SPEAKING OF DOGGY-STYLE

When you get to the primates - apes and the like - frontal fun becomes more common, but banging from behind is still the norm.

But some of us love to get back to four-legged basics. Male/male doggy-style engagement - anal intercourse with the receptive guy on all fours, the insertive fella slipping it in from the rear - can have a lot of appeal to both bottoms and tops. "I find getting screwed when I'm on my back to be restrictive after a while," says one fuckee. "Hell, I'd have to be an acrobat to keep my legs in the air for as long as I like to get done." And it's true that the doggy position can be a lot less stressful to hold: The top doesn't have to do preorgasmic push-ups, and the bottom isn't twisted into a pretzel. The range of motion is greater, and the more relaxed, ass-presenting posture of the bottom can mean smoother initial entry. And without having to deal with his body weight pressing down, a top can control his stroke more easily.

The pluses can be psychological, as well. "When I'm screwing someone doggy style, I really feel like the dominant guy," says a dominant guy. "I love to just grab a guy's hips and pound away. I like to look down and see my hard-on stroking in and out. And I can easily check to make sure the condom's still on." Heavier kinksters can even fasten a collar and leash on a bottomboy and hump him like a hungry.well, bitch.

It's a sure bet that many a bottom, feeling an unseen man plowing into his hole, feels delightfully submissive. The aforementioned fuckee says, "When I can't see the guy who's inside me, I feel just like a piece of meat. And hey, sometimes I really like that feeling. But if I want to be a power bottom, I can push my butt back and ride a top's shaft hard."

Still, not everyone likes canine-style conjugation. Fans of having their prostates pounded may well find that the missionary position provides a more congenial angle for G-spot grinding. "I find I slip out too easy," complains one top. "And for me, doggy style is just too depersonalized. When I'm inside a guy, I like to look into his eyes. I like to kiss, and only giraffes can kiss easily when they screw from the rear. Hell, I like to look down and see the face of my partner, not his back and shoulders. I guess I'm just an old-fashioned romantic that way."

Romantic or not, there are enough positions in the queer Kama Sutra to keep adventurous couples from getting bored. After all, doggy style's not the only rear-ramming possibility. What we might amphibiously call "froggy style" involves a bottom keeping his face in the mattress but his butt in the air. And "spread-eagle" (just to keep the animal metaphors going) involves a bottom lying face down while the on-top top either straddles his legs or lies between them. Yep, when it comes to fucking, there's a whole menagerie of possibilities.

Is doggy style depersonalized? Is rear-entry loving animalistic? Well, who's to say we can't be a bit bestial in bed? So if you think of yourself as a randy Rin Tin Tin, if you want to bang like Bowser, then by all means, go right ahead and howl at the moon. Ah-woooh!

Simon Sheppard

San Francisco artist and activist Simon Sheppard is best known for his contributions to the erotic literary scene. He wrote hundreds of stories that appeared in S/M magazines; erotic anthologies; and over twenty editions of Best Gay Erotica and Best American Erotica. His Sextalk column has appeared on OutUK for more than 20 years. You can find out more about Simon Sheppard in this OutUK feature and tribute, or take a look at some of his many books that are still available:

       

Looking for something very sexy and just as smart? Man on Man collects the best and hottest gay sex writing by Simon, who is also co-editor of Rough Stuff: Tales of Gay Men, Sex, and Power as well as a collection of gay erotica called Hotter Than Hell.

In KINKORAMA : Dispatches from the Front Lines of Perversion he takes readers behind the unmarked doors and black vinyl curtains that lead to the sometimes shocking, often hilarious, relentlessly arousing scenarios of extreme sex. There are also stories of bears in Tales from the Bear Cult: Beat Bear Stories from the Best Magazines.