began to build and operate municipal brothels as a means of regulating the sex trade while realizing a profit from it at the same time. Moral ambiguity concerning the prostitution industry long persisted, and the public policy on the matter still remains controversial in Western societies.Both lawyers and lawgivers typically sought to contain the practice of prostitution by restricting harlots and brothels to specially-designated regions within towns. Municipal statutes, following the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council, often required prostitutes to wear distinctive collectors and types of clothing. The rationale that lawmakers usually proposed to explain such regulations was that they would spare respectable women, especially the wives and daughters of established citizens, from the sexual importuning of randy men. This, in turn, was justified as a means to preserve civic peace and harmony. Municipal authorities also attempted in many places to restrict the practice of prostitution to well-defined and usually marginal regions within their towns. Here again they habitually invoked the public good as a reason for these restrictions, although it seems likely that legislation of this sort may also have served the economic and social interests of landlords and property owners in the more salubrious and desirable neighborhoods of the town.Church leaders and civic authorities alike, moreover, were concerned to provide women who wished to abandon the life of shame with realistic opportunities to do so. Thus, for example Pope Innocent III early in the thirteenth century reversed a long-standing policy that had prohibited good Christian men from marrying prostitutes. Innocent not merely permitted these marriages, but positively encouraged them and promised spiritual rewards for men who married loose women, provided of course that the husbands of former prostitutes kept close watch over their wives to make sure that they remained sexually faithful and did not return to their wanton ways. The prospect of marrying a reformed prostitute may well have been especially alluring to financially disadvantaged men, since successful strumpets occasionally managed to accumulate tidy dowries from the profits of their trade."

"The thirteenth century likewise witnessed the creation of convents and religious orders of women that provided a haven and a degree of security and chaste companionship for reformed daughters of joy. The most successful of thee religious institutes, the Order of St. Mary Magdalene (whose members were informally known as the White Ladies, established houses in many major European cities and in a surprising number of minor one as well. Such institutions in effect constituted a social security system of sorts for prostitutes who wished to retire from their occupation but required both social and economic support in order to do so."

"No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both."

"I can enjoy her while she's kind; But when she dances in the wind, And shakes the wings and will not stay, I puff the prostitute away: The little or the much she gave is quietly resign'd: Content with poverty, my soul I arm; And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm."

"The UN working group’s recommendation that sex workers’ rights need to be better protected in international human rights law is an important step in addressing the widespread discrimination sex workers face across the globe. It recommended that full decriminalization of adult voluntary sex work holds the greatest promise to address the systemic discrimination and violence sex workers frequently suffer, as well as impunity for violations of sex workers’ rights. It says that sex workers should be involved in creating the legal and policy frameworks that impact them, as they are often left out of this process, have their views ignored, or are otherwise marginalized. Human rights standards relating to sex workers’ rights are currently limited, and whether and how to advance them has often been a divisive issue. These recommendations offer a way forward that could allow all human rights defenders to come together and build a common position."

"Madams moved west as entrepreneurs, and though the New Western history has touched on many topics, the business end of frontier prostitution remains virgin territory, so to speak. Knowledgeable madams first tried the cowtowns of Kansas and then moved west into the mining camps of Colorado. Moving east from San Francisco into the uproar of Virginia City Nevada, madams issues tokens worth from 5 to 50 cents. In the brawling, bustling Western mining camps, according to Mark Twain in his class book Roughing It, full jails and hordes of prostitutes were signs of prosperity."

"Prostitutes are the inevitable product of a society that places ultimate importance on money, possessions, and competition."

"[Haitian women] were straightforward about the nonvoluntary aspect of their sexual activity: in their opinions, poverty had forced them into unfavorable unions. Under such conditions, one wonders what to make of the notion of ‘consensual sex.’"

"Better a live whore than a dead virgin!"

"And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, ’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?"

"Prostitution, although hounded, imprisoned, and chained, is nevertheless the greatest triumph of Puritanism. It is its most cherished child, all hypocritical sanctimoniousness notwithstanding. The prostitute is the fury of our century, sweeping across the "civilized" countries like a hurricane, and leaving a trail of disease and disaster. The only remedy Puritanism offers for this ill-begotten child is greater repression and more merciless persecution."

"She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. What did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? [...] It is clear, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. She had coveted with earthly eyes, but now through penitence these are consumed with tears. She displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears. She had spoken proud things with her mouth, but in kissing the Lord’s feet, she now planted her mouth on the Redeemer’s feet. For every delight, therefore, she had had in herself, she now immolated herself. She turned the mass of her crimes to virtues, in order to serve God entirely in penance."

"The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger at least once in her life. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to mingle with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and stand there with a great retinue of attendants. But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; passages marked by line run every way through the crowd, by which the men pass and make their choice. Once a woman has taken her place there, she does not go away to her home before some stranger has cast money into her lap, and had intercourse with her outside the temple; but while he casts the money, he must say, “I invite you in the name of Mylitta” (that is the Assyrian name for Aphrodite). It does not matter what sum the money is; the woman will never refuse, for that would be a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. So she follows the first man who casts it and rejects no one. After their intercourse, having discharged her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. So then the women that are fair and tall are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfil the law; for some of them remain for three years, or four. There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus."

"I think it proves that if my business could be made legal, the way off-track betting is in New York, I and women like me could make a big contribution to what Mayor John Lindsay calls Fun City, and the city and state could derive the money in taxes and licensing fees that I pay off to crooked cops and political figures."

"Do you understand, gentlemen, that all the horror is in just this—that there is no horror!"

"Prostitution is not a monolith. The newspapers use the plight of the most vulnerable women to symbolize the entire field, ignoring the diversity of the sex-worker community."

"Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness."

"Who are prostitutes? Ideas seem to lurch between contradictory stereotypes, perhaps unsurprisingly for a group more often spoken about than to. Much as immigrants are seen as lazy scroungers while somehow also stealing the jobs of "decent people", sex workers are simultaneously victim and accomplice, sexually voracious yet helpless maidens."

"Sex workers -- not journalists, politicians, or the police -- are the experts on sex work. We bring our experiences of criminalisation, rape, assault, intimate partner abuse, abortion, mental illness, drug use and epistemic violence with us in our organising and our writing. We bring the knowledge we have developed through our deep immersion in sex worker organising spaces - spaces of mutual aid, spaces that are working towards collective liberation."

"It is very difficult to prevent anyone from selling sex through criminal law. Criminalisation can make it more dangerous, but there is little the state can do to physically curtail a person's capacity to sell or trade sex. Thus, prostitution is an abiding strategy for survival for those who have nothing - no training, qualifications, or equipment. There are almost no prerequisites for heading out to the streets and waiting for a client. Survival sex work may be dangerous, cold, and frightening- but for people whose other options are worse (hunger, homelessness, drug withdrawal) it's there as a last resort: the "safety net" onto which almost any destitute person can fall. This explains the indomitable resilience of sex work."

"Criminalising the prostitute is rooted in disgust and hatred - entangled with misogyny, racism, and fear of the visibly queer or diseased body. These coalesce into the belief that the prostitute is a threat who must be warded off through punishment."

"Criminalising sex work isn't working. At its core, exchanging sex for money - like migrancy, drug use, and abortion - is a legitimate and pragmatic human response to specific needs. Prohibiting it produces evasiveness and risk-taking among sex workers, driving them into the margins and exposing them to even more harm."

"Prostitution remained a major topic of social concern. The early, time-honoured view that, like the poor, prostitutes were a fact of life was replaced in the 1840s by a social morality that anathematised sexual licence and especially its public manifestations. Gathering intensity as the urban population rose, and with it the 'circulating harlotry' in the streets, theatres and pleasure gardens, moral panic over prostitution was at its height in the 1850s and early 1860s. In part, this was because it betokened visible female freedom from social control. As daughters, employees or servants, young women were subject to male authority; as whores they enjoyed economic and personal independence. The response was a sustained cultural campaign, in sermons, newspapers, literary and visual art, to intimidate, shame and eventually drive 'fallen women' from the streets by representing them as a depraved and dangerous element in society, doomed to disease and death. Refuges were opened and men like future Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone patrolled at night to persuade girls to leave their life of 'vice'. In actuality, the seldom-voiced truth was that in comparison to other occupations, prostitution was a leisured and profitable trade, by which women improved their circumstances, helped to educate siblings and often saved enough to open a shop or lodging house."

"Prostitution has little to do with morality, and everything to do with poverty."

"What I am saying is that truth is usually more complicated than any one perspective can capture. Prostitution is not a monolith. Each woman experiences the profession in a different manner. And nothing can be gained by having different groups of feminists or prostitutes — all of whom are probably telling the truth of their own experiences — attempting to discredit each other."

"And all married women except those whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful to you are all beyond those mentioned, so that you may seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those whom you enjoy, give them their shares as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what you do by mutual agreement after the duty. Indeed, Allah is ever-knower, wise."

"A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that."

"The only way to prevent prostitution altogether would be to imprison one half of the human race."

"I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth."

"Unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping-houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of the day."

"You a captain? You slave, for what? For tearing a poor whore’s ruff in a bawdy-house?"

"We cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen that live honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdy house straight."

"Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand! Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back; Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind For which thou whipp’st her."

"This house, if it be not a bawd’s house, it is pity of her life, for it is a naughty house."

"Ever your fresh whore and your powdered bawd."

"Come, I am for no more bawdy houses: shall’s go hear the vestals sing?"

"The Iceberg Slim story revolves around a sex worker at the natural end of her career, and her pimp, who goes to great lengths to force her, his best earner, into further years of indentured servitude. He stages a death and pins the blame on her, the guilt and shame breaking her spirit. Only her pimp can offer her salvation, and the only way to repay that debt is to keep working."

"Vice flourished luxuriantly during the heyday of our ‘flush times.’ The Saloons were overburdened with custom; so were the police courts, the gambling dens, the brothels and the jails-unfailing signs of prosperity in a mining region-in any region for that matter.” Why did women seek out the sporting life? Many had been abused or abandoned as children and could not maintain stable relationships, but some women simply wanted a gayer, more exciting life than being a farm wife and mother or being married to the factory floor back east."

"When we see a woman bartering beauty for gold, we look upon such a one as no other than a common prostitute; but she who rewards the passion of some worthy youth with it, gains at the same time our approbation and esteem. It is the very same with philosophy: he who sets it forth for public sale, to be disposed of to the highest bidder, is a sophist, a public prostitute."

"Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The one who pays sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually involves women, but also men, children, and adolescents (The latter two cases involve the added sin of scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to engage in prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure."

"The criminalization of sex work makes sex workers more vulnerable to violence on the job and less likely to report violence. It prevents sex workers from accessing health care and other critical services, feeds an out of control mass incarceration system, and further marginalizes some of society’s most vulnerable groups, such as trans women of color and immigrants. Sex workers deserve the same legal protections as anybody else. They should be able to maintain their livelihood without fear of violence or arrest, access health care and other services without discrimination, and seek justice when they are harmed. Decriminalization would help bring sex workers out of the dangerous margins and into the light where people are protected — not targeted — by the law."

"Police abuse against sex workers is common, but police rarely face consequences for it. That’s partly because sex workers fear being arrested if they come forward to report abuse. Police also take advantage of criminalization by extorting sex workers or coercing them into sexual acts, threatening arrest if they don’t comply. Criminalizing sex work only helps police abuse their power — and get away with it. Decriminalizing sex work would remove the fear of arrest that too often prevents sex workers from seeking justice."

"[In Kenya] any woman who is single and has multiple male sex partners is considered to be a prostitute, whether or not money changes hands."

"[In India] any sexual intercourse outside socially acceptable unions is likely to be regarded as prostitution."

"[In Iran] Under mut'a, it is possible to be 'married' for as little as half an hour."

"Egyptian law states that a man who is caught with a prostitute is not imprisoned; instead, his testimony is used to convict and imprison the prostitute."

"Positive first-time experiences reliably predicted physical and emotional satisfaction in later sexual interactions. Those who had more positive initiations into sex scored higher for sexual satisfaction and esteem later on, and reported less "sexual depression." Feeling loved and respected by one's partner was associated with more emotional satisfaction later on, and physical satisfaction, even when controlling for the overall emotional experience, was self-perpetuating as well."

"Narrated 'Aisha: I asked the Prophet, "O Allah's Messenger! Should the women be asked for their consent to their marriage?" He said, "Yes." I said, "A virgin, if asked, feels shy and keeps quiet." He said, "Her silence means her consent.""

"God tells us men fucking men is a terrible thing, but a father offering his two daughters, vestal virgins no less, to a horde of horny buggers is heroic. Now that's straight. … God destroys the faggots with fire and brimstone. He turns a disobedient wife into salt. But he asks us to idolize drunks who sleep with their daughters or offer them to a horny, unruly mob."

"God was conceived of a most pure Virgin … it was fitting that the virgin should be radiant with a purity so great that a greater purity cannot be conceived."

"Pleasure resulting from resolution of semen may arise in two ways. If this be the result of the mind's purpose, it destroys virginity, whether copulation takes place or not. Augustine, however, mentions copulation, because such like resolution is the ordinary and natural result thereof. On another way this may happen beside the purpose of the mind, either during sleep, or through violence and without the mind's consent, although the flesh derives pleasure from it, or again through weakness of nature, as in the case of those who are subject to a flow of semen. On such cases virginity is not forfeit, because such like pollution is not the result of impurity which excludes virginity."

"For in other matters also which go to make up life, we shall find differences according to circumstances. For example, it is not right to kill, yet in war it is lawful and praiseworthy to destroy the enemy; accordingly not only are they who have distinguished themselves in the field held worthy of great honours, but monuments are put up proclaiming their achievements. So that the same act is at one time and under some circumstances unlawful, while under others, and at the right time, it is lawful and permissible. The same reasoning applies to the relation of the sexes. He is blessed who, being freely yoked in his youth, naturally begets children. But if he uses nature licentiously, the punishment of which the Apostle writes shall await whoremongers and adulterers. For there are two ways in life, as touching these matters. The one the more moderate and ordinary, I mean marriage; the other angelic and unsurpassed, namely virginity. Now if a man choose the way of the world, namely marriage, he is not indeed to blame; yet he will not receive such great gifts as the other. For he will receive, since he too brings forth fruit, namely thirtyfold. But if a man embrace the holy and unearthly way, even though, as compared with the former, it be rugged and hard to accomplish, yet it has the more wonderful gifts: for it grows the perfect fruit, namely an hundredfold. So then their unclean and evil objections had their proper solution long since given in the divine Scriptures."

"Therefore no fruitfulness of the flesh can be compared to holy virginity even of the flesh. For neither is itself also honored because it is virginity, but because it has been dedicated to God, and, although it be kept in the flesh, yet is it kept by religion and devotion of the Spirit. And by this means even virginity of body is spiritual, which continence of piety vows and keeps. For, even as no one makes an immodest use of the body, unless the sin have been before conceived in the spirit, so no one keeps modesty in the body, unless chastity have been before implanted in the spirit. But, further, if modesty of married life, although it be guarded in the flesh, is yet attributed to the soul, not to the flesh, under the rule and guidance of which, the flesh itself has no intercourse with any beside its own proper estate of marriage; how much more, and with how much greater honor, are we to reckon among the goods of the soul that continence, whereby the virgin purity of the flesh is vowed, consecrated, and kept, for the Creator Himself of the soul and flesh."

"Wherefore neither are we to believe that their fruitfulness of the flesh, who at this time seek in marriage nothing else save children, to make over unto Christ, can be set against the loss of virginity. Forsooth, in former times, unto Christ about to come after the flesh, the race itself of the flesh was needful, in a certain large and prophetic nation: but now, when from out every race of men, and from out all nations, members of Christ may be gathered unto the People of God, and City of the kingdom of heaven, whoever can receive sacred virginity, let him receive it; and let her only, who contains not, be married. For what, if any rich woman were to expend much money on this good work, and to buy, from out different nations, slaves to make Christians, will she not provide for the giving birth to members of Christ in a manner more rich, and more numerous, than by any, how great soever, fruitfulness of the womb? And yet she will not therefore dare to compare her money to the offering of holy virginity. But if for the sake of making such as shall be born Christians, fruitfulness of the flesh shall with just reason be set against the loss of chastity, this matter will be more fruitful, if virginity be lost at a great price of money, whereby many more children may be purchased to be made Christians, than could be born from the womb, however fruitful, of a single person. But, if it be extreme folly to say this, let the faithful women that are married possess their own good, of which we have treated, so far as seemed fit, in another volume; and let them more highly honor, even as they are most rightly used to do, in the sacred virgins, their better good, of which we are treating in our present discourse."

"For not even herein ought such as are married to compare themselves with the deserts of the continent, in that of them virgins are born: for this is not a good of marriage, but of nature: which was so ordered of God, as that of every sexual intercourse whatever of the two sexes of human kind, whether in due order and honest, or base and unlawful, there is born no female save a virgin, yet is none born a sacred virgin: so it is brought to pass that a virgin is born even of fornication, but a sacred virgin not even of marriage."

"I know what people are murmuring: 'Suppose', they remark, 'that everyone sought to abstain from all intercourse? How would the human race survive? I only wish that this was everyone's concern so long as it was uttered in charity, 'from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned'; then the city of God would be filled much more speedily, and the end of the world would be hastened."

"An isolated outbreak of virginity … is a rash on the face of society. It arouses only pity from the married, and embarrassment from the single."

"If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you."

"If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days."

"And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year."

"Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this."

"It is not disparaging wedlock to prefer virginity. No one can make a comparison between two things if one is good and the other evil."

""If 'it is good for a man not to touch a woman', then it is bad for him to touch one, for bad, and bad only, is the opposite of good. But, if though bad, it is made venial, then it is allowed to prevent something which would be worse than bad. ... Notice the Apostle's carefulness. He does not say: 'It is good not to have a wife', but, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'. ... I am not expounding the law as to husbands and wives, but discussing the general question of sexual intercourse – how in comparison with chastity and virginity, the life of angels, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman'."

"While we honour marriage we prefer virginity which is the offspring of marriage. Will silver cease to be silver, if gold is more precious than silver?"

"There is a “diaspora,” a dispersion, even within ourselves. If Jesus were to ask me, as He did that poor demoniac in the Gospel: “What is your name?” I too would have to reply: “My name is legion, for there are many of us” (Mk 5:9). There are as many of us as there are desires, plans and regrets which we harbor, each one different from and contrary to others which pull us in opposite directions. They literally distract us, drag us apart. Virginity is a powerful aid to progress toward interior unity, in virtue of the fact that it enables us to live united to the Lord, and able to devote ourselves to Him “without distractions.”"

"Virginity: you don't get that back, because you were in such a big hurry to get rid of it in the first place."

"Before losing their virginity, respondents who viewed virginity as a gift typically spoke openly about their virginity status with people they knew. In fact, they were often quite proud of being virgins. These men and women invariably discussed their virginity with their sexual partners, in part to ensure that their partners realized what a special gift they were about to receive. Self-disclosure also served as a way to encourage reciprocity. Bryan (18, heterosexual), who had made a point of discussing his virginity with his girlfriend before they had sex, explained. "If you feel as though you're not loved as much as... you love this other person, I think you kind of feel slighted." Communication about virginity status may have been facilitated by the nature of the relationship adherents to the gift frame had with their virginity-loss partners. They were the group most likely to lose their virginity in serious dating relationships and to be in love with their partners or to describe them as "soulmates." Respondents who interpreted virginity as a gift were the most likely to use contraceptives when they lost their virginity (79% did), a tendency apparently related to both willingness to communicate and the relationship between partners... On the downside, however, the five respondents (all women) whose partners failed to reciprocate described their virginity-loss experiences as emotionally devastating and diminishing their value as persons. The norm of reciprocity effectively empowers recipients at the cost of givers; therefore, participants who saw virginity as a gift were particularly vulnerable to distressing virginity-loss experiences precisely because they framed virginity as a gift."

"From a policy perspective, encouraging young people to interpret virginity as a gift- a stance consistent with many abstinence-only sex education programs- is a double-edged sword, protecting against one potential negative consequence of sexual activity (pregnancy and/or STD transmission) but increasing the likelihood of another deleterious consequence (emotional distress due to partner's nonreciprocation), In contrast, even adherents to the stigma frame whose partners ridiculed them experienced virginity loss as positive on balance, inasmuch as they lost their stigma. Participants who saw virginity loss as a process achieved the goal of gaining knowledge merely through losing their virginity, thus their partners could in practice wield little power over them."

"In contrast, participants who saw virginity as a stigma were extremely reluctant to admit their virginity to anyone they knew. Many worked to disguise their virginity, either actively- by falsifying their sexual histories- or passively- by allowing or encouraging others to assume they were no longer virgins. Not surprisingly, people who interpreted virginity as a stigma were the most likely to conceal their virginity from their virginity-loss partners. For instance. Bill (31, heterosexual) decided not to tell his partner that he was a virgin because "It was so obvious to me that she wasn't [a virgin], that I felt demeaned by, if I had [told her]." Indeed, many respondents in this group lost their virginity with relative strangers, from whom they might more easily conceal their sexual status. Most clandestine virgins avoided detection by their partners; however, the three respondents whose partners either ridiculed them as virgins or as sexually incompetent were profoundly dissatisfied with the manner in which they lost their virginity (albeit relieved to have expunged their stigma). Men were less successful than women at concealing their virginity and sexual inexperience, perhaps due to popular stereotypes of men as sexually active and women as sexually passive. Respondents who lost their virginity at relatively advanced ages were also less successful at concealment, apparently because their similarly-aged partners were already sexually experienced. The desire of adherents to the stigma frame to avoid being stigmatized as virgins also affected their use of contraceptives. Of the group least likely to employ a form of contraception (59% did), a number of these respondents declined to discuss contraception- or to insist on practicing safer sex- precisely in order to avoid appearing inexperienced or foolish to their partners."

"Finally, women and men who thought of virginity loss as a step in a process were typically frank about their virginity status, seeing it as a cause for neither pride nor shame. Almost all of these respondents told their virginity-loss partners that they were virgins, which may have facilitated later discussions of awkward or unpleasant aspects of virginity loss. In fact, people who interpreted virginity loss as part of a process proved to be the best-equipped to work through physically or emotionally negative experiences by talking with their partners, generally in ways that helped ensure more positive sexual experiences later on. For example, Jennifer (25, heterosexual) expected virginity loss with her boyfriend of three months to be physically and emotionally enjoyable. Instead, she found sexual intercourse to be so unpleasant and tedious that she had no desire to have sex again. She had, however, enjoyed losing her virginity on an emotional level; this, plus her boyfriend's support and encouragement were crucial in convincing her that the physical aspects of sex would improve over time."

"He has the special quality of virginity, most and least ambiguous of states: ignorance, yet at the same time, power in potentia, and furthermore, unknowingness, which is not the same as ignorance."

"...virginity is better than marriage, however good.... Celibacy is...an imitation of the angels. Therefore, virginity is as much more honorable than marriage, as the angel is higher than man. But why do I say angel? Christ, Himself, is the glory of virginity."

"If any one saith, that the marriage state is to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony; let him be anathema."

"Which people desire to lose what they possess? A sick man his fever, a tormented husband his wife, a gambler his debts, and a girl—her virginity."

"A better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of reproductive timing could inform other kinds of research, said Paige Harden, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, who was also not involved with the study. Researchers, for instance, have reported that people who lose their virginity earlier in life are more likely to have future psychological problems such as depression, and “many studies have been very quick to conclude that what’s happening is the sexual relationship is damaging or risky for teenagers in some way,” Harden said. But other studies, she said, have found that depression and a predisposition to having sex earlier could have common genetic roots. Past studies from Perry’s group and others have found that people who go through puberty earlier face higher risks of some cancers, heart disease, and diabetes. The new study, Perry said, also found a tie between early puberty and the age at which people first have sex and have a child, as well as lower levels of education."

"What actually is “virginity”? Of course, it means different things to different people, but for the most part the prevailing consensus (and the definition given by the Oxford English Dictionary) is still that “virginity” refers to a state of sexual inexperience—specifically, inexperience of heteronormative sexual intercourse, a.k.a. penile-vaginal penetration. This immediately throws up some problems."

"While we’re on the topic of bodies, now seems as good a time as any to remind you that there is no biological basis for the notion of virginity: it is not a scientific term used to describe the transition from one state of being to another, and, despite what some shady doctors may try and sell you, it is literally impossible to gauge a person’s level of sexual experience by inspecting their genitalia. There is no test for virginity (just ask the World Health Organization); how could there be, when engaging in the act of penetrative sex does nothing to alter the physical body in any permanent, discernible way. The hymen—that thin layer of tissue which surrounds and partly covers most (but not all) vaginal openings, and which can be (but isn’t always) torn the first time the vagina is penetrated, which sometimes (but not every time) results in bleeding—can be ruptured in a number of ways which involve no sexual contact whatsoever, such as inserting a tampon, doing gymnastics, or riding a bicycle. The notion of “virginity” is not scientific; it is a wholly and entirely social construct, existing only within our collective imaginations."

"Instead of this tired concept, we need a new language of sexual experience, one which is fully inclusive, and which is able to express the full macrocosm of sex, never prioritizing or privileging one individual act over another. We need a language which leaves room for gradations of experience, always recognizing that our knowledge and understanding of sexuality is never—and will never be—fully complete. Our language of sexual experience must contain multitudes because sex contains multitudes: there is always another frontier, whether it’s new preferences, positions, or partners, or perhaps changes to your own body; sex feels different after childbirth, for example, as I’m sure it does after menopause. Becoming “sexually experienced” doesn’t begin and end with penetration, and it doesn’t happen overnight: It’s a long and gradual process, with infinite potential for new discoveries. If you’re lucky, it can last a lifetime."

"It is regarded as normal to consecrate virginity in general and to lust for its destruction in particular."

"Virginity is the ideal of those who want to deflower."

"He took her virginity with the gentle care of love, and with love’s glorious violence."

"Virginity is now a mere preamble or waiting room to be got out of as soon as possible; it is without significance. Old age is similarly a waiting room, where you go after life’s over and wait for cancer or a stroke. The years before and after the menstrual years are vestigial: the only meaningful condition left to women is that of fruitfulness."

"Women have … by imitating the life condition of men, surrendered a very strong position of their own. Men are afraid of virgins, but they have a cure for their own fear and the virgin’s virginity: fucking. Men are afraid of crones, so afraid that their cure for virginity fails them; they know it won’t work. Faced with the fulfilled crone, all but the bravest men wilt and retreat, crestfallen and cockadroop."

"The late Middle Ages also saw a multiplicity of visual representations of virgin martyrs in every medium: stained glass, paintings, miniatures, sculpture. Many are extremely graphic focusing on the mutilation of the female body, including detached body parts (eyes, breasts). These images were available to an illiterate public with no access to more nuanced versions. Visual representations, however, combined with oral tradition, were sufficient to inspire the career of Joan of Arc. Calling herself "La Pucelle" (the virgin or the maid) and claiming inspiration from Catherine and Margaret, Joan led French resistance against the English in the last phases of the Hundred Years' War. She was executed by the English for heresy—an execution indistinguishable from martyrdom, as several contemporaries noted. Her canonization, in 1920, and her worldwide popularity demonstrates a continuing fascination with the image of the virgin martyr. Another late example, that of Maria Goretti, is more disturbing. In 1909, the twelve-year-old Maria, who had been frequently threatened by a neighbor, died after being stabbed by him for resisting his sexual advances. Aware of his intent, Maria did little to avoid the encounter that led to her death. These two examples demonstrate powerfully the different ways in which the example of the virgin martyr could be internalized by real women."

"I always thought of losing my virginity as a career move."

"The superiority of virginity and sexual abstinence was generally taken for granted. But a dark undercurrent of hostility to sexuality and marriage became interwoven with the more benign attitudes towards the body and current as late as the second century. Attitudes diverged, and mainstream Christianity became infected with a pronounced streak of distrust towards bodily existence and sexuality. This permanent 'encratite' tendency was given powerful impetus in the debates about Christian perfection at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries"

"It is a strange fact. In spite of all the tall talk and all the immense literature, for the last 60 years, about emancipation of labor, no sooner do the working men anywhere take the subject into their own hands with a will, than uprises at once all the apologetic phraseology of the mouthpieces of present society with its two poles of capital and wages-slavery (the landlord now is but the sleeping partner of the capitalist), as if the capitalist society was still in its purest state of virgin innocence, with its antagonisms still undeveloped, with its delusions still unexploded, with its prostitute realities not yet laid bare."

"Some say no evil thing that walks by night, In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, No goblin, or swart fairy of the mine, Hath hurtful power o’er true virginity."

"Jabir b. Abdillah reported that once he was on an expedition with the Prophet salla Allahu ʿalayhi wa sallam, and when they were close to the city of Madinah, he sped on his mount. The Prophet salla Allahu ʿalayhi wa sallam asked him why he was in such a hurry to return home. Jabir replied, “I am recently married!” The Prophet salla Allahu ʿalayhi wa sallam asked, “To an older lady or a younger one?” [the Arabic could also read: “To a widow or a virgin?”], to which he replied, “A widow.”The Prophet salla Allahu ʿalayhi wa sallam said, “But why didn’t you marry a younger girl, so that you could play with her, and she could play with you, and you could make her laugh, and she could make you laugh?”He said, “O Messenger of Allah! My father died a martyr at Uhud, leaving behind daughters, so I did not wish to marry a young girl like them, but rather an older one who could take care of them and look after them.” The Prophet salla Allahu ʿalayhi wa salam replied, “You have made the correct choice.” Jabir continues, “So when we were about to enter the city, the Prophet salla Allahu ʿalayhi wa sallam said to me, "Slow down, and enter at night, so that she who has not combed may comb her hair, and she who has not shaved may shave her private area." Then he said to me, "When you enter upon her, then be wise and gentle.”"

"“I have found that amateur status is much like virginity,” Hooks wrote back; “highly praised in theory, highly frustrating in reality, and usually discarded at the first opportunity.”"

"Because “marriageable” women had to be virgins, American men at the end of the 19th century commonly turned to brothels and “red light districts” for sexual pleasure with “unmarriageable” women. So many new husbands unknowingly brought sexually transmitted infections to their brides on their wedding nights that the birthrate plummeted, especially among the middle class."

"‘No, no; for my virginity, When I lose that,’ says Rose, ‘I’ll die’: ‘Behind the elms last night,’ cried Dick, ‘Rose, were you not extremely sick?’"

"Now piercèd is her virgin zone; She feels the foe within it."

"“We were able to calculate for the first time that there is a heritable component to age at first sex, and the heritability is about 25%, so one quarter nature, three quarters nurture,” said John Perry, an expert in reproductive ageing and related health conditions at Cambridge University."

"Writing in the journal Nature Genetics, the scientists mention another genetic variant that seemed to link red hair colour and freckled skin with women, but not men, losing their virginity later than others. Scientists identified the raft of genes from the DNA of more than 125,000 people aged 40 to 69 enrolled on the BioBank project. The most common age for both men and women losing their virginity was 18. Having drawn up the list of 38 gene regions, the team went on to verify their effects in 250,000 other men and women from Iceland and the US. The scientists go on to show how early puberty - often brought on by poor nutrition and, as a consequence, childhood obesity - has a small but direct effect on the age at which people lose their virginity, and the age they have their first child. Each of these in turn appeared to reduce the person’s chances of doing well in education. “This helps to inform us about future preventative efforts to delay puberty in young children,” Perry said."

"George Davey Smith, a clinical epidemiologist at Bristol University, said: “It suggests that earlier puberty does influence early age of sexual debut, which then appears to have other consequences such as, all things being equal, earlier first birth, having more children, less likely to remain childless, and poorer educational outcomes.” While early puberty has been linked to poor educational achievement before, he said, the latest study strengthened the evidence that early puberty was a cause, and not simply a reflection of underlying factors, such as social class."

"Ewan Birney, co-director of the European Bioinformatics Institute near Cambridge added: “This is an interesting study where using genetics one can better untangle cause and consequence of a complex human behaviour. Genetics only contributes a small part to age of first sexual intercourse, but the very random nature of each person’s genome means it can be used to trace the impact of this behaviour into later life with less concern about complex correlations confusing cause and consequence."

"In medieval-Europe, career virginity was an option for only a small proportion of women. Nunneries were fewer and smaller than monasteries for men, and were usually open only to women whose families could afford a substantial entry fee, though at certain times and places it was possible for poorer women to commit to virginity as recluses, lay sisters, hospital sisters, and Beguines. The lives of such career virgins diverged in some key features from those of secular women. They avoided subjection to the authority of husbands, and the dangers of repeated pregnancy and childbirth. Abbesses and prioresses not only had authority over their communities, but could also wield considerable economic and legal power over their tenants and neighbourhoods. Though these powers were also exercised by noble and gentlewomen who administered their family estates, it was only the convent that offered anything like a career structure."

"Your old virginity is like one of our French withered pears: it looks ill, it eats drily."

"A woman who pollutes a damsel (unmarried girl) shall instantly have (her head) shaved or two fingers cut off, and be made to ride (through the town) on a donkey."

"A damsel who pollutes (another) damsel must be fined two hundred (panas), pay the double of her (nuptial) fee, and receive ten (lashes with a) rod."

"If any man through insolence forcibly contaminates a maiden, two of his fingers shall be instantly cut off, and he shall pay a fine of six hundred (panas)."

"This (even) broader assertion we make: that even if the Paraclete had in this our day definitely prescribed a virginity or continence total and absolute, so as not to permit the heat of the flesh to foam itself down even in single marriage, even thus He would seem to be introducing nothing of “novelty;” seeing that the Lord Himself opens “the kingdoms of the heavens” to “eunuchs,” as being Himself, withal, a virgin; to whom looking, the apostle also—himself too for this reason abstinent—gives the preference to continence."

"Herein also you ought to recognise the Paraclete in His character of Comforter, in that He excuses your infirmity from (the stringency of) an absolute continence."

"But, presenting to your weakness the gift of the example of His own flesh, the more perfect Adam—that is, Christ, more perfect on this account as well (as on others), that He was more entirely pure—stands before you, if you are willing (to copy Him), as a voluntary celibate in the flesh. If, however, you are unequal (to that perfection), He stands before you a monogamist in spirit, having one Church as His spouse, according to the figure of Adam and of Eve, which (figure) the apostle interprets of that great sacrament of Christ and the Church, (teaching that), through the spiritual, it was analogous to the carnal monogamy."

"The virgin may possibly be held the happier, but the widow the more hardly tasked; the former in that she has always kept “the good,” the latter in that she has found “the good for herself.” In the former it is grace, in the latter virtue, that is crowned."

"It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue."

"She said that she was technically a virgin when she married Rob. That after she and Walt were married, when they first came to making love and she caught sight of his penis, she'd cracked up because it was so big and she couldn't see how in hell they'd manage it. She never said in so many words, "I never had sexual interourse with Walt," e.g. But when I asked her, "So you were technically a virgin when you married Rob" (words to this effect), she said yes. She said that whenever she and Rob made love before a Seth session, or before a class session, that the results for the ensuing session were spectacular. And that sometimes she and Rob would make love for the sake of these results in a session."

"City of sin, it's a pity on a whim Good girls gone bad, the city's filled with them Mommy took a bus trip, now she got her bust out Everybody ride her, just like a bus route "Hail Mary" to the city, you're a virgin And Jesus can't save you, life starts when the church end"

"Celibacy is not merely unknown to Islam, it is unintelligible."

"Early sixteenth-century Europe was an era very different from ours. The late medieval Church claimed about one of every four adults in celibate orders, serving either as priests, nuns, or monks or in celibate military and trading groups such as the Teutonic Knights."

"[T]he great Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus, while always loyal to Rome, complained: “Let them prate as they will of the status of monks and virgins. Those who under the pretext of celibacy live in [sexual] license might better be castrated. . . . [T]here is a horde of priests among whom chastity is rare.” [[w:Philip of Burgundy|Philip of Burgundy], the Catholic bishop of Utrecht, admitted that chastity was nearly impossible among clerics and monks who were “pampered with high living and tempted by indolence.” This problem festered until the reform-minded Council of Trent convened in 1545."

"Addressing the celibate Teutonic Knights, the Reformer also emphasized Genesis 2:18: “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper who shall be with him.” Setting himself squarely against the Papacy and the Church Councils here, Luther declared: “[w]hoever would be a true Christian must grant that this saying of God is true, and believe God was not drunk when he spoke these words and instituted marriage.” Except among those rare persons ”not more than one in a thousand” Luther said at one point-who received true celibacy as a special gift from God, marriage and procreation were divinely ordained. As he wrote: “For it is not a matter of free choice or decision but a natural and necessary thing, that whatever is a man must have a woman and whatever is a woman must have a man.” The Geneva-based reformer John Calvin put an even greater emphasis on Genesis 1:28. He argued that these words represented the only command of God made before the Fall that was still active after God drove Adam and Eve out of Eden. This gave this phrase a unique power and importance. Calvin added that this “pure and lawful method of increase, which God ordained from the beginning, remains firm; this is that law of nature which common sense declares to be inviolable.” While occasionally acknowledging in unenthusiastic fashion St. Paul’s defense of the single life, the Reformers were far more comfortable with the social order described in Luther’s Exhortation to the Knights of the Teutonic Order. ““We were all created to do as our parents have done, to beget and rear children. This is a duty which God has laid upon us, commanded, and implanted in us, as is proved by our bodily members, our daily emotions, and the example of all mankind.” Marriage with the expectation of children, in this view, represented the natural, normal, and necessary form of worldly existence."

"The marriage state is to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony..."

"Although Christian "clergy," such as bishops and deacons, begin to appear around the year A.D. 100 in early Christian communities, priests emerge as Christian leaders only much later. Priests came to be the ordained clergy tasked with officiating rituals like the Eucharist or Lord's Supper, also known as Communion. And what about their celibacy? Even here, evidence is both unclear and late: there were reports that some bishops at the Council of Nicea, called by Emperor Constantine in A.D. 325 to address the problem of heresies, argued for a consistent practice of priestly celibacy. This, however, was voted down at the conclusion of the council. The debate resurfaced a couple of hundred years later, but still without uniform agreement. Over time, priestly celibacy became a serious point of disagreement between the Eastern Orthodox and the Western Roman Catholic churches and contributed to the Great Schism between the two in A.D. 1054. Pope Gregory VII attempted to mandate priestly celibacy, but the practice was contested widely by Christians in the Orthodox Eastern Mediterranean world. Five centuries later, the issue was once again at the forefront of debate when it became a significant factor in the Protestant split from Catholicism during the Reformation."

"The fact is for a long time the Catholic Church struggled with its interpretation of Scriptures on priestly celibacy. It wasn’t until the 12th century that priestly celibacy became mandatory."

"Divergent views on mandatory celibacy for priests contributed to the reform movements in the 16th century. Martin Luther, a leader of the Protestant Reformation, argued that allowing priests to marry would prevent cases of sexual immorality. He drew upon Paul’s letters for support of his views. On the other hand, leaders of the Catholic Church’s “Counter-Reformation,” a reform and renewal movement that had begun before Martin Luther, did not advocate marriage, but sought to address corrupt practices among the clergy. Desiderius Erasmus, for example, a 16th century Catholic scholar, wrote a powerful critique of corruption in the Catholic Church. His views may well have been shaped by the fact that he himself was the illegitimate son of a Catholic priest. One of the most important developments in this period was the creation of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, which sought to reform the priesthood in the face of accusations of sexual relations and corruption by, in part, improving the education of priests. In the founding rules of the Jesuit order, emphasis was placed on the importance of celibacy, training and preparation for missionary work, and serving the directives of the pope."

"For now the discipline of celibacy remains firm. Some say, with a certain pragmatism, we're losing manpower. If, hypothetically, Western Catholicism revises the issue of celibacy, I think it would be for cultural reasons (as in the East), not as a universal option. For the moment, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy, with the pros and cons it has, because there are 10 centuries of good experiences rather than failures...."

"What happens is that the scandals have an immediate impact. Tradition has weight and validity. Catholic ministers chose celibacy little by little. Up until 1100, some chose it and some did not. After, the East followed the tradition of non-celibacy as personal choice, while the West went the opposite way. It is a matter of discipline, not of faith. It can change."

"The long period of the dark ages... is due... in a very considerable degree, to the celibacy enjoined by religious orders on their votaries. Whenever a man or woman was possessed of a gentle nature that fitted ... deeds of charity, to meditation, to literature, or to art... they had no refuge elsewhere than in the bosom of the Church. But the Church chose to preach and exact celibacy. The consequence was that these gentle natures had no continuance, and thus, by a policy so singularly unwise and suicidal that I am hardly able to speak of it without impatience, the Church brutalized the breed of our forefathers. She acted precisely as if she had aimed at selecting the rudest portion of the community to be alone the parents of future generations. She practised the arts which breeders would use, who aimed at creating ferocious, currish, and stupid natures. ... The Church, having first captured all the gentle natures and condemned them to celibacy, made another sweep of her huge nets ... to catch those who were the most fearless, truth-seeking, and intelligent ...and therefore the most suitable parents of a high civilization, and put a strong check, if not a direct stop, to their progeny. Those she reserved... to breed the generations of the future, were the servile, the indifferent, and again, the stupid. Thus, as she ... brutalized human nature by her system of celibacy applied to the gentle, she demoralised it by her system of persecution of the intelligent, the sincere, and the free."

"Virginity is better than marriage, however good. ... Celibacy is ... an imitation of the angels. Therefore, virginity is as much more honorable than marriage, as the angel is higher than man. But why do I say angel? Christ, Himself, is the glory of virginity."

"Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures."

"Everyone agrees the celibacy rule is just a Church law dating from the 11th century, not a divine command."

"If Genesis 1:28 were a ‘command’ that applied to every individual, then Paul would have been disobedient in his apostolic singleness. Paul and everyone else would be obligated to pursue marriage and to order their marriages to produce many descendants."

"According to Islamic tradition (sunnah), marriage has been deemed to be an essential requirement. Celibacy has been regarded as a malevolent condition fraught with evils."

"On the preferred place of committed celibacy, there was complete continuity with the doctrine of patristic times so vigorously set forth by writers like Jerome and Chrysostom. In the new European world, where the monasteries had preserved the remains of Roman culture where the clergy had organized the universities, where the reformers or moral life came from the religious orders, the emphasis on celibacy received an institutional impetus it had lacked in the Roman era. Celibacy was now the established norm for the Western secular clergy. Much of the work of social and intellectual leadership was performed by men who, as secular priests, or monks, or brothers, were bound to observe complete sexual continence. Almost all of the theorizing on marriage and sexuality was done by men both personally and institutionally committed to the ideal of lifelong continence."

"Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion."

"All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.""

"Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horsepond."

"John Paul II granted that this understanding of celibacy applied equally to men and women choosing to live a consecrated life. However, he distinguished between the nature of celibacy as practiced by men and women. The celibacy of women, as a path to realizing womanhood, could be understood only with reference to Christian anthropology and the complementary spousal relationship: “At the same time they realize the personal value of their own femininity by becoming ‘a sincere gift’ for god who has revealed himself in Christ, a gift for Christ, the Redeemer of humanity and the Spouse of souls: a ‘spousal’ gift. One cannot correctly understand virginity-a woman’s consecration in virginity-without referring to spousal love. It is through this kind of love that a person becomes a gift for the other. Moreover, a man’s consecration in priestly celibacy or in the religious state is to be understood analogously. Women’s consecration in virginity was defined in terms of the woman’s role as wife."

"I find my blood pressure rising when Clinton's cultural shock troops participate in homosexual-rights fund-raisers but boycott gun-rights fund-raisers... and then claim it's time to place homosexual men in tents with Boy Scouts, and suggest that sperm donor babies born into lesbian relationships are somehow better served and more loved."

"The London Sperm Bank recently came under public scrutiny for rejecting a prospective sperm donor because he’s dyslexic. Aside from dyslexia, this repository also screens out men seeking to donate sperm if they have ADHD, dyspraxia, Asperger’s and other neurological conditions, many of which have a demonstrated genetic link. On the company’s website, these traits were listed as “neurological diseases,” along with Cerebral Palsy, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Epilepsy, Tourette Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis."

"Screening policies in the human gamete industry reflect larger cultural assumptions that pathologize difference. In my research on both sperm donation in the 1990s up to my current work on egg donation, I have discovered there are a number of reasons a prospective sperm or egg provider may be rejected: too short, too tall, overweight, “socially inappropriate,” not having the “right motivations,” not attractive enough, a variety of “health reasons,” possibly even religion or ethnicity, and so on. The reasons for rejecting a potential donor are often unspoken."

"Are there genetic predispositions to coffee drinking? Highly unlikely. I referred to this kind of donor selection process as grass roots eugenics—where people select donors based upon fuzzy interpretations of genetics, imagining a prototype perfect donor whose desired traits will be passed down to their child. People choose donors with whom they feel they have a connection. If they plan to tell the child how they were conceived, they also want to be able to say good things about the donor who helped create them."

"I fully support the president's decision."

"Mr. President, this November marks 10 years since our Nation imposed the discriminatory law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on the lesbian, gay, and bisexual patriots of our Nation. During the past decade, almost 10,000 men and women have been fired from our Armed Forces simply because of their sexual orientation."

"There is no evidence that wounded troops care about the sexual orientation of the flight nurse or medical technician tending to their wounds."

"Reignited by the brutal slaying of a gay soldier at Ft. Campbell, Ky., the controversy over gays in the military threatens to become as combative an issue at the end of the Clinton administration as it was at the beginning. In recent weeks, the president, vice president and first lady have separately criticized the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen has authorized an investigation of its enforcement."

"The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,' then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it."

"At this moment of immense hardship for our armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy."

"It is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. … I cannot escape being troubled in the fact that we have in place a policy that forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity. Theirs as individuals and ours as an institution."

"[We must] repeal the law that denies gay and lesbian Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It's the right thing to do."

"Furthermore, there is no adequate remedy at law to prevent the continued violation of service members' rights or to compensate them for violation of their rights."

"In all that concerns chastity and marriage their principles are of the utmost purity. Everywhere the great teacher recommends chastity and temperance; but at the same time he directs that the married should first become parents before living a life of absolute celibacy, in order that children might be born under favourable conditions for continuing the holy life and succession of the Sacred Science (Iamblichus, Vit. Pythag., and Hierocl., ap. Stob. Serm. xlv, 14). This is exceedingly interesting, for it is precisely the same regulation that is laid down in the Mânava Dharma Shâstra, the great Indian Code. Adultery was most sternly condemned (Iamb., ibid.)."

"The authors of antiquity are agreed that this discipline had succeeded in producing the highest examples not only of the purest chastity and sentiment, but also a simplicity of manners, a delicacy, and a taste for serious pursuits which was unparalleled."

"The believer knows that chastity is not the ridiculous mania of complex people, but it is the ability to lord it over our bodies with the help of grace so that we can meekly enter, each according to his or her condition, into God's loving plan."

"CHASTITY. Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dulness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another's Peace or Reputation."

"You will tell me, perhaps, that, high-born as you are, reared in luxury and used to lie softly, you cannot do without wine and dainties, and would find a stricter rule of life unendurable. If so, I can only say: Live, then, by your own rule, since God's rule is too hard for you. Not that the Creator and Lord of all takes pleasure in a rumbling and empty stomach or in fevered lungs; but that these are indispensable as means to the preservation of chastity."

"We cast out, then, and banish from our sight those who only wish to seem and not to be virgins. Henceforward I may bring all my speech to bear upon you who, as it is your lot to be the first virgin of noble birth in Rome, have to labor the more diligently not to lose good things to come, as well as those that are present. You have at least learned from a case in your own family the troubles of wedded life and the uncertainties of marriage. Your sister, Blæsilla, before you in age but behind you in declining the vow of virginity, has become a widow but seven months after she has taken a husband. Hapless plight of us mortals who know not what is before us! She has lost, at once, the crown of virginity and the pleasures of wedlock. And, although, as a widow, the second degree of chastity is hers, still can you not imagine the continual crosses which she has to bear, daily seeing in her sister what she has lost herself; and, while she finds it hard to go without the pleasures of wedlock, having a less reward for her present continence? Still she, too, may take heart and rejoice. The fruit which is an hundredfold and that which is sixtyfold both spring from one seed, and that seed is chastity."

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."

"As pure as a pearl, And as perfect: a noble and innocent girl."

"'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity; She that has that is clad in complete steel, And, like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen, May trace huge forests, and unharbour'd heaths, Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds; Where, through the sacred rays of chastity, No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer, Will dare to soil her virgin purity."

"So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity, That, when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lacky her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt."

"Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun, Grow pure by being purely shone upon."

"My chastity's the jewel of our house, Bequeathed down from many ancestors."

"The very ice of chastity is in them."

"Chaste as the icicle That's curded by the frost from purest snow And hangs on Dian's temple."

"As chaste as unsunn'd snow."

"Neque femina amissa pudicitia alia abnuerit."

"Even from the body's purity, the mind Receives a secret sympathetic aid."

"Ne derer is none in Goddys hurde Than a chaste womman with lovely worde."

"In life she is Diana chaste, In truth Penelope; In word and eke in deed steadfast."

"But if a kiss prove unchaste, Then is true love quite disgraced."

"Highly thus is love disgraced, When the lover is unchaste,"

"He wept for joy, t’ enjoy a wife so fit For his grave mind, that knew his depth of wit, And held chaste virtue at a price so high, ..."

"I snatcht her gowne; being thin, the harme was small, Yet striv’d she to be covered there withall. And striving thus, as one that would be chast, Betray’d her selfe, and yelded at the last."

"Collatine’s fair love, Lucrece the chaste."

"Haply that name of ‘chaste’ unhappily set This bateless edge on his keen appetite;"

"Thou seest our mistress’ ornaments are chaste."

"Cooling his hot face in the chastest tears That ever modest eyes with sorrow shed."

"In thy weak hive a wandering wasp hath crept, And suck’d the honey which thy chaste bee kept."

"‘Now, by the Capitol that we adore, And by this chaste blood so unjustly stain’d, By heaven’s fair sun that breeds the fat earth’s store, By all our country rights in Rome maintain’d, And by chaste Lucrece’ soul, that late complain’d Her wrongs to us, and by this bloody knife, We will revenge the death of this true wife.’"

"But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat’ry moon,"

"Thy banks with pionèd and twillèd brims, Which spongy April at thy hest betrims To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; ..."

"Where lives the man that never yet did heare Of chaste Penelope, Ulisses’ Queene? Who kept her faith unspotted twentie yeare, Till he return’d that farre away had beene, ..."

"Ye blushing virgins happy are In the chaste nunnery of her breasts— For he’d profane so chaste a fair, Who’er should call them Cupid’s nests"

"We take this opportunity to address those who are engaged in education and all those whose right and duty it is to provide for the common good of human society. We would call their attention to the need to create an atmosphere favorable to the growth of chastity so that true liberty may prevail over license and the norms of the moral law may be fully safeguarded. Everything therefore in the modern means of social communication which arouses men's baser passions and encourages low moral standards, as well as every obscenity in the written word and every form of indecency on the stage and screen, should be condemned publicly and unanimously by all those who have at heart the advance of civilization and the safeguarding of the outstanding values of the human spirit. It is quite absurd to defend this kind of depravity in the name of art or culture or by pleading the liberty which may be allowed in this field by the public authorities."

"They are greatly deceived who, having underestimated or neglected those means which rise above nature, think that they can induce men by the use and discovery of the natural sciences, such as those of biology, the science of heredity and the like, to curb their natural desires. We do not say this in order to belittle those natural means which are not dishonest; for God is the Author of nature as well as of grace, and He has disposed the good things of both orders for the beneficial use of men. The faithful, therefore, can and ought to be assisted also by natural means. But they are mistaken who think that these means are able to establish chastity in the nuptial union, or that they are more effective than supernatural grace."

"Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman. The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift."

"The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life and love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It tolerates neither a double life nor duplicity in speech."

"The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue of ‘’temperance’’, which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with reason."

"Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin. "Man . . . day by day builds himself up through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and accomplishes moral good by stages of growth.""

"Chastity represents an eminently personal task; it also involves a cultural effort, for there is "an interdependence between personal betterment and the improvement of society." Chastity presupposes respect for the rights of the person, in particular the right to receive information and an education that respect the moral and spiritual dimensions of human life."

"Chastity is a moral virtue. It is also a gift from God, a grace, a fruit of spiritual effort. The Holy Spirit enables one whom the water of Baptism has regenerated to [[w:Imitation of Christ|imitate the purity of Christ."

"Charity is the form of all the virtues. Under its influence, chastity appears as a school of the gift of the person. Self-mastery is ordered to the gift of self. Chastity leads him who practices it to become a witness to his neighbor of God's fidelity and loving kindness."

"The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows the disciple how to follow and imitate him who has chosen us as his friends, who has given himself totally to us and allows us to participate in his divine estate. Chastity is a promise of immortality. Chastity is expressed notably in friendship with one's neighbor. Whether it develops between persons of the same or opposite sex, friendship represents a great good for all. It leads to spiritual communion."

"All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has "put on Christ," the model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity."

""People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single." Married people are called to live conjugal chastity; others practice chastity in continence: There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others. . . . This is what makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church."

"There's a woman like a dew-drop, She's so purer than the purest."

"That chastity of honour which felt a stain like a wound."

"If she seem not chaste to me. What care I how chaste she be?"

"A nice man is a man of nasty ideas."

"Then she rode forth, clothed on with chastity: The deep air listen'd round her as she rode, And all the low wind hardly breathed for fear."

"Like a lovely tree She grew to womanhood, and between whiles Rejected several suitors, just to learn How to accept a better in his turn."

"Such is your cold coquette, who can't say "No," And won't say "Yes," and keeps you on and off-ing On a lee-shore, till it begins to blow, Then sees your heart wreck'd, with an inward scoffing."

"Coquetry is the essential characteristic, and the prevalent humor of women; but they do not all practise it, because the coquetry of some it restrained by fear or by reason."

"It is a species of coquetry to make a parade of never practising it."

"Women know not the whole of their coquetry."

"The greatest miracle of love is the cure of coquetry."

"Or light or dark, or short or tall, She sets a springe to snare them all: All's one to her—above her fan She'd make sweet eyes at Caliban."

"In the School of Coquettes Madam Rose is a scholar;— O, they fish with all nets In the School of Coquettes! When her brooch she forgets 'Tis to show her new collar; In the School of Coquettes Madam Rose is a scholar!"

"Coquetry whets the appetite; flirtation depraves it. Coquetry is the thorn that guards the rose—easily trimmed off when once plucked. Flirtation is like the slime on water-plants, making them hard to handle, and when caught, only to be cherished in slimy waters."

"To me? Flirting is just like a sport."

"I assisted at the birth of that most significant word flirtation, which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world, and which has since received the sanction of our most accurate Laureate in one of his comedies."

"Flirtation, attention without intention."

"From a grave thinking mouser, she was grown The gayest flirt that coach'd it round the town."

"Ye belles, and ye flirts, and ye pert little things, Who trip in this frolicsome round, Pray tell me from whence this impertinence springs, The sexes at once to confound?"

"Why does a man take it for granted that a girl who flirts with him wants him to kiss her—when, nine times out of ten, she only wants him to want to kiss her."

"The longer they wait, the better they like it."

"Let him who wooes be full of chat, And full of flattery and all that, And carry presents in his hat: Skill may supplant the worthier man."

"Pickup is a lie. Money is a lie. Fame is a lie. Having sex with hot models is a fucking lie. Pickup is a fucking scam product if you treat it as the one thing to make you happy, as the one thing to finally make yourself acceptable, as the one thing to finally feel like you are a good man. An attractive man. That's a fucking lie? Okay. It's not a thing that brings you happiness if you don't learn how to value happiness in where it actually is."

"He that will win his dame must do As love does when he draws his bow; With one hand thrust the lady from, And with the other pull her home."

"She that with poetry is won, Is but a desk to write upon; And what men say of her they mean No more than on the thing they lean."

"Do proper homage to thine idol's eyes; But not too humbly, or she will despise Thee and thy suit, though told in moving tropes: Disguise even tenderness, if thou art wise."

"Not much he kens, I ween, of woman's breast, Who thinks that wanton thing is won by sighs."

"'Tis an old lesson; time approves it true, And those who know it best, deplore it most; When all is won that all desire to woo, The paltry prize is hardly worth the cost."

"And whispering, "I will ne'er consent"—consented."

"There is a tide in the affairs of women Which, taken at the flood, leads—God knows where."

"Some are soon bagg'd but some reject three dozen. 'Tis fine to see them scattering refusals And wild dismay, o'er every angry cousin (Friends of the party) who begin accusais, Such as—"Unless Miss (Blank) meant to have chosen Poor Frederick, why did she accord perusals To his billets? Why waltz with him? Why, I pray, Look yes last night, and yet say No to-day?""

""Chops and Tomata Sauce. Yours, Pickwick." Chops! Gracious heavens! and Tomata Sauce! Gentlemen, is the happiness of a sensitive and confiding female to be trifled away by such shallow artifices as these?"

"If I am not worth the wooing, I surely am not worth the winning."

"Why don't you speak for yourself, John?"

"Her virtue and the conscience of her worth, That would be woo'd, and not unsought be won."

"Lightly from fair to fair he flew, And loved to plead, lament, and sue,— Suit lightly won, and short-lived pain, For monarchs seldom sigh in vain."

"A heaven on earth I have won by wooing thee."

"Most fair, Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms Such as will enter at a lady's ear And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?"

"She's beautiful and therefore to be woo'd: She is a woman, therefore to be won."

"Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts To courtship and such fair ostents of love As shall conveniently become you there."

"Wooing thee, I found thee of more value Than stamps in gold or sums in sealed bags; And 'tis the very riches of thyself That now I aim at."

"We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be woo'd and were not made to woo."

"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea and one on shore; To one thing constant never."

"I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor I cannot woo in festival terms."

"She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me, And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her, I should but teach him how to tell my story And that would woo her."

"Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? Was ever woman in this humour won?"

"O gentle Romeo, If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully. Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won, I'll frown and be perverse and say thee nay, So thou wilt woo: but else, not for the world."

"She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore may be won."

"Women are angels, wooing: Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing: That she belov'd knows nought that knows not this: Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is."

"Win her with gifts, if she respect not words; Dumb jewels often in their silent kind More than quick words do move a woman's mind."

"Never give her o'er; For scorn at first makes after-love the more. If she do frown, 'tis not in hate of you, But rather to beget more love in you; If she do chide, 'tis not to have you gone, For why, the fools are mad if left alone."

"Take no repulse, whatever she doth say; For, "get you gone," she doth not mean, "away." Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces; Though ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces. That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, If with his tongue he cannot win a woman."

"Say that upon the altar of her beauty You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart: Write till your ink be dry and with your tears Moist it again, and frame some feeling line, That may discover such integrity."

"Thrice happy's the wooing that's not long a-doing, So much time is saved in the billing and cooing."

"Why don't the men propose, mamma? Why don't the men propose?"

"'Yes,' I answered you last night; 'No,' this morning, sir, I say: Colors seen by candle-light Will not look the same by day."

"Alas! to seize the moment When heart inclines to heart, And press a suit with passion, Is not a woman's part. If man come not to gather The roses where they stand, They fade among their foliage, They cannot seek his hand."

"Woo the fair one when around Early birds are singing; When o'er all the fragrant ground Early herbs are springing: When the brookside, bank, and grove All with blossom laden, Shine with beauty, breathe of love, Woo the timid maiden."

"Duncan Gray cam here to woo, Ha, ha, the wooing o't! On blithe Yulenight when we were fou, Ha, ha, the wooing o't! Maggie coost her head fu' high, Looked asklent and unco skeigh, Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh: Ha, ha! the wooing o't!"

"And let us mind, faint heart ne'er wan A lady fair. Wha does the utmost that he can Will whyles do mair."

"The landlady and Tam grew gracious Wi' favours secret, sweet and precious."

"Blessed is the wooing That is not long a-doing."

"How often in the summer-tide, His graver business set aside, Has stripling Will, the thoughtful-eyed As to the pipe of Pan, Stepped blithesomely with lover's pride Across the fields to Anne."

"'Tis enough— Who listens once will listen twice; Her heart be sure is not of ice, And one refusal no rebuff."

"Better be courted and jilted Than never be courted at all."

"Never wedding, ever wooing, Still a lovelorn heart pursuing, Read you not the wrong you're doing In my cheek's pale hue? All my life with sorrow strewing; Wed or cease to woo."

"So mourn'd the dame of Ephesus her Love, And thus the Soldier arm'd with Resolution Told his soft Tale, and was a thriving Wooer."

"Faint heart hath been a common phrase, faire ladie never wives."

"And when with envy Time transported Shall think to rob us of our joys, You'll in your girls again be courted, And I'll go wooing in my boys."

"Ah, Foole! faint heart faire lady n'ere could win."

"Perhaps if you address the lady Most politely, most politely, Flatter and impress the lady Most politely, most politely. Humbly beg and humbly sue, She may deign to look on you."

"If doughty deeds my lady please, Right soon I'll mount my steed, And strong his arm and fast his seat, That bears me from the meed. Then tell me how to woo thee, love, Oh, tell me how to woo thee For thy dear sake, nae care I'll take Though ne'er another trow me."

"I'll woo her as the lion woos his brides."

"The surest way to hit a woman's heart is to take aim kneeling."

"Follow a shadow, it still flies you, Seem to fly, it will pursue: So court a mistress, she denies you; Let her alone, she will court you. Say are not women truly, then, Styled but the shadows of us men?"

"There be triple ways to take, of the eagle or the snake, Or the way of a man with a maid."

"A fool there was and he made his prayer (Even as you and I!) To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair (We called her the woman who did not care) But the fool he called her his lady fair— (Even as you and I!)"

"The nightingales among the sheltering boughs Of populous many-nested trees Shall teach me how to woo thee, and shall tell me By what resistless charms or incantations They won their mates."

"Come live in my heart and pay no rent."

"His heart kep' goin' pity-pat, But hern went pity-Zekle."

"Whaur hae ye been a' day, My boy Tammy? I've been by burn and flowery brae, Meadow green and mountain grey, Courting of this young thing Just come frae her mammy."

"I will now court her in the conqueror's style; "Come, see, and overcome.""

"He kissed her cold corpse a thousand times o'er, And called her his jewel though she was no more: And he drank all the pison like a lovyer so brave, And Villikins and Dinah lie buried in one grave."

"And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale."

"That you are in a terrible taking, By all these sweet oglings I see; But the fruit that can fall without shaking, Indeed is too mellow for me."

"Let this great maxim be my virtue's guide: In part she is to blame that has been tried; He comes too near that comes to be denied."

"If I speak to thee in friendship's name, Thou think'st I speak too coldly; If I mention Love's devoted flame, Thou say'st I speak too boldly."

"'Tis sweet to think that where'er we rove We are sure to find something blissful and dear; And that when we're far from the lips we love, We've but to make love to the lips we are near."

"Happy Mary Anerly, looking O so fair, There's a ring upon your hand, and there's myrtle in your hair. Somebody is with you now: Somebody I see, Looks into your trusting face very tenderly."

"I sat with Doris, the Shepherd maiden; Her crook was laden with wreathèd flowers; I sat and wooed her through sunlight wheeling, And shadows stealing for hours and hours."

"Ye shall know my breach of promise."

"In part to blame is she, Which hath without consent bin only tride; He comes too neere, that comes to be denide."

"Ah, whither shall a maiden flee, When a bold youth so swift pursues, And siege of tenderest courtesy, With hope perseverant, still renews!"

"They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake."

"The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid."

"But in vain did she conjure him To depart her presence so, Having a thousand tongues t'allure him, And but one to bid him go."

"It was a happy age when a man might have wooed his wench with a pair of kid leather gloves, a silver thimble, or with a tawdry lace; but now a velvet gown, a chain of pearl, or a coach with four horses will scarcely serve the turn."

"Wooed, and married, and a', Married, and wooed, and a'! And was she nae very weel off That was wooed, and married, and a'?"

"A pressing lover seldom wants success, Whilst the respectful, like the Greek, sits down And wastes a ten years' siege before one town."

"Bring therefore all the forces that ye may, And lay incessant battery to her heart; Playnts, prayers, vowes, truth, sorrow, and dismay; Those engins can the proudest love convert: And, if those fayle, fall down and dy before her; So dying live, and living do adore her."

"Full little knowest thou that hast not tried, What hell it is in suing long to bide: To loose good dayes, that might be better spent; To waste long nights in pensive discontent; To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow; To feed on hope, to pine with feare and sorrow."

"Quiet, Robin, quiet! You lovers are such clumsy summer-flies, Forever buzzing at your lady's face."

"The first and most important step in winning sounds so obvious you think everybody does it, but in fact more people mess up than anything else and here is what it is: you have to decide to win. Now that sounds obvious, who wouldn't decide to win, but the thing is, it is not just "Oh I want to win!" it is "Oh I would like to win and I prioritize winning above and beyond everything else". If you haven't made that step you are not ready to win. Winning sounds great on paper, but there are a lot of consequences to winning. There is a lot that comes with winning that you need to be prepared for. If you are not ready to win, if you have not decided to win you probably won't. Let me tell you a few personal stories of my own: When I was very young as a soccer player I was a very good player. I was very talented; I did a lot of good things with the ball. But I didn't score a lot of goals. I wasn't a goal scoring player and I talked to a friend of mine who was a coach: And he said "Well, have you practiced your goal scoring celebration? Have you practiced what you do when you score?" I Said "No why does that matter?" "You are not prepared to score, you are not even ready to succeed!""

"When Venus said "Spell no for me," "N-O," Dan Cupid wrote with glee, And smiled at his success: "Ah, child," said Venus, laughing low, "We women do not spell it so, We spell it Y-E-S."0'0"

"BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Aetna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar."

"It is alleged that I was born in Granger, Utah, in 1883, on the 24th of October. I was there but do not remember the event. However, my mother was an honest woman and I must take her word."

"He is born naked, and falls a whining at the first."

"A man is born alone and dies alone."

"Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born."

"If birth is a manifestation of life, death is another."

"Population growth results first and foremost from the physical labour that only the biological female can perform. This labour, which is performed by the woman’s body, can be described as reproductive labour and it includes the processes of menstruation, pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. These have been defined as natural processes or events, things that just happen, rather than as work performed by the woman, but like all other forms of labour these activities require energy and drain physical resources. The decline in levels of fertility that has taken place throughout much of the world has been decline in the level of this reproductive labour, but most scholars dismiss the notion that women had or have a particular motivation to reduce fertility. The pains and pleasures of the body are assumed to be perennial factors that are always present and therefore do not create change. However, changes in fertility rates show us that the burden of reproductive labour borne by the average woman has risen and fallen sharply over generations."

"Compared with controls, PP cases had odds ratios of 95 for previous preterm birth, 186 for abortion and prematurity and 158 for fetal loss, abortion/prematurity after controlling for confounding variables. Compared with controls, PTB cases had an odds ratio of 96.5 for previous preterm delivery, 84 for abortion and prematurity, and 320 for fetal loss/abortion and prematurity after controlling for confounding variables. Conclusions: Previous preterm delivery, abortion and prematurity and fetal loss/abortion and prematurity all increase risk for subsequent preterm birth with or without PROM."

"Only the male superior position was significantly associated with preterm premature rupture of membranes (odds ratio 2.40, 95% confidence interval 1.16 to 4.97) and preterm delivery without premature rupture of membranes (odds ratio 1.82, confidence interval 1.02 to 3.25) after confounding variables were controlled for. No sexual positioning or sexual activities related significantly to term premature rupture of membranes."

"Moreover, the act of birth is the first experience of anxiety, and thus the source and prototype of the affect of anxiety."

"Only about one-half of the 123 million women who give birth each year receive antenatal, delivery and newborn care. But, even many of those who get care do not receive all the components of care they need (including routine care and care for complications)."

"For the generation under age 35, nearly half of all births are now outside marriage. This family structure, once common mainly among African-Americans and the poor, is spreading across races and into the middle class. Factor in education, though, and the difference is stark, raising concerns of a new class divide. Among young women without a college degree — those like Michelle Sheridan — 55 percent of births are outside marriage, according to an analysis by the research group Child Trends. For those with at least a four-year degree, it's just 9 percent."

"Mean labor pain scores were significantly higher in control group than immersion bath (IB) group suggest that use of IB as an alternative form of pain relief during labor. WI in primipara at any stage of labor, from 2 cm external opening of the uterine cervix, significantly decreased parturition duration compared with traditional delivery. It raised both the amplitude and frequency of uterine contractions proportional to uterine cervix gaping with no disturbances in contraction activity of the uterus. A 3-cm gaping of uterine cervix is the optimal timing for WI in the primipara because earlier WI at 2-cm uterine cervix gaping also accelerated the labor but required repetitions of WI or use of oxytocin for correcting weakened uterine contraction. In contrast, IB did not influence the length of labor and uterine contractions frequency. However, contractions length was statistically shorter in IB and it can be an alternative for woman's comfort during labor, since it provides relief to her without interfering on labor progression or jeopardizing the baby. WI during first stage of labor reduces the use of epidural/spinal/paracervical analgesia/anesthesia compared with controls and there is no evidence of increased adverse effects to fetus/neonate or woman from laboring in water or water birth. Neonatal swimming can accelerate babies growth in early stage. In a microbiological study, comparing neonatal bacterial colonization after water birth to conventional bed deliveries with or without relaxation bath showed no significant difference between three groups in neonatal outcome, infant's and maternal infection rate."

"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star."

"The birth of a child that a woman says was unplanned—either mistimed or unwanted—at the time of its conception is a clear indication of a mismatch between reproductive intentions and outcomes. DHSs ask every woman who had any live births during the past 5 years to think back to the time she became pregnant and to say if she had wanted to become pregnant then, did not want to until later, or did not want to have any (more) children at all. Because interviewers refer to the child by name when asking about each pregnancy, women may redefine pregnancies that were unwanted at the time they occurred as having been wanted (perhaps less so for those that were mistimed). Even so, despite this almost certain bias, the proportions of births that women say were unwanted at conception range from 5% or fewer in 13 sub-Saharan African countries and in Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, up to 20% or more in Malawi, Yemen, Nepal, Cambodia, Haiti, Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Proportions of births unplanned (unwanted plus mistimed) are far higher, exceeding half of all births in 9 of the 67 countries in developing regions for which data are available."

"There are two most powerful days in your life: the day you're born, and the day you discover why."

"The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships. The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings."

"If a true Christian mother weigh well these things, she will indeed understand with a sense of deep consolation that of her the words of Our Savior were spoken: "A woman...when she hath brought forth the child remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world;" and proving herself superior to all the pains and cares and solicitudes of her maternal office with a more just and holy joy than that of the Roman matron, the mother of the Gracchi, she will rejoice in the Lord crowned as it were with the glory of her offspring. Both husband and wife, however, receiving these children with joy and gratitude from the hand of God, will regard them as a talent committed to their charge by God, not only to be employed for their own advantage or for that of an earthly commonwealth, but to be restored to God with interest on the day of reckoning."

"There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval."

"Before becoming someone’s wife, I need to be a daughter first. I owe it to the one who gave me birth and life."

"As some divinely gifted man, Whose life in low estate began, And on a simple village green; Who breaks his birth's invidious bar."

"The present exploratory study measured pain and tactile thresholds in response to mechanical stimu-lation of the hand before labor, during labor, and after parturition in women. In women who had Lamaze childbirth preparation (but not in women who did not have childbirth preparation), pain thresholds were significantly higher during labor (determined up to 8 cm cervical dilatation) than prior to labor and 24 hours postpartum. Tactile thresholds did not change during any of these conditions. These findings support earlier findings in this laboratory that vaginocervical mech-anostimulation elevated pain thresholds in human and animal subjects, and more recent findings that pain thresholds increased in rats during delivery of individual young. The present findings suggest that an endogenous process that attenuates the pain of parturition is activated when the cervix dilates during labor."

"Esaw selleth his byrthright for a messe of potage."

"And show me your nest with the young ones in it, I will not steal them away; I am old! you may trust me, linnet, linnet— I am seven times one to-day."

"Lest, selling that noble inheritance for a poor mess of perishing pottage, you never enter into His eternal rest."

"Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations."

"The dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning."

"Do you know who made you?" "Nobody, as I knows on," said the child, with a short laugh. The idea appeared to amuse her considerably; for her eyes twinkled, and she added— "I 'spect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me."

"When I was born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do."

"And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, “Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.” And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, “Master, master”, and kissed him."

"But Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”"

"She said out of pity for him, "I shall give you a kiss if you like," but though he once knew, he had long forgotten what kisses are, and he replied, "Thank you," and held out his hand, thinking she had offered to put something into it. This was a great shock to her, but she felt she could not explain without shaming him, so with charming delicacy she gave Peter a thimble which happened to be in her pocket, and pretended that it was a kiss."

"KISS, n. A word invented by the poets as a rhyme for "bliss." It is supposed to signify, in a general way, some kind of rite or ceremony appertaining to a good understanding; but the manner of its performance is unknown to this lexicographer."

"It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it."

"Four sweet lips, two pure souls, and one undying affection,—these are love's pretty ingredients for a kiss."

"With a Kiss I'd pass the Key."

"When age chills the blood, when our pleasures are past— For years fleet away with the wings of the dove— The dearest remembrance will still be the last, Our sweetest memorial the first kiss of love."

"Well, I'm already going to Hell for kissing you, so I may as well take the scenic route."

"Pain is the kiss of Christ."

"True love cannot be changed, Though delight from desert Be estranged. Farewell, farewell But yet or ere I part (O cruel), Kiss me sweet, kiss me sweet my jewel."

"Come again: sweet love doth now invite, Thy graces that refrain, To do me due delight, To see, to hear, to touch, to kiss, to die, With thee again in sweetest sympathy."

"It was thy kiss, Love, that made me immortal."

"A kiss is a contact, a union, an exchange. It is unknown to certain races and tribes, while others know it and consider it with disgust. They all suffer a loss. A kiss can be a cold formula, or a token of familial relationship or a prelude to the act of love. It can also be a revelation in an unspoken, secret language of feelings that have never been expressed in words."

"Kiss girls all you want to — it beats the hell out of card games."

"What is a kiss? Why this, as some approve: The sure, sweet cement, glue, and lime of love."

"Give me a kiss, and to that kiss a score; Then to that twenty, add a hundred more: A thousand to that hundred: so kiss on, To make that thousand up a million. Treble that million, and when that is done, Let's kiss afresh, as when we first begun."

"Rhett Butler: Open your eyes and look at me. No, I don't think I will kiss you — although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how."

"The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a deal longer."

"You must remember this A kiss is just a kiss A sigh is just a sigh The fundamental things apply As time goes by."

"You are always new. The last of your kisses was ever the sweetest; the last smile the brightest; the last movement the gracefullest."

"A slice of pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze."

"What was our parting ?—one wild kiss, How wild I may not say, One long and breathless clasp, and then As life were past away."

"A kiss may not be the truth, but it is what we wish were true."

"I’ve touched some sentences and have kissed some words."

"Kissing is disgusting, but in a nice way, like bleu cheese or brandy."

"Thy tender kiss hath memory we are kings For all our wanderings. Thy shining eyes already see the after In hidden light and laughter."

""Upon thy cheek I lay this zealous kiss, as seal to the indenture of my love"

"I can express no kinder sign of love, than this kind kiss."

"I kissed thee ere I killed thee, no way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss."

"This time, she silenced me not by speaking, but by pressing her lips against my mouth."

"When I saw you, I was afraid of meeting you. When I met you, I was afraid of kissing you. When I kissed you, I was afraid to love you. Now that I love you, I'm afraid of losing you."

"Leonard: Hello Leslie. Leslie: Hi Leonard. Leonard: I'd like to propose an experiment… Leslie: Goggles, Leonard. Leonard: Right. I would like to propose an experiment. Leslie: Hang on. I'm trying to see how long it takes a 500-kilowatt oxygen iodine laser to heat up my Cup o' Noodles. Leonard: I've done it. About two seconds, 2.6 for minestrone. Anyway, I was thinking more of a bio-social exploration with a neuro-chemical overlay. Leslie: Wait, are you asking me out? Leonard: I was going to characterize it as the modification of our colleague-slash-friendship paradigm with the addition of a date-like component, but we don't need to quibble over terminology. Leslie: What sort of experiment? Leonard: There's a generally accepted pattern in this area. I would pick you up. Take you to a restaurant. Then we would see a movie, probably a romantic comedy featuring the talents of Hugh Grant or Sandra Bullock. Leslie: Interesting. And would you agree that the primary way we would evaluate either the success or failure of the date would be based on the biochemical reaction during the good night kiss? Leonard: Heart rate, pheromones, et cetera. Yes. Leslie: Why don't we just stipulate that the date goes well and move to the key variable? Leonard: You mean kiss you now? Leslie: Yes. Leonard: Can you define the parameters of the kiss? Leslie: Closed-mouth but romantic. Mint?"

"Time found our tired love sleeping, And kissed away his breath; But what should we do weeping, Though light love sleep to death? We have drained his lips at leisure, Till there's not left to drain A single sob of pleasure, A single pulse of pain."

"Sweet, can I sing you the song of your kisses? How soft is this one, how subtle this is, How fluttering swift as a bird's kiss that is, As a bird that taps at a leafy lattice; How this one clings and how that uncloses From bud to flower in the way of roses."

"For tho' I know he loves me, To-night my heart is sad; His kiss was not so wonderful As all the dreams I had."

"Marcia: Doug! I think I just felt your tongue in my mouth. Doug: It's called a French kiss. Marcia: But I thought you were from Nebraska!"

"If you can kiss the mistress, never kiss the maid."

"Blush, happy maiden, when you feel The lips which press love's glowing seal; But as the slow years darklier roll, Grown wiser, the experienced soul Will own as dearer far than they The lips which kiss the tears away."

"But is there nothing else, That we may do but only walk? Methinks, Brothers and sisters lawfully may kiss."

"Kiss till the cows come home."

"Remember the Viper:—'twas close at your feet, How you started and threw yourself into my arms; Not a strawberry there was so ripe nor so sweet As the lips which I kiss'd to subdue your alarms."

"And when my lips meet thine Thy very soul is wedded unto mine."

"Thy lips which spake wrong counsel, I kiss close."

"I was betrothed that day; I wore a troth kiss on my lips I could not give away."

"First time he kiss'd me, he but only kiss'd The fingers of this hand wherewith I write; And ever since it grew more clean and white."

"Something made of nothing, tasting very sweet, A most delicious compound, with ingredients complete; But if as on occasion the heart and mind are sour, It has no great significance, it loses half its power."

"Comin' through the rye, poor body, Comin' through the rye, She draigl't a' her petticoatie, Comin' through the rye * * * * Gin a body meet a body Comin' through the rye, Gin a body kiss a body Need a body cry?"

"Jenny, she's aw weet, peer body, Jenny's like to cry; For she hes weet her petticoats In gangin' thro' the rye, Peer body."

"Come, lay thy head upon my breast, And I will kiss thee into rest."

"A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth, and love."

"Kisses kept are wasted; Love is to be tasted. There are some you love, I know; Be not loath to tell them so. Lips go dry and eyes grow wet Waiting to be warmly met, Keep them not in waiting yet; Kisses kept are wasted."

"If a body meet a body going to the Fair, If a body kiss a body need a body care?"

"Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part."

"Kisses honeyed by oblivion."

"The kiss you take is paid by that you give: The joy is mutual, and I'm still in debt."

"Tell me who first did kisses suggest? It was a mouth all glowing and blest; It kissed and it thought of nothing beside. The fair month of May was then in its pride, The flowers were all from the earth fast springing, The sun was laughing, the birds were singing."

"Then press my lips, where plays a flame of bliss,— A pure and holy love-light,—and forsake The angel for the woman in a kiss, At once I wis, My soul will wake!"

"Jenny kissed me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in; Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your list, put that in. Say I'm weary, say I'm sad, Say that health and wealth have missed me; Say I'm growing old, but add Jenny kissed me."

"Drink to me only with thine eyes And I'll not ask for wine Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I will pledge with mine."

"A soft lip, Would tempt you to eternity of kissing!"

"Favouritism governed kissage, Even as it does in this age."

"My lips the sextons are Of thy slain kisses."

"When she kissed me once in play, Rubies were less bright than they; And less bright were those which shone In the palace of the Sun. Will they be as bright again? Not if kiss'd by other men."

"What is a kiss? Alacke! at worst, A single Dropp to quenche a Thirst, Tho' oft it prooves, in happie Hour, The first swete Dropp of our long Showre."

"Says he—"I'd better call agin;" Says she—"Think likely, Mister!" Thet last word pricked him like a pin, An'—Wal, he up an' kist her."

"The kiss, in which he half forgets even such a yoke as yours."

"Why do I not kiss you, Philænis? you are bald. Why do I not kiss you, Philænis? you are carrotty. Why do I not kiss you, Philænis? you are one-eyed. He who kisses you, Philænis, sins against nature."

"I throw a kiss across the sea, I drink the winds as drinking wine, And dream they all are blown from thee, I catch the whisper'd kiss of thine."

"I rest content; I kiss your eyes, I kiss your hair in my delight: I kiss my hand and say "Good-night.""

"One kiss the maiden gives, one last, Long kiss, which she expires in giving."

"Kiss—kiss—thou hast won me, Bright, beautiful sin."

"How should great Jove himself do else than miss To win the woman he forgets to kiss."

"Drink to me with thine eyes alone; or if thou wilt, having put it to thy lips, fill the cup with kisses, and so give it me."

"A kiss, when all is said, what is it? … a rosy dot Placed on the "i" in loving; 'tis a secret Told to the mouth instead of to the ear."

"Young gentlemen, pray recollect, if you please, Not to make appointments near mulberry trees. Should your mistress be missing, it shows a weak head To be stabbing yourself, till you know she is dead. Young ladies, you should not go strolling about When your ancient mammas don't know you are out; And remember that accidents often befall From kissing young fellows through holes in the wall!"

"Give me kisses! Nay, 'tis true I am just as rich as you; And for every kiss I owe, I can pay you back, you know. Kiss me, then, Every moment—and again."

"Thou knowest the maiden who ventures to kiss a sleeping man, wins of him a pair of gloves."

"Yet whoop, Jack! kiss Gillian the quicker, Till she bloom like a rose, and a fig for the vicar!"

"Strangers and foes do sunder, and not kiss."

"We have kiss'd away Kingdoms and provinces."

"And his kissing is as full of sanctity as the touch of holy bread."

"O, a kiss, Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge! Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss I carried from thee, dear."

"Or ere I could Give him that parting kiss, which I had set Betwixt two charming words, comes in my father And like the tyrannous breathing of the north Shakes all our buds from growing."

"I understand thy kisses, and thou mine, And that's a feeling disputation."

"It is not a fashion for the maids in France to kiss before they are married."

"Take, O take those lips away, That so sweetly were foresworn; And those eyes, the break of day, Lights that do mislead the morn; But my kisses bring again, Seals of love, but sealed in vain."

"But, thou know'st this, 'Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss."

"Teach not thy lips such scorn; for they were made For kissing, lady, not for such contempt."

"Their lips were four red roses on a stalk, Which in their summer beauty kiss'd each other."

"And steal immortal blessing from her lips; Who, even in pure and vestal modesty, Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin."

"This done, he took the bride about the neck And kiss'd her lips with such a clamorous smack That at the parting, all the church did echo."

"I'll take that winter from your lips."

"Why, then we'll make exchange; here, take you this, And seal the bargain with a holy kiss."

"Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career Of laughter with a sigh?"

"Kiss me, so long but as a kiss may live; And in my heartless breast and burning brain That word, that kiss shall all thoughts else survive, With food of saddest memory kept alive."

"As in the soft and sweet eclipse, When soul meets soul on lover's lips."

"My lips till then had only known The kiss of mother and of sister, But somehow, full upon her own Sweet, rosy, darling mouth,—I kissed her."

"My love and I for kisses played; She would keep stakes: I was content; But when I won she would be paid; This made me ask her what she meant. Pray, since I see (quoth she) "your wrangling vain, Take your own kisses; give me mine again.""

"Lord! I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing."

"Once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul thro' My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew."

"And our spirits rushed together at the touching of the lips."

"Girl, when he gives you kisses twain, Use one, and let the other stay; And hoard it, for moons may die, red fades, And you may need a kiss—some day."

"A kiss from my mother made me a painter."

"Your kiss locates me and brings me to love, serving, praising, worshiping, glorifying, singing joy, rejoicing, do God's will and having Jesus Christ's Spirit, soul and strength."

"No one walks together with him or directs their steps towards him. Life passes him by like water. He is dear to no just man, plague prevails over him. Like a worthless penny. [...] He is clothed with a garment as if a heavy punishment were assigned to him. Who is he? His name? A man sleeping with someone's wife."

"If a man's wife be surprised with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves. ¶ If a man violate the wife [betrothed or child-wife] of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in her father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the wife is blameless. ¶ If a man bring a charge against one's wife, but she is not surprised with another man, she must take an oath and then may return to her house. ¶ If the "finger is pointed" at a man's wife about another man, but she is not caught sleeping with the other man, she shall jump into the river for her husband."

"Thou shalt not commit adultery."

"And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death."

"The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face."

"For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: ¶ But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. ¶ Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. ¶ Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them."

"But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul."

"Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness."

"Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; ¶ Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst."

"They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened."

"Οὔ τοι σύμφορόν ἐστι γυνὴ νέα ἀνδρὶ γέροντι: οὐ γὰρ πηδαλίῳ πείθεται ὡς ἄκατος, οὐδ᾽ ἄγκυραι ἔχουσιν ἀπορρήξασα δὲ δεσμὰ πολλάκις ἐκ νυκτῶν ἄλλον ἔχει λιμένα."

"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

"It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

"Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. ¶ And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. ¶ And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, ¶ They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. ¶ Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? ¶ This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. ¶ So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. ¶ And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. ¶ And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¶ When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? ¶ She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."

"Curam Clymene narrabat inanem Vulcani Martisque dolos et dulcia furta, aque Chao densos divum numerabat amores."

"Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Cauta est et ab illis incipit uxor."

"And come not near unto adultery. Lo! it is an abomination and an evil way."

"In flagrante delicto."

"Nessun maggior dolore che ricordarsi del tempo felice ne la miseria."

"Ȝyf weddyd man, sengle woman takeþ, Forsoþe spousebrechë þere he makyþ. Ȝyf weddyd wyfe take sengle man, Alle spousebreche tel y hyt þan; For þey haue broke with-outë fayle Þe chastë bondë of spousayle."

"I am possess’d with an adulterate blot; My blood is mingled with the crime of lust."

"Adultery? Thou shalt not die: die for adultery! No: The wren goes to’t, and the small gilded fly Does lecher in my sight. Let copulation thrive; For Gloucester’s bastard son was kinder to his father Than my daughters got ’tween the lawful sheets."

"And then they called me foul adulteress, Lascivious Goth."

"When lovely woman stoops to folly, And finds too late that men betray, What charm can soothe her melancholy, What art can wash her guilt away? The only art her guilt to cover, To hide her shame from every eye, To give repentance to her lover, And wring his bosom—is to die."

"What men call gallantry, and gods adultery, Is much more common where the climate’s sultry."

"Do not adultery commit; Advantage rarely comes of it"

"Adultery it is not fit Or safe, for women, to commit."

"I saw a little burnished fly Within my Mistress’ bodice lie, Sipping lovely stolen sweets From her ample rosy teats. ‘Small adulterer,’ said I, ‘Dost thou know where thou dost lie? ‘’Tis my lady’s bosom fine, ‘And thou dost sip what is not thine.’"

"Kiss not thy neighbor's wife, unless Thine own thy neighbor doth caress."

"I'll match my private wife against any man's."

"Adultery is the application of democracy to love."

"Adultery is treason to the family; adulterers should be put to death."

"I want to have it all. I want to have a family, a career, and a side piece."

"Donkey Punching, kids? You've heard people joke about it and other extreme and/or stupid sex acts. But while attempting your Hot Karls, Icy Mikes, or Louisville Pluggers is unlikely to result in injury, death, or incarceration, attempting a Donkey Punch can lead to any or all of these unpleasant outcomes. And not only is the Donkey Punch dangerous and likely to land your ass in jail, the damn thing doesn't even work."

"MOOJ: It's not about these rusty trombone, and dirty sanchez. It's not about rainbow showers and camel-toe slide, and your Cincinnati bowtie, your Arabian goggles or the hot carl and pearl necklace, or pussy juice cocktails, and the jagged-head dildos, and the double-decker pussies. ANDY (scared): OK. I, y'know, double pussies and-- MOOJ: Shit stained balls, and cum swapping, and the hanging brain, it's not about the rattlesnake wiggle, and the alligator fuck house, donkey-punching, the tea-bagging-- ANDY: Mooj, just please stop."

"Heinz Hummer: I am Heinz Hummer. I'm the gigolo with the most below. Okay? I can give you a Filthy Lopez like you never had before. I could give you a Cambodian Creamsicle... that will make you scream all night. Okay? But not now because I'm busy. So leave me alone, bitch."

"Deuce Bigalow: Do you really think that all a woman wants, is for some man to give her a "Mud Pretzel", "Turkish Snow Cone", or an..."Irish Facial"?"

"And while you're visiting you're going to have to be able to hang with the guys and roll with the punches. The donkey punches, that is. And the dirty Sanchez. And just about every other dirty phrase and nickname ever invented."

"Put succinctly, the question is this: How does a generation with absolute knowledge of felching, donkey punching, and the dirty sanchez maintain healthy sex lives?"

"The donkey punch is one of the most unique euphemisms of our time. It falls into the class of theoretical euphemisms that are infrequent, impractical, and violent. The almost purely theoretical nature of the donkey punch makes it one of the most informative euphemisms about contemporary American society."

"Obviously dudes are way better at talking about sex—from Shakespeare, creator of the word “undress,” to the first dude who said “donkey punch.”"

"It’s never too early for a father to teach his son about sex. So as soon as your boy can talk, make certain he knows how to say, and appropriately use, the phrases "doggy-style," "donkey punch," and "popping her cherry.""

"Though tempting, never combine the Donkey Punch with the Eiffel Tower."

"I wish there was a set doctrine per bar, nametags on every gal that said her availability: / Hot to trot / Smart and skanky / Proficient in the donkey punch"

"Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes."

"Let me into your womb!"

"Of woman's unnatural, insatiable lust, what country, what village doth not complain?"

"They exercise genital acts, yet prevent the conceiving of children. Not in order to produce offspring, but to satisfy lust, are they eager for corruption."

"Neither do thou lust after that tawney weed tobacco."

"Lust is the offspring of a thousand sighs, Intrigue, deception, and as many lies; A strange compound of hidden, plotting ill, "To fire with rage, to torture, or to kill."

"They are only safe That know to soothe the prince's appetite, And serve his lusts."

"Lust is an arrogant and haughty beast and far from subtle."

"Foeda est in coitu et brevis voluptas, et taedet Veneris statim peractae."

"Delight of lust is gross and brief And weariness treads on desire."

"Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires; Men so disorder’d, so debosh’d and bold That this our court, infected with their manners, Shows like a riotous inn. Epicurism and lust Makes it more like a tavern or a brothel Than a grac’d palace."

"A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap; served the lust of my mistress' heart, and did the act of darkness with her; swore as many oaths as I spake words, and broke them in the sweet face of heaven: one that slept in the contriving of lust, and waked to do it: wine loved I deeply, dice dearly: and in woman out-paramoured the Turk: false of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey. Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray thy poor heart to woman: keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend."

"Lust and rank thoughts."

"Love is more cruel than lust."

"Ring out the narrowing lust of gold."

"Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri sacra fames?"

"Lust carries her sharp whip At her own girdle."

"Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust."

"But she—she heard the violin, And left my side, and entered in: Love passed into the house of lust."

"Who were your lovers? who were they who wrestled for you in the dust? Which was the vessel of your Lust? What Leman had you, every day?"

"Natural freedoms are but just: There's something generous in mere lust."

"Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life."

"Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

"Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

"Silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts."

"Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."

"For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world."

"God tells us men fucking men is a terrible thing, but a father offering his two daughters, vestal virgins no less, to a horde of horny buggers is heroic. Now that's straight. … God destroys the faggots with fire and brimstone. He turns a disobedient wife into salt. But he asks us to idolize drunks who sleep with their daughters or offer them to a horny, unruly mob."

"Þe þryddë synnë ys þe werst, Þe clerk[es] calleþ hyt ‘yncest,’ Whan men take kyn yn felawrede, And wyþ hem doþ flesshëly dede; Þe ner[ë] syb she ys hys kynde, Þe morë plyȝt shal he þere fynde. Or ȝyf he with a woman synne, Þat sum of hys kyn haþ endyd ynne, Þat ys to sey, haþ ley here by, Þe more plyȝt ys þat lecchery; Þus hyt seyþ yn þe decre, He calleþ hyt an ‘affynyte’; Affynyte hyt makeþ alle an ende, Hys blode þarto no more may wende."

"Incest, rape and abuse is rampant everywhere, even in our churches, but society is silent. It is a silent epidemic. One in three women will experience a sexual assault in her lifetime and one in six males, yet we don't speak of it, even in our churches"

"Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother."

"Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. "Patriotism” is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say, that by "patriotism” I mean that attitude which puts the own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice; not the loving interest in one’s own nation, which is the concern with the nation’s spiritual as much as with its material welfare — never with its power over other nations. Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one’s country which is not part of one’s love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship."

"And yet indeed, she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife."

"Property like incest holds the family together."

"They can't censor a gleam in the eye."

"None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness."

"The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover."

"Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister."

"And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity."

"And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity."

"Siguió examinándola, descubriendo palmo a palmo el milagro de su intimidad, y sintió que su piel se erizaba en la contemplación, como se erizaba la piel de ella al contacto del agua. Desde muy niño tenía la costumbre de abandonar la hamaca para amanecer en la cama de Amaranta, cuyo contacto tenía la virtud de disipar el miedo a la oscuridad. Pero desde el día en que tuvo conciencia de su desnudez, no era el miedo a la oscuridad lo que lo impulsaba a meterse en su mosquitero, sino el anhelo de sentir la respiración tibia de Amaranta al amanecer. Una madrugada, por la época en que ella rechazó al coronel Gerineldo Márquez, Aureliano José despertó con la sensación de que le faltaba el aire. Sintió los dedos de Amaranta como unos gusanitos calientes y ansiosos que buscaban su vientre. Fingiendo dormir cambió de posición para eliminar toda dificultad, y entonces sintió la mano sin la venda negra buceando como un molusco ciego entre las algas de su ansiedad. Aunque aparentaron ignorar lo que ambos sabían, y lo que cada uno sabía que el otro sabía, desde aquella noche quedaron mancornados por una complicidad inviolable. … Entonces no sólo durmieron juntos, desnudos, intercambiando caricias agotadoras, sino que se perseguían por los rincones de la casa y se encerraban en los dormitorios a cualquier hora, en un permanente estado de exaltación sin alivio. Estuvieron a punto de ser sorprendidos por Úrsula, una tarde en que entró al granero cuando ellos empezaban a besarse. «¿Quieres mucho a tu tía?», le preguntó ella de un modo inocente a Aureliano José. Él contestó que sí. «Haces bien», concluyó Úrsula, y acabó de medir la harina para el pan y regresó a la cocina. Aquel episodio sacó a Amaranta del delirio. Se dio cuenta de que había llegado demasiado lejos, de que ya no estaba jugando a los besitos con un niño, sino chapaleando en una pasión otoñal, peligrosa y sin porvenir, y la cortó de un tajo."

"If only we could all escape from this house of incest, where we only love ourselves in the other, if only I could save you all from yourselves."

"Suppose atomic bombs had reduced the population of the world to one brother and one sister, should they let the human race die out?"

"I felt like an animal, and animals don’t know sin, do they?"

"Each night I am nailed into place and forget who I am. Daddy? That's another kind of prison. It's not the prince at all, but my father drunkeningly bends over my bed, circling the abyss like a shark, my father thick upon me like some sleeping jellyfish. What voyage is this, little girl? This coming out of prison? God help — this life after death?"

"THEODOTUS: Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort just as they are born brother and sister. BRITANNUS (shocked): Caesar: this is not proper. THEODOTUS (outraged): How! CAESAR (recovering his self-possession): Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature."

"If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?"

"Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body."

"Your body is like a bar of soap. It gradually wears down from repeated use."

"Our human frame, our gutted mansion, our enveloping sack of beef and ash is yet a glory. The human figure is the image of all men and of one man. It contains all and it can express all."

"My body is a cage that keeps me From dancing with the one I love But my mind holds the key."

"Antony, however, according to his custom, returned alone to his own cell, increased his discipline, and sighed daily as he thought of the mansions in Heaven, having his desire fixed on them, and pondering over the shortness of man's life. And he used to eat and sleep, and go about all other bodily necessities with shame when he thought of the spiritual faculties of the soul. So often, when about to eat with any other hermits, recollecting the spiritual food, he begged to be excused, and departed far off from them, deeming it a matter for shame if he should be seen eating by others."

"Antony ... used to say that it behooved a man to give all his time to his soul rather than his body, yet to grant a short space to the body through its necessities; but all the more earnestly to give up the whole remainder to the soul and seek its profit, that it might not be dragged down by the pleasures of the body, but, on the contrary, the body might be in subjection to the soul."

"We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one."

"When you see the donkey (Hebrew: chamor) of your enemy lying under its burden, you might refrain from helping it; you must aid it" - When you carefully examine your "chomer" (English: materiality), your body, you will see "your enemy", that it restricts your Divine soul that longs for Godliness and the spiritual. You will see that it "lies under its burden" placed upon it by God, that it should become refined through Torah and Jewish observance, as the body is reluctant and materialistic. It may occur to you that "you will refrain from helping it", to enable it to fulfill its mission, and instead you will follow the path of asceticism, to break down the body's resistance to spirituality. However, not in this approach will the light of Torah reside, rather "you must aid it" by purifying and refining the body, rather than breaking it. This superior elevation transforms the body into a vehicle for the essential Divine purpose in physical Creation."

"Flesh is our indisputable commonality. Whatever our race, our religion, our politics we are faced every morning with the fact of our bodies. Their frailties, their demands, their desires. And yet the erotic appetites that spring from - and are expressed through - those bodies, are so often a source of bitter dissension and division. Acts that offer a glimpse of transcendence to one group are condemned by another. We are pressured from every side - by peers, by church, by state - to accept the consensual definition of taboo; though so often what excites our imaginations most is the violation of taboo."

"The best cure for the body is a quiet mind."

"Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour ... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?"

"Joined together with bones and sinews, having a plastering of skin and flesh, covered with hide, the body is not seen as it really is—full of intestines, full of stomach, of the lump of the liver, of bladder, of heart, of lungs, of kidneys and of spleen, of mucus, of saliva, and of sweat, and of lymph, of blood, of synovial fluid, of bile, and of fat, ... and its hollow head is filled with brain. A fool, overwhelmed by ignorance, thinks of it as beautiful, but when it lies dead, swollen up and discoloured, cast away in a cemetery, relatives have no regard for it. Dogs devour it, and jackals, and wolves and worms. Crows and vultures devour it, and whatever other living creatures there are. The bhikkhu possessing knowledge here, having heard the Buddha's word, indeed understands it, for he sees the body as it really is."

"No one in this earthly prison of the body has sufficient strength of his own to press forward with a due degree of watchfulness, and the great majority [of Christians] are kept down with such great weakness that they stagger and halt and even creep on the ground, and so make very slight advances."

"There is also an old proverb, that they who pay much attention to the body generally neglect the soul."

"mi corazón, lugar de las hogueras,/y mi cuerpo que siempre me acompaña."

"As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when death is immanent what can you do?"

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know. Is there any other way?"

"Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul."

"The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around."

"Emotions are shown primarily in the face, not in the body. The body instead shows how people are coping with emotion. There is no specific body movement pattern that always signals anger or fear, but there are facial patterns specific to each emotion. If someone is angry, his body may show how he is coping with the anger. He may be tense and constrained (tight muscular tension in arms and legs, stiff posture). He may be withdrawing (a particular retreated position). There may be verbal attack (certain types of hand movements with his words), or the likelihood of physical attack (posture, orientation, hand movements). However, any of these movements can occur just as well when a person is afraid as when he is angry. Body movement reveals, of course, not just how someone copes with emotion, but also what a person’s attitudes, interpersonal orientations, etc. might be."

"Possession, outward success, publicity, luxury– to me these have always been contemptible.I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind."

"In the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening, only with his legs, the trunk is carried along almost motionless."

"It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it."

"A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body - the wishbone."

"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body."

"Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul."

"You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind."

"There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever."

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history."

"The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body."

"Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be."

"Life without liberty is like a body without spirit."

"It is a great thing to take a human body. Whoever comes to the earth must do work."

"Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees."

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks."

"If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?"

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day."

"Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind."

"My body could stand the crutches but my mind couldn't stand the sideline."

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity."

"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."

"Those who have the strength and the love to sit with a dying patient in the silence that goes beyond words will know that this moment is neither frightening nor painful, but a peaceful cessation of the functioning of the body."

"My body glistens on the flesh of the great gods."

"A person must take care to exercise moderate discipline over the body and subject it to the Spirit by means of fasting, vigils, and labor. The goal is to have the body obey and conform—and not hinder—the inner person and faith. Unless it is held in check, we know it is the nature of the body to undermine faith and the inner person."

"The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up."

"At twelve I looked like a girl of seventeen. My body was developed and shapely. I still wore the blue dress and the blouse the orphanage provided. They made me look like an overgrown lummox."

"Sex is full of lies. The body tries to tell the truth. But, it's usually too battered with rules to be heard, and bound with pretenses so it can hardly move. We cripple ourselves with lies."

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy."

"“.... Don’t you dare take one look at my body and try to re-write my story. This body is strong, capable, and worthy. This fat body has endured abuse, survived trauma, healed itself, and continues to carry me through my journey,...Fat people can’t run? Oh honey, running is the least interesting ability this fat body has! But for the record I can run! I can dance, love, explore, create, fight. I can do absolutely whatever I want to! Don’t you dare put me in a box. Or her. Or him. Or any of us!""

"The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they need a kick in the seat of the pants."

"Every morning I wake up with the news of bloodshed. I feel my body, desperate to know whether I’m still alive."

"If you are not the body why should I enrich scenes before your eyes? why should I sweep away thorns from the path where you walk? why should I always make things, which you touch, tender? why should I block raucous sounds coming to assail your ears?"

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own"

"The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband. And in like manner the husband also hath not power of his own body, but the wife."

"Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble members of the body, are more necessary. And such as we think to be the less honourable members of the body, about these we put more abundant honour; and those that are our uncomely parts, have more abundant comeliness. But our comely parts have no need [...]"

"Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways."

"Being can be felt as the ever-present I am that is beyond name and form. To feel and thus to know that you are and to abide in that deeply rooted state is enlightenment, is the truth that Jesus says will make you free. Free from what? Free from the illusion that you are nothing more than your physical body and your mind. This "illusion of the self," as the Buddha calls it, is the core error. Free from fear in its countless disguises as the inevitable consequence of that illusion - the fear that is your constant tormentor as long as you derive your sense of self only from this ephemeral and vulnerable form. p. 70"

"Sermon On The Body. What you perceive as a dense physical structure called the body, which is subject to disease, old age, and death, is not ultimately real - is not you. It is a misperception of your essential reality that is beyond birth and death, and is due to the limitations of your mind, which, having lost touch with Being, creates the body as evidence of its illusory belief in separation and to justify its state of fear. But do not turn away from the body, for within that symbol of impermanence, limitation, and death that you perceive as the illusory creation of your mind is concealed the splendor of your essential and immortal reality. Do not turn your attention elsewhere in your search for the Truth, for it is nowhere else to be found but within your body. Do not fight against the body, for in doing so you are fighting against your own reality. You are your body. The body that you can see and touch is only a thin illusory veil. Underneath it lies the invisible inner body, the doorway into Being, into Life Unmanifested. Through the inner body, you are inseparably connected to this unmanifested One Life - birthless, deathless, eternally present. Through the inner body, you are forever one with God. p. 75"

"The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body - to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes, much like a light that grows brighter as you turn up the dimmer switch and so increase the flow of electricity. At this higher energy level, negativity cannot affect you anymore, and you tend to attract new circumstances that reflect this higher frequency. p. 75"

"Do not give all your attention away to the mind and the external world. By all means focus on what you are doing, but feel the inner body at the same time whenever possible. Stay rooted within. Then observe how this changes your state of consciousness and the quality of what you are doing. Whenever you are waiting, wherever it may be, use that time to feel the inner body. In this way, traffic jams and line-ups become very enjoyable. Instead of mentally projecting yourself away from the Now, go more deeply into the Now by going more deeply into the body. The art of inner-body awareness will develop into a completely new way of living, a state of permanent connectedness with Being, and will add a depth to your life that you have never known before. It is easy to stay present as the observer of your mind when you are deeply rooted within your body. No matter what happens on the outside, nothing can shake you anymore. p. 76"

"When such challenges come, as they always do, make it a habit to go within at once and focus as much as you can on the inner energy field of your body. This need not take long, just a few seconds. But you need to do it the moment that the challenge presents itself. Any delay will allow a conditioned mental-emotional reaction to arise and take you over. When you focus within and feel the inner body, you immediately become still and present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind. If a response is required in that situation, it will come up from this deeper level. Just as the sun is infinitely brighter than a candle flame, there is infinitely more intelligence in Being than in your mind. As long as you are in conscious contact with your inner body, you are like a tree that is deeply rooted in the earth, or a building with a deep and solid foundation. p. 77"

"Slowing Down The Aging Process. In the meantime, awareness of the inner body has other benefits in the physical realm. One of them is a significant slowing down of the aging of the physical body. Whereas the outer body normally appears to grow old and wither fairly quickly, the inner body does not change with time, except that you may feel it more deeply and become it more fully. p. 79"

"True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."

"Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind."

"No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause."

"Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge."

"Not for the body, but for the heart; companion and company are needed."

"How can a relationship stay warm with just the body, when the heart is absent?"

"(...) the body is a temple with ten senses, and we must install God in our hearts within this temple. This body is a moving temple of the Lord. He (Haidakhan Babaji) wants us to make this temple so beautiful that wherever it goes, people would like to worship, have great reverence for it, and try to gain knowledge from it."

"The body is a house of many windows: there we all sit, showing ourselves and crying on the passers-by to come and love us."

"Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?"

"Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."

"The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all than you encounter."

"Always keep your mind as bright and clear as the vast sky, the great ocean, and the highest peak, empty of all thoughts. Always keep your body filled with light and heat. Fill yourself with the power of wisdom and enlightenment."

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. This is the way great spiritual giants are produced."

"The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free."

"I speak two languages, Body and English."

"I drink to separate my body from my soul.”"

"QI comes into existence in ZHONG JIAO and concentrates in the region of lungs. QI moves on the surface of the entire body and inside of it, day and night without stopping for an instant. QI is also motive power of blood circulation. XUE, blood, is the quintessence of water and cereals diluted in the spleen and the stomach. Blood concentrates in the heart and from there is supplied to the kidneys and the lung from a signal sent by the liver. Blood circulates throughout the whole body, it includes red and white components. The eyes, having received blood, can see. The ears, having received blood, can hear. The hands, having received blood, can take. The feet, having received blood, can walk. It means one should accumulate QI and feed the body with blood XUE."

"To practise Gong Fu means to train QI. During training time QI sets into motion XUE and it circulates throughout the entire body. In such a way, step by step, you become strong and firm. You will be protected against epidemics of dangerous diseases, you will not be afraid of cold and heat, you will get out of any mess with confidence and overcome any difficulties. But for it you must strain every effort. QI should be trained to such a level that it could concentrate in any part of your body by an order or your will - from axillary ribs to finger tips. At the same time breathing volume (the volume of the chest) increases, appetite becomes better. From day to day your health, mind and will are improved. A well-trained man has a good health and strong will, therefore he can control his destiny."

"The body as animal, as appetite, as deceiver, as prison of the soul and confounder of its projects: these are common images within western philosophy. This is not to say that a negative construction of the body has ruled without historical challenge, or that it has taken only one form, but the imaginal shape of the body has been historically variable. For example, although Schwartz employs Platonic imagery in evoking the distortions of the body, his complaint about the body is quite different from Plato’s. Plato imagines the body as an “epistemological” deceiver, its unreliable senses and volatile passions continually tricking us into mistaking the transient and illusory for the permanent and the real. For Schwartz, the body and its passions are obstacles to expression of the “inner” life; his characteristically modern frustration over the isolation of the self and longing for “authenticity would seem very foreign to Plato."

"Plato, arguably (and as another example of the historical range of Western images of the body), had a mixed and complicated attitude toward the sexual aspect of bodily life. In the Phaedo passion distracts the philosopher from the pursuit of knowledge, but in the “Symposium” it motivates that pursuit: love of the body is the essential first step on the spiritual ladder that culminates in recognition of the eternal form of beauty. For Christian thought, on the other hand, the sexual body becomes much more unequivocally the gross, instinctual “bear” imagined by Schwartz, the animal, appetitive side of our nature. But even within the “same” dominating metaphor of the body as animal, “animality” can mean very different things. For Augustine, the animal side of human nature-symbolized for him by the rebelliously tumescent penis, insisting on its “law of lust” against the attempts of the spiritual will to gain control-inclines us toward sin and needs to be tamed. For the mechanistic science and philosophy of the seventeenth century, on the other hand, the body as animal is still a site of instinct but not primarily a site of “sin”. Rather, the instinctual nature of the body means that it is a purely mechanical, biologically programmed system that can be fully quantified and (in theory) controlled."

"At different historical moments, out of the pressure of cultural, social, and material change new images and associations emerge. In the sixteenth century the epistemological body begins to be imagined not only as deceiving the philosopher through the untrustworthy senses (a Platonic theme) but also as the site of our “locatedness” in space and time, and thus an impediment to objectivity. Because we are embodied, our thought is perspectival; the only way for the mind to comprehend things as “they really are” is by attainment of a disembodied view from nowhere. In our own time (as another example of the emergence of new meanings), the “heaviness” of the bear has assumed a concrete meaning which it probably did not have for Shwartz, who uses it as a metaphor for the burdensome drag the body exerts on “the self”; my students, interpreting the poem, understood it as describing the sufferings of an overweight man. For Schwartz, the hunger for good is just one of the body’s appetites; for my female students, it is “the” most insistent craving and the preeminent source of their anger and frustration with the body, indeed, of their “terror” of it."

"Not all historical conceptions view the body as equally “inescapable.” The Greeks viewed soul and body as inseparable except through death. Descartes, however, believed that with the right philosophical method we can transcend the epistemological limitations of the body. And contemporary culture, technologically armed, seems bent on defying aging, our various biological “clocks,” and even death itself. But what remains the constant element throughout historical variation is the “construction” of body as something apart from the true self (whether conceived as soul, mind, spirit, will, creativity, freedom …) and as undermining the best efforts of that self. That which is not-body is the highest, the best, the noblest, the closest to God; that which is body is the albatross, the heavy drag on self-realization."

"What is the relation of gender to this dualism? As feminists have shown, the scheme is frequently gendered, with woman cast in the role of the body, “weighed down,” in Beauvoir’s words, “by everything peculiar to it.” It contrast, man casts himself as the “inevitable, like a pure idea, like the One, the Al, the Absolute Spirit.”(3) According to Dinnerstein, as a consequence of our infantile experience of woman as caretaker of our bodies, “the mucky, humbling limitations of the flesh” become the province of the female; on the other side stands “an innocent and dignified ‘he’ . . . to represent the part of the person that wants to stand clear of the flesh, to maintain perspective on it: ‘I’ness wholly free of the chaotic, carnal atmosphere of infancy, uncontaminated humanness, is reserved for man.” The cost of such projections to women is obvious. For if, whatever the specific historical content of the duality, “the body” is the negative term, and if woman “is” the body, then women “are” that negativity, whatever it may be: distraction from knowledge, seduction away from God, capitulation to sexual desire, violence or aggression, failure of will, even death."

"The gendered nature of mind/body dualism, and its wide ranging institutional cultural expression, is a recurring theme of many of the essays in this volume. In “Are Mothers Persons?” I explore how-despite an official rhetoric that insists on the embodied subjectivity of all persons-Western legal and medical practice concerning reproduction in fact divides the world into human subjects (fetus and father) and “mere” bodies (pregnant women). In “Hunger as Ideology” I consider how representations of men and women eating (for example, in contemporary advertisements) exhibit a dualistic pedagogy instructing women and men in very different attitudes toward the “heavy bear” and its hungers: women’s appetites require containment and control, whereas male indulgence is legitimated and encouraged. In this essay, in “Anorexia Nervosa,” and in “reading the Slender Body,” “the devouring woman” is seen to be as potent an image of dangerous female desire (particularly in contemporary culture) as the sexual temptress. I explore, as well, the social contexts that have encouraged the flourishing of this imagery."

"In the latter two essays dualism is explore not only via gendered representations but as a more general contemporary construction of self that shapes male experience as well as female. Dualism, of course, was not invented in the twentieth century. But there are distinctive ways in which it is “embodied” in contemporary culture, giving the lie to the social mythology that ours is a body-loving, derepressive era. We may be obsessed” with our bodies, but we are hardly accepting of them. In “Anorexia Nervosa” I consider the way in which anoretic’s sense of embodiment, as well as other obsessive body practices of contemporary culture. My aim, however, is not to portray these obsessions as bizarre or anomalous, but, rather, as the logical (if extreme) manifestations of anxieties and fantasies fostered by our culture. I develop this theme further in “Reading the Slender Body,” where I decode the meanings of “fat” and “thin” in our culture to expose the moral significances attached to them, revealing the slender, fit body as a symbol of “virile” mastery over bodily desires that are continually experienced as threatening to overtake the self. This construction of self is then located within consumer culture and its contradictory requirement that we embody both the spiritual discipline of the work ethic and the capacity for continual, mindless consumption of goods."

"Feminists first began to develop critique of the “politics of the body,” however, not in terms of the body as represented (in medical, religious, and philosophical discourse, artworks, and other cultural “texts”), but in terms of the material body as a site of political struggle. When I use the term material”, I do not mean it in the Aristotelian sense of “brute” matter, nor do I mean it in the sense of “natural” or “unmediated” (for our bodies are necessarily cultural forms; whatever roles anatomy and biology play, they always interact with culture._ I mean what Marx and, later, Foucault had in mind in focusing on the “direct grip” (as opposed to representational influence) that culture has on our bodies, through the practices and bodily habits of everyday life. Through routine, habitual activity our bodies learn what it “inner” and what is “outer,” which gestures are forbidden and which required, how violable or inviolable are the boundaries of our bodies, how much space around the body may be claimed, and so on. These are often far more powerful lessons than those we learn consciously, through explicit instruction concerning the appropriate behavior for our gender, race, and social class."

"The role of American feminism in developing a “political” understanding of body practice is rarely acknowledged. In describing the historical emergence of such an understanding, Don Hanlon Johnson leaps straight from Marx to Foucault, effacing the intellectual role played by the social movements of the sixties (both black power and women’s liberation) in awakening consciousness of the body as “an instrument of power”: Another major deconstruction [of the old notion of “the body”] is in the area of sociopolitical thought. Although Karl Marx initiated this movement in the middle of the 19th century, it did not gain momentum until the last 20 years due to the work of the late Michel Foucault. Marx argued that a person’s economic class affected his or her experience and definition of “the body.” . . . Foucault carried on these seminal arguments in his analysis of the body as the focal point for struggles over the shape of power. Population size, gender formation, the control of children and of those thought to be deviant from the society’s ethics are major concerns of political organization-and all concentrate on the definition and shaping of the body. Moreover, the cultivation of the body is essential to the establishment of one’s social role. Not a few feminists, too, appear to accept this view of things. While honoring French feminists Irigaray, Wittin, Cixious, and Kristeva for their work on the body “as the site of the production of new modes of subjectivity” and Beauvoir for the “understanding of the body as a situation,” Linda Zirelli credits Foucault with having “showed us how the body has been historically disciplined”; to Anglo-American feminism is simply attributed the “essentialist” view of the body as an “archaic natural."

"Fugue states or severe headaches prior to or after overt necrophilic behavior have also been reported. Coupled with the fact that alcohol (one of the factors associated with necrophilia) can induce temporal lobe abnormalities, and that temporal lobe abnormalities are associated with a number of other paraphilias, it may be reasonable to deduce that temporal lobe anomalies may be responsible for some instances of necrophilia."

"I'd call him a sadistic, hippophilic necrophile, but that would be beating a dead horse."

"Necrophilia was considered by the Catholic Church to be neither whoring ("fornicatio") nor bestiality, but "pollution with a tendency to whoring."

"Like I had taken something powerful from them."

"Cannibalistic w:Tribaltribal rituals are based on the notion that consumption of human flesh imparts a special power or strength to the cannibal."

"Healthy necrophilism found in the mementoes cherished in every household of those who passed away."

"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. Yeah, usually they're already there. Isn't that nice? It's nice. It's convenient."

"Here at Globo Gym we understand that ugliness and fatness are genetic disorders, much like baldness or necrophilia, and it's only your fault if you don't hate yourself enough to do something about it"

"By necrophilia is meant love for all that is violence and destruction; the desire to kill; the worship of force; attraction to death, to suicide, to sadism; the desire to transform the organic into the inorganic by means of "order." The necrophile, lacking the necessary qualities to create, in his impotence finds it easy to destroy because for him it serves only one quality: force."

"The ancient Egyptians took precautions against necrophilia by prohibiting the corpses of the wives of men of rank from being delivered immediately to the embalmers, for fear that the embalmers would violate them."

"Similar legends exist about King Waldemar and Charlemagne."

"We didn’t-? I whisper, my mouth drying in mortified horror as I can’t complete the question. I stare at my hands. Anastasia, you were comatose. Necrophilia is not my thing. I like my women sentient and receptive, he says dryly."

"King Herod had sex with his wife Marianne for seven years after he killed her."

"All we have is the past, but for people of the future, there's not even going to be a history there. The history of recorded music has turned into a flat fucking screen of an iTunes playlist. I'm preserving something that's going extinct! That's all rock'n'roll has been since day one. It's all necrophilia."

"Three types of necrophiles, with varying degrees of severity are described. The first is the pseudo necrophile, also called a fantasy necrophile; this is an individual who either fantasizes about sex with dead bodies or has sex with dead bodies only periodically. The pseudo nacrophile prefer the sexual partner to be alive but pretend to be dead, and there are many reports from prostitutes that their clients make them partake in this behavior. A second classification of necrophile is the regular necrophile; this is an individual has regularly intercourse with dead bodies. He is attracted to corpses and frequently works in an occupation where there is access to dead bodies, such as coroner, or in a place like a morgue or graveyard…. The third degree of necrophilic behavior, where is the person is labeled a homicidal nechrophile. The person kills in order to have intercourse with dead bodies, which is an extreme form of the paraphilia."

"Neither psychosis, mental retardation, nor sadism appears to be inherent in necrophilia. The most common motive for necrophilia is possession of an unresisting and unrejecting partner. Necrophiles often choose occupations that put them in contact with corpses. Some necrophiles who had occupational access to corpses committed homicide nevertheless."

"The classical "Sleeping Beauty" tales embody a necrophilic fantasy, in which a corpse is restored to life. Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" conveys a similar fantasy."

"Shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous, And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour?"

"[[Prostitution|[P]rostitution]], adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia … should be legal as long as no one is coerced. They are illegal only because of prejudice and narrowmindedness. Some rules might be called for when these acts directly affect other people's interests. … For necrophilia, it might be necessary to ask the next of kin for permission if the decedent's will did not authorize it. Necrophilia would be my second choice for what should be done with my corpse, the first being scientific or medical use. Once my dead body is no longer of any use to me, it may as well be of some use to someone. Besides, I often enjoy rhinophytonecrophilia (nasal sex with dead plants)."

"My brains are going out my nipples."

": Why are your nipples poking into me?! : Sorry! That happens when I'm cold. : But why are there three of them?! : There aren't! Two of them are moles. : Those numbers still don't add up!"

"Oh, yes. Just had me a little nubbin-ectomy. Yep. Two nipples, no waiting."

": I want to see her nipples. : But this is a Christmas show. : Well, I'm sure Charles Dickens would have wanted to see her nipples! : You can barely see them nipples. : See? And these guys are really looking!"

"Have ye beheld (with much delight) A red rose peeping through a white? Or else a cherry, double grac’d, Within a lily centre plac’d? Or ever mark’d the pretty beam A strawberry shows half-drown’d in cream? Or seen rich rubies blushing through A pure smooth pearl and orient too? So like to this, nay all the rest, Is each neat niplet of her breast."

"Ladies, shut up and hold on to your nipples!"

"The eyes are the nipples of the face."

"And even when we were at my grandmother's funeral when you told most of my relatives that you could see her nipples through her burial dress, I let it slide."

": Tell me, Senator: did you nurse Catherine yourself? ... : Yes, I did. : Toughened your nipples, didn't it?"

"The video has been censored by MTV. They took all nipples out of the cartoon, but they had no problem with the scene in which Boris Yeltsin cuts off his own arms and legs."

"You're excited? Feel these nipples!"

"The nipples of Mother Hope have run dry."

"Hitachi makes such a good vibrator, I think I’ll buy one of their TVs!"

"The classic Hitachi Magic Wand is the old reliable, go-to vibrator for many women, for so many reasons."

"I'm not saying I don't like other toys, and I'm definitely open to trying new ones, but this is my favorite, the one I go to when I don't want to waste time, when I just want to cut to the chase, and I imagine it always will be."

"It may not be the prettiest sex toy around, and it's loud and not exactly subtle, but all those are small concerns next to what it can do for my pussy."

"It's powerful. Plain and simple, it provides the sensation I like against my clit and along my vulva. I know some women temper the intensity with a towel, but I like it direct and strong."

"I've been using it for so long that I have a sentimental attachment to it. Looking at my Hitachi, even a brand-new one, reminds me of many other times I've enjoyed one, kind of like when you hook up with an ex."

"Evidently, Mr. Hitachi Sr. didn't like the idea that his massage machine was giving millions of women orgasms."

"It remains my favorite vibrator to this day."

"It can deliver powerful, reliable vibrations, not only to the clit but also to the entire external vulva."

"While the Hitachi Magic Wand really is great for using on the whole body to relax, Hitachi won't admit that its massive sales figures appear to add up to a lot more than demand for back massages."

"She told me to get a Hitachi Magic Wand, but to be careful of its power, both physical and psychological, as it's an addictive agent right behind heroin."

"My only previous vibrator experience was a pink plastic thing that held two D-cell batteries and the Hitachi was a whole 'nother world."

"The thing is legendary."

"I tell women who are having problems with orgasms to masturbate. The vibrator is a very effective way to masturbate, and the Hitachi Magic Wand, if not the best, is one of the best vibrators out there."

"Invest in a Hitachi Magic Wand. This 'personal massager' has been declared a guaranteed orgasm generator by thousands of women over three decades."

"The 'guaranteed orgasm generator' you're looking for is the Hitachi Magic Wand by Vibratex."

"Since hitting the market … the Wand remains virtually unmatched in vibrating power and durability."

"The genius is in its simplicity."

"About 90% of the women with whom you play with sexually will very quickly orgasm with this vibrator."

"The Hitachi is the secretly world famous heavyweight champ of buzzing sex toys, earning its trophy for consistently beating out even the most stubborn clitoral orgasms."

"This vibrator is strong—iron-pumping, pulling mac trucks kind of strong."

"For said women who are (un)blissfully unaware, The Hitachi Magic Wand is the mother of all vibrators."

"It’s the President of Vibrator City and the Mayor of Vibratorsville."

"Originally designed as a 'back massager,' the Hitachi is pants-down the strongest vibrator ever."

"For some people, this supercharged toy is the only thing that can ensure an orgasm. For others, it may be the fastest and least complicated route to ecstasy."

"It is … extremely sturdy and will last for decades."

"All I know is this: he went out for his walk a man and came home female."

"The eyes were the same. But in the shocking V of the shirt were breasts. When he uttered my name in a woman’s voice I passed out."

"There are also third-sex citizens, sometimes greatly attached to one another and with complete faith in one another, who get married together."

"A male child is produced by a greater quantity of male seed, a female child by the prevalence of the female; if both are equal, a third-sex child [napumsaka] or boy and girl twins are produced; if either are weak or deficient in quantity, a failure of conception results."

"Here we show that sexual fate is also surprisingly labile in the testis: loss of the DMRT1 transcription factor 3 in mouse Sertoli cells, even in adults, activates Foxl2 and reprograms Sertoli cells into granulosa cells. In this environment, theca cells form, oestrogen is produced and germ cells appear feminized."

"A lot of kids are bullied because of their sexual identity or expression. It's often the effeminate boys and the masculine girls, the ones who violate gender norms and expectations, who get bullied."

"There is a widespread belief in India that hijras are born hermaphrodites [intersex] and are taken away by the hijra community at birth or in childhood, but I found no evidence to support this belief among the hijras I met, all of whom joined the community voluntarily, often in their teens."

"Last night I was seriously considering whether I was a bisexual or not but I don’t think so though I’m not sure if I’d like to be and argh I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, if you like a person, you like the person, not their genitals."

"Weirder and more contemplative than many of its time-traveling brethren, Predestination is a stylish head trip. It also marks Australian actor Snook as one to watch, as she demonstrates some serious gender-bending range."

"We may take advantage of this pause in the narrative to make certain statements. Orlando had become a woman — there is no denying it. But in every other respect, Orlando remained precisely as he had been. The change of sex, though it altered their future, did nothing whatever to alter their identity. Their faces remained, as their portraits prove, practically the same. His memory — but in future we must, for convention’s sake, say ‘her’ for ‘his,’ and ‘she’ for ‘he’— her memory then, went back through all the events of her past life without encountering any obstacle. Some slight haziness there may have been, as if a few dark drops had fallen into the clear pool of memory; certain things had become a little dimmed; but that was all. The change seemed to have been accomplished painlessly and completely and in such a way that Orlando herself showed no surprise at it. Many people, taking this into account, and holding that such a change of sex is against nature, have been at great pains to prove (1) that Orlando had always been a woman, (2) that Orlando is at this moment a man. Let biologists and psychologists determine. It is enough for us to state the simple fact; Orlando was a man till the age of thirty; when he became a woman and has remained so ever since."

"In general, early modern Catholic doctrine held that sexual relations were acceptable as long as they were within marriage, not done on Sundays or other church holidays, done in a way which would allow procreation, and did not upset the proper sexual order, which meant the man had to be on top (what has since been termed the “missionary position”)."

"One presumes that all of those jokes about the missionary position might have a kernel of truth."

"Bonobos and humans enjoy many different copulatory positions, with ventral-ventral (missionary position) appearing to be preferred by bonobo females and rear-entry by males, while chimps prefer rear-entry almost exclusively."

"Þe fyrst ys ‘fornycacyoṅ’, Whan two vnweddyd haue mysdoṅ, As sengle knaue and sengle tarne, Whan þey synne to-gedyr ȝerne; Þe leste hyt ys of allë seuene, Ȝyt hyt forbarreþ þe blys of heuene"

"Ay fukkand lyke ane furious fornicatour."

"Challenge, and not desire, lies at the heart of seduction."

"Seduction is the world’s elementary dynamic… All this has changed significantly for us, at least in appearance. For what has happened to good and evil? Seduction hurls them against one another, and unites them beyond meaning, in a paroxysm [sudden outbreak of emotion] of intensity and charm."

"Distinctive signs, full signs, never seduce us."

"When Jimmy Walker was minority leader of the New York legislature, there was a censorship fight on the floor of the House. A powerful group of pious bluenoses wanted to bar from circulation good books that dared to mention certain well-known facts of life. The bluenoses said the books were indecent, bawdy, lascivious and would lead their young and innocent daughters astray. Jimmy stood the debate as long as he could, then he said, "I have been around a good deal, but I have never heard of a woman's being seduced by a book." That killed the censorship bill."

"Maidens, like moths, are ever caught by glare, And Mammon wins his way where s might despair."

"I like clothes and I like seduction in general, but I am like that with everybody."

"A monk should surely love his books with humility, wishing their good and not the glory of his own curiosity; but what the temptation of adultery is for laymen and the yearning for riches is for secular ecclesiastics, the seduction of knowledge is for monks."

"Sadness of any sort is also seductive, particularly if it seems deep-rooted, even spiritual, rather than needy or pathetic—it makes people come to you."

"Your greatest power in seduction is your ability to turn away, to make others come after you, delaying their satisfaction."

"Seduction is a game of psychology, not beauty, and it is within the grasp of any person to become a master at the game. All that is required is that you look at the world."

"Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves."

"In the game of seduction, There is only one rule: Never fall in love."

"Moderates and liberals are not immune to the theory's seductive charms—especially when it gives them a chance to lecture others on their failings."

"But ne'er to a seductive lay let faith be given; Nor deem that "light that leads astray" is light from Heaven."

"Sexually transmitted diseases, ranging from the serious to the fatal, are a fact of life in high schools and neighborhoods across the country. Misinformation and scare tactics about common sexual practices like masturbation are rampant. Despite these facts, and despite parents' overwhelming desire for their children to receive detailed sex education at school as well as at home, our society remains unwilling to make sexuality part of a comprehensive health education program in the schools and anxious to the point of hysteria about young people and sex...Hysteria about sex has hindered attempts to address these pressing concerns, and the people hurt most are those who most need the information—our young people, the poor, and the uninformed. Ignorance is not bliss."

"I actually got a Ugandan Minister to say, on camera— he's the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, it's the only such ministry in the world— and I said to him, "Look, even if these three utterly false supports on which you base your homophobia are true, which they aren't, there's so much more to worry about in your country than the odd gay person going to bed with the other gay person. For example, you have almost an epidemic of child rape in this country, which is just frightening." And he said, "Ah, but it is the right kind of child rape." I said, "That was on camera. Do you know that was on camera?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Can you just explain what you meant?" "Well, it is men raping girls. Which is natural.""

"Ever since you turned 13 every guy you've met has been trying to fuck you"

"Incels are individuals who express frustration from perceived disadvantages to starting intimate relationships. Incel extremists idolize violent individuals like the Aurora movie theater shooter. They also idolize the Joker character, the violent clown from the Batman series, admiring his depiction as a man who must pretend to be happy, but eventually fights back against his bullies."

"Misogyny isn’t new, and ideological misogyny isn’t new. Having a distinct movement that is primarily defined by misogyny is [fairly] novel."

"These online communities didn’t used to be so violently misogynistic and as obsessed with violence as they are now ... They essentially magnify these guys’ negative feelings and encourage them to feel hopeless. If a guy doesn’t feel like there’s much point in living, he knows that if he goes out and does something violent, he’s going to be celebrated by all these people on these message boards … I’ve been expecting more [incel attacks] for a long time."

"[Incels] have to find a target other than themselves, meaning they don’t want to take responsibility for their actions. There’s a fatalistic mentality that can perpetuate itself in these circles. The more rejection you get, the more it feeds into this belief that you are unwanted … But there’s also a sense of entitlement. They are entitled to sex. They’re entitled to women liking them. And there’s a very limited sense of reality."

"The Incel community is one of the purest hotbeds of Internet radicalization I’ve ever seen, and it’s a community that is growing in size and confidence."

"Though Incels have been around for several years, the research community has only recently begun to sit up and take notice. I see Incel violence against women as nothing less than a new form of terrorism."

"The word [incel] used to mean anybody of any gender who was lonely, had never had sex or who hadn't had a relationship in a long time. But we can't call it that anymore."

"There is a really interesting irony in the incel style of quasipolitics – they are both a response to and advocates of almost an Ayn Randian view of romance and human relationships. So they rail against the loneliness and the isolation and the individualism of modern life, but they seem to advocate it as well, in that they love the language of the strong triumphing over the weak. But they themselves are the weak.They’ll say how terrible it is that the left has won the culture wars and we should return to traditional hierarchies, but then they’ll use terms like "banging sluts", which doesn’t make any sense, right? Because you have to pick one. They want sexual availability and yet, at the same time, they express this disgust at promiscuity."

"Being pregnant is an occupational hazard of being a wife."

"Our mothers' wombs the tiring-houses be, Where we are dressed for this short comedy."

"[P]regnant women also must take care of their bodies, not avoiding exercise nor adopting a low diet; this it is easy for the lawgiver to secure by ordering them to make a journey daily for the due worship of the deities whose office is the control of childbirth. As regards the mind, however, on the contrary it suits them to pass the time more indolently than as regards their bodies; for children before birth are evidently affected by the mother just as growing plants are by the earth."

"Each twinge, each murmur of slight pain, ripples of sloughed-off matter, swellings and diminishings of tissue, the droolings of the flesh, these are signs, these are the things I need to know about. Each month I watch for blood, fearfully, for when it comes it means failure. I have failed once again to fulfill the expectations of others, which have become my own."

"Eric Johnston, an attorney who helped draft the Alabama bill, thinks a man and a woman can have sex and go straight to a clinic to determine if she's pregnant. First off, you've gotta give her six minutes to clench her way to a toilet; otherwise she's gonna get a UTI and ruin an exam table. Secondly, that isn’t how it works...It's still hard to know if you're pregnant at six weeks. You might have no symptoms, or if you do, they’re symptoms like fatigue or bloating and gas. On the other hand, it does explain P.F. Chang's new motto: 'Maybe it's not us; maybe you're pregnant!'"

"So, this is my belly. I am twenty weeks. And I have the MTV awards coming up. And as you can see, little plum plum is ready for the world to know that he or she is here. I think I'm gonna have to just throw in the towel and if you can see that I’m pregnant, I just have to own it. So I maybe...Well, my baby maybe debuting itself on the awards. I'm going to be a mommy."

"The baby is coming in three weeks. I feel anxious. These last three weeks are my last weeks responsible for myself. So I'm trying my best to take care of my child like myself and enjoy my freedom I guess for the last three weeks. This is going to be nothing in comparison to having a child."

"I was supposed to do Coachella the year prior but I got pregnant unexpectedly. And it ended up being twins, which was even more of a surprise. My body went through more than I could. I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth. I had an extremely difficult pregnancy, high blood pressure. I developed toxemia, preeclampsia, and in the room, one of the baby's heartbeats paused a few times so I had to get an emergency c-section."

"The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned."

"... the story of pregnancy is best recounted in s. The first trimester is characterised by and . The second trimester is characterised by a large stomach and a feeling of well-being. In the third trimester you may experience bloating around the face, , , , chronic , , , forgetfulness, fatigue, feelings of apprehension about the birth and a longing for pregnancy to be over."

"Motherhood is never honored by excessive talk about the heroics of pregnancy."

"Let me then say it bluntly: Pregnancy is barbaric. I do not believe, as many women are now saying, that the reason pregnancy is viewed as not beautiful is due strictly to cultural perversion. The child’s first response, 'What's wrong with that Fat Lady?'; the husband's guilty waning of sexual desire; the woman's tears in front of the mirror at eight months – are all gut reactions, not to be dismissed as cultural habits."

"Pregnancy is the temporary deformation of the body of the individual for the sake of the species. Moreover, childbirth hurts. And it isn't good for you. Three thousand years ago, women giving birth 'naturally' had no need to pretend that pregnancy was a real trip, some mystical orgasm (that far-away look). The Bible said it: pain and travail. The glamour was unnecessary: women had no choice. They didn't dare squawk. But at least they could scream as loudly as they wanted during their labour pains. And after it was over, even during it, they were admired in a limited way for their bravery; their valour was measured by how many children (sons) they could endure bringing into the world."

"A ship under sail and a big-bellied woman, are the handsomest two things that can be seen common."

"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."

"There was a time when doctors recommended alcohol to pregnant women for relaxation and pain relief, or even prescribed it intravenously as a tocolytic — meaning it stopped premature labor. One doctor who trained me spoke of a 1960s prenatal ward full of intoxicated women "swearing like sailors." Things began to change in 1973, when fetal alcohol syndrome, or F.A.S., was formally recognized after a seminal article was published in The Lancet, a medical journal. F.A.S. is a constellation of findings that includes changes in growth, distinctive facial features and a negative impact on the developing brain. We now know that alcohol is a teratogen, meaning it can cause birth defects. With that knowledge, the pendulum swung hard. In 1988, Congress passed the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act, which would add the well-known "women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects" label to alcoholic beverages for sale or distribution in the United States. (A warning about drinking and driving was also added.) Many people unfortunately took this as an opportunity to police pregnant women in public."

"The shamans are forever yacking about their snake-oil "miracles." I prefer the Real McCoy—a pregnant woman."

"And Venus, thou, with timely seed, Which may their after-comforts breed, Inform the gentle womb; Nor let it prove a tomb."

"Pregnancy seemed like a tremendous abdication of control. Something growing inside you which would eventually usurp your life."

"I found that being pregnant was different from how I thought it would be...It shares a lot in common with writing in a way. You have an imaginary version of yourself pregnant, and an imaginary baby, an imaginary idea of yourself as a mother."

"Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."

"So Fanfare for the Makers: ... As mothers sit up late night after night Moulding a life."

"In the dark womb where I began My mother's life made me a man. Through all the months of human birth Her beauty fed my common earth. I cannot see, nor breathe, nor stir, But through the death of some of her."

"The question is not 'Can a man do it?' It's 'If a man does have a successful pregnancy, can he survive it?'"

"Everything about woman is a riddle, and everything about woman has one solution: it is called pregnancy."

"They did not understand how my world had shrunk. They couldn't see that the bigger I got, the smaller I became, and they didn't understand that once the baby came, I would be gone!"

"I dreamed of you for the first time the other night. You were swaddled in a blanket and floating. Your hair was dark brown before it curled and turned blonde, just like your father's. I brought my head down to my clavicle and nuzzled you, melting a little. I told you, or did you tell me that it wasn't time yet? We are waiting for you, wondering who you will be. I've made a habit of Googling strange changes in my body in the off chance they might be connected to your existence. Too much saliva, bleeding gums, muscle pains in the lower abdomen. Every time, no matter how seemingly random, all of these symptoms are correct, connected to the making of you. I'm reminded my body is marching onward without any help from me. There is a quietness that comes with pregnancy, a humbling. I'm listening for you. I'm full of wonder. Mornings and nights, my stomach grows. It's getting colder, an election is coming. I feel you flutter underneath my belly button. I want you to see the world's potential. You feel like the world's potential. I'm driving through Manhattan, looking out the backseat window of my friend's car, studying pedestrians as they move through the city. A man crosses the street in glasses, another jogs in place, his eyes focused ahead of him. I stare at these strangers. Will that be you? I wonder. I'm in the shower, rearranging all the names I'm thinking of for you in my head. I peer down at my belly and say one of them aloud to see if it fits. Water steadily beats against my back. In that moment I can't feel it myself or the space around me. Just you. Hello, I think, is that you? My chest swells and my eyes sting with the thought that one day soon, so very soon, your presence will be real. I close my eyes and try to imagine you moving through the pixelated darkness of my mind's eye. I cannot wait to see who you will be."

"He ploughed her, and she cropped."

"She's quick; the child brags in her belly already."

"As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time That from the seedness the bare fallow brings To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry."

": Wilt dine with me, Apemantus? : No, I eat not lords. : An thou shouldst, thou'dst anger ladies. : O, they eat lords. So they come by great bellies. : That's a lascivious apprehension. : So thou apprehend'st it, take it for thy labour."

"And since a man can't make one He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one."

"I begin to love this little creature, and to anticipate his birth as a fresh twist to a knot which I do not wish to untie."

"You become like a vampire when you're pregnant: your senses are so sensitive and your emotions are so heightened – that helps with performance because you really feel things. Any stories about something happening to little girls killed me. Put it this way: I did not find Inside Out uplifting."

"It's all very well for a man. He doesn't have to go through this sort of thing, and he knows he never will have to. How can he understand? He may mean as well as a saint, but he's always on the outside. He can never know what it's like, even in a normal way — so what sort of an idea can he have of this? Of how it feels to lie awake at night with the humiliating knowledge that one is simply being used? — As if one were not a person at all, but just a kind of mechanism, a sort of incubator."

"Oh mistress, let your breasts be your fields! Inana, let your breasts be your fields, your wide fields which pour forth flax, your wide fields which pour forth grain! Make water flow from them! Provide it from them for the man! Make water flow and flow from them! Keep providing it from them for the man!"

"Her breasts, like two pomegranates of even size, stood at bay as it were."

"There is nothing more humanly beautiful than a woman's breasts. Nothing more humanly beautiful, nothing more humanly mysterious than why men should want to caress, over and over again, with paintbrush or chisel or hand, these oddly curved fatty sacs, and nothing more humanly endearing than our complicity (I mean the complicity of women) in their obsession."

"I like her; I could watch her the rest of my life. She has breasts that smile."

"Her comely limbs composed with decent care, Her body shaded with a slight cymarr; Her bosom to the view was only bare; Where two beginning paps were scarcely spied, For yet their places were but signified."

"The fanning wind upon her bosom blows, To meet the fanning wind the bosom rose; The fanning wind, and purling streams, continue her repose."

"An infant waking to the paps would press, And meets, instead of milk, a falling tear."

"Asteria, mend my cousin's handkerchief; It sits too narrow there, and shows too much The broadness of her shoulders—Nay, fie, Asteria, Now you put it too much backward, and discover The bigness of her breasts."

"She lays her breasts out too, like two poach'd eggs That had the yolks suckt out."

"I shall arrange a lady with breasts like mangoes."

"Une femme sans poitrine, c'est un lit sans oreillers."

"Her paps are like fair apples in the prime, As round as orient pearls, as soft as down; They never vail their fair through winter’s frown, But from their sweets Love sucks his summertime."

"In modern consumer society, the attack on mother-child eroticism took its total form; breastfeeding was proscribed and the breasts reserved for the husband's fetishistic delectation. At the same time, babies were segregated, put into cold beds alone and not picked up if they cried."

"Nursing does not diminish the beauty of a woman’s breasts; it enhances their charm by making them look lived in and happy."

"We have a bunch of women there who are really something. Especially two of them. There’s one of them wears her breasts like I would wear the Iron Cross."

"... wishing my self (specially an Evening) in my Sweethearts Armes whose pritty Duckys I trust shortly to kysse."

"Her breast, a place for beauty’s throne most fit, Bears up two globes where love and pleasure sit, Which, headed with two rich, round rubies, show Like wanton rosebuds growing out of snow; And in the milky valley that’s between Sits Cupid, kissing of his mother queen, Fingering the paps that feel like sievèd silk, And press’d a little they will weep pure milk."

"They pluck the fatherless from the breast."

"Her quince-shaped breasts her wondrous charms declare."

"Her paps are centres of delight, Her breasts are orbs of heavenly frame, Where Nature moulds the dew of light To feed perfection with the same:"

"Then unconfined each did tipple Wine from the bunch, milk from the nipple; Paps tractable as udders were."

"Dissatisfied with their breasts, women in the United States have spent millions of dollars on creams, lotions, devices, and techniques for breast enlargement in the last few decades. [...] Despite the health risks the procedure poses and its considerable expense."

"Perhaps we should not be surprised by such statistics: after all, men seem to have an overwhelming attraction to breasts. Isn’t a woman’s wish for an enhanced bust line just a natural response to a primal desire to attract a mate? Many contemporary thinkers would suggest that this is the case. They invoke the notion of sexual selection in their arguments, arguing that some time long, long ago in the human evolutionary past, some males became erotically aroused by females with visibly enlarged breasts, choosing them more often as sex partners than their “flat-chested” sisters, thus maintaining this trait in human populations. Some writers even argue that men’s attraction to breasts was a key to the survival of early humans. Given the putative significance of breasts to the human species, is it any wonder that women in the twenty-first century spend millions of dollars, and take medical risks, to enhance theirs?"

"Although sexual selection arguments are extremely popular, there is another, more plausible explanation for why enlarged breasts evolved. As I will argue, females with visible breast enlargement would have been better able to support themselves and their infants in the environment in which our early human ancestors lived. Indeed, I suggest that the more robust notion of natural selection is the key to understanding why women have breasts, not the problematic idea of sexual selection."

"Whatever the exact selective advantage of fat, it is clear that the evolution of permanent breast enlargement in human females need not be explained through their erotic appeal to men. What my colleagues and I hoped to show by presenting our explanation is that a reasonable argument based on natural selection could be developed. Our model is not as “sexy” as the explanations that see breasts exclusively as erotic attractors of men. But it avoids relying on such poorly substantiated concepts as differential parental investment, female dependency, and sexual selection, ideas that may reinforce twenty-first century notions about women and gender roles but have little, if no, empirical evidence to support them. The idea that female breasts are little more than objects of sexual attraction for men is a popular one in many European societies, and certainly in the United States, among not only producers and audiences of slick programs on “The Learning Channel,” but also quite obviously among many scientists. But, it seems, they may be indulging more in sexual fantasy than scientific fact."

"Et, prenant la main de son amie, elle la posa sur sa poitrine, sur cette ronde et ferme enveloppe du cœur des femmes, qui suffit souvent aux hommes et les empêche de rien chercher dessous."

"The kid Mick picked at the front of her blouse to keep the cloth from rubbing the new, tender nipples beginning to come out on her breast."

"In the oldest dream of old men, Women's brests still remains Long after their desires have turned to dust They are their first memories Warm, nurturing, home The point of satisfaction Perfect in their gracious arcs Women wear their breats as medals Emblems of their love."

"Und mancherlei so gut Erfundenes giebt es da, dass es ist wie des Weibes Busen: nützlich zugleich und angenehm."

"But I love slenderness. I love virginal breasts."

"I want to laugh because I have already forgotten about the Renoir bodies, the virginal breasts."

"He says I am breeding a little giant. I see him looking at my more aggressive breasts."

"Her breasts were higher than any woman's he had ever seen, placed almost parallel with the shoulder line, and they were absolutely round and big. It was these breasts which had first attracted him. Their being placed so provocatively, so near the mouth, pointing upwards, somehow awakened in him a direct response. It was as if his sex had a peculiar affinity with these breasts, and as soon as they showed themselves in the whorehouse where he had found her, his sex raised itself to challenge them on equal terms."

"Breasts like ripe red cabbage; they bobble a little when she leans forward."

"And then he describes... how he bent down and kissed her breasts, and how, after he had kissed them fervidly, he stuffed them back into her corsage, or whatever it is they call these things."

"I can’t get past the fact that food is coming out of my wife’s breasts. What was once essentially an entertainment center has now become a juice bar."

"Her breasts like ivory globes circled with blue, A pair of maiden worlds unconquerèd, Save of their lord no bearing yoke they knew, And him by oath they truly honourèd. These worlds in Tarquin new ambition bred; Who, like a foul usurper, went about From this fair throne to heave the owner out."

"Let not the virgin’s cheek Make soft thy trenchant sword, for those milk paps That through the window-bars bore at men’s eyes, Are not within the leaf of pity writ, But set them down horrible traitors."

"Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall."

"The breasts of Hecuba, When she did suckle Hector, looked not lovelier Than Hector’s forehead when it spit forth blood At Grecian sword, contemning."

"Out, sword, and wound The pap of Pyramus; Ay, that left pap, Where heart doth hop."

"The flower that I would pluck And put between my breasts, O, then but beginning To swell about the blossom—she would long Till she had such another, and commit it To the like innocent cradle, where, phœnix-like, They died in perfume."

"Ladies, I guarantee you if you take a shower with your boyfriend by the time you step out of that shower your breasts will be sparkling clean."

"I need not tell thee of the lily white, ... Nor of thy paps where Love himself doth dwell, Which like two hills of violets appear."

"A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts."

"Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies."

"Of her there bred A thousand yong ones, which she dayly fed, Sucking upon her poisonous dugs."

"Some were so from their source endu’d, By great dame nature, from whose fruitful pap, Their well-heads spring."

"The wanton Maidens him espying, stood Gazing a while at his unwonted guise; Then th’one her selfe low duckèd in the flood, Abasht, that her a straunger did avise: But th’other rather higher did arise, And her two lilly paps aloft displayd, And all, that might his melting hart entise To her delights, she unto him bewrayd: The rest hid underneath, him more desirous made."

"Her brest like to a bowle of creame uncrudded, Her paps lyke lyllies budded."

"If a man is pictured chopping off a woman's breast, it only gets an R rating; but if, God forbid, a man is pictured kissing a woman's breast, it gets an X rating. Why is violence more acceptable than tenderness?"

"My breasts were lordlier than bright swans."

"When a woman in a lonely place bends down, as if to pick up something, and pierces, as it were, a man sitting or standing, with her breasts, and the man in return takes hold of them, it is called a "piercing embrace.""

"When a man places his breast between the breasts of a woman, and presses her with it, it is called the "embrace of the breasts.""

"Mammelles, quoy! toutes retraictes; Telles les hanches que les tettes."

"Breasts are a scandal because they shatter the border between motherhood and sexuality. Nipples are taboo because they are quite literally, physically, functionally undecidable in the split between motherhood and sexuality. One of the most subversive things feminism can do is affirm this undecidability of motherhood and sexuality."

"In the nine heavens are eight Paradises; Where is the ninth one? In the human breast. Only the blessed dwell in th' Paradises, But blessedness dwells in the human breast."

"Daughter of Jove, relentless power, Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour The bad affright, afflict the best!"

"No, traytress, angry Love replies, She’s hid somewhere about thy breast, A place nor God nor man denies, For Venus’ dove the proper nest."

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

"[I]f I said I never did drugs, that would mean I lie and get fucked more than the president does."

"You want me to fix up lyrics while the president gets his dick sucked?"

"Unfortunately the media itself is often tempted to misuse power. I am not a fan of President Bill Clinton but I do sympathise with him. He only hugged Monica Lewinsky once, at least in public. He may have hugged her more times in private, that we don`t have any pictures of. But that one hug has prefaced every report on President Clinton whether the subject matter had anything to do with his single instance of discretion or not. If the CNN is to be believed Bill Clinton has hugged Monica a thousand times, twelve times a day ever since CNN resurrected that particular episode among the file pictures. With the passage of time the hug has improved in terms of clarity and vividness. There is no mistaking the look of adoration in Monica`s eyes and the body language of the President of the United States. The viewers, Americans and others must assume that the President must really know Monica intimately and all those stories about the phone- calls to the Senators even while he dallied with Monica must be the truth, the absolute truth and nothing but the truth. As I said I am not a fan of President Clinton but I do feel that that kind of presentation via television is not quite fair to the President. There is no one in the United States who has not seen it and been influenced by it. How can anyone sit in judgement over him without being biased, without preconception? How can the impeachment of the President be fair and just?"

"Power corrupts, and, in many cases, absolute power makes you really horny. Clinton, Chirac, Mao, Mitterrand."

"A recent longitudinal study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology suggests that teenagers who engage in casual sex are more likely to suffer from depression than their peers who don’t engage in casual sex... As a professional, the results of this study helps shed some insight into what teens who engage in casual sexual encounters may be going through. Given that teens who practiced celibacy were rated lowest for clinical depression and depressive symptoms on the charts, promiscuity may be symptomatic of depression."

"In addition to the known risks of contracting STDs, developing unwanted pregnancies, and being raped or otherwise assaulted, people who engage in casual sex may suffer emotional consequences that persist long after the details of an encounter are a dim memory. On college campuses, where brief sexual liaisons are prevalent, unanticipated results can jeopardize a student’s career. In the workplace, the results can be just as disastrous, if not more so."

"Why would we expect decades of teaching sexual promiscuity in our schools to result in sexual restraint in our students? Why are we surprised at the selfishness of our culture when we have immersed several generations of our children in a curriculum that teaches self-esteem more effectively than it does science and civics?"

"She was so exquisite a whore That in the belly of her mother Her cunt was placed so right before, Her father fucked them both together. Had she been male as female, without doubt She’d acted incest at her coming out, And least her Daddy shou’d not fuck it home She frigged his pintle in her mother’s womb."

"She was so exquisite a Whore, That in the Belly of her Mother, Her Cunt was plac’d so right before, Her Father fuck’d them both together."

"She was so exquisite a whore That in the belly of her mother She turned her cunt so right before Her father fucked them both together."

"It is important to note once again that the prohibition of murder and abortion must be appreciated in a therapeutic, not a juridical or punitive light, with which such offenses are often regarded in most Western moral, philosophical, and theological systems: the goal is not to subject the sinner to just punishment, but to bring the sinner through repentance and God’s grace to holiness. Because of this perspective the Orthodox Church never endorsed a doctrine of double effect, such as developed in the West, which allowed Roman Catholicism to approve of indirect abortions. The doctrine of double effects holds that when an action produces two effects, one good and one evil, one may nevertheless act, as long as the act is not evil in itself, the good effect is not produced by the bad effect, the evil effect is not intended,, and there is a proportionate reason (more good will be produced than evil). According to the doctrine of double effect, when these conditions are fulfilled, one is held to be juridically innocent In contrast, the Orthodox Church recognizes that close causal involvement in the death of another, whether a guilty or an innocent person, may harm one’s spiritual life. Orthodox Christianity recognizes harms from both involuntary and “justifiable” homicide, including homicide in a just war, both of which incur excommunication not as punishment, but as spiritual therapy (Basil, 1983, Canon 13, pp. 801-802). It is in this spiritually therapeutic context that one should understand the absolution of women who miscarry. The absolution expresses the Orthodox Christian healing approach to the involuntary loss of life."

"The woman who has suffered a miscarriage is not held to be guilty in a juridical sense, but in need of God’s loving grace. It is within this therapeutic perspective that the Orthodox Church approaches decisions made by women to engage in operations that will also incidentally lead to the abortion of a child (e.g., the removal of a cancerous uterus containing an unborn child), which in Roman Catholic terms would not count as an abortion. In such cases, the spiritual father must help the patient through repentance and love to repair the spiritual damage from the serious evil of involvement in the death of another person."

"Because spontaneous miscarriage and self-managed abortion are medically indistinguishable in most cases, prohibitions on abortion will predictably lead to the investigation and detention of many women experiencing miscarriages as well as those self-managing abortions."

"The effect of long-term exposure to dirty air on the risk of miscarriage has been analysed previously. Studies from Brazil to Italy to Mongolia found a link, but others failed to do so. However, the latest study is the first to assess the impact of short-term exposure to air pollution. It found that raised levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution that are commonplace around the world increased the risk of losing a pregnancy by 16%. “It’s pretty profound,” said Dr Matthew Fuller, at the University of Utah’s department of emergency medicine and one of the research team. “If you compare that increase in risk to other studies on environmental effects on the foetus, it’s akin to tobacco smoke in first trimester pregnancy loss.” NO2 is produced by fuel burning, particularly in diesel vehicles."

"Few studies on job stress relative to pregnancy have been carried out, but both animal and epidemiological studies have shown effect of exposure to stressful conditions during pregnancy and adverse effects on the offspring."

"Obesity has become a major health problem across the world. In the UK, obesity affects one‐fifth of the female population ( Anonymous, 2001 ). Maternal obesity has been reported as a risk factor for adulthood obesity in offspring ( Parsons et al ., 2001 ). Obesity may also lead to a poor pregnancy out-come, such as sudden and unexplained intrauterine death ( Froen et al ., 2001 ), and in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) receiving infertility treatment is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage ( Hamilton‐Fairley et al ., 1992 ; Wang et al ., 2000 ). However, in the general population there is less evidence for a link between obesity and spontaneous miscarriage ( Risch et al ., 1990 )."

"Spontaneous miscarriage affects 12–15% of all pregnancies ( Zinman et al ., 1996 ). Eighty percent of miscarriages occur before 12 weeks of gestation, and the majority are due to chromosomal abnormalities (Harlap et al ., 1980). Our figures from this study population are consistent with previously published data. The risk of miscarriage after the detection of a fetal heart on ultrasound scan is reduced to 5%, except in patients who have had recurrent miscarriages ( van Leeuwen et al, 1993 ). Many factors have been described to increase the risk of spontaneous miscarriage; however, obesity was not found to be a risk factor by Risch et al . (1990). Recent evidence indicated that obese women undergoing infertility treatment were at increased risk of spontaneous miscarriage ( Hamilton‐Fairley et al, 1992; Wang et al, 2000 ). However, this point has also been controversial (Lashen et al, 1999; Roth et al., 2003 )."

"From a medical perspective, there is no physically significant difference between a medication abortion and a spontaneously occurring miscarriage. For example, the medicines used in medication abortion are used to help safely manage an incomplete miscarriage."

"Overweight women are more likely to miscarry a healthy baby, according to research involving 204 women who had suffered a miscarriage. The researchers said the findings back up advice that obese women should lose weight before trying to conceive. "The excess miscarriage rate in overweight and obese women is due to the loss of chromosomally normal embryos," said Dr Inna Landres of Stanford University School of Medicine. "It's important to identify elevated BMI [body mass index] as a risk factor for miscarriage and counsel those women who are affected on the importance of lifestyle modification"

"Occupational studies included in this review found that several occupational and non-occupational factors influenced reproductive outcomes. Occupational factors involved included standing, lifting, and exposure to chemicals—typically, individuals exposed to noise were also exposed to other occupational hazards. Important non-occupational factors were mother’s age, mother's weight and height, mother’s weight gain during pregnancy, smoking, education, race and socioeconomic status. Gravidity and parity, and chronic diseases of the mother were also important factors for the examination of spontaneous abortion or preterm labour."

"New multi-disciplinary research on brain–body interactions triggered by stress in early pregnancy has shown that maternal biological responses, including localised inflammation in uterine tissue and sustained depression of progesterone production, challenge the endocrine-immune steady state during pregnancy, leading to serious consequences for the fetal environment. Recent basic science findings and new theoretical development around a ‘pregnancy stress syndrome’ associated with over-activation of the HPA axis warrant a new look at the epidemiological evidence around the age-old question of whether or not stress can actually cause human reproductive failure."

"Dr Sarah Stock, at the University of Edinburgh and not part of the research team, said: “Air pollution is clearly detrimental to the health of millions of mothers, babies and children worldwide. Measures to reduce the impact of air pollution are crucial to ensure the health of future generations.”"

"We always write stories of tragedies because that's how we reach our human depth. How we get to the other side of it? We look at the cruelty, the darkness and horrific events that happened in our life, whether it be a miscarriage or a husband who is not faithful. Then you find this ability to transcend. And that is called the passion, like the passion of Christ. You could call this the passion of Frida Kahlo, in a way. When I talk about passion, and I'm not a religious person, but I absolutely am drawn and attracted to the power of religious art because it gets at that most extreme emotion of the human experience."

"Fetus death risk reduction is included in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, little is known about how missed abortion in the first trimester (MAFT) is related to maternal air pollution exposure. We quantify the link between air pollution exposure and MAFT in Beijing, China, a region with severe MAFT and air quality problems. We analyse the records of 255,668 pregnant women from 2009 to 2017 and contrast them with maternal exposure to air pollutants (particulate matter PM2.5, SO2, O3 and CO). We adjust for confounding factors such as sociodemographic characteristics, spatial autocorrelation and ambient temperature. We find that, for all four pollutants, an increased risk of MAFT is associated with rises in pollutant concentrations, and the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of these associations increase with higher concentrations. For example, the adjusted OR of MAFT risk for a 10.0 μg m−3 increase in SO2 exposure is between 1.29 and 1.41 at concentrations of 7.1–19.5 μg m−3; it drops to 1.17 below this range and rises to 1.52 above it at higher SO2 concentrations. This means that the risk increase is not linear but becomes more severe the higher the pollutant concentration. The findings provide evidence linking fetus disease burden and maternal air pollution exposure."

"In the existing body of literature, exercise during pregnancy has generally not been associated with miscarriage,17–19 and one case–control study has even reported a protective effect of exercise during pregnancy.20 In contrast, Hjollund et al.21 found an increased risk of early miscarriage among women who reported a high physical strain around the time of implantation of the embryo. Furthermore, lay people have tried to use excessive physical exercise as an abortifacient, and older literature mentions physical activity (e.g. jumping, running, and horseback riding) as a cause of miscarriage. Considering the relatively sparse literature and the somewhat inconsistent results, we wanted to examine the association between exercise during pregnancy and miscarriage in a large population-based cohort."

"The main results based on the total data material showed that an increasing amount of time spent on exercise was associated with a greater risk of miscarriage compared with non-exercisers. Exercising 1–44 minutes/week was not associated with an increased risk of miscarriage."

"In this study, based on data from nearly 93,000 women, a dose-response relation was seen for the association between the amount of weekly exercise and the risk of miscarriage early in pregnancy. Certain types of exercise, and particularly high-impact types of exercise, were found to be associated with a higher risk of miscarriage. In the analyses based only on prospectively collected exposure data, the association did, however, attenuate, indicating a certain degree of recall bias. An alternative explanation to recall bias may be that exercise only in the early stages of pregnancy hurts the pregnancy outcome. In this case, the difference in the HRs between the analyses based on the total data material and the subcohort of only prospectively collected data is not as much a result of the mode of data collection as a reflection of the fact that the total data material encompasses the very early miscarriages. Even within the subperiods of gestational age, the miscarriages occur earlier for the pregnancies with retrospectively collected exposure information than for pregnancies with a first pregnancy interview (Figure 2). In addition, we did see a positive trend in the association between exercise and the risk of miscarriages in the earliest period of pregnancy (gestational weeks 11–14) in the subcohort using prospectively collected data only."

"It is difficult to investigate very early miscarriages using prospectively collected exposure information, since the time period, in which collection of exposure information must take place, that is, the time from detection of pregnancy to the occurrence of an early miscarriage, is short."

"Only a few previous studies have investigated the association between exercise and miscarriage. The only study that clearly supports our findings is a cohort study, which concluded that self-reported physical strain around the time of implantation (days 6–9 after ovulation) was associated with an increased risk of miscarriage (HR 2.5, 95% CI = 1.3–4.6). In contrast, Latka et al found a reduced risk of miscarriage with no chromosome defect in women who exercised compared with those who did not (OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.3–1.0). The case–control design was, however, based on a hypothesis that exercise cannot lead to chromosome aberrations in the fetus, as the control group consisted of women with miscarriages with chromosome aberrations. This assumption may be questioned since mode of action is unknown. In a small prospective study, Clapp found no statistically significant difference in risk of miscarriage between recreational runners (n = 49), aerobic dancers (n = 39) and a control group of active women, who had stopped exercising before the time of conception (n = 29). The study population was in excellent condition and had been exercising for years prior to the pregnancy, and the results may not be representative of the population at large. Two other studies have only investigated late miscarriages."

"Miscarriage remains the most common complication of pregnancy despite many advances in the understanding of early pregnancy. Loss of three or more consecutive pregnancies before 24 weeks of gestation is the most accepted definition for recurrent miscarriage (RMC) in Europe, but has recently been defined by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as a disease with two or more failed pregnancies. Despite best efforts to identify the underlying causes for RMC, it remains ‘unexplained’ in the majority of cases. Chromosomal errors appear to be common in the pre-implantation developing embryos6, 7, which predispose to increased risk of pregnancy losses. High rates of chromosomally abnormal cells within human embryos mean that the reproductive success is dependent on the endometrial ability to distinguish between normal and abnormal embryos. In vitro studies have provided convincing evidence that perturbation in the bio‐sensor function of the decidualised endometrium is an important mechanism underpinning RMC."

"Our study findings are supportive of the concept that increased female BMI may have a negative influence on the early pregnancy outcome. We found a significant positive correlation between the BMI and first-trimester pregnancy losses and anembryonic miscarriages. There were also significantly more first-trimester miscarriages in obese women than in normal-weight or overweight women with recurrent miscarriage."

"A study that examined miscarriage type and fetal karyotypes in RMC women found that very early pregnancy losses (anembryonic and embryonic loss with embryo <3 mm) are more likely to be karyotypically normal, and embryonic miscarriage (with embryo ≥3 mm) and fetal demise to be karyotypically more likely abnormal.36 It is possible to speculate from our study findings that obesity is likely to be associated with an increased risk of first-trimester miscarriages and, in particular, increases the risk of miscarriage of anembryonic pregnancies, which are likely to be karyotypically normal. However, it remains uncertain whether BMI may have any significant effect on the embryo loss pattern, and further well‐controlled studies are required to analyse their association."

"It is likely that an alternate mechanism exists in obesity that may be responsible for ‘biological super-fertility’ in obese women. Teklenburg et al.40 elegantly showed that the endometrial stromal cells transform into biological sensors of embryo quality upon decidualisation. There is a good body of evidence, from in vitro studies, to suggest that the inability of the peri‐implantation endometrium to mount an adequate decidual response impairs embryo recognition and selection upon implantation,34, 40, 41, 43, which leads to shorter TTP intervals and predisposes to RMC. This abnormal phenotype results in an extended window of implantation, which reduces the endometrial ability to be ‘selective’ in response to embryo quality.8 This concept is consistent with the previously reported association of late implantation of embryos with an increased risk of early miscarriage.44 The findings from our study may suggest that an obesogenic environment might have a negative influence on the peri‐implantation endometrium, which would predispose women to RMC."

"Our study findings support the concept of ‘biological superfertility’ in women with RMC and present a unique finding that superfertility may be more prevalent in obese women with a history of RMC. Further prospective studies in women with idiopathic RMC are required to confirm the association of BMI, RMC and superfertility. If confirmed, further investigation is required to understand why obesity predisposes to superfertility. Superfertility may likely be linked to impaired endometrial development in the peri‐implantation period; further research to describe the peri‐implantation endometrium in obese women and to study the exact mechanism by which obesity affects the endometrium is required. Clinical trials with therapeutic targets to improve decidualisation and thus reproductive outcome in obese women could hold significant clinical potential."

"A significant number of the respondents were under misapprehensions as to what caused the loss of the pregnancy. Three-quarters believed that a stressful event could bring about a miscarriage, 64% thought that lifting a heavy object could be a cause, and a fifth that previous use of oral contraceptives could induce pregnancy loss."

"Of those who took part 15% said they or their partner had suffered a miscarriage, but the majority of respondents (55%) believed that miscarriages are uncommon (defined as less than 6% of all pregnancies). The truth is that miscarriages end one in four pregnancies and are by far the most common pregnancy complication, the paper says. A fifth of people incorrectly believed that lifestyle choices during pregnancy, such as smoking or using drugs or alcohol, were the single most common cause of miscarriage, more common than genetic or medical causes. In reality, 60% of miscarriages are caused by a genetic problem."

"The authors concluded: “Patients who have experienced miscarriage may benefit from further counselling by healthcare providers, identification of the cause, and revelations from friends and celebrities. Healthcare providers have an important role in assessing and educating all pregnant patients about known prenatal risk factors, diminishing concerns about unsubstantiated but prevalent myths and, among those who experience a miscarriage, acknowledging and dissuading feelings of guilt and shame.”"

"Q: The moment in your special that really made me gasp out loud is when you joke about how you suffered a miscarriage before, and how you were secretly relieved because they were twins. Do you think that joke only works because the audience could see that you got pregnant again, so there is redemption to the loss?"

"Ali Wong: I think that’s part of it, for sure. But it really helped me when I had a miscarriage to talk to other women and hear that they’d been through it, too. It’s one thing to hear the statistics, but it’s another to put faces to the numbers so you stop feeling like it’s your fault. I think that’s one of the reasons women don’t tell people when they’ve had a miscarriage – they think it’s their fault. I remember I worried what my in-laws would think, which is so crazy. I thought they’d think their son had married a terrible person. Also, because I made the mistake of telling people as soon as I got pregnant, I then had to tell them the bad news, and then I felt like I was burdening them. So being able to joke about it was such a relief. Comedy only works when it comes from an honest place, and the relief that I’d miscarried twins was real!"

"Orgasmic dysfunction in females is commonly reported in the general population with little consensus on its aetiology. We performed a classical twin study to explore whether there were observable genetic influences on female orgasmic dysfunction. Adult females from the TwinsUK register were sent a confidential survey including questions on sexual problems. Complete responses to the questions on orgasmic dysfunction were obtained from 4037 women consisting of 683 monozygotic and 714 dizygotic pairs of female twins aged between 19 and 83 years. One in three women (32%) reported never or infrequently achieving orgasm during intercourse, with a corresponding figure of 21% during masturbation. A significant genetic influence was seen with an estimated heritability for difficulty reaching orgasm during intercourse of 34% (95% confidence interval 27–40%) and 45% (95% confidence interval 38–52%) for orgasm during masturbation. These results show that the wide variation in orgasmic dysfunction in females has a genetic basis and cannot be attributed solely to cultural influences. These results should stimulate further research into the biological and perhaps evolutionary processes governing female sexual function."

"Until recently, little research has explored female sexual function (Berman et al. 1999), and yet women commonly report sexual dysfunction. For example, over 50% of women in the UK report at least one sexual problem lasting a month or more during the previous year (Mercer et al. 2003), and around a quarter have never or rarely achieved orgasm during the previous three months (Dunn et al. 2002). There is controversy over whether the problem has a real medical basis, or whether it has partly been created by the media, pharmaceutical advertising and cultural expectations (Moynihan 2003). Whereas studying male sexual function is widely accepted (with a recent increase following the release of drugs like Viagra), the female orgasm is less well studied. This lack of scientific interest may be partly attributable to the previous consensus that the female orgasm has no clear role in reproduction. This view was challenged by research showing that the orgasm helped facilitate sperm retention (Morris 1967; Fox et al. 1970). Further evidence for the orgasm's reproductive role comes from studies linking it with the menstrual cycle (Matteo & Rissman 1984; Baker & Bellis 1995). More recently, this was corroborated in other studies showing that desire for pregnancy subconsciously predicted timing of the female orgasm to be just after that of the male (Singh et al. 1998). Studies such as these are obviously difficult to conduct, and there is still a lack of agreement among experts about the role of the female orgasm in humans. While differences in sexual function between women were known to exist, these have been largely attributed to cultural, religious and psychological factors. No study has explored family history or genetic factors—which might indicate or refute a biological or evolutionary basis for the variation. We therefore performed a classical twin study comparing the similarities in identical and non-identical twins to explore whether there were observable genetic influences on variation in female orgasmic function."

"Results: Orgasm induced elevations in cardiovascular parameters and levels of plasma adrenaline and noradrenaline. Plasma prolactin substantially increased after orgasm, remained elevated over the remainder of the session, and was still raised 60 minutes after sexual arousal. In addition, sexual arousal also produced small increases in plasma LH and testosterone concentrations. In contrast, plasma concentrations of cortisol, FSH, beta-endorphin, progesterone, and estradiol were unaffected by orgasm. Conclusions: Sexual arousal and orgasm produce a distinct pattern of neuroendocrine alterations in women, primarily inducing a long-lasting elevation in plasma prolactin concentrations. These results concur with those observed in men, suggesting that prolactin is an endocrine marker of sexual arousal and orgasm."

"There is a notable gap between heterosexual men and women in frequency of orgasm during sex. Little is known, however, about sexual orientation differences in orgasm frequency. We examined how over 30 different traits or behaviors were associated with frequency of orgasm when sexually intimate during the past month. We analyzed a large US sample of adults (N = 52,588) who identified as heterosexual men (n = 26,032), gay men (n = 452), bisexual men (n = 550), lesbian women (n = 340), bisexual women (n = 1112), and heterosexual women (n = 24,102). Heterosexual men were most likely to say they usually-always orgasmed when sexually intimate (95%), followed by gay men (89%), bisexual men (88%), lesbian women (86%), bisexual women (66%), and heterosexual women (65%). Compared to women who orgasmed less frequently, women who orgasmed more frequently were more likely to: receive more oral sex, have longer duration of last sex, be more satisfied with their relationship, ask for what they want in bed, praise their partner for something they did in bed, call/email to tease about doing something sexual, wear sexy lingerie, try new sexual positions, anal stimulation, act out fantasies, incorporate sexy talk, and express love during sex. Women were more likely to orgasm if their last sexual encounter included deep kissing, manual genital stimulation, and/or oral sex in addition to vaginal intercourse. We consider sociocultural and evolutionary explanations for these orgasm gaps. The results suggest a variety of behaviors couples can try to increase orgasm frequency."

"The idea of thinking yourself to orgasm is not new. In the early 1970's, the Masters and Johnson research team documented the strong connection between sexuality and thought. The connection is particularly strong in women, says Dr. Ian Kerner, author and sex therapist. "The brain is the most powerful sex organ," he says. Men, he adds, have a much harder time making themselves climax without any touch whatsoever, but there are documented cases in women."

"Above his desk at Rutgers University, psychology professor Barry Komisaruk has a framed image of what female brain activity looks like during orgasm. It looks like a sunset. Every major region of her brain ignites at the height of climax."

"Results: The results confirmed transient increases in adrenaline and prolactin plasma concentrations. Sexual arousal and orgasm increased the absolute number of leukocytes, in particular natural killer cells (CD3-CD16+CD56+), in the peripheral blood. In contrast, T cell (CD3+) and B cell (CD3-CD20+) subpopulations as well as the production of interleukin 6 and tumor necrosins factor alpha remained unaffected by sexual activity. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that components of the innate immune system are activated by sexual arousal and orgasm."

"While the records for very young boys are fewer than for boys nearer the age of adolescence and while the calculations for these youngest cases are consequently less reliable, the data do show a gradual increase, with advancing age, in the percentage of cases able to reach climax: 32 per cent of the boys 2 to 12 months of age, more than half (57.1%) of the 2- to 5- year olds, and nearly 80 per cent of the pre-adolescent boys between 10 and 13 years of age (inclusive) came to climax. Half of the boys had reached climax by age 7 years of age (nearly half of them by 5 years), and two-thirds of them by 12 years of age. The observers emphasize that there are some of these pre-adolescent boys (estimated by one observer as less than one quarter of the cases) who fail to reach climax even under prolonged and varied and repeated stimulation; but, even in these young boys, this probably represent psychologic blockage more often than physiologic incapacity. In the population as a whole, a much smaller percentage of the boys experience orgasm at any early age, because few of them find themselves in circumstances that test their capacities; but the positive record on these boys who did have the opportunity makes it certain that many infant males and younger boys are capable of orgasm, and it is probable that half or more of the boys in an uninhibited society could reach climax by the time they were three or four years of age, and that nearly all of them could experience such a climax three to five years before the onset of adolescence."

"Erection is much quicker in pre-adolescent boys than in adults, although the speed with which climax is reached in preadolescent males varies considerably in different boys(Table 32), just as it does in adults. There are two-tear olds who come to climax in less than 10 seconds, and there are two-year olds who may take 10 or 20 minutes, or more. There is a similar range among pre-adolescent of every other age. The mean time required to reach climax was almost exactly 3 minutes, and the median time was under 2 minutes. From earliest infancy until the middle twenties there is no effect of age on this point, although beyond that older males slow up in speed of response (Chapter 6)."

"The most remarkable aspect of the pre-adolescent population is its capacity to achieve repeated orgasm in limited periods of time. This capacity definitely exceeds the ability of teen-age boys who, in turn, are much more capable than any older males (Tables 33, 34, 48, Figure 36). Among 182 pre-adolescent boys on whom sufficient data are available, more than half (55.5%, 138 cases) readily reached a second climax within a short period of time, and nearly a third (30.8%) of all these 182 boys were able to achieve 5 or more climaces in quite rapid succession (Tables 32-34). It is certain that a higher proportion of the boys could have had multiple orgasm if the situation had offered. Among 64 cases on which there are detailed reports, the average interval between the first and second climaxes ranged from less than 10 seconds to 30 minutes or more, but the mean interval was only 6.28 minutes (median 2.25 minutes) Table 33). There are older males, even in their thirties and older, who are able to equal this performance, but a much higher proportion of these pre-adolescent males are so capable. Even the youngest males, as young as 5 months in age, are."

"Results. The literature cites dozens of trials that have attempted to confirm the existence of a G‐spot using surveys, pathologic specimens, various imaging modalities, and biochemical markers. The surveys found that a majority of women believe a G‐spot actually exists, although not all of the women who believed in it were able to locate it. Attempts to characterize vaginal innervation have shown some differences in nerve distribution across the vagina, although the findings have not proven to be universally reproducible. Furthermore, radiographic studies have been unable to demonstrate a unique entity, other than the clitoris, whose direct stimulation leads to vaginal orgasm. Conclusions. Objective measures have failed to provide strong and consistent evidence for the existence of an anatomical site that could be related to the famed G‐spot. However, reliable reports and anecdotal testimonials of the existence of a highly sensitive area in the distal anterior vaginal wall raise the question of whether enough investigative modalities have been implemented in the search of the G‐spot."

"Women diagnosed with complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at T10 or above report vaginal-cervical perceptual awareness. To test whether the Vagus nerves, which bypass the spinal cord, provide the afferent pathway for this response, we hypothesized that the Nucleus Tractus Solitarii (NTS) region of the medulla oblongata, to which the Vagus nerves project, is activated by vaginal-cervical self-stimulation (CSS) in such women, as visualized by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Regional blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity was imaged during CSS and other motor and sensory procedures, using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analysis with head motion artifact correction. Physiatric examination and MRI established the location and extent of spinal cord injury. In order to demarcate the NTS, a gustatory stimulus and hand movement were used to activate the superior region of the NTS and the Nucleus Cuneatus adjacent to the inferior region of the NTS, respectively. Each of four women with interruption, or "complete" injury, of the spinal cord (ASIA criteria), and one woman with significant, but "incomplete" SCI, all at or above T10, showed activation of the inferior region of the NTS during CSS. Each woman showed analgesia, measured at the fingers, during CSS, confirming previous findings. Three women experienced orgasm during the CSS. The brain regions that showed activation during the orgasms included hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, medial amygdala, anterior cingulate, frontal, parietal, and insular cortices, and cerebellum. We conclude that the Vagus nerves provide a spinal cord-bypass pathway for vaginal-cervical sensibility in women with complete spinal cord injury above the level of entry into spinal cord of the known genitospinal nerves."

"Women diagnosed with complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at T10 or higher report sensations generated by vaginal-cervical mechanical self-stimulation (CSS). In this paper we review brain responses to sexual arousal and orgasm in such women, and further hypothesize that the afferent pathway for this unexpected perception is provided by the Vagus nerves, which bypass the spinal cord. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we ascertained that the region of the medulla oblongata to which the Vagus nerves project (the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract or NTS) is activated by CSS. We also used an objective measure, CSS-induced analgesia response to experimentally induced finger pain, to ascertain the functionality of this pathway. During CSS, several women experienced orgasms. Brain regions activated during orgasm included the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, amygdala, accumbens-bed nucleus of the stria terminalis-preoptic area, hippocampus, basal ganglia (especially putamen), cerebellum, and anterior cingulate, insular, parietal and frontal cortices, and lower brainstem (central gray, mesencephalic reticular formation, and NTS). We conclude that the Vagus nerves provide a spinal cord-bypass pathway for vaginal-cervical sensibility and that activation of this pathway can produce analgesia and orgasm."

"Our previous research on genital self-stimulation in women identified brain regions that are activated during orgasm. These regions include the nucleus accumbens, anterior hypothalamus (in the region of the paraventricular nucleus), amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, hippocampus, cerebellum, and paracentral lobule. In the present study, we extend these findings by analyzing the relative time course of activation of these and other brain regions. We find evidence of differential rates of activation among more than 30 discrete anatomical areas on each of the left and right sides of the brain. Based on preliminary analysis of self-stimulation data, genital sensory cortex, thalamus, motor areas, cerebellum, hypothalamus, and substantia nigra are activated earliest. Closer to the onset of orgasm and continuing through orgasm, frontal cortical regions, entorhinal cortex, cingulate cortex, insula, amygdala, and hippocampus become activated. Later in the orgasm, and shortly thereafter, the levels of activation peak in the hypothalamus, nucleus accumbens, and caudate. Thus, leading up to, during, and after orgasm there are marked differences in the temporal profiles of activity (increases and decreases) among specific brain regions. As reported previously (Komisaruk et al, 2004, Brain Research,1024:77) activation evidently occurs in widespread regions throughout the brain during orgasm. The slow time course of the development, duration, and resolution of orgasm (i.e., over seconds and minutes) provides a useful model to elucidate the integration of neural systems mediating the cognitive, emotional, somatic, and visceral components of this intense human experience."

"If you understand the way that the genital system gets to the brain, we can understand pathologies, where there is a blockage—say, in people who don’t have orgasms—where is their system blocked, and why. That’s where we are going now. Once we can understand the natural process, we can understand the pathology and how to attack."

"There is good reason to believe that orgasms while sleeping are not, in fact, the result of genital stimulation, but instead are created in the brain."

"In an open study, sildenafil (Viagra) was prescribed for nine women outpatients who reported sexual dysfunction induced by antidepressant medication, primarily selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. A 50 mg dose of sildenafil was prescribed, and patients were instructed to take it approximately one hour before sexual activity. They were told to increase the dose to 100 mg on the next occasion if they experienced a partial response or a lack of response to sildenafil. The nine patients, all of whom had experienced either anorgasmia or delayed orgasm with or without associated disturbances, reported significant reversal of sexual dysfunction, usually with the first dose of 50 mg of sildenafil."

"During intercourse, the female orgasm can be elusive. What frustrated woman hasn't wondered: Am I simply, um, put together differently than other women? Kim Wallen, professor of psychology and behavioral neuroendocrinology at Emory University, is busy doing the math to find out. And, yes, he says, simple physiology may have a lot to do with orgasm ease -- specifically, how far a woman's clitoris lies from her vagina. That number might predict how easily a woman can experience orgasms from penile stimulation alone -- without help from fingers, toys or tongue -- during sexual intercourse. In fact, there's even an easy "rule of thumb," Wallen says: Clitoris-vagina distances less than 2.5 cm -- that's roughly from the tip of your thumb to your first knuckle -- tend to yield reliable orgasms during sex. More than a thumb's length? Regular intercourse alone typically might not do the trick."

"Orgasm is fantastic for your brain. A lot of different regions are activated, which means they're getting a lot of blood flow. It's kind of a workout for your brain.""

"For women, it seems, sex is a big turn-off, reveals a brain scanning study. It shows that many areas of the brain switch off during the female orgasm – including those involved with emotion. “At the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings,” says Gert Holstege of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands."

"The results of the study are striking. As the women were stimulated, activity rose in one sensory part of the brain, called the primary somatosensory cortex, but fell in the amygdala and hippocampus, areas involved in alertness and anxiety. During orgasm, activity fell in many more areas of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, compared with the resting state, Holstege told a meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Development in Copenhagen on Monday. In one sense the findings appear to confirm what is already known, that women cannot enjoy sex unless they are relaxed and free from worries and distractions. “Fear and anxiety levels have to go down for orgasm. Everyone knows this but we can see it happening in the brain,” he explains."

"From an evolutionary point of view, it could be that the brain switches off the emotions during sex because at such times the chance to produce offspring becomes more important than the survival risk to the individual. Holstege points to the extraordinary behaviour seen in some animals during the breeding season, such as March hares, when the urge to mate seems to override the usual fear of predators. But Holstege cannot explain why there is such extreme deactivation in so many areas of the brain during orgasm. Only one small part of the brain, in the cerebellum, was more active during female orgasm. The cerebellum is normally associated with coordinating movement, though there is also some evidence that it helps regulate emotions. “We don’t know what activation of the cerebellum corresponds to,” Holstege admits."

"Introduction: The effect of sexual arousal and orgasm on genital sensitivity has received little research attention, and no study has assessed sensation pleasurableness as well as painfulness."

"Scientists have used brain scan images to create the world's first movie of the female brain as it ap-proaches, experiences and recovers from an orgasm. The animation reveals the steady buildup of activi-ty in the brain as disparate regions flicker into life and then come together in a crescendo of activity before gently settling back down again. To make the animation, researchers monitored a woman's brain as she lay in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner and stimulated herself. The research will help scientists to understand how the brain conducts the symphony of activity that leads to sexual climax in a woman. By studying people who have orgasms, Professor Barry Komisaruk, a psychologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey and his team hope to uncover what goes wrong in both men and women who cannot reach sexual climax."

"The five-minute movie shows how activity changes across 80 separate regions of the brain in snapshots taken every two seconds. The animation uses a "hot metal" colour scale that begins at dark red and progresses through orange and yellow to white at the highest levels of activity. "The general aim of this research is to understand how the orgasm builds up from genital stimulation and what parts of the brain become recruited and finally build up into an orgasm," said Prof Komisaruk, who presented the work at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington DC on Monday. The work has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. As the animation plays, activity first builds up in the genital area of the sensory cortex, a response to being touched in that region. Activity then spreads to the limbic system, a collection of brain structures involved in emotions and long-term memory. As the orgasm arrives, activity shoots up in two parts of the brain called the cerebellum and the frontal cortex, perhaps because of greater muscle tension. During orgasm, activity reaches a peak in the hypothalamus, which releases a chemical called oxytocin that causes pleasurable sensations and stimulates the uterus to contract. Activity also peaks in the nucleus accumbens, an area linked to reward and pleasure. After orgasm, the activity in all these regions gradually calms down."

"Generally, no functional role, except pleasure, is assigned to a women's coital orgasm. Recently, however, researchers have suggested that women can regulate the number of sperm accepted or rejected by manipulation coital orgasm timing. Baker and Bellis (1995) demonstrated that women retain more sperm if coital orgasm occurs after, rather than before male ejaculation. The present study investigated (i) factors associated with coital orgasm frequency and (ii) whether women desirous of becoming pregnant report more coital orgasms after than before their partners. Sixty-nine women rated their desire for pregnancy and answered questions about their sexual behaviors, coital orgasm frequency, and coital orgasm timing in relation to their partners. In regression analysis, coital orgasm frequency was predicted by foreplay duration, masturbation frequency, and active sexual participation; desire for pregnancy did not predict coital orgasm frequency. Desire for pregnancy was predicted by age (negatively), active sexual participation (positively), and positively by orgasm after partner ejaculation. Consistent with the Baker and Bellis hypothesis, frequency of orgasm after partner's orgasm remained a significant predictor for desire for pregnancy after controlling for degree of marital happiness, sexual foreplay duration, and coital orgasm frequency."

"Orgasms are a truly altered, if fleeting, state of consciousness. And most people (though not all) experience them somewhat regularly. So it's a bit surprising how seldom we talk about orgasms publicly — and scientifically, how little we know about them."

""Their brain activity is very similar to women who have orgasms from physical self-stimulation," Komisaruk says. This even includes heightened activity in the sensory cortex, the area that primarily responds to touch. "Just thinking about stimulation, it turns out, is a very potent way of stimulating this region," he says."

"By the time you actually experience an orgasm, "more than 30 major brain systems are activated," Komisaruk says. "It's not a local, discrete event. There's no 'orgasm center.' It's everywhere.""

"It has generally been assumed that a male's experience of orgasm is different from a female's experience of orgasm. In this study, a questionnaire consisting of 48 description of orgasm (24 male and 24 female) was submitted to 70 judges. These professionals (obstetrician-gynecologists, psychologists and medical students) were to sex-identify the description to discover whether sex differences could be detected. The judges could not correctly identify the sex of the person describing an orgasm. Furthermore, none of the three professional groups represented in the sample of judges did better than any of the other groups. Male judges did no better than female judges and vice versa. These findings suggest that the experience of orgasm for males and females is essentially the same."

"Preliminary work has revealed that only about 7% of women always have orgasms with sex alone, he says, while 27% say they never do. The current research hold-up: developing a reliable, at-home technique for measuring C-V distance, especially one that can deal with stretchy skin. Women with a large C-V distance should not be discouraged, Wallen says. "Personally, I don't think the inability to experience no-hands, penis-only intercourse with orgasm says anything about a happy sex life," he says. "Maybe it could allow couples to be a bit more inventive in how they have sex.""

"In 2 studies with 10 women each, vaginal self-stimulation significantly increased the threshold to detect and tolerate painful finger compression, but did not significantly affect the threshold to detect innocuous tactile stimulation. The vaginal self-stimulation was applied with a specially designed pressure transducer assembly to produce a report of pressure or pleasure. In the first study, 6 of the women perceived the vaginal stimulation as producing pleasure. During that condition, the pain tolerance threshold increased significantly by 36.8% and the pain detection threshold increased significantly by 53%. A second study utilized other types of stimuli. Vaginal self-stimulation perceived as pressure significantly increased the pain tolerance threshold by 40.3% and the pain detection threshold by 47.4%. In the second study, when the vaginal stimulation was self-applied in a manner that produced orgasm, the pain tolerance threshold and pain detection threshold increased significantly by 74.6% and 106.7% respectively, while the tactile threshold remained unaffected. A variety of control conditions, including various types of distraction, did not significantly elevate pain or tactile thresholds. We conclude that in women, vaginal self-stimulation decreases pain sensitivity, but does not affect tactile sensitivity. This effect is apparently not due to painful or non-painful distraction."

"This study investigated the relative effectiveness of specific genital regional self-stimulation in elevating pain thresholds. Anecdotal reports in humans suggest that sexual activity and orgasm decrease a wide variety of human responses to pain and touch, but the phenomenon has not been evaluated objectively. Two types of self-stimulation, pressure and pleasurable, were applied by 10 women to the anterior vaginal wall, the posterior vaginal wall, and the clitoris. Significant increases in pain thresholds but not tactile thresholds occurred when pressure stimulation was applied to the anterior wall of the vagina or when "pleasurable" self-stimulation was applied to any of the three areas. Tactile thresholds were not significantly affected by any genital stimulation condition. However, there was a significant increase in tactile threshold but not pain thresholds in the distraction control condition. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that (a) a sensation of pleasure evoked by genital stimulation can elevate pain thresholds, (b) these pleasurable stimuli were not general "distractants" because they elevated pain thresholds but not tactile thresholds differentially, and (c) genital pleasurable stimuli activate an analgesic process that is distinct from a distraction process."

"[T]here were reasons for the acceptance of vaginal orgasm by female manual authors. The strong resistance to masturbatory activities reveals that such women were not internalizing a new prohibition in rejecting clitoral stimulation but extending an existing one. Manuals by women (and the evidence on behavior) also suggest that English women were generally less comfortable with varied sexual practices that were men. For many married women of this generation their sexual aspirations lay in a different direction. Although the theme had been present in the manuals throughout the inter-war period, the 1950s saw the peak of the insistence on vaginal orgasm for women and the peak of the glorification of sexual intercourse as a transcendent, shared emotional experience for the couple. Authors used phrases such as “their spirits as well as their bodies seem to rise together to a flame of ecstasy which is quite indescribable’ or ‘total emotional surrender’. Definitions of marital sexual pleasure incorporated emotion. In ‘’The Golden Notebook’’ (1962) the Rhodesian-born novelist Doris Lessing (b. 1919) made a frequently quoted, classic statement of support for the vaginal orgasm. She wrote that a ‘vaginal orgasm is emotion and nothing else, felt as emotion and expressed in sensation that are indistinguishable from emotion’. In her 1995 autobiography she also commented that ‘when I masturbated in my adolescence it was the vagina and its amazing possibilities I learned about. The clitoris was only part of the whole ensemble.’ In the 1950s, there were many articulate middle-class women who agreed with Doris Lessing and her perception of female sexual experience. They experienced coitus and vaginal orgasm as an emotional experience and they wanted men to participate emotionally also. Men had to alter their attitude to marital sexuality if they were to accommodate this demand, as a shared emotional experience was incompatible with the exercise of conjugal rights. Thus, in a context where male initiation and management of physical sexual activity was still the norm, the vaginal orgasm involved a further step toward the destruction of the double standard."

"“Possibly about a third of civilized women get their climax externally [clitorally]; perhaps another third achieve it mainly in the vaginal passage, and another third achieve it seldom or never. Of women who can reach it from either area it is found that the inner climax is generally-but not quite always-the one most valued. It is held by psychiatrists that the emotional content of the two types of orgasm is different. Most women will confirm this, though there can be no question of the significance being identical for everybody.’’ This revealed considerable problems. According to Malleson, two-thirds of women were not achieving the vaginal orgasms held to be most desirable by Freud, by most sex manual authors, and frequently by women themselves. Less specifically, Helena Wright, who saw London women through her private medical practice and Family Planning clinics, wrote in 1947 that she had kept careful records of her patients’ experiences since 1928, and that ‘sexual satisfaction is not obtained by more than 50 per cent of married women’. Unsurprisingly Macaulay, who advised women to lower their expectations, was more sanguine about female sexual pleasure: ‘The answers I have received on questioning my patients about their sexual life are in complete contrast to the somewhat gloomy figures published by other writers.’ In her second sex manual, published in 1947, Wright commented that ‘Fifteen years ago most workers along this line thought that the main problem [for women] was ignorance.’ This, Wright felt, had changed, revealing another problem, which was that both men and women expected female sexual response to conform to a male pattern: [Men] discover very early in their sexual experience that…a comparatively short time of rhythmic movements of the penis in the vagina produces an orgasm and ejaculation easily and completely…men, therefore, expect that…"

"Masters and Johnson’s major conclusion was that there was only one female orgasm and that it originated in the clitoris regardless of where it was felt. This was in spite of their description of the vaginal response to erotic stimulation, explained here by the Breechers: ‘’The vagina too, responds. It can be thought of as a cylinder or ‘barrel’, which remains in a collapsed state in the absence of erotic stimulation. The Masters-Johnson studies have established that the outer third of this barrel reacts in one way and the inner two-thirds in a very different way during the successive phases of sexual response. As sexual tension mounts during the excitement phase… [t]he cervix and the uterus are pulled back and up…producing a ‘tenting’ of the vaginal walls surrounding the cervix. The net result of these and other changes is a dramatic ‘ballooning’ of the inner two thirds of the vagina. The diameter at the widest point of the ballooning may be three times the diameter of the erotically unstimulated vagina; and the total length of the vaginal barrel may be increased as much as a full inch.’’ Given this physical response the vagina cannot be described as inactive or even passive. However, Masters, and Johnson assumed this to be the case, and their findings focused on what they called clitorical orgasms. The female research subjects were chosen on the basis of their capacity to produce orgasms in the laboratory while under observation. Regarding these women, Masters and Johnson found that as ‘contrasted with the male’s usual inability to have more than one orgasm in a short period, many females, especially when clitorally stimulated can regularly have five or six full orgasms within a matter of minutes’. In this context, with these female subjects, it was found that the most intense orgasms on a physiological level occurred as a result of masturbation, not while engaging in penile-vaginal intercourse. In response to these findings, Dr Mary Jane Sherfey, an American psychoanalyst, concluded in 1966 that ‘biology gives to women an inordinate sexual drive and capacity which had to be suppressed in the interests of maternal responsibility and male property rights with the rise of modern civilisation’."

"The objective of this study was to test the Betty Dodson method of breaking the female orgasm barrier in chronic anorgasmic women. The aim was sexual and existential healing (salutogenesis) through direct confrontation and integration of both the repressed shame, guilt, and other negative feelings associated with body, genitals, and sexuality, and the repressed sexual pleasure and desire. We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinic data from holistic sexological manual therapeutic intervention, an intensive subtype of clinical holistic medicine (CHM). The patients received 3 × 5 h of group therapy, integrating short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) and complementary medicine (CAM bodywork, manual sexology similar to the “sexological examination”). The therapy used the advanced tools of reparenting, genital acceptance, acceptance through touch, and direct sexual clitoral stimulation. A clitoral vibrator was used. Participants were 500 female patients between 18 and 88 years of age (mean of 35 years) with chronic anorgasmia (for 12 years on average) who were participating in the “orgasm course for anorgasmic women”; 25% of the patients had never experienced an orgasm. Our results show that 465 patients (93%) had an orgasm during therapy, witnessed by the therapist, and 35 patients (7%) did not. Postmenopausal women were as able to achieve orgasm as fertile women, as were women who never had an orgasm. No patients had detectable negative side effects or adverse effects. NNT: 1.04 < NNT < 1.12, NNH > 500. Therapeutic value: TV = NNH/NNT > 446. Our conclusions are that holistic sexological manual therapy may be rational, safe, ethical, and efficient."

"The female orgasm is a variable, transient peak sensation of intense pleasure, creating an altered state of consciousness, usually with an initiation accompanied by involuntary, rhythmic contractions of the pelvic striated circumvaginal musculature, often with concomitant uterine and anal contractions, that resolves the sexually induced vasocongestion and myotonia, generally with an induction of well-being and contentment. Findings from surveys and clinical reports suggest that orgasm problems are the first or second most frequently reported sexual problems in women. Between 11 and 60% of adult women suffer from lack of orgasm, depending on factors such as culture and religion. On an individual level, self-insight and a positive attitude towards one’s own genitals and sexuality are important. Female anorgasmia is a significant sexual problem. The woman who lacks orgasm often also lacks desire and joy of sexuality, has low self-esteem, often feels like a sexual failure, and feels sexually wrong and ashamed of herself for not being the “woman she was meant to be”. Perceptions of not being fully able to satisfy her partner sexually are normal and quality of life is often low. The problem of female anorgasmia, from a psychodynamic perspective, often goes back to the parental lack of acceptance of the patient’s genitals, body, and sexuality, often leading to intense feelings of shame and guilt, which seem to be repressed by a denial of physical and sexual needs, and accumulate in the pelvic and genital area. Sexual abuse and sexual traumas from rape and incest often cause lack of orgasm. If self-esteem is low, it is our clinical observation that there can be lack of orgasm from the simple psychological reason that the patient feels she does not deserve such pleasure, or does not know how to get it. It is very likely that anorgasmia is a socially inherited sexual dysfunction, but this has never been investigated scientifically. It is generally believed that anorgasmia, as most other sexual dysfunctions, is caused by a disturbed psychosexual development."

"The female patients in holistic existential therapy and holistic sexology with life-long anorgasmia often find their situation pretty hopeless; many of them have been dysfunctional and incurable for many years or they suffer from conditions for which there has been no efficient biomedical or psychotherapeutical cure. They suffer from a condition that is a serious burden to their marital life, if they have a husband; often the problem makes them unable to find or keep a partner. Often the problem of anorgasmia is caused by traumas from earlier sexual abuse, which needs more effective and direct tools for the induction of healing (salutogenesis)."

"In this study, 500 female patients with often lifelong anorgasmia received direct sexual stimulation of the clitoris during the therapy and 93% of the patients experienced that the procedure solved their problem. The success of this study gives us one more very important tool for holistic medicine. Together with the other tools of holistic manual therapy, such as acceptance through touch and acupressure through the vagina, we now have tools for solving problems related to female sexual dysfunction. We therefore conclude that direct sexual stimulation can be a safe and efficient procedure, and an important new tool in the holistic medical toolbox."

"Despite orgasm being a near-universal human phenomenon, we still don’t know all that much about it. “The amount of speculation versus actual data on both the function and value of orgasm is remarkable,” says Julia Heiman, director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction in Bloomington, Indiana. It is estimated that one in four women in the US has had difficulty achieving orgasm in the past year, while between 5 and 10 per cent of women are anorgasmic – unable to achieve orgasm at all. But without precise data to explain what happens during this experience, there are few treatment options available for women who might want help."

"Georgiadis argues that the OFC may be the basis of sexual control – and perhaps only by letting go, so to speak, can orgasm be achieved. He suggests this deactivation may be the most telling example of an “altered state of consciousness” and one not seen, as yet, during any other type of activity. “I don’t think orgasm turns off consciousness but it changes it,” he says. “When you ask people how they perceive their orgasm, they describe a feeling of a loss of control.” Georgiadis suggests that perhaps orgasm offsets systems that usually dominate attention and behaviour. “I’m not sure if this altered state is necessary to achieve more pleasure or is just some side effect,” he says. It is possible that the inability to let go and reach this altered state may be what prohibits individuals with anorgasmia from reaching climax."

"The orgasm is a strong analgesic. With brain-activation studies of orgasm showing unique patterns of activation in regions implicated in attention, self-awareness and consciousness, researchers believe its study may also help with the control of pain. “Orgasm is a special case of consciousness,” says Barry Komisaruk at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. “If we can look at different ways of inducing orgasm, we may better understand how we can use top-down processing to control what we physically feel.”"

"“This kind of research is incredibly useful,” says Heiman. “Orgasm is tied into the brain’s reward system and likely other important systems as well. There is much we can learn about the brain, about sensation, about how pleasure works and probably much more from this one physical response.”"

"This experiment occurred during the context of an orgasm study. All participants described themselves as being “consistently highly orgasmic” during study enrollment. As there has been support in the literature for a correlation between orgasm reliability and higher hypnotic suggestibility(Bridges, et al., 1985), and imagery ability (Harris et al., 1980), the degree of suggestibility of these participants may potentially have biased the results toward more robust imagery activations than expected. This may have contributed to the lack of robustness of the brain response to the physical stimulation conditions by having the explicit modeling be too suggestive of the actual physical stimulation."

"Our laboratory, the Komisaruk group, has consistently found widespread, regional brain activation leading up to and peaking at orgasm, including frontal and temporal brain regions, while conversely, the Georgiadis group report diametrically opposite results in which the frontal cortex—specifically the right medial orbitofrontal, left lateral orbifrontal, and left dorsolateral cortices—and right amygdala were deactivated during orgasm. And also in contrast with our findings of widespread activation during orgasm, the Dutch group has reported finding reliable orgasm-related activation only in the cerebellum (Georgiadis et al., 2006), and more recently, the pons (Huynhet al., 2013)"

"What happens in the brain that initiates and orchestrates the “going over” from stimulation to orgasm? This is of interest for clinical applications for individuals suffering from the inability to experience an orgasm. We attempted to elucidate this by comparing the stimulation period that immediately precedes the onset of orgasm with that at the onset of orgasm."

"As predicted, the results showed clear evidence that many brain regions were differentially activated during the course of genital stimulation leading up to and culminating in orgasm in these women. These activations include sensory, motor, reward, frontal cortical and brainstem regions, i.e., the genital sensory cortex (paracentral lobule), secondary somatosensory cortex (operculum SII, regions OP1 and OP4), precuneus, inferior parietal lobule, insula, hippocampus, amygdala, cerebellum, supplementary motor area, dorsal and ventral striatum (caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens), substantia nigra, the mesolimbic dopamine system (ventral tegmentum), hypothalamus, pons, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, temporal pole, and the prefrontal cortex."

"Based upon the results of the various analyses of the transition from the later stimulation through orgasm, we conclude that “going over” into orgasm involves a complex interaction between sensory integration, motor, reward, and cognitive region, involving the autonomic nervous system. The evidence of activation of brain regions that control both sympathetic and parasympathetic activity at orgasm in this study of women suggests that, similar to the dual activation involved in orgasm in men (penile erection: parasympathetic function; ejaculation: sympathetic), both divisions of the autonomic nervous system contribute to the process of orgasm in women."

"Overall, our findings lead us to conclude that women’s orgasm is a major neurological event, involving widespread activity in many regions of the brain. Future effective connectivity studies should help elucidate how the activity of these regions develops and is integrated over the course of stimulation, orgasm, and recovery in the totality of the orgasm sequence."

"The findings presented in this dissertation suggest that the brain is capable of responding robustly to both physical “touch” and mental “imagined” stimulation. As physical genital stimulation builds up and culminates in the major neurological event of orgasm, many brain regions implicated in sensory, motor, cognitive, and reward processes are recruited along the way. How these regions interact to create the complex phenomenological experiences of sexual arousal and orgasm are yet to be fully understood. Fortunately, we are at the brink of advances in methodology that will facilitate our ability to address this, and other questions, raised by this dissertation."

"Recent work with real-time fMRI, in conjunction with compatible EEG/MEG, shows promise in allowing us to observe the brain at work (or play). Perhaps this method, in conjunction with effective connectivity data analysis techniques, will permit us to unravel the continuing mysteries of the orgasm sequence. How the various brain regions influence each other, activating and inhibiting one another, to produce the pleasures leading up to and including orgasm may well have applications beyond the bedroom. This method has already been therapeutically applied as a tool for neuro biofeedback, with the goal to increase activity in the left amygdala (Zotev et al., 2014) and insula (Veit et al., 2012), which has been associated with enhanced mood regulation and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. It is possible that by studying people who are virtuosos in regulation of their pleasure systems, such as the easily orgasmic women in our study who activated their genital sensory cortex simply by “imagining” genital stimulation, or the population of women who can literally “think” themselves into orgasm, previously studied by our group(Whipple et al, 1992), we will learn more effective strategies for helping mood-challenged individuals exercise the brain’s capacity for self-regulation."

"(original quote needed)"

"ロリータ・コンプレックス＝小さな子どもばかりを好きになる異常性格。"

"roriita konpurekkusu = {chiisana kodomo bakari wo sukininaru} ijou-seikaku."

"Lolita complex = an abnormal personality [in which] {[one] likes only small children}."

"Is she the one? I didn't know you were into these things. Lolita complex, right? Yeah! Lolita complex it is! I see, I see. Exactly. Lolita complex, and borderline boys' love on top of it."

"★ ハイ . コン ( ヘイジ コンプレックス ) 5~10 ★ アリ . コン ( アリス コンプレックス ) 7~12 ★ ロリ . コン ( ロリータ コンプレックス ) 10~15​ (English translation below) Hei-Con (Heidi Complex) 5-10 Ari-Con (Arisu Complex) 7-12 Rori-Con (Rorita Complex) 10-15"

"Cool off, lolicon count! Watch out before you get burned!"

"ロリータ・コンプレックス、通称ロリコン [roriita konpurekkusu tsuusyou rorikon] Lolita complex, commonly known as "loli-com" [rorikon] 美少女を恋してしまうミドルエイジの心の病 [bishoujyo wo koishite shimau midoru eiji no kokoro no yamai] Middle-aged mental illness that makes people fall in love with beautiful girls 合掌 [gasshou] praying hands [with my hands clasped in prayer]"

"二次元ロリコン アニメロリコン 2-dimensional lolicon anime lolicon"

"It's difficult. [My female protagonists] immediately become playthings for Lolita Complex males. In a sense, if we want to depict someone who is affirmative to us, we have no choice but to make them as lovely as possible. But now, there are too many people who shamelessly depict [such protagonists] as if they just want [such girls] as pets, and things are escalating more and more."

"classmate: ロリコン! (rorikon! = lolicon!) Yuuji Yagami: オレはマザコン (ore wa mazakon = I'm a mother complex)"

"Hey, Tamamo! Tell me the truth! What exactly is your business today? You're in the surgery department! It can't be! You're... It could not be!No! It can't be! (screams) You want to see the chests of grade-school girls as a lolicon? And you can do whatever you want with your doctor status! No way, no way! Ah, stop being my rival already!"

"rorikon da..."

"he's a lolicon"

"ロリコンは人間じゃない･･･ケダモノだ･･････"

"rorikon wa ningen janai... kedamono da......"

"lolicon aren't people... they're beasts......"

"It's because the technology for immortality was accidentally made during your experiments to create a lolicon's world. You froze the appearance of every woman in the world at age twelve."

"You damn lolicon!"

"Takechi: "I can't kill her. Killing a little girl... is not the samurai way. Capture her alive." Matako "Senpai!! You're such a lolicon!! She broke in here, we can't be so soft!" "I'm not a lolicon, I'm a feminist. I must be considerate towards female enemies. Such is the path of the feminist.""

"She's famous among the five million members of the Nationwide Lolicon Network. The Network has awarded her with the best little girl of 2005 award!"

"ロリコン 男の罠にかかったと見せかけた少女ヘイリーの正体も明かされないまま、男の自宅という密室状態で繰り広げられる1対1の攻防はスリリング。 Rorikon otoko no wana ni kakatta to misekaketa shōjo heirī no shōtai mo akasa renai mama, otoko no jitaku to iu misshitsu jōtai de kurihiroge rareru 1 tai 1 no kōbō wa suriringu. The true identity of Haley, the girl who appears to have fallen into the lolicon man's trap, is never revealed, and the one-on-one battle that unfolds in the closed space of the man's home is thrilling. .. ロリコン 男への制裁というひとネタだけで一気にラストまで突き進める脚本にも、洗練されたビジュアルセンスを見せる演出＆編集にも才気が溢れているのだが、本作の大きな魅力はヘイリー役のエレン・ペイジ。 Rorikon otoko e no seisai to iu hito neta dake de ikkini rasuto made tsukisusumeru kyakuhon ni mo, senrensareta bijuarusensu o miseru enshutsu& henshū ni mo saiki ga afurete iru nodaga, honsaku no ōkina miryoku wa heirī-yaku no eren peiji. The script, which drives the film to the end with just the one plot twist of punishing a lolicon man, and the direction and editing, which show off a sophisticated visual sense, are full of talent, but the biggest draw of this film is Ellen Page in the role of Haley."

"どうすれば、才色兼備な30女をつかまえられるのか－－という趣旨の記事だった。 世界でも希有な ロリコン 優勢の日本社会において、（30女的には）ありがたい内容。 Dōsureba, saishokukenbina 30 on'na o tsukamae rareru no ka -- to iu shushi no kijidatta. Sekai demo keuna rorikon yūsei no Nihon shakai ni oite, (30 on'na-teki ni wa) arigatai naiyō. The article was about how to catch a smart and beautiful 30-year-old woman. In Japan, where lolicons are the most prevalent in society, it was a welcome read (for a 30-year-old woman)."

"全てのオタク・萌え・非モテを中心に、コスプレイヤー、メイドさん、ニート、引きこもり、 ロリコン、 ショタコン、 腐女子、 腐男子、 ゲイ、 ビアン、 性的マイノリティー、 貧乏人、 ワーキングプア層、 苦学生、よっぱらい、 その他諸々の大バカモノと少数者はもはや結集するしかない！ Subete no otaku moe hi mote o chūshin ni, kosupureiyā, meido-san, nīto, hiki komori, rorikon, shotakon, fujoshi, fudanshi, gei, bian,-sei-teki mainoritī, binbōnin, wākingupua-sō,-ku gakusei, yopparai, sonota moromoro no dai baka mono to shōsū-sha wa mohaya kesshū suru shika nai! All otaku, moe, and non-popular people, as well as cosplayers, maids, NEETs, hikikomori, lolicons, shotacons, fujoshi and fudanshi, gays, lesbians, sexual minorities, poor people, the working poor, struggling students, drunks, and all other kinds of idiots and minorities, have no choice but to unite!"

"Konata: "I was just wondering... If a guy in our class confesses his love for me or Yu-chan... Does it make that guy a lolicon?" Soujiro: "Well, they're in the same class year... so technically it wouldn't. But in this case, there would be an emphasis on your appearances... Hypothetically... If you were a thirty-year-old who looked like a grade schooler... Then you could say that guy is into older women... This is quite a complicated issue. It's hard to come up with a strict interpretation." .. Konata: "If you fell in love with mom, and you dote on a daughter like me... That makes you a lolicon, right?" Soujiro: "Hold it right there. I think you're a bit mistaken. I like normal girls too, not just little ones. So you should say I'm also a lolicon. Though I suppose it depends on the character we're talking about." Konata "Either way, you fail as a human being.""

"Daisuke "I mean, it's not about adult breasts." Kyoko "Not adult? Th-then that means... loli?!""

"Aogami "To be able to enjoy scolding from a child like that...Kamiya-yan you'll gain plenty of experience points!" Kamiya "So not only are you a lolicon, you're also an M? God, you're hopeless." Aogami "It's not like -I like lolis- but rather -I also like lolis-""

"In this case you obviously have read lolicon, and I haven't. I don't know whether you're writing from personal experience here, and whether you have personally been incited to rape children or give inappropriate hugs by reading it. (I assume you haven't. I assume that Chris Handley, with his huge manga collection, wasn't either. I've read books that claimed that exposure to porn causes rape, but have seen no statistical evidence that porn causes rape -- and indeed have seen claims that the declining number of US rapes may be due to the wider availability of porn. Honestly, I think it's a red herring in First Amendment matters, and I'll leave it for other people to argue about.) Still, you seem to want lolicon banned, and people prosecuted for owning it, and I don't. You ask, What makes it worth defending? and the only answer I can give is this: Freedom to write, freedom to read, freedom to own material that you believe is worth defending means you're going to have to stand up for stuff you don't believe is worth defending, even stuff you find actively distasteful, because laws are big blunt instruments that do not differentiate between what you like and what you don't, because prosecutors are humans and bear grudges and fight for re-election, because one person's obscenity is another person's art."

"It's perfectly okay. I also hold some interest in this kid." "Aikawa.. you are, as I thought, a lolicon." "I'm not one for sure. I don't have any interest towards her in a sexual way. Rather, why don't you make a move?" "Hey, Aikawa, don't put me in the same category as you. I, on the other hand, prefer mature women." "How should I tell you that even though I'm in the flat-chested faction, I'm not a lolicon." "I got it. I got it. Don't be so serious about it. Lolicon."

"「ロリコン」は航空自衛隊・ブルーインパルスの展示飛行課目の一つで、「ローリング・コンバット・ピッチ」の略称。 `Rorikon' wa kōkūjieitai burūinparusu no tenji hikō kamoku no hitotsu de,`rōringu konbatto pitchi' no ryakushō. "Lolicon" is one of the demonstration flight events of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse, and is an abbreviation for "Rolling Combat Pitch.""

"彼氏と一緒に卒業した学校へ忍び込む設定で、制服や競泳水着など学生コスプレを披露。「自分で言うのもなんですけど、わたし ロリコン なので、制服とか水着みたいに ロリ っぽい衣装好きなんです」と満足げに話した。 Kareshi to issho ni sotsugyō shita gakkō e shinobikomu settei de, seifuku ya kyōei mizugi nado gakusei kosupure o hirō. `Jibun de iu no mo nandesukedo, watashi rorikon na node, seifuku toka mizugi mitai ni rori ppoi ishō-sukina ndesu' to manzoku-ge ni hanashita. In the setting where she sneaks into the school she graduated from with her boyfriend, she shows off cosplay costumes such as a uniform and a competitive swimsuit. "I know it sounds like I'm a lolicon, but I like loli-like clothes like uniforms and swimsuits," she said with satisfaction."

"もしもし、おまわりさんですか。近所のロリペドハイブリッドさんについて情報提供をしたいのですが Moshimoshi, omawarisandesu ka. Kinjo no roripedohaiburiddo-san ni tsuite jōhō teikyō o shitai nodesuga Hello, is this a police officer? I'd like to report a loli-pedo hybrid in my neighborhood."

"ロリ巨乳 rori kyonyū Loli BigBoobs"

"I'd like to report a loli-pedo hybrid pervert in the neighborhood."

"TBA statement about Roxy upon protagonist meeting her, resembling manga/anime below"

"A lolita magician! Score!! Hmm... "Roxy," huh? Loli, scornful eyes, blunt. How perfect."

"Kuki-chan, the truth is... I am a lolicon! I am a lolicon. A true lolicon. My strike zone for women lies between seven and twelve years old. In other words... Anyone works for me. Even you... Lolicon is not a disease! It is a way of life! Even I realize that I'm a pervert! But all the same, Chifuyu-chan was willing to accept me. Just being able to play with Chifuyu-chan satisfies me!"

"サイテー！！ロリコン！！"

"saitee!! rorikon!!"

"the worst!! lolicon!!"

"Lolicon? Asuna-san, as a member of the medical practice, that's a term you must never use .. pedophilia should be distinguished from the vague concept commonly referred to as "lolicon"."

"Goth-Loli Shoujo!"

"“We’ve been using MMPI for the past five years,” Shukan Bunshun hears from an unnamed school board executive in an unnamed prefecture. “It’s possible, certainly, that Lolicons or people with other questionable sexual tendencies will find ways to hide that. On the other hand, we have noticed that, compared with prefectures that don’t use MMPI, our episodes of obscene behavior have decreased – to zero, in fact, over the past couple of years.” From another school board official in another prefecture Shukan Bunshun hears this story: A young applicant came across to examiners as very impressive. His written test results were tops. In interviews he conveyed fluently and convincingly his ideas concerning education. And yet there was something ever so slightly odd about him. He seemed, at times, to be looking about him furtively and uneasily. Perhaps it meant nothing. On the other hand, you can’t be too careful where children are concerned. The board sent the applicant’s MMPI to a qualified counselor for expert scrutiny. Sure enough, the expert detected Lolicon tendencies. The man was not hired. Score one victory for children and one defeat for sexual predation – right? But was the man really Lolicon? Tests are indicative, not infallible. What if he wasn’t? Whose victory is it then?"

"LOの担当さんから打ち合わせの時、 「このキャラ９歳にしてはちょっと幼く見えますね」と言われる。 じゃあ設定を変えて８歳ということにしますかと答えたら、 「LOの読者層が求めているのは９歳で、８歳は幼すぎる。絵の方を変えて！」と言われる。 LOのこだわりはこの次元なのだ。 When I was making arrangements with my boss: "These characters look a little young for 9." When I suggested making them 8 instead: "LO's readers want 9-year-olds, 8 is too young. Change the picture instead!" This is the level of fine-tuning at LO."

"I'm not a lolicon, I prefer a plump figure, matured lady, so I'd say Fubuki...But the Fubuki from ONE sensei version is not plump at all...This version of Fubuki is fully based on my own liking and preferences. I love boobs since I was young, and the back, waist and the butt, I'm having fun time drawing them! Tastumaki is not my cup of tea, but turns out that I'm having fun drawing her as well! .. Previously I never draw any loli-like character, when I'm drawing Tastumaki I spent many effort on drawing the ass."

"Me, I'm not interested in small little loli, really, hahaha, sorry I lied, I like her very much. I have the original Zenko version here, she looks older. This is the version that I decided not to use, she looks older right? I'm not good in drawing little girls, I'm always drawing it too tall in the first place, even for Tatsumaki."

"I used to struggle when I'm drawing Saitama, as for now I'd say Tatsumaki. I'm not good in drawing loli, I like drawing thicc figures."

"Kazuma Satou: "I almost got branded a lolicon." Megumin: [cracking her knuckles] "Why don't you explain exactly why getting into the bath with me makes you a lolicon?""

"Megumin: "I will be fourteen next month." Kazuma Satou: "Wait, fourteen? Seriously? You're not gonna be a loli character anymore?" Megumin: "A loli character!?" Kazuma Satou: "Oof...I was this close to becoming a certified lolicon for real..." Megumin: "Why don't you tell me how bathing with me certifies you as a lolicon?""

"I'm actually quite shocked, too. This country is full of lolicons. I can understand finding little girls cute, but... you people take it too far."

"Huh? Why do you have these manga, sensei?" "No, those aren't-" "Isnt this series notorious for being banned because of how it creates sex criminals?" "No, listen, I'm not into that stuff..." "Sensei, all this time I thought you were a simple lolicon...but I never thought you were a full-blown pedocon!" "Hey, I'm not a pedocon! I've never opened any of those books!" "Don't lie... all these manga have heavy-reading grudge stains!" "Look, a dumb college buddy sent me those as parting gifts. I couldn't throw them out, but I..." "You were friends with a fellow pedocon back home?" "That's how you see it?" "You married that girl after you knocked her up when she was 16. But this could mean you actually started violating that girl when she was only 15, 14, 13, or even younger than that..." "NGH! Believe me, I'm not a lolicon! And I'm no pedo..." "Make me believe!"

"Loli, fierce eyes, not friendly."

"CD Projekt Red first got the character design for Rebecca and they were like 'She's a loli. Lolis don't exist in Night City. It doesn't fit the Cyberpunk 2077 aesthetic'. But Trigger was like 'No, the loli must stay.'"

"Various priests: "It's a loli! .. Our order has been blessed with a loli! .. Look how loli-licious she is! .. LoliLoli!" Megumin "The next person to say "loli" is going to catch these hands!" Priest "God, she a is a LOLI loli""

"The study, authored by Antonio Zadra, PhD, of the Universite de Montreal, focused on over 3,500 home dream reports collected from men and women. Sexual intercourse was the most common type of sexual dream content, followed by sexual propositions, kissing, fantasies and masturbation. The study found that both men and women reported experiencing an orgasm in about four percent of their sexual dreams. Orgasms were described as being experienced by another dream character in four percent of the women's sexual dreams, but in none of the male dream reports. Current or past partners were identified in 20 percent of women's sexual dreams, compared to 14 percent for men, and public figures were twice as likely to be the object of women's sexual dream content. Multiple sex partners were reported twice as frequently in men's sexual dreams."

"One of the most curious collections of statistics on human sexuality from the 19th century is the record of masturbation, nocturnal emission, and occasional sexual intercourse kept from 1852 to 1858 by Philip C. van Buskirk of the United States Marines (Van Buskirk, 1851-1858). Van Buskirk entered the Marine Corps as a 13-year-old-drummer boy in 1846 and was discharged over a decade later as a noncommissioned officer. Like so many other young men 150years ago, he was tormented by fears of the consequences that would result from masturbation and nocturnal emission. He studied the few medical books that were available aboard ship and learned that masturbation and nocturnal emission had dire results. Among other things, they sapped one’s strength, caused innumerable degenerative conditions, were symptoms of moral decay, could prohibit his ever marrying or siring children, and would, in all probability, bring about senility and premature death. He was determined to save himself, and it was to that end that he began a record of his sexual activity. By keeping track of emissions, he hoped to gauge the effectiveness of his methods for controlling and ultimately eliminating both induced and involuntary orgasms. It was to be one through study, will power, and what can only be described as clean living. He began recording his masturbations and orgasms induced by others in January, 1852. Nocturnal emissions were added to the record in September of the same year. From then until the end of 1858, he kept a careful and apparently an accurate account of all expenditures of semen. The questions raised by Van Buskirk’s tables concern, first, the manner in which his rates of sexual activity correspond to similar but more recently accumulated data and, second, the possibility of relating his combined rates of masturbation and coitus to his patterns of nocturnal emission. Although several early-day sex researchers included material on masturbation and nocturnal emission in their works, the number of cases reported was small, methods of compiling data varied considerably, and much of the information was anecdotal (Ellis, 1927, pp. 112-120, 145, 190, 297-300, 343; Hall, 1905, 1905, pp 453-454; Hirschfeld, 1948, pp. 103-121). In dealing with the relationship between Van Buskirk’s rates of emission and the rated from more recent samples, the only investigation of comparable subject matter involving large numbers of male respondents was that conducted 4 decades ago by Kinsey, Pomeroy, and Martin (1948). Virtually all of the material Van Buskirk recorded can be contrasted directly with similar data in the Kinsey study."

"When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. If any man among you becomes unclean [Hebrew lo yihyeh tahor, literally 'will not be clean'] because of a nocturnal emission [literally: 'by reason of what happens to him by night'], then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp."

"Testosterone has been reported to play a role in the frequency of nonerotic or reflex erections, including nocturnal penile erections and for the production of seminal fluid. There is no literature on the role of testosterone on nocturnal emission at any age. It seems reasonable to speculate that as testosterone is involved in causing nocturnal erections and production of seminal fluid, testosterone may also cause increases in nocturnal emission. It seems possible that nocturnal emissions may be induced/facilitated by factors other than hormones that prime the adolescent for this physiological response, as not all boys experienced nocturnal emission but all boys did receive testosterone."

"In 1953, Alfred Kinsey, Ph.D., the famous sexuality researcher, found that nearly 40 percent of the 5,628 women he interviewed experienced at least one nocturnal orgasm (orgasms during sleep), or "wet dream," by the time they were forty-five years old. A smaller study published in the Journal of Sex Research in 1986 found that 85 percent of the women who had experienced nocturnal orgasms had done so by the age of twenty-one... some even before they turned thirteen. In addition, women who have orgasms during sleep usually have them several times a year. Dr. Kinsey and his colleagues defined female nocturnal orgasm as sexual arousal during sleep that awakens one to perceive the experience of orgasm. Girls and women who don't have orgasms in their sleep, or who don't know whether or not they've had them, are perfectly normal. It may be easier for men to identify their wet dreams because of the "ejaculatory evidence." Vaginal secretions could be a sign of sexual arousal without orgasm. Similar studies find that a much higher percentage of boys and men experience wet dreams. This, combined with a greater focus on male sexuality by science and the public in general, are probably two big reasons why we don't hear very much about women's nighttime orgasms."

"In the 2002-2003 IYARHS, male respondents only were asked about their experiences with wet dreams. These questions include the age when they started having wet dreams and discussions about wet dreams with anyone before their occurrence. Table 4.6 shows that very few men had their first wet dream before age 12 (less than 2 percent). About half of the male respondents said that they had their first wet dream at age 14 or 15, 21 percent of men at age 14 and 28 percent at age 15. By age 16, nine in ten men have had wet dreams. Data in the tale also show that younger men experienced their first wet dream earlier than older men. For example, 59 percent of men age 15 have had a wet dream by age 14, compared with 29 percent of 24-year-olds. Table 4.6 also shows that 7 percent of male respondents have never had a wet dream. Male respondents were also asked whether they had discussed wet dreams with anyone before they had the first dream. Data in Table 4.7 show that the majority of men talk with their friends (45 percent). There are small differences by age. Tables 4.4 and 4.7 show that men are less likely than women to discuss physical changes in their body with someone. While 29 percent of women did not talk with anyone about menstruation prior to having their first menses, 48 percent of men did not talk to anyone about wet dreams before having one."

"Generally speaking, a wet dream occurs when we experience sexual arousal during sleep. This is especially common in men, since we naturally experience erections during the REM (rapid eye movement) phase of sleep. Combine that with an erotic dream, and there’s a good chance you’ll wake up in a (wet) spot of bother. There’s also some utility to wet dreams: “For men, nocturnal emissions are a way for the body to clear out old sperm,” Ley explains. “Sperm has an expiration date, and if you haven’t ejaculated in a while, your body gets rid of the old stuff to ensure the sperm on tap is fresh and ready to hit the field of play.”"

"Wet dreams are most common during puberty, when testosterone (the hormone responsible for sperm production) levels are at their highest. This doesn’t mean there’s something wrong if you wake up with sticky briefs well into middle age, though. “Men can remain virile late into their lives — Charlie Chaplin, for instance, fathered a child when he was in his 70s — and as long as you remain virile, your body still needs to clear out old sperm,” Ley explains. Wet dreams are also linked to ejaculation frequency, according to Ley. “Going without orgasm for a few weeks increases the likelihood of nocturnal emission,” he says. “The NoFap trend and the idea that those in sex-addiction treatment are to remain abstinent for 60 to 90 days both dramatically increase the likelihood of nocturnal emissions.”"

"... Again, those males Into the surging channels of whose years Now first has passed the seed (engendered Within their members by the ripened days) Are in their sleep confronted from without By idol-images of some fair form— Tidings of glorious face and lovely bloom, Which stir and goad the regions turgid now With seed abundant; so that, as it were With all the matter acted duly out, They pour the billows of a potent stream And stain their garment."

"The range of possible experiences that sexually mature males can have regarding nocturnal emissions has been neglected in the literature since Kinsey's findings were published in 1948. The present study, conducted by questionnaires, found that males generally have received little information about nocturnal emissions, resulting in negative feelings about them. This occurred despite the presence or absence of the experience. Contrary to expectations, this investigation found a higher percentage of males who had never had a nocturnal emission than was reported by Kinsey. Implications for the educational, medical, and counseling fields are noted."

"NE is a type of spontaneous orgasm, involving ejaculation during sleep. This is an autonomous reflex mediated by the sympathetic nervous system. NE occurs mostly during adolescence and in the early young adult years, but it may also occur at any time after puberty. NEs are difficult to characterize because they always occur randomly during sleep. Fresh semen samples during NEs need to be collected correctly and sent to the hospital immediately."

"Interestingly, the NE group consisted of younger patients than the PVS, EEJ, and control groups. NEs are ejaculations and orgasms that occur during sleep. Although NEs can be experienced by men of all ages, they are most commonly experienced by young adolescents in the early years of puberty. The frequency of ejaculation by NE varies considerably between individuals and in one individual's lifetime. The highest frequency of NEs is between 16 and 30 years of age, which is consistent with our findings. This finding may be related to the strong sexual fantasies and sexual urges of young adolescents. Moreover, this result may be one of the reasons for higher semen quality from NEs. However, a large sample size is needed to further analyze whether the high semen quality from NEs is age related."

"Our results suggest that fresh sperm from NEs serves as an alternative source of sperm for patients with idiopathic anejaculation. The purpose of sperm collection should be considered before performing procedures such as PVS and EEJ. These procedures cause several side effects, such as skin abrasion, penis edema, and autonomic dysreflexia in men with a history of SCI. This study is the first to evaluate the quality of semen obtained by NEs in men with idiopathic anejaculation. The semen collected by NEs had higher motility and more normal morphology than that collected by PVS and EEJ. The semen collected by EEJ had higher motility and more normal morphology than that collected by PVS. The present results provide new insights into the quality of semen from this subgroup of patients with idiopathic anejaculation."

"Variables predicting the reported occurrence and frequency of nocturnal orgasms among women are reported. Undergraduate and graduate women (N = 245) from a large midwestern university volunteered to complete nine self-report scales and inventories. Thirty-seven percent of the sample reported they had experienced nocturnal orgasm, and 30% reported having had the experience in the past year. The predictors accounted for a statistically significant amount of variation in each of the dependent variables: 33% of "ever experienced nocturnal orgasm," 44% of "experienced nocturnal orgasm in the past year," and 27% in the case of "frequency of nocturnal orgasm in the past year." Positive attitudes toward and knowledge of nocturnal orgasms, sexual liberalism, and waking sexually excited from sleep (without experiencing orgasm) were the most important predictors of nocturnal orgasm experience. The reported incidence of nocturnal orgasms in this sample is higher than in comparative samples of previous studies."

"Over 30 years ago Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, and Gebhard (1953, p. 192) attested to the possible importance of nocturnal orgasms when they wrote, “masturbation and nocturnal sex dreams to the point o orgasm are the activities which provide the best measure of a female’s intrinsic sexuality.” However, as late as 1970, Gebhard, Raboch, and Geise concluded that, “up to now there is an extensive lack of information on orgasms in sleep among humans” (p.18). Since 1970, only one new study concerning female nocturnal orgasms has been published (Henton, 1976). To add to the body of knowledge about this sexual phenomenon, I explored the correlates of nocturnal orgasm experience by retesting variables of potential importance gleaned from previous research and testing, for the first time, other variables of apparent importance."

"Result(s): In four patients, the concentration and motility of sperm obtained from freeze-thawed nocturnal emission were decreased compared with sperm from electroejaculation. Fertilization rates after ICSI using the nocturnal emission sperm were relatively low (45%). One clinical pregnancy was achieved after intrauterine insemination. Conclusion(s): The quality of sperm from nocturnal emissions is variable, but it can be used in assisted reproduction procedures to avoid aggressive procedures such as electroejaculation or testis biopsy."

"Nocturnal sperm emission is an autonomous reflex mediated by the sympathetic nervous system. Because this reflex may not be fully stimulated, the concentration and motility of the ejaculated sperm might be affected. For obvious reasons, it is difficult to obtain data on the quality of nocturnal sperm emission. However, these ejaculates may be useful in assisted reproduction treatments, particularly in men with psychogenic anejaculation."

"The aim of the present study was to evaluate the characteristics and fertilizing potential of sperm obtained from nocturnal emission in men with psychogenic anejaculation. Our study included a small group of patients, and we were unable to supervise the course of the freezing procedures. Despite these limitations, it seems that the quality of the sperm specimens varies because in 50% of patients sperm concentrations were normal and in 33% motility was good."

"It is reasonable to assume that if a fresh nocturnal ejaculate could be obtained, sperm motility will be improved. When freeze-thawed nocturnal sperm were compared with fresh sperm obtained by electroejaculation, sperm count improved significantly in two of three patients after electroejaculation. The higher sperm concentrations are evidence of the efficacy of the stimulatory effect of electroejaculation. The thawed sperm were used in intracytoplasmic sperm injection to fertilize oocytes; overall, 45% of the oocytes that were injected were fertilized and cleaved normally. Our preliminary results suggest that sperm from nocturnal emissions that can be preserved may serve as an alternative source of sperm for patients who are unable to consciously ejaculate after masturbation or during sexual relations, particularly men with psychogenic anejaculation. The use of this sperm may be considered before procedures such as electroejaculation or testicular sperm extraction are performed."

"For the U.S. population, the sources of first ejaculation are, in order of frequency, masturbation (in about two-thirds of the males), nocturnal emissions (in an eighth of the cases), heterosexual coitus (in one boy out of eight), and homosexual contacts (in one boy out of twenty), with spontaneous ejaculation, petting to climax, and intercourse with other animals as less frequent stimuli for the initial experience (cf. Rodleder 1921). There are considerable differences in first sources in different educational levels. The highest incidence of masturbation as the first source of ejaculation occurs among the boys who will leave school between the ninth and twelfth grades, the highest incidence of nocturnal emissions as the first source occurs among the boys who will subsequently go to college, and the highest incidence of heterosexual intercourse as the first source occurs among the boys who never get beyond the eighth grade in school."

"Where first ejaculation occurs as a nocturnal emission, it usually (though not always) does not come until a year or more after the appearance of the other adolescent developments, and the onset of adolescence should be set a year or more before the first ejaculation."

"There is an interesting correlation of the source of first ejaculation and the age of onset of ejaculation. For the boys who become adolescent by 11 years of age, masturbation provides the first ejaculation in nearly three-quarters of the cases (71.6 per cent); but for the boys who become adolescent last, masturbation is the source of the first outlet in only half of the cases (52.1 per cent). Nocturnal dreams, on the contrary, are the first source for only 21.6 per cent of the younger adolescent boys, but for 37.1 per cent of the late adolescent males. The boys who mature first more often act deliberately in going after their first outlet; the boys who mature last more often depend upon the involuntary reactions which bring nocturnal emissions."

"Nocturnal Emissions. These occur with much the same incidences and frequencies among the rural and the urban groups. This is true at all ages, and in all social levels (Table 118). In the few places where the table indicates some differences, there are no consistent trends."

"Seminal emissions during sleep, usually accompanied by erotic dreams, are known as nocturnal pollutions or emissions, and are often called “spermatorrhea”, though there is some disagreement respecting the use of the latter term. Its most proper use is when applied to the entire group of symptoms which accompany involuntary seminal losses. The masturbator knows nothing of this disease so long as he continues his vile practice; but when he resolves to reform, and ceases to defile himself voluntarily, he is astonished and disgusted to find that the same filthy pollutions occur during his sleep without his voluntary participation. He now begins to see something of the ruin he had wrought. The same nightly loss continues, sometimes being repeated several times in a single night, to his infinite mortification and chagrin. He hopes the difficulty will subside of itself, but his hope is vain; unless treated, it will probably continue until the ruin which he voluntarily began is completed. <br This disease is the result of sexual excesses of any kind ; it is common in married men who had abused the marriage relation, when they are forced to temporary continence from any cause. It also occurs in those addicted to mental unchastity, though they may be physically continent. It is not probable that it would ever occur in a person who had been strictly continent and had not allowed his mind to dwell upon libidinous imaginations."

"Unchaste thoughts act detrimentally in a two-fold way. They first stimulate the activity of the testes, thus increasing the overloading of the seminal vesicles. Lascivious thoughts during wakefulness are the chief cause of lascivious dreams."

"Certain circumstances greatly increase the frequency of the emissions, and thus hasten the injury which they are certain to accomplish if not checked; as, neglect to relieve the bladder and bowels at night, late suppers, stimulating food and drinks, and anything that will excite the genital organs. Of all causes, amorous or erotic thoughts are the most powerful. Tea and coffee, spices and other condiments, and animal food have a special tendency in this direction. Certain positions in bed also serve as exciting or predisposing causes; as sleeping upon the back or abdomen. Feather beds and pillows and too warm covering in bed are also injurious for the same reason. In frequency, emissions will vary in different persons from an occasional one at long and irregular intervals to two or three a week, or several—as many as four in one case we have met—in a single night. The immediate effect of an emission will depend somewhat upon the frequency of occurrence and the condition of the individual. If very infrequent, and occurring in a comparatively robust person, after the seminal vesicles have become distended with seminal fluid, the immediate effect of an emission may be a sensation of temporary relief. This circumstance has led certain persons to suppose that emissions are natural and beneficial. This point will receive attention shortly. If the emissions are more frequent, or if they occur in a person of a naturally feeble constitution, the immediate effect is lassitude, languor, indisposition and often inability to perform severe mental or physical labor melancholy, amounting often to despair and even leading to suicide, and an exaggeration of local irritation, and of all the morbid conditions to be noticed under the head of “General Effects.” Headache, indigestion, weakness of the back and knees, disturbed circulation, dimness of vision, and loss of appetite, are only a few of these."

"Are Occasional Emissions Necessary or Harmless?-That an individual may suffer for years an involuntary seminal loss as frequently as once a month without apparently suffering very great injury, seems to be a settled fact with physicians of extensive experience, and is well confirmed by observation ; yet there are those who suffer severely from losses no more frequent than this. But when seminal losses occur more frequently than once a month, they will certainly ultimate in great injury, even though immediate ill effects are not noticed, as in exceptional cases they may not be. If argument is necessary to sustain this position, as it hardly seems to be, we would refer to the fact that seminal losses do not occur in those who are, and always have been, continent both mentally and physically, when such rare individuals can be found. They occur the most rarely in those who the most nearly approach the standard of perfect chastity ; so that whenever they occur, they may be taken as evidence of some form of sexual excess. This fact clearly shows that losses of this kind are not natural."

"Emission not Necessary to Health.-If it be argued that an occasional emission is necessary to relieve the overloaded seminal vesicles, we reply, the same argument has been used as an apology for unchastity ; but it is equally worthless in both instances. It might as well be argued the vomiting is a necessary physiological and healthful act, and should occur with regularity, because a person may so overload his stomach as to make the act necessary as a remedial measure. Vomiting is a diseased action, a pathological process, and is occasioned by the voluntary transgression of the individual. Hence, it is as unnecessary as gluttony, and must be wasteful of vitality, even though rendered necessary under some circumstances. So with emissions. If a person allows his mind to dwell upon unchaste subjects, indulges in lasciviousness, he may render an emission almost necessary as a remedial effort. Nevertheless, he will suffer from the loss of the vital fluid ust the same as though he had not, by his own consupiscence, rendered it in some degree necessary. And as it would have been infinitely better for him to have retained and digested food in his stomach instead of ejecting it-provided it were wholesome food-so it would have been better for him to have retained in his system the seminal fluid, which would have been disposed of by the system and probably utilized to very great advantage in the repair of certain of the tissues."

"An eminent English physician, Dr. Milton, who has treated many thousands of cases of this disease remarks in a work upon the subject as follows:- “Anything beyond one emission a month requires attention. I know this statement has been impuged, but I am quite prepared to abide by it. I did not put it forward till I considered I had quite sufficient evidence in my hands to justify me in doing so.” “An opinion prevails, as most of my readers are aware, among medical men, that a few emissions in youth do good instead of harm. It is difficult to understand how an unnatural evacuation can do good, except in the case of unnatural congestion. I have, however, convinced myself that the principle is wrong. Lads never really feel better for emissions ; they very often feel decidedly worse. Occasionally they may fancy there is a sense of relief, but it is very much the same sort of relief that a drunkard feels from a ram. In early life the stomach may be repeatedly overloaded with impunity, but I suppose few would contend that overloading was therefore good. The fact is that emissions are invariably more or less injurious ; not always visibly so in youth, not susceptible of being assessed as to the damage inflicted by any given number of them, but still contributing, each in its turn, a mite toward the exhaustion and debility which the patient will one day complain of.”"

"Visitations by the so-called "angel of the night," a term originated by pioneer sexologist Paolo Montegazza (Katchadourian, Lunde & Trotter, 1979), have resulted in trauma, confusion, or embarrassment for many young men. Nocturnal emissions have often placed young men in awkward and perplexing predicaments when they wake up and find that seminal emissions or "wet dreams" have occurred. A nocturnal emission, commonly referred to as a "wet dream", is an ejaculation of semen by a sexually mature male during sleep. Though nocturnal emissions are almost always accompanied by dreaming, the dreamer may frequently awaken in the process of orgasm or during impending orgasm (Katchadourian et al., 1979). Orgasms during sleep, either nocturnal or daytime, constitute about 1/ 12th of a male's total sexual outlet at ages 21 to 25, and are, therefore, of considerable interest to both men and women. Though there is wide interest in nocturnal emissions, they have received sketchy treatment in the literature. In addition, the study of nocturnal emissions is part of the broader area of sexual behavior research which has often run into public and scientific resistance (Diamond & Karlen, 1980). Consequently, nocturnal emissions are widely misunderstood (Kinsey, Pomeroy & Martin, 1948) ."

"Males who have nocturnal emissions usually receive no prior sexual information (Shipman, 1968). The cultural assumption is that there is no need to explain male sexuality prior to puberty; its first evidence will be a pleasurable dream with the tell-tale evidence found in the morning (Shipman, 1968). This contributes to the postponement or avoidance of any discussion of the physical or emotional manifestations of puberty and/or the occurrence of nocturnal emissions (Masland, Rigg, Shochet, vlestman, & Lopez, 1980). There are males, however, that never seem to experience nocturnal emissions. Males who have not experienced nocturnal emissions usually receive no prior information regarding this possibility and are unprepared for this phenomenon. No mention is made in the media or the literature about males having erotic dreams to orgasm without the accompanying ejaculate. Because of this informational void, trauma, confusion, and feelings of abnormality are more likely to beset the male who has not experienced a wet dream."

"Few studies have been conducted on nocturnal emissions and coverage is extremely limited, probably because of the sensitive and sexual nature of the subject. Thus, the purpose of this investigation is to compare males who have experienced nocturnal emissions with those males who have not experienced nocturnal emissions in regard to their reactions to nocturnal emissions."

"There is considerable variation among individuals in the frequencies with which they have nocturnal emissions. Kinsey et al. (1948) found that there are males who never ejaculated in their sleep, males who experienced only a few wet dreams, as well as males who had two or three wet dreams per night. This variability in male experiences is not reported in the research literature except for Kinsey's work. Furthermore, the filtering process by which research literature leads to a lay acceptance of research findings had not occurred here. As a result, the media and popular literature make no mention of this variability and, in fact, this information is little known and has had no impact on the public. Shipman (1968) reports that the onset of puberty associated with nocturnal emissions, particularly ejaculation, is a traumatic event in a young male's life, with almost no prior explanation of the event. Consequently, a male's reaction is steeped in fright and misunderstanding, with no apparent resource to consult to clear up the confusion."

"A nocturnal emission is the body's way of relieving sexual tension, which becomes particularly high at the adolescent age (Mas1and et a1., 1980). These emissions characteristically begin when a boy is 11 to 16 years of age (Mas1and et al., 1980). Thus, nocturnal emissions are primarily seen as a phenomenon of single males in their teens and early twenties. A high percentage of all males do experience nocturnal emissions at some time in their lives. Ultimately, about 83% of all males have wet dreams (Kinsey et al., 1948). Katchdourian et al. (1979) state that practically all males report having had erotic dreams to orgasm at least once. McCary (1973) reports that almost all men have erotic dreams and 85% of them have had dreams that culminated in orgasm. Kinsey et al. (1948) recorded that some men experience orgasm practically every time they awaken from sleep, even though this may be two or three times in a single night. Thus, orgasm as the product of nocturnal dreams is well known in the male."

"It is particularly interesting to note that there are great differences in the occurrence of nocturnal emissions across educational levels and occupational classes (Kinsey et al., 1948). Wet dreams occur most often in that segment of the population that goes to college. Among males who are in college, nocturnal emissions begin at earlier ages than among males of lower educational levels. Those men who had no more than eight years of school report the lowest incidence of nocturnal emissions, while those males who had 13 years of school report the highest incidence of nocturnal emissions (Kinsey et al., 1948). With regard to differences in occupational classes, Kinsey et al. (1948) reported that day laborers averaged not more than two or three nocturnal emissions per year and semi-skilled workmen reported an emission frequency only a bit higher than that. The frequency of nocturnal emissions in the college and graduate school groups, however, was close to once every two weeks at practically every age level throughout life. This means that males in the upper occupational levels report 10 to 12 times as many nocturnal emissions as reported among males of the lower occupational classes. College males report the highest frequency of nocturnal emissions, with a peak of 19 to 20 years of age (Kinsey et al, 1948). This can be interpreted to mean that the lowest frequency of males not experiencing nocturnal emissions should appear in this population. Since only the Kinsey studies reported nocturnal emission frequency figures, these figures can be used to validate this investigation by the similarity in sample population."

"Discussing sexual matters with adolescents is more often than not a difficult matter for adults to undertake. The cultural assumption is that there is no need to explain anything to young males prior to puberty and that the first evidence of a nocturnal emission will be after a pleasurable dream which the boy will come to under-stand. Adults also assume that adolescents will learn from peers whatever they need to know about sexual matters (Shipman, 1968). It is understandable, then, that the adolescent male with an inadequate sex education who awakens to find that he has had a "wet dream" may be upset and feel guilty (Masland et al., 1980). A frank discussion would seem especially important to explain the physical and emotional manifestations of puberty to young males. Sometimes parents make the mistake of assuming that sex information has come from older siblings, peers, or they believe such information is unimportant. Even when a background of open communication exists at home, it is usually necessary for the parent to initiate any dialogue about sex by inquiring what understanding of and experience with wet dreams the boy has acquired (Masland et al., 1980). Research findings show that in a sample of 146 male college students, 90% of the males indicated that they received no information about nocturnal emissions from either parent and that what they learned from peers was most inadequate (Shipman, 1968). Thus, the first ejaculations by males in puberty are probably profound and frightening experiences because of inadequate knowledge 'about sexual matters (Shipman, 1968). Thus, the first ejaculations by males in puberty are probably profound and frightening experiences because of inadequate knowledge about sexual matters (Shipman, 1968)."

"No significant differences were found between age, living status, religion, and the frequency of nocturnal emissions at any age level. However, results did indicate significant differences (Q ( .05) were found for education with ages 20-21, 22-23, 26-27, 30-31, and religiosity with ages 18-19 and 20-21. Thus, at ages 20-21, 22-23, 26-27, and 30-31, regardless of the amount of education they had received to date, most respondents reported either never dreaming to orgasm or having had only one to two dreams to orgasm per year. It should be noted that education seems to have no bearing on the ability to achieve more frequent orgasms f or this sample. This does not validate the findings of Kinsey, et al. (1948) that the higher the education level the greater the sexual dream frequency and corresponding nocturnal emissions. Though there was no significance between religion and frequency levels of nocturnal emissions, there was significance at the .05 level of confidence between the frequency of nocturnal emissions at age 18-19, 20•21, and degree of religiosity. At these ages, religiosity was similar across all four levels: very religious, some-what religious, slightly religious, and not at all religious. Frequency levels at these ages clustered in never having had a dream to orgasm or having only one to two dreams to orgasm per year. Regardless of the frequency levels of nocturnal emissions at age 18-19 or 20-21, the largest number of respondents reported they were somewhat religious. But as the respondents got older, clustering occurred in the not at all religious category, reflecting their diminished religiosity."

"Nocturnal emissions are primarily seen as a phenomenon experienced by single males in their teens and early twenties. It was recognized by Kinsey et al. (1948), Katchdourian et al. (1979), and McCary (1973) that practically all men experience nocturnal emissions. However, the Kinsey studies (1948) found that 17% of the males interviewed never experienced nocturnal dreaming to orgasm with an ejaculate by age 47. Of the 104 males in this study, 75 reported that they had experienced nocturnal emissions, while 29 reported that they had not experienced nocturnal emissions. Therefore, 27.88% of this sample had not experienced wet dreams, exceeding the 1984 report by Kinsey. This percentage difference should be recognized and considered in terms of the 33 years that have passed between the two samples, the new lifestyles, nutrition updates, more sexual awareness, and changing sexual attitudes. Neither religiosity or educational level, as Kinsey et al. (1948) reported, appears to be operating in regard to the frequency of nocturnal emissions. This leaves a question concerning why, after over three decades of abundant sexual stimuli, the frequency rate of this sample declined instead of decreased. More in depth research would seem to be needed to accurately assess this difference."

"Contrary to public opinion, the results of this study show that males are not informed and educated about sexuality and nocturnal emissions. This confirms Shipman's (1968) conclusion that adolescent males are not receiving information on nocturnal emissions and sexuality. What information Shipman's sample received was from books/printed materials, while this sample received most of their information from peers and books/printed materials. In no case are respondents receiving a great deal of information, but rather are reporting no to little information from parents, siblings, media, and school classrooms; little to some information from peers and books/ printed materials. Group 1 males received less information about nocturnal emissions than males who experienced them. Thus, males who have nocturnal emissions may question their occurrence, while males who don' t experience them do not ask about what hasn't occurred."

"Because the empirical literature is limited and does not portray the variety of experiences that males can have regarding nocturnal emissions, this study seeks to add to the existing literature and to correct inconsistencies currently reported. Regardless of whether a male does or does not experience a nocturnal emission, a more positive body and sexual image may be brought about by accurate information on human sexuality (Wells, 1978). Most educational efforts do not approach nocturnal emissions through courses in human sexuality or related courses and parental information is extremely limited. In short, young men are ignorant about this aspect of their sexual selves."

"Now it's time for my breakfast."

"Crazier things have happened on the road."

"I thought [naming a sex act after Rick Santorum] was a super idea and asked my readers to nominate sex acts for the honor of being known as a "santorum." Nominations poured in--more than 3,000! I rejected some of the suggested sex acts for being too broad (oral sex), others for being too rare (manrimming-dog), still others for being completely fictional (donkey punching, dirty sanchez). I also eliminated nominated sex acts that already have perfectly good names (fisting, felching, rimming, scat)."

"I don’t speak with a stupid filmmaker about his poop fetish!"

"I have taken time to do a little research to know what homosexuals do in the privates [sic] of their bedroom. One of the thing [sic] they do is called anal licking, where a man’s anus [imitates] is licked [kissing noise] like this by the other person [man says “like ice cream”] like ice cream. And then what happens, even poo-poo comes out [demonstrates using hands]— the other person poo-poos out, and then they eat the poo-poo!"

"I’ve done research, this is what they do: number one, you can see a man here, having sucked the other person’s rectum, and the other person is poo-pooing, and this one is eating the poo-poo all over the place! Tell me, when you have a law against homosexuality, do you say, “except eating poo-poo?” I mean look at this guy sincerely! Bishop? [Bishop groans and leans away in disgust]"

"But you never know, it might be fun to do it covered in shit."

"I got in touch with a support group [for intersex people] when I was eighteen. They agreed to send me some information. … A big, brown envelope arrived, and I … opened it in private and read through it. I was … partly relieved in that I now knew what my condition was exactly, and why I'd had the surgery, and that it was an intersex condition. [But I was] … shocked and … horrified that nobody had had the decency to tell me about it as I was growing up. … The doctors decided not to tell me or my parents that it was an intersex condition, because they [thought] that [I would] grow up psychologically unbalanced and unable to cope with the [knowledge]. … The clitorectomy … cut the nerve endings out of the clitoris, [and] some of the erectile tissue; but most of it was left tied back onto the skin to the pubic bone. … [I]f I get aroused, it tightens up and pulls away from that bone and causes … excruciating pain. That's something I'm left with for the rest of my life; there's nothing that can be done about that."

"I think I've done quite a good job of integrating male and female attributes. I've since discovered that so many people who don't have intersex conditions do just the same after a midlife crisis. … What I don't understand is why people who are normally so willing to accept that each human being is unique, are suddenly so afraid of variation when faced with the fact that between the conventional extremes of what we understand as being male and female there are endless shades of variety."

"Sex segregation directly harms many intersex and transgender athletes and would-be athletes. But, these policies also harm many cisgender people who do not see a place for themselves in certain sports because they sense and are told by parents, peers, teachers, and coaches that they do not measure up to the normative masculinities and femininities that we attach to those sports. … [T]he material evidence of binary sex is not always visible, measurable, or stable over time."

"Trans feminists seek to interrogate society’s ingrained assumptions about the social and cultural meanings we ascribe to biology. They also generally incorporate an analysis of intersex people, who do not fit this reductive model, and who have suffered historical and ongoing mistreatment at the hands of a medical establishment obsessed with imposing binary biological sex on to bodies that don’t ‘fit’. The experiences of trans and intersex people show us that not all humans fit perfectly into two clear-cut categories of biological sex; indeed, the belief there are two separate sex categories is itself an erasure of sex variations that occur either naturally or through medical modification."

"My great worry is the problem of poverty … Instead of prisons, I would have schools, art and vocational academies, free trade, free love, the abolition of marriage and the substitution of private property for public property."

"Free love? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not conquer love. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. High on a throne, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is yet poor and desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is radiant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere."

"[Woman's suffrage and free love are] as distinct as freedom and slavery; the one is destined to end the other."

"Yes, I am a free lover. I have an inalienable, constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can; to change that love every day if I please, and with that right neither you nor any law you can frame have any right to interfere. And I have the further right to demand a free and unrestricted exercise of that right, and it is your duty not only to accord it, but as a community, to see I am protected in it. I trust that I am fully understood, for I mean just that, and nothing else."

"When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening."

"Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate."

"The man regards her as a receptacle into which he has emptied his sperm, a kind of human spittoon, and turns from her in disgust."

"I used to wash the traces of Janaba [semen] from the clothes of the Prophet and he used to go for prayers while traces of water were still on it."

"A person stayed in the house of A'isha and in the morning began to wash his garment. A'isha said: In case you saw it (i. e. drop of semen), it would have served the purpose (of purifying the garment) if you had simply washed that spot; and in case you did not see it, it would have been enough to sprinkle water around it, for when I saw that on the garment of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). I simply scraped it off and he offered prayer, while putting that on."

"I used to scrape off the (drop of) semen from the garment of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)."

"I asked Sulaiman b. Yasar whether the semen that gets on to the garment of a person should be washed or not. He replied: A'isha told me: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) washed the semen, and then went out for prayer in that very garment and I saw the mark of washing on it."

"I stayed in the house of 'A'isha and had a wet dream (and perceived its effect on my garment), so (in the morning) I dipped both (the clothes) in water. This (act of mine) was watched by a maid-servant of A'isha and she informed her. She (Hadrat A'isha) sent me a message: What prompted you to act like this with your clothes? He (the narrator) said: I told that I saw in a dream what a sleeper sees. She said: Did you find (any mark of the fluid) on your clothes? I said: No. She said: Had you found anything you should have washed it. Incase I found that (semen) on the garment of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) dried up, I scraped it off with my nails."

"O my Ishullanu, let us taste your vigour: Put out your ‘hand’ and stroke my quim!"

"And thakked hir aboute the lendes weel,"

"Then stroke her Breasts those Mountains of Delight, Whose very Touch would fire an Anchorite. Next let thy wanton Palm a little stray, And dip thy Fingers in the Milky Way: Thus having raiz’d her, gently let her fall, Love’s Trumpets sound, Now Mortal have at all."

"Over one arm the lusty courser’s rein, Under her other was the tender boy, Who blush’d and pouted in a dull disdain, With leaden appetite, unapt to toy; She red and hot as coals of glowing fire, He red for shame, but frosty in desire."

"Love is too young to know what conscience is; Yet who knows not conscience is born of love? Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss, Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove. For, thou betraying me, I do betray My nobler part to my gross body’s treason. My soul doth tell my body that he may Triumph in love; flesh stays no farther reason, But, rising at thy name, doth point out thee As his triumphant prize. Proud of this pride, He is contented thy poor drudge to be, To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side. No want of conscience hold it that I call Her “love”, for whose dear love I rise and fall."

"Whenever, Lesbia, from your chair you rise, Your dress is tightly drawn between your thighs, And plays, I’ve noticed, in your hindmost site The active part of some vile sodomite: You strive, while plaintive sighs your lips escape, Left hand and right, to stop the woollen rape, Dragging your dress from ’twixt the tight’ning grips Of those twin Minyan rocks that grace your hips; But the moist lips of your poor longing quim Cling to your robe and glue you limb to limb. Would you be cured of such a hideous vice? Lesbia, nor rise nor sit is my advice, Lie on your bottom, free from clothes, and seek The aid of some stout youth to plug the leak."

"Et delator es et calumniator, Et fraudator es et negotiator, Et fellator es et lanista."

"Petruchio: Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry. Katherina: If I be waspish, best beware my sting. Petruchio: My remedy is, then, to pluck it out. Katherina: Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies. Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail. Katherina: In his tongue. Petruchio: Whose tongue? Katherina: Yours, if you talk of tales; and so farewell. Petruchio: What! with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman. Katherina: That I'll try. [Striking him.] Petruchio: I swear I'll cuff you if you strike again. Katherina: So may you lose your arms: If you strike me, you are no gentleman; And if no gentleman, why then no arms."

"‘Hold, sir,’ quoth she, ‘My word I will not fail, For you shall feel my hand, and kisse my tail.’"

"Then will I visit with a wand’ring kiss The vale of lilies and the bower of bliss; And where the beauteous region both divide Into two milky ways, my lips shall slide Down those smooth alleys, wearing as they go A tract for lovers on the printed snow; Thence climbing o’er the swelling Apennine, Retire into thy grove of eglantine, Where I will all those ravish’d sweets distil Through Love’s alembic, and with chemic skill From the mix’d mass one sovereign balm derive, Then bring that great elixir to thy hive."

"As a link, it beats fucking out of the field. I've tried both and I know."

"That naughty old Sappho of Greece Said: “What I prefer to a piece Is to have my pudenda Rubbed hard by the enda The little pink nose of my niece.”"

"There was a young bride, a Canuck, Told her husband, “Let’s do more than suck. You say that I, maybe, Can have my first baby— Let’s give up this Frenching, and fuck!”"

"Cum flagrantia detorquet ad oscula Cervicem aut facili saevitia negat Quae poscente magis gaudeat eripi, Interdum rapere occupet?"

"My ghostly fader, I me confess, First to God and then to you, That at a window, wot ye how, I stale a kosse of gret swetness, Which don was out avisiness— But it is doon, not undoon, now.My ghostly fader, I me confess, First to God and then to you.But I restore it shall, doutless, Agein, if so be that I mow; And that to God I make a vow, And elles I axe foryefness.My ghostly fader, I me confesse, First to God and then to you."

"Si ne me sceut tant detrayner, Fouler au piez, que ne l'amasse, Et m'eust il fait les rains trayner, Si m'eust dit que je le baisasse, Que tous mes maulx je n'oubliasse. Le glouton, de mal entechié, M'embrassoit…. J'en suis bien plus grasse! Que m'en reste il? Honte et pechié."

"Love guards the roses of thy lips And flies about them like a bee; If I approach he forward skips, And if I kiss he stingeth me."

"Venus, and young Adonis sitting by her, Under a myrtle shade began to woo him: She told the youngling how god Mars did try her, And as he fell to her, so fell she to him. ‘Even thus,’ quoth she, ‘the wanton god embraced me’ (And then she clasped Adonis in her arms); ‘Even thus,’ quoth she, ‘the warlike god unlaced me,’ As if the boy should use like loving charms. But he, a wayward boy, refused her offer, And ran away, the beauteous queen neglecting, Showing both folly to abuse her proffer, And all his sex of cowardice detecting. O that I had my mistress at that bay, To kiss and clip me till I ran away!"

"She shall be dignified with this high honour— To bear my lady's train, lest the base earth Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss And, of so great a favour growing proud, Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower And make rough winter everlastingly."

"So soon was she along, as he was down, Each leaning on their elbows and their hips: Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown, And ’gins to chide, but soon she stops his lips; And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken, ‘If thou wilt chide, thy lips shall never open.’He burns with bashful shame; she with her tears Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks; Then with her windy sighs and golden hairs To fan and blow them dry again she seeks: He saith she is immodest, blames her miss; What follows more she murders with a kiss.Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh and bone, Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste, Till either gorge be stuff’d or prey be gone; Even so she kiss’d his brow, his cheek, his chin, And where she ends she doth anew begin."

"Thou art no man, though of a man’s complexion, For men will kiss even by their own direction.’"

"Rich preys make true men thieves; so do thy lips Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn, Lest she should steal a kiss and die forsworn."

"More honourable state, more courtship lives In carrion flies than Romeo. They may seize On the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand And steal immortal blessing from her lips; Who, even in pure and vestal modesty, Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin."

"Now gentle sleep hath closèd up those eyes, Which waking kept my boldest thoughts in awe, And free access unto that sweet lip lies From whence I long the rosy breath to draw. Methinks no wrong it were if I should steal, From those two melting rubies, one poor kiss. None sees the theft that would the thief reveal, Nor rob I her of aught which she can miss. Nay, should I twenty kisses take away, There would be little sign I had done so. Why then should I this robbery delay? Oh, she may wake, and therewith angry grow. Well, if she do, I’ll back restore that one, And twenty hundred thousand more for loan."

"Now let us kiss. Would you be gone? Manners at least allows me one. Blush you at this? pretty one, stay, And I will take that kiss away. Thus with a second, and that too A third wipes off; so will we go To numbers that the stars outrun, And all the atoms in the sun."

"How does my love pass the long day? Does Mary not tend a few sheep? Do they never carelessly stray While happily she lies asleep? Should Tweed’s murmurs lull her to rest, Kind nature indulging my bliss, To ease the soft pains of my breast I’d steal an ambrosial kiss."

"The kiss, snatch’d hasty from the sidelong maid, On purpose guardless, or pretending sleep:"

"Stolen sweets are always sweeter, Stolen kisses much completer, Stolen looks are nice in chapels, Stolen, stolen, be your apples."

"Aim as certain not to miss; Take her as thou would’st a kiss!"

"‘I saw you take his kiss!’ ‘’Tis true.’ ‘O, modesty!’ ‘’Twas strictly kept: ‘He thought me asleep; at least, I knew ‘He thought I thought he thought I slept.’"

"She accepted these terms, and slid off on the near side, though not till he had stolen a cursory kiss."

"If I steal a kiss, dear, I'll surely return it someday If I steal your dreams, dear, I'll bring them back some way."

"Despite the extreme ways in which their bodies are mythologized, fetishized and denigrated by our culture, trans sex workers, compared to other kinds of trans worker, enjoy the least solidarity and have the least political attention paid to the reality of their lives. This disparity only increases when the trans sex worker is also a migrant and a person of colour."

"In a society that is both patriarchal and capitalist, men’s misogyny towards women sits comfortably alongside their desire to extract women’s sexual labour. This does not change because the woman is trans. In fact, given the political invisibility of most trans women, it may be intensified. To put it plainly, many of the men who purchase the services of trans sex workers will be the same men who argue for the oppression of all trans people and all sex workers. They will be the same men who preach hate and incite violence against them and the same men who, in some cases, personally use physical violence against them. It is no coincidence that trans sex workers are often at the forefront of LGBTQ+ community organizing and activism across the globe, particularly in countries where LGBTQ+ rights are opposed by the state. At times, the two collide."

"Globally, trans sex workers make up 62 per cent of all trans murder victims, where the victim’s profession is known. [...] Trans sex workers around the world are often at most risk from the very same men to whom they sell their services. This is not some puzzling ‘hypocrisy’, but a horrifying and sometimes deadly reality. It should also be an urgent wake-up call for society and workers’ movements to better protect and support trans sex workers. Trans people’s increased likelihood of experiencing family rejection and homelessness, combined with substantial healthcare costs and a struggle to secure other forms of employment, means that many engage in the stigmatized work of selling sex. And, as we have already seen, trans sex workers experience unique and severe forms of vulnerability and violence. Therefore, the issue of sex-worker rights and safety must be at the heart of the trans liberation movement."

"Above all, anti-prostitution feminism argues, men’s demand for the right to purchase sex should be condemned and criminalized. Given the extreme violence to which trans people, particularly trans women, who do sex work are subject worldwide, it seems tempting for trans politics to join with this condemnation of male violence and, consequently, with the condemnation of men who purchase sex. It is true that many sectors of the sex industry, from pornography to street sex work to managed brothels, rely on the exploitation of trans sex workers’ financial and social vulnerability by cisgender men for profit. Yet the converse argument – for pro-sex-worker trans politics – isn’t intended as a moral absolution of the client or unethical industry practices; it isn’t concerned with morality at all. Rather, it recognizes that trans sex workers exist in a society in which money is necessary for survival, and that sex work is one of a limited number of options available to the marginalized in this society – and so, regardless of any condemnation or criminalization of clients, trans sex workers will still need to sell sex. Accepting this reality turns the focus from ‘ending demand’ for sexual services, to harm-reduction for the worker. It is on this basis that full in all its forms must be a central tenet of the movement for trans rights."

"The murders of trans women sex workers are not rare. This is a recurring phenomenon and we regularly try to alert public opinion and the authorities to this violence. Unfortunately, as always, we find ourselves alone."

"There are many kinds of power, used and unused, acknowledged or otherwise. The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling. In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change. For women, this has meant a suppression of the erotic as a considered source of power and information within our lives."

"The erotic offers a well of replenishing and provocative force to the woman who does not fear its revelation, nor succumb to the belief that sensation is enough."

"The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire. For having experienced the fullness of this depth of feeling and recognizing its power, in honor and self-respect we can require no less of ourselves."

"The erotic is not a question only of what we do; it is a question of how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing. Once we know the extent to which we are capable of feeling that sense of satisfaction and completion, we can then observe which of our various life endeavors bring us closest to that fullness."

"The very word erotic comes from the Greek word ', the personification of love in all its aspects — born of Chaos, and personifying creative power and harmony. When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as an assertion of the lifeforce of women; of that creative energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives."

"Understanding is a hand-maiden which can only wait upon, or clarify, that knowledge, deeply born. The erotic is the nurturer or nursemaid of all our deepest knowledge."

"When we live outside ourselves, and by that I mean on external directives only rather than from our internal knowledge and needs, when we live away from those erotic guides from within ourselves, then our lives are limited by external and alien forms, and we conform to the needs of a structure that is not based on human need, let alone an individual’s. But when we begin to live from within outward, in touch with the power of the erotic within ourselves, and allowing that power to inform and illuminate our actions upon the world around us, then we begin to be responsible to ourselves in the deepest sense. For as we begin to recognize our deepest feelings, we begin to give up, of necessity, being satisfied with suffering and self-negation, and with the numbness which so often seems like their only alternative in our society. Our acts against oppression become integral with self, motivated and empowered from within."

"The erotic cannot be felt secondhand."

"Recognizing the power of the erotic within our lives can give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world, rather than merely settling for a shift of characters in the same weary drama. For not only do we touch our most profoundly creative source, but we do that which is female and self-affirming in the face of a racist, patriarchal, and anti-erotic society."

"When I speak of the erotic, then I speak of it as an assertion of the life force of women; of that creative energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives."

"To love is to give freely, but not harmlessly. It is impossible to explain why its object is one human being and not another; nevertheless, its dynamics were clear to the ancients, who emphasized its strategic aspect. Giving to the lover does not solicit an exchange, but constitutes a challenge. The lover tends not to take something away from the beloved, but to possess them in a sense that, alongside its sexual significance, also has political and military connotations. Eroticism would be a very insipid and vacuous experience if the lover were not exposed to the danger of defeat. (p. 113)"

"Even lovers have vanished without a trace. Ever since the Milesians revolted from us, I haven’t even seen a six-inch dildo, which might have been a consolation, however small."

"As Pherecrates said, skin the skinned dog."

"Ugly women use dildoes."

"He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes. No milliner can so fit his customers with gloves. He has the prettiest love songs for maids, so without bawdry, which is strange, with such delicate burdens of dildos and fadings, “Jump her and thump her.” And where some stretch-mouthed rascal would, as it were, mean mischief and break a foul gap into the matter, he makes the maid to answer “Whoop, do me no harm, good man”; puts him off, slights him, with “Whoop, do me no harm, good man.”"

"Adieu, unconstant love, to thy disport; Adieu, false mirth, and melodies too short; Adieu, faint-hearted instrument of lust, That falsely hath betrayed our equal trust.) Henceforth I will no more implore thine aid, Or thee for ever of Cowardice shall upraid: My little dildoe shall supply your kind, A youth that is as light as leaves in wind: He bendeth not, nor foldeth any deal, But stands as stiff as he were made of steel; (And plays at peacock twixt my legs right blithe And doeth my tickling swage with many a sigh;) And when I will, he doth refresh me well, And never makes my tender belly swell."

"You ladies all of merry England Who have been to kiss the Duchess's hand, Pray, did you not lately observe in the show A noble Italian called Signor Dildo? ...A rabble of pricks who were welcomed before, Now finding the porter denied them the door, Maliciously waited his coming below And inhumanly fell on Signor Dildo ..."

"To act with raw boys is loving without men. What will not poor forsaken women try? When man's not near, the Signior must supply."

"I am told with a vast long signior Some matrons do ease Their lust and do please Though they have not been lain with these ten years."

"The sisters of Jack Howe too I must name, In vice as knowing, and as bad in fame; For fear of children they all men defy, The Signior [Dildo]'s vigor constantly they try."

"Why pluck the bristles from your worn out cleft, Hoary and grizzled by time's onward march? For wanton tricks you've no excuses left, Age should be all propriety and starch. Let blooming girls their tender pussies trim, Those pouting buds expect some pleasure after; My wife might charm me if she dressed her quim, But my grandmother would provoke my laughter. That is no cunt at which no prick can stand, The whitened embers of young lust's spent force; Then cast the tweezers from your palsied hand. Nor beard the once fierce lion's rotting corse."

"i like, slowly stroking the,shocking fuzz of your electric furr,and what-is-it comes over parting flesh ...."

"Depending upon shock tactics is easy, whereas writing a good play is difficult. Pubic hair is no substitute for wit."

"Her pubic hair grew like a patch of grass that had been trampled by a passing army."

"Before your mouth was fringed with hair, All pricks might find a haven there. Till hangmen loathed a boy so common. And dead cart men preferred a woman. When gamahuche no longer paid. Your tongue was still your stock in trade, No more to suck, but to discharge Its venom on mankind at large; On character base slurs to fix. As once it had polluted pricks. Oh filthy tongue, you'd better far Be what you were than what you are!"

"Labienus, each hair on your bosom that grows, On your arms, on your legs, with much trouble You shave, and your belly's appurtenance shews Like a newly mown field with its stubble, Thus blooming and sweet, as the breath of the morn. Your mistress entwines you, fond boy. But you've something behind, neatly shaven and shorn, That is scarcely a mistress's toy."

"Chrestus, though not two hairs your scrotum deck, Though your prick's softer than the vulture's neck, Though your mild face, effeminate smooth and plump, Rivals the Pathic's prostituted rump, And girlish in your hairless thighs and hips. Art hides all trace of manhood in your lips; You talk of deeds the great, and good, and bold Have done, with stern pomposity, and hold Forth on the vices that corrupt the age; But while this virtuous war on vice you wage, If some bright lad, who's just outgrown his school, While thoughts of freedom swell his youthful tool, Come up, you lead aside the sprightly boy, And when replete of what you most enjoy, Your Cato's tongue would never dare confess t' us, How very much you had behaved like Chrestus."

"Here Jove is made a swan, a golden shower, Or seems a serpent, or a shepherd-swain, To work his amorous will in secret hour; Here, like an eagle, soars he o'er the plain, Love-led, and bears his Ganymede, the flower Of beauty, mid celestial peers to reign; The boy with cypress hath his fair locks crowned, Naked, with ivy wreathed his waist around."

"Jove, slylie stealing from his sisters bed, To dallie with Idalian Ganimed,"

"Love a woman? You’re an ass! ’Tis a most insipid passion To choose out for your happiness The silliest part of God’s creation.Let the porter and the groom, Things designed for dirty slaves, Drudge in fair Aurelia’s womb To get supplies for age and graves.Farewell, woman! I intend Henceforth every night to sit With my lewd, well-natured friend, Drinking to engender wit.Then give me health, wealth, mirth, and wine, And, if busy love entrenches, There’s a sweet soft page of mine Does the trick worth forty wenches."

"There were two young men of Cawnpore Who buggered and fucked the same whore. But the partition split And the gism and shit Rolled out in great lumps on the floor."

"There was a young fellow named Hyde Who took a girl out for a ride. He mucked up her fuck-hole And fucked up her muck-hole, And charged her two dollars beside."

"And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them."

"They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”"

"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants."

"Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you."

"As men, being unable to bear discreetly a satiety of these things, get restive like cattle, and become stiff-necked, and discard the laws of nature, pursuing a great and intemperate indulgence of gluttony, and drinking, and unlawful connections; for not only did they go mad after other women, and defile the marriage bed of others, but also those who were men lusted after one another, doing unseemly things, and not regarding or respecting their common nature, and though eager for children, they were convicted by having only an abortive offspring; but the conviction produced no advantage, since they were overcome by violent desire; and so by degrees, the men became accustomed to be treated like women, and in this way engendered among themselves the disease of females, and intolerable evil; for they not only, as to effeminacy and delicacy, became like women in their persons, but they also made their souls most ignoble, corrupting in this way the whole race of men, as far as depended on them."

"I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

"Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."

"About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, in so much that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices."

"Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence; and when Lot exhorted them to sobriety, and not to offer any thing immodest to the strangers, but to have regard to their lodging in his house; and promised that if their inclinations could not be governed, he would expose his daughters to their lust, instead of these strangers; neither thus were they made ashamed."

"Whenever, Lesbia, from your chair you rise, Your dress is tightly drawn between your thighs, And plays, I’ve noticed, in your hindmost site The active part of some vile sodomite."

"What! Of all creatures do ye come unto the males, and leave the wives your Lord created for you? Nay, but ye are froward folk."

"Loud clamour rises: those, who newly come, Shout “Sodom and Gomorrah!” these, “The cow Pasiphae enter’d, that the beast she woo’d Might rush unto her luxury.”"

"Their crime, who not with us proceed, was that, For which, as he did triumph, Caesar heard The snout of ‘queen’, to taunt him. Hence their cry Of ‘Sodom,’ as they parted, to rebuke Themselves, and aid the burning by their shame."

"The detestable and abominable Vice of Buggery committed with Mankind or Beast."

"Witness the Streets of Sodom, and that night In Gibeah, when hospitable Dores Yielded thir Matrons to prevent worse rape."

"Lust chose the torrid zone of Italy, Where blood ferments in rapes and sodomy, Where swelling veins o’erflow with livid streams, With heat impregnate from Vesuvian flames, Whose flowing sulphur forms infernal lakes, And human body of the soil partakes."

"Now God was angered at the vice of Sodom. Each day her sins became more bold and grievous. Lust was abroad upon her many highways, And it was worshiped in a throng of temples. So He resolved to chastise and to doom it With scorching flame, alert and purifying."

"Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion."

"Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion."

"In Ida's shady vale a bull appeared, White as the snow, the fairest of the herd; A beauty spot of black there only rose, Betwixt his equal horns and ample brows; The love and wish of all the Cretan cows. The queen beheld him as his head he rear'd; And envied ev'ry leap he gave the herd. A secret fire she nourished in her breast; And hated ev'ry heifer he caress'd. A story known, and known for true, I tell; Nor Crete, though lying, can the truth conceal. She cut him grass (so much can love command) She strok'd, she fed him with her royal hand; Was pleas'd in pastures with the herd to roam, And Minos by the bull was overcome. Cease, Queen, with gems t'adorn thy beauteous brows, The monarch of thy heart no jewel knows. Nor in thy glass compose thy looks and eyes; Secure from all thy charms thy lover lies: Yet trust thy mirror, when it tells thee true, Thou art no heifer to allure his view. Soon wouldst thou quit thy royal diadem To thy fair rivals; to be horned like them. If Minos please, no lover seek to find; If not, at least seek one of human kind. The wretched queen the Cretan court forsakes; In woods and wilds her habitation makes; She curses ev'ry beauteous cow she sees; “Ah, why dost thou my lord and master please! And think'st, ungrateful creature as thou art, With frisking awkardly to gain his heart.” She said; and straight commands with frowning look, To put her, undeserving, to the yoke. Or feigns some holy rites of sacrifice, And sees her rival's death with joyful eyes; Then when the bloody priest has done his part, Pleas'd, in her hand she holds the beating heart; Nor from a scornful taunt can scarce refrain, Go, fool, and strive to please my love again.” Now she would be Europa.—Io now; (One bare a bull, and one was made a cow.) Yet she at last her brutal bliss obtain'd, And in a wooden cow the bull sustained; Fill'd with his seed, accomplish'd her desire, Till, by his form, the son betray'd the sire."

"Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: If anyone has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill him and kill it along with him. I (Ikrimah) said: I asked him (Ibn Abbas): What offence can be attributed to the animal? He replied: I think he (the Prophet) disapproved of its flesh being eaten when such a thing had been done to it."

"'Asim reported from Abu Razin on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas saying: There is no prescribed punishment for one who has sexual intercourse with an animal."

"The volumes of fatwas devote pages and pages to an even more exotic subject—namely, what the believer should do with an animal which has been used for intercourse. ... While others may be a bit squeamish in discussing such questions, and a little surprised at encountering them in ‘religious’ books, the ulema have no qualms about discussing such matters and laying down the law on them as much as on any other matter. They regard it as one of their functions to do so."

"A man's wife is permitted to him. Therefore, a man may do whatever he desires with his wife. He may engage in relations whenever he desires, kiss any organ he desires, engage in vaginal or other intercourse, or engage in physical intimacy without relations, provided he does not release seed in vain. ... Nevertheless, it is pious conduct for a person not to act frivolously concerning such matters, and to sanctify himself at the time of relations, as explained in Hilchot Deot. He should not depart from the ordinary pattern of the world. For this act was [given to us] solely for the sake of procreation. ... Our Sages do not derive satisfaction from a person who engages in sexual relations excessively and frequents his wife like a rooster. This reflects a very blemished [character]; it is the way underdeveloped people conduct themselves. Instead, everyone who minimizes his sexual conduct is praiseworthy, provided he does not neglect his conjugal duties, without the consent of his wife."

"An adult man who engaged in intercourse with a minor girl less than three years old has done nothing, as intercourse with a girl less than three years old is tantamount to poking a finger into the eye. In the case of an eye, after a tear falls from it another tear forms to replace it. Similarly, the ruptured hymen of the girl younger than three is restored."

"If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you."

"“Nausicaa, How bare thy mother such a careless child? Neglected all thy rich attire is piled: Yet nigh thy wedding is, when thou must wear Fair raiment on thyself, and bring it fair To them that lead thee; for it causeth fame To mount abroad for good, to go thus clad, And maketh father's heart and mother's glad. Come therefore, at the daybreak let us fare A-washing; I will also go, to be Thy workfellow, and get thee quickly sped,— For thou shalt not rest long in maidenhead:— The best of all our men are wooing thee In this Phaeacian land, where thou wast born.”"

"I throw my apple towards you. If you will love me, take it And give me in repayment your own maidenhead: If your will is what I would not, yet keep it still; and make it A lesson of how swiftly all loveliness is fled."

"All day I heard your high heart-broken laughter, swallow, and, hearing, cried, ‘Is there no place or time when you forget, Pandîon’s daughter, your maidenhood, and Têreus, King of Thrace?’"

"Why hoard your maidenhood? There’ll not be found A lad to love you, girl, under the ground. Love’s joys are for the quick; but when we’re dead It’s dust and ashes, girl, will go to bed."

"She hating as a haynous crime the bonde of bridely bed Demurely casting downe hir eyes, and blushing somwhat red, Did folde about hir fathers necke with fauning armes: and sed: Deare father, graunt me while I live my maidenhead for to have, As to Diana here tofore hir father freely gave. Thy father (Daphne) could consent to that thou doest require, But that thy beautie and thy forme impugne thy chaste desire: So that thy will and his consent are nothing in this case, By reason of the beautie bright that shineth in thy face."

"An adult man who engaged in intercourse with a minor girl less than three years old has done nothing, as intercourse with a girl less than three years old is tantamount to poking a finger into the eye. In the case of an eye, after a tear falls from it another tear forms to replace it. Similarly, the ruptured hymen of the girl younger than three is restored."

"With margerain jentyll, The flowre of goodlyhede, Embrowdred the mantill Is of your maydenhede."

"Saith she, “Yet liever I were dead, Than I should lose my maidenhead, And all for love of men.”"

"The custome was that euery maid did weare, During her maidenhead, a silken Sphere About her waste, aboue her inmost weede, Knit with Minevuas knot, and that was freede By the faire Bridegrome on the manage night, With many ceremonies of delight: And yet eternisde Hymens tender Bride, To suffer it dissolu’d so sweetly cride. The maids that heard so lou’d, and did adore her, They wisht with all their hearts to suffer for her. So had the Matrons, that with Confits stood About the chamber, such affectionate blood, And so true feeling of her harmeles paines, That euery one a showre of Confits raines. For which the Brideyouths scrambling on the ground, In noyse of that sweet haile her cryes were drownd. And thus blest Hymen ioyde his gracious Bride, And for his ioy was after deifide."

"Have ye any crack’d maidenheads, to new leach or mend? Have ye any old maidenheads to sell or to change? Bring ’em to me, with a little pretty gin, I’ll clout ’em, I’ll mend ’em, I’ll knock in a pin, Shall make ’em as good maids again, As ever they have been.If your daughters on their beds, Have bowed or crack’d their maidenheads; If, in a coach, with too much tumbling, They chance to cry, fy, fo, what fumbling! If her foot slip, and down fall she, And break her leg above the knee; The one and thirtieth of February let this be ta’en, And they shall be arrant maids again."

"As unthrifts groan in straw for their pawn’d beds, As women weep for their lost maidenheads, When both are without hope or remedy, Such an untimely grief I have for thee."

"Netts, of passions finest thred, Snaring Poems, will be spred, All, to catch thy maiden-head."

"Joy to the Bridegroome and the Bride That lye by one anothers side! O fie upon the Virgin Bedds, No losse is gain but Maiden heads. Love quickly send the time may be When I shall deal my Rosemary!"

"Earth’s not so coy as you are now. But willingly admits the plow. For how had man or beast been fed, If she had kept her maiden head?"

"Teares, quickly fled, And vaine, as those are shed For a dying Maydenhead."

"Lasses like Autumne Plums did drop, And Lads, indifferently did crop A Flower, and a Maiden-head."

"There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh But they leave him a wad, Either their rings, or green mantles, Or else their maidenhead."

"Thy Beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble Vault, shall sound My ecchoing Song: then Worms shall try That long preserv’d Virginity: And your quaint Honour turn to dust; And into ashes all my Lust."

"I swear I’le keep my Maidenhead till death, And die as pure as Queen Elizabeth."

"Have you not in a chimney seen A sullen faggot, wet and green, How coyly it receives the heat And at both ends does fume and sweat?So fares it with the harmless maid When first upon her back she’s laid; But the kind experienced dame Cracks, and rejoices in the flame."

"And thou, O! dear, delightful bed, The altar where Her maidenhead, With burning cheeks, and down cast eyes, With panting breasts, and kind replies, And other due solemnity, Was offer’d up to love and me."

"And, God knows, I thought my Money was as safe as my Maidenhead."

"By the shattered hymen of Thor's bride!"

"The Membrane call'd Hymen, is a Sign or Note of Virginity, because 'tis not to be found in any but Virgins. That there is such a thing 'tis not to be doubted, we have such great Authorities for it. But in Sickly young Girls, or such as are of a wanton temper, 'tis not so perfect as in a Healthy young Maid, that is Vertuous in Thought and in Deed. ... In the first coition Pain and Bloodshed ensues upon breaking it. Its use is to defend the Internal Parts."

"After the repast is ended, we return to the dance, and, when the hour of repose arrives, we draw from a kind of lottery, in which every one is sure of a prize; that is, a young girl as his companion for the night. They are allotted thus by chance, in order to avoid jealousy, and to prevent exclusive attachments. Thus ends the day, and gives place to a night of delights, which we sanctify by enjoying with due relish that sweetest of all pleasures, which Faraki has so wisely attached to the reproduction of our species. We reverently admire the wisdom and the goodness of Faraki, who, desiring to secure to the world a continued population, has implanted in the sexes an invincible mutual attraction, which constantly draws them towards each other. Fecundity is the end he proposes, and he rewards with intoxicating delights those who contribute to the fulfilment of his designs."

"Munditias mulieribus, viris laborem convenire"

"Elegance is proper to women but toil to men"

"The husband’s the pilot, the wife is the ocean, He always in danger, she always in motion:"

"Man is the will, and Woman the sentiment. In this ship of humanity, Will is the rudder, and Sentiment the sail: when Woman affects to steer, the rudder is only a masked sail."

"When men were men, and women were glad of it."

"Vive la différence!"

"[Long] live the difference!"

"Man does, woman is"

"Beauty itself doth of itself persuade The eyes of men without an orator; What needeth then apology be made To set forth that which is so singular? Or why is Collatine the publisher Of that rich jewel he should keep unknown From thievish ears, because it is his own?"

"Her hair bound backward in a spiral wreath Her upper beauties to my sight betray’d; The happy stream concealing those beneath, Around her waist with circling waters play’d;"

"They never saw him drawing pictures of them naked at their antics in his notebook."

"Errol had ... two-way mirrors, speaker systems in the ladies' room. Not for security. Just that he was an A-1 voyeur."

"Mater semper certa est; pater est quem nuptiae demonstrant."

"The mother is always certain; the father is the one she was married to when the child was born."

"She Acts the jealous, and at Will she cries; For Womens Tears are but the sweat of Eyes. Poor Cuckold-Fool, thou think’st that Love sincere, And suck’st between her Lips, the falling Tear: But search her Cabinet, and thou shalt find Each Tiller there with Love Epistles lin’d."

"But suffer not thy Wife abroad to roam, If she loves Singing, let her Sing at home; Not strut in Streets, with Amazonian pace; For that’s to Cuckold thee, before thy Face."

"Now, when Shah Zaman saw this conduct of his sister-in-law he said in himself, “By Allah, my calamity is lighter than this! My brother is a greater King among the kings than I am, yet this infamy goeth on in his very palace, and his wife is in love with that filthiest of filthy slaves. But this only showeth that they all do it and that there is no woman but who cuckoldeth her husband, then the curse of Allah upon one and all and upon the fools who lean against them for support or who place the reins of conduct in their hands.” So he put away his melancholy and despondency, regret and repine, and allayed his sorrow by constantly repeating those words, adding “’Tis my conviction that no man in this world is safe from their malice!”"

"Who hath no wyf, he is no cokewold."

"This Carpenter had wedded newe a wyf Which that he lovede more than his lyf; Of eightetene yeer she was of age. Ialous he was, and heeld hir narwe in cage, For she was wilde and yong, and he was old, And demed him-self ben lyk a cokewold. He knew nat Catoun, for his wit was rude, That bad man sholde wedde his similitude. Men sholde wedden after hir estaat, For youthe and elde is often at debaat. But sith that he was fallen in the snare, He moste endure, as other folk, his care."

"Now ther ye seye, that I am foul and old, Than drede you noght to been a cokewold; For filthe and elde, al-so moot I thee, Been grete wardeyns up-on chastitee."

"By the haven of safety, cried out Rondibilis, what is this you ask of me? If you shall be a cuckold? My noble friend, I am married, and you are like to be so very speedily; therefore be pleased, from my experiment in the matter, to write in your brain with a steel pen this subsequent ditton, There is no married man who doth not run the hazard of being made a cuckold. Cuckoldry naturally attendeth marriage. The shadow doth not more naturally follow the body, than cuckoldry ensueth after marriage to place fair horns upon the husbands’ heads."

"When daisies pied and violets blue, And lady-smocks all silver-white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue Do paint the meadows with delight, The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo! Cuckoo, cuckoo!—O word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear! When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks, When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws, And maidens bleach their summer smocks The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo! Cuckoo, cuckoo!—O word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear!"

"You're shallow, madam, in great friends; for the knaves come to do that for me which I am aweary of. He that ears my land spares my team and gives me leave to in the crop; if I be his cuckold, he's my drudge: he that comforts my wife is the cherisher of my flesh and blood; he that cherishes my flesh and blood loves my flesh and blood; he that loves my flesh and blood is my friend: ergo, he that kisses my wife is my friend. If men could be contented to be what they are, there were no fear in marriage; for young Charbon the Puritan and old Poysam the Papist, howsome'er their hearts are severed in religion, their heads are both one; they may jowl horns together, like any deer i' the herd."

"Gone already! Inch-thick, knee-deep, o’er head and ears a fork’d one! Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and I Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour Will be my knell. Go, play, boy, play. There have been, Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now; And many a man there is, even at this present, Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm, That little thinks she has been sluiced in’s absence And his pond fish’d by his next neighbour, by Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there’s comfort in’t Whiles other men have gates and those gates open’d, As mine, against their will. Should all despair That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind Would hang themselves. Physic for’t there is none; It is a bawdy planet, that will strike Where ’tis predominant; and ’tis powerful, think it, From east, west, north and south: be it concluded, No barricado for a belly; know’t; It will let in and out the enemy With bag and baggage: many thousand on’s Have the disease, and feel’t not. How now, boy!"

"The Cuckold is the last that knowes of it."

"Oh that all the World were mad, Then should we have fine Dancing, Hobby horses would be had, And brave Girles keepe a prancing. Beggars would on Cock-horse ride. And Boobies fall a roaring, And Cuckolds, tho no Hornes be spied, Be one another goring."

"A wily wench there was (as I have read) Who us’d to capricorn her husband’s head, Which he suspecting, lay in private wait, To catch the knave, and keep his wife more straight. But all in vain: they day by day did mate it, Yet could his four eyes never take them at it. This subtle wench perceiving how they should At last prevented be, do all they could: For now Italian-like her husband grew, Horn-mad I wish, and kept her in a Mew. Invent’d a trick, which to accomplish better, Unto her friend she closely sent a letter, And thus it was; Friend you shall know by me, My husband keeps me far more narrowly Then he was wont, so as to tell you true, You cannot come to me; nor I to you. Yet spite of his eyes and as many more, We’ll use those pleasures which we used before: Only be wise, and second what I wish: Which to express (my friend) know this it is. My husband as he hates the horns to wear, Of all the Badges forth, so fears he’th Bear, More than all other Beasts which do frequent The healthy Forests spacious continent. If thou wilt right me then, and pepper him, Cover thy servant in a false Bear’s skin. And come tomorrow, as thou used before, Tying thy servant to my chamber door. After this quaint direction he attired His man in bear-skin as she had desir’d: Entering the chamber he received is With many a smile, back-fall, and sweetened kiss: For they’re secure, of all that was before, Having a Bear that kept the Buff from door. The wittol fool no sooner inkling had, Then up the stairs he ran as he were mad. But seeing none but th’ Bear to entertain him, Of Horns he never after did complain him."

"If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you."

"The Greek Dances are extremely pleasant, and full of Mirth. [...] The fittest time to take the pleasure of viewing their way of Dancing, is when they are met at a Wedding; for on such Occasions they give themselves up to Joy and Pleasure, drinking, eating, and sporting, and indulging themselves in all manner of Diversions. The next Morning the young Woman's Relations make a Visit to the new-marry'd Couple, and examine the Bridegroom concerning his Wife's Virginity: Then they take the Bride's Bloody Smock, and expose it to the View of all the Company, as if it were some rare Curiosity. The Jews observe the same Custom at the Marriage of a Maid, and are even nicer and more scrupulous in this Point than the Greeks; for if the Bride's Honesty be not confirm'd by the Blood that appears on her Smock, her Reputation is irrecoverably lost, and she is immediately divorc'd from her Husband. They unanimously agree in believing that this is an infallible Mark of Virginity: And this Opinion is so generally receiv'd thro' all Asia and Africa, that if a Man shou'd endeavour to contradict it, he wou'd expose himself to the Laughter and Derision of all that shou'd hear him. The Italians are also persuaded of the Certainty of this Experiment, tho' they abstain from making a Shew of the Bloody Smock, for fear of exposing their own Shame; but the Husband examines his Bride very narrowly, and if he finds her not such as he expects and desires, 'tis in vain for her to endeavour by the most solemn Protestations to convince him of her Innocency. Nevertheless this way of trying the Chastity of a Maid is esteem'd uncertain and ridiculous by the French, and even by Chirurgeons; nor can I reflect without a certain Wonder and Astonishment on this Diversity of Opinions concerning a Question that one wou'd think might have been fully decided by so many repeated Experiments; for I see no reason to believe that our Country-Women are fram'd after another manner than the rest of their Sex."

"Thou art he who createst the man-child in woman, who makest seed in man, who giveth life to the son in the body of his mother, who soothest him that he may not weep, a nurse [even] in the womb."

"But thou art he that took me out of the womb: Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: Thou art my God from my mother's belly."

"Our mothers’ wombs the tyring-houses be Where we are drest for this short comedy:"

"Your brother and his lover have embraced: As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time That from the seedness the bare fallow brings To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry."

"A prettie rysing wombe without a weame, That shone as bright as anie siluer streame; And bare out like the bending of an hill, At whose decline a fountaine dwelleth still;A pretty rising womb without a wenn, That shine[s] as bright as any crystal gem, And bears out like the rising of a hill, At whose decline the[re] runs a fountain still,"

"And Venus, thou, with timely seed, Which may their after-comforts breed, Inform the gentle womb; Nor let it prove a tomb: But, ere ten moons be wasted, The birth, by Cynthia hasted. So may they both, ere day, Rise perfect every way."

"To Eve's womb, from our sweet to-morrow, God shall greatly multiply sorrow."

"A dynamic and evolved care model focused on body literacy, cycle tracking, and individualized women’s health markers, [Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM]) practitioners work to restore a woman’s reproductive health to conceive naturally. Several large groups and clinics have formed over the years to support and expand this version of care, describing it as the superior option for women and couples. RRM practitioners typically identify treatable underlying causes for infertility, such as low estrogen and progesterone, insulin resistance, thyroid disease or dysfunction, and endometriosis, resulting in improved fertility and healthier patients."

"Fertility meant nothing to us in our twenties; it was something to be secured in the dungeon and left there to molder. In our early thirties, we remembered it existed and wondered if we should check on it, and then—abruptly, horrifyingly—it became urgent: Somebody find that dragon! It was time to rouse it, get it ready for action. But the beast had not grown stronger during the decades of hibernation. By the time we tried to wake it, the dragon was weakened, wizened. Old."

"Fertility, sexuality, strength, and the ability to create and nurture life: These were the powers of women ... It was a ripening, yes, but not just for the purpose of bearing children, or being a wife. It represented a claiming of one's self..."

"Those at whose birth the feet appeared first, instead of the head, which is considered the most difficult and dangerous form of parturition, are called Agrippae, a word formed from aegritudo, or "difficulty," and pedes (feet). But Varro says that the position of children in the womb is with the head lowest and the feet raised up, not according to the nature of a man, but of a tree. For he likens the branches of a tree to the feet and legs, and the stock and trunk to the head. "Accordingly," says he, "when they chanced to be turned upon their feet in an unnatural position, since their arms are usually extended they are wont to be held back, and then women give birth with greater difficulty. For the purpose of averting this danger altars were set up at Rome to the two Carmentes, of whom one was called Postverta, the other Prorsa, named from natural and unnatural births, and their power over them.""

"It is the custom with you, for the eldest of five brothers to marry and for the wife of such brother to be common to all five; hence there cannot be the slightest or remotest doubt of your being all bastards and whoresons. This is about the seventh time that you have acted treasonably towards the sircar, and plundered our armies. I have now [therefore] vowed to the true God, that if you ever again conduct yourselves traitorously or wickedly, I will not revile or molest a single individual among you, but making Ahmedies [i.e. Muslims] of the whole of you, transplant you all from this country to some other; by which means, from being illegitimate, your progeny or descendants may become legitimate, and the epithet of whoresons (born of sinful mothers) may no longer belong to your tribe."