4 ms·

I assume I saw this downvoted because people get defensive about intimacies they enjoy or because of the snarky tone, but this is actually a very astute insight

I assume I saw this downvoted because people get defensive about intimacies they enjoy or because of the snarky tone, but this is actually a very astute insight into a recent cultural change that might legitimately play some role. It wasn't a very common practice in earlier generations, it became an increasingly common practice in newer generations, and the shift could very easily produce unstudied consequences to health at scale (whether this or other things).

situationista 3y ago
Do you have any reliable evidence to back up your assertion that the activity in question "wasn't a very common practice in earlier generations"? The fact that something isn't openly discussed rarely means it's not happening...
- iammjm 3y ago
  Considering the popularity of porn and its obvious impact on sexual practices (monkey see, monkey do) plus the higher hygiene standards I would imagine butt-eating is more widespread now then ever. I’d also imagine cleaning the soon to be eaten butt would lower the risk
  - nick__m 3y ago
    You got the infection route backwards, the cancer causing plaque bacteria migrate from mouth to butt ! But more seriously it's a gram negative bacteria so it has a polysaccharide armor that could resist a passage through the digestive system.
- swatcoder 3y ago
  I mean, I can't speak for what was unmentionably hot in the 19th century or whatever, but there are many many living people who were plenty free-spirited during the 20th century and are quite open about what they did and do get up to, and many graphic literary and media accounts of the same. There are also many much older literary sources on practice and technique that are quite rich and detailed but don't really give it much attention. You're correct that none of that can provide authoritative counter-evidence to the claim that it's always been as popular and widespread as it is today, but given that many practices do come in and out of fashion, it's easier for most to assume that the particular quiet of the oral and literary historical record about this is because it wasn't popular than that it is the one secret thing that nobody blabbed about in topical literature or ran across much in their own experience. I didn't even think it's recent, dramatic rise in popularity was contentious until you pushed back on it just now. I'd personally put the burden of proof on demonstrating that it was similarly common rather than that it wasn't. But I would understand those determined to disagree. There are cultural trends and fashions in intimate practice, though, whether or not you accept that this is one of them.
  - wewtyflakes 3y ago
    > It wasn't a very common practice in earlier generations, it became an increasingly common practice in newer generations ...followed by... > I mean, I can't speak for what was unmentionably hot in the 19th century or whatever ...seems to indicate you should not have been so confident in your initial assertion. A great number of things were likely less mention-able in prior generations, including the act of hetero-normative sex; I suspect people had plenty of sex then, considering we exist at all.
- karaterobot 3y ago
  > The fact that something isn't openly discussed rarely means it's not happening... Surely not being openly discussed isn't evidence of it being extremely prevalent either. And given that, it's really hard to imagine reliable evidence one way or the other. But the person you're responding to did not make an obviously ridiculous statement. We all know it's not provable, but I'll happily give them the benefit of the doubt here.
mathgeek 3y ago
I assume the reason for the downvoting is because gp called out the people rather than just stating what the activity is. This is leading to us assuming what each responder considers the most likely activity.
elwebmaster 3y ago
I don’t know about that but what I can tell you was a very common practice in all earlier generations was drinking hard liquor. What does it do to bacteria?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
ZunarJ5 3y ago
This is not what the historical record says at all, actually hilariously quite the opposite and this assumption is quite modern and common especially in the West. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-03/young-adults-less-sex-gen-z-millennials-generations-parents-grandparents https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-03/young-ad... For one, quite famous historical example see the Kama Sutra. It does not take more than a quick Google search to find a million other examples, eg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_art_in_Pompeii_and_Herculaneum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_art_in_Pompeii_and_He... Check out this AskHistorians thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17zztg/how_common_was_casual_sex_throughout_history/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17zztg/how_c...
- swatcoder 3y ago
  We're talking about a specific practice here, and in fact I rely on the lack of general prudeness to elaborate on my point in another reply. Because people have been getting it on quite creatively forever and because they were often writing about it (and because many older living people got around too), we can make reasonable -- if not authoritative -- suppositions about the specific things that people were getting up to in various communities at various times
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- genericacct 3y ago
  You are totally correct. The practice is so old there is a latin word for it

situationista 3y ago

Do you have any reliable evidence to back up your assertion that the activity in question "wasn't a very common practice in earlier generations"? The fact that something isn't openly discussed rarely means it's not happening...

iammjm 3y ago
Considering the popularity of porn and its obvious impact on sexual practices (monkey see, monkey do) plus the higher hygiene standards I would imagine butt-eating is more widespread now then ever. I’d also imagine cleaning the soon to be eaten butt would lower the risk
- nick__m 3y ago
  You got the infection route backwards, the cancer causing plaque bacteria migrate from mouth to butt ! But more seriously it's a gram negative bacteria so it has a polysaccharide armor that could resist a passage through the digestive system.
swatcoder 3y ago
I mean, I can't speak for what was unmentionably hot in the 19th century or whatever, but there are many many living people who were plenty free-spirited during the 20th century and are quite open about what they did and do get up to, and many graphic literary and media accounts of the same. There are also many much older literary sources on practice and technique that are quite rich and detailed but don't really give it much attention. You're correct that none of that can provide authoritative counter-evidence to the claim that it's always been as popular and widespread as it is today, but given that many practices do come in and out of fashion, it's easier for most to assume that the particular quiet of the oral and literary historical record about this is because it wasn't popular than that it is the one secret thing that nobody blabbed about in topical literature or ran across much in their own experience. I didn't even think it's recent, dramatic rise in popularity was contentious until you pushed back on it just now. I'd personally put the burden of proof on demonstrating that it was similarly common rather than that it wasn't. But I would understand those determined to disagree. There are cultural trends and fashions in intimate practice, though, whether or not you accept that this is one of them.
- wewtyflakes 3y ago
  > It wasn't a very common practice in earlier generations, it became an increasingly common practice in newer generations ...followed by... > I mean, I can't speak for what was unmentionably hot in the 19th century or whatever ...seems to indicate you should not have been so confident in your initial assertion. A great number of things were likely less mention-able in prior generations, including the act of hetero-normative sex; I suspect people had plenty of sex then, considering we exist at all.
karaterobot 3y ago
> The fact that something isn't openly discussed rarely means it's not happening... Surely not being openly discussed isn't evidence of it being extremely prevalent either. And given that, it's really hard to imagine reliable evidence one way or the other. But the person you're responding to did not make an obviously ridiculous statement. We all know it's not provable, but I'll happily give them the benefit of the doubt here.

mathgeek 3y ago

I assume the reason for the downvoting is because gp called out the people rather than just stating what the activity is. This is leading to us assuming what each responder considers the most likely activity.

elwebmaster 3y ago

I don’t know about that but what I can tell you was a very common practice in all earlier generations was drinking hard liquor. What does it do to bacteria?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

ZunarJ5 3y ago

This is not what the historical record says at all, actually hilariously quite the opposite and this assumption is quite modern and common especially in the West. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-03/young-adults-less-sex-gen-z-millennials-generations-parents-grandparents https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-03/young-ad... For one, quite famous historical example see the Kama Sutra. It does not take more than a quick Google search to find a million other examples, eg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_art_in_Pompeii_and_Herculaneum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_art_in_Pompeii_and_He... Check out this AskHistorians thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17zztg/how_common_was_casual_sex_throughout_history/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17zztg/how_c...

swatcoder 3y ago
We're talking about a specific practice here, and in fact I rely on the lack of general prudeness to elaborate on my point in another reply. Because people have been getting it on quite creatively forever and because they were often writing about it (and because many older living people got around too), we can make reasonable -- if not authoritative -- suppositions about the specific things that people were getting up to in various communities at various times
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
genericacct 3y ago
You are totally correct. The practice is so old there is a latin word for it