Talk:Missionary position

This outdated statements shoud be removed:

<<According to Sexual Health Resource, "The man-on-top sex positions are very good for couples who are trying to have a baby, because penetration can be very deep. If the woman holds on to her legs behind her knees and draws her thighs right back, sperm can be deposited deep in the vagina—at the neck of the womb. This provided the best chance of conception occurring."[6] Francoeur states that "male-above sex promotes fertility by keeping the opening of the vagina higher than the seminal pool, which, in turn, helps sperm get into the womb and find the egg.[42]>>

A woman can get pregnant from a drop of sperm on her vulva. There is no need to injekt the sperm as deep as possible. Sperm can swim and they swim a long distance from the entrance of the vagina to the upper part of the fallopian tube.

The assertion that the penis must penetrate and ejaculate particularly deep is nonsense. The sperms don't need help at all. If they are healthy, they swim up to the fallopian tube. One sperm is enough to make a baby.

The person who wrote "into the womb and find the egg" should first discover for themselves where to find the egg. In "the womb" is quite inaccurate. Journey of the sperm. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sciencia58 (talk • contribs)

How deep the penis penetrates does not depend on the position, but on the pelvic movements of the partners. In Doggy style and Spoons sex position, it can also go up to the cervix and even cause pain there when bumping, or pleasure when touching the AFE zone. For the stimulation of the AFE zone, a tergo is recommended. I find it unreasonable to prescribe the sex position to couples who wish to have children. Sciencia58 (talk) 08:38, 4 November 2021 (UTC)

A woman can get pregnant from a drop of sperm on her vulva. There is no need to injekt [sic] the sperm as deep as possible. Sperm can swim and they swim a long distance from the entrance of the vagina to the upper part of the fallopian tube.

While technically true, this completely ignores how the process of fertilization works. And human sperm are nowhere near as hardy as many other similarly sized cells. RadioactiveBoulevardier (talk) 11:50, 3 March 2023 (UTC)

Spoons sex position

"Oh no the poor woman she has to feel vulnerable to the evil man." Is how it reads. Its nonsense, like no duh. And so the recommendation is for the opposite so the woman is on top instead? This article focuses basically only on the woman. Its sexist. 2A00:23C8:9DB9:D301:183C:99DB:A3AC:A0FE (talk) 00:39, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

I do agree that the Perceived advantages and disadvantages section could use some work with a delicate instrument, but I don't have the headspace to comb through it and do deep, penetrating CE on it right now. I'm not going to template the article for GOCE though, since it requires finesse -- too many cooks spoil the broth... RadioactiveBoulevardier (talk) 11:49, 3 March 2023 (UTC)

@2A00:23C8:9DB9:D301:183C:99DB:A3AC:A0FE: could you give instances of that? -- Python Drink (talk) 14:53, 13 July 2022 (UTC)

Just trying not to be a drive-by tagger.

Sex and reproduction are almost as fundamental as eating and drinking, and are obviously found in all cultures. Couldn't we do a better job of climbing out of the culture-bound frame of reference? RadioactiveBoulevardier (talk) 03:25, 17 March 2023 (UTC)

Per the template's help page, This tag should only be applied to articles where global perspectives are reasonably believed to exist (e.g., that people in China have a different view about an idea or situation than people in Germany or South Africa).. Without evidence of that, the tag is not needed. What evidence is there that people in these places view this topic differently? Crossroads ^-talk- 18:57, 17 March 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for your challenging comment. I believe I can gather a good amount of evidence, given some time. I'm currently swamped with work IRL though. RadioactiveBoulevardier (talk) 23:19, 17 March 2023 (UTC)

It might not be a good time to add tags then. Every article could be improved in various ways but tagging them doesn't do that. Johnuniq (talk) 00:53, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

I'm not sure why you think that global perspectives do not exist, actually. Ask the Trobriand Islanders, the Kama Sutra, and a wide variety of others worldwide and you'll get a clear variety of perspectives.

The "perceived advantages and disadvantages" section is pretty clearly written from a systemic Anglo-American bias POV. RadioactiveBoulevardier (talk) 23:29, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

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In ancient Greece, the missionary position was originally an unpopular position. Beds existed, yet not as we know them today, and men married girls 14 or 15 years of age, which created a height differential. These factors made the rear-entry standing position more convenient. However, circa the second century, Artemidos popularized the missionary position among Greco-Roman Stoics, declaring it "the only proper and natural" position due to the flow of semen.

should be changed so the name 'Artemidos' appears in its more consensus-driven 'Artemidorus.'

https://academic.oup.com/book/40085/chapter/341036739 is a proper citation to add. Historia.vitae.magistras (talk) 20:01, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

 Done. I haven't added the link as I don't have access to the source. Maproom (talk) 17:19, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

The article basically assumes that the man is always on top and the woman always on the bottom, both only in a cisgender context. Not only does it erase same-sex intercourse, it also doesn't include men that do like to be penetrated.

It mentions same-sex couples as a sort of footnote: "but is also used by same-sex couples." but it's just as popular a position in those cases.

Other articles on positions have already adapted gender-neutral phrasing, there's no reason this one shouldn't follow suit. FroustiesSnouf (talk) 17:41, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

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Change "According to Francoeur, the Brazilian Bororo Indians eschew missionary, finding it insulting for either partner to be above the other during sex." under the "Popularity" section to "According to Francoeur, the Brazilian Bororo natives eschew missionary, finding it insulting for either partner to be above the other during sex." or something similar to reflect current and more accurate language. CodyFG (talk) 00:09, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

 Done Changed to "Bororo people". Day Creature (talk) 01:16, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

Could someone switch in this vectorised version, if they think it's an improvement?

• current
  current
• 
  vectorised

Thank you! I am not Seedfeeder (talk) 04:13, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

The original is good quality art with sufficient resolution and would not benefit from svg format instead of png. Compare original and proposed svg. The original is better. Johnuniq (talk) 07:41, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

Thank you. I vectorised the image because the original is only 800px wide. This was a lot in 2010, when the image was made, but that was 25 years ago:

• The largest interpretation of "thumb" in MediaWiki, when shown in a browser, is currently 960px.
• The image is used as a cover on mobile devices for the full width of the screen; it's common for devices sold today to have screens wider than 1000px.

In both cases, the image will be upscaled on the fly. This will look worse and worse as time goes on and the standard resolutions increase. Vector images don't have this problem.

If you have criticisms of the work, I'd like to hear them so I can try to fix them. I am not Seedfeeder (talk) 18:05, 11 January 2026 (UTC)