Mike Phillips - The many tongues of love

As we enter the closing phases of the twentieth century, a curious semireversal of the Eastern and Western attitudes toward coitus seems to be taking place. At least, among the highly educated, intelligent, and widely read classes of English-speaking society, an unusually liberal attitude toward extravaginal coital relations has been and is still spreading: so that it may be confidently predicted that by the close of the present century an individual in these classes will be considered neurotically inhibited and to some degree sexually deviated if he does not at times spontaneously and joyously engage in all forms of heterosexual coitus, vaginal as well as nonvaginal.

The objective observer may well wonder what the future holds if this prediction becomes even partially true. How will the eyes of the future look back upon our era of widespread sexual neurosis and psychological conflict? What will they think of the masses of pilgrims wending their way to the offices of psychiatrists and psychologists all over the country? Will even such narratives as the foregoing seem exceptional in their fascination with oral sex? Note that even to Ellis the criterion for sexual health seems to be the exclusivity of nonexclusivity of sexual interest.

It may be then, that there is a gradual relaxation of the more neurotic forms of sexual vigilance working its way through our society and the societies of the Western world in general. It was not so long ago, in Victorian England, that the mention of such parts of the body as the arm or the leg brought shocked amazement at a mixed gathering. The taboos of that period have been relaxed to a substantial degree in the present day. It should not take much imagination to postulate the further alteration of ingrained sexual taboos as the world moves on.

However, even with the relaxation of sexual prejudice and the improvement of scientific and psychological techniques for the investigation of human sexual behavior, it cannot be assumed that topics such as oral sex will be accepted quickly and without reservation throughout the general public. As always, the advancement of knowledge will proceed in slow, steady steps.