coitus

coitus is the technical term for sexual conjunction or copulation. It is derived from the Latin ‘co’, meaning together, and ‘ire’, a verb form meaning to come or to go. Tracing the etymology of the term, the Oxford English Dictionary indicates that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ‘coitus’ could mean any going or coming together, or a mutual tendency of bodies toward one another. These more general meanings, however, have disappeared from usage. In its narrow medical–anatomical sense, coitus means a specific kind of sexual intercourse: the insertion of the erect penis into the vagina. However, its meaning has been extended to include, for example, axillary coitus, or intercourse with the penis inserted into an armpit; femoral coitus, or intercourse with the penis inserted between the thighs; mammary coitus, or intercourse with the penis inserted between the woman's breasts; and coitus a tergo, or sexual intercourse in which the male enters the woman's vagina from behind.

While coitus, like copulation, is a neutral term, it has in English many vulgar and colloquial synonyms (get it on; do it; fuck; bang, and so forth). Pierre Guiraud's study of the French term ‘le coît’, which is equivalent to the English ‘coitus’, lists 1300 words and metaphors culled from French literature that are used to express the concept. These range from the euphemistic s'abandonner (to abandon oneself) to the vulgar foutre (to fuck), and from the equestrian metaphor, frémir sous l'éperon (to shiver under the spurs), to the mythological, ‘voyager à Cythère’ (to travel to Cythera, island sacred to Venus). He notes that this list could be infinitely expanded because ‘le coît’ theoretically can be described by any action operated by a male subject on a female object. His findings also affirm that ‘le coît’ or ‘coitus’ describes a normative, heterosexual act of intercourse achieved when the active, erect male partner penetrates the passive female. In fact, Guiraud points out that terms suggesting penetration are especially favoured as synonyms for coitus.

Although a natural sexual act, coitus is culturally regulated by legislation, custom, and religious belief. For example, in many societies incest taboos, and statutes forbidding adultery or prostitution, regulate consensual coitus, and forced or nonconsensual coitus is criminalized by laws against rape. Many religious beliefs proscribe coitus at certain times (for example, during menstruation), or forbid all coitus except that performed for procreation. Some religious tenets and social conventions ban copulation between unmarried couples or limit coitus to certain postures or positions. The myriad of laws and practices surrounding coitus suggests that this ‘natural’ act is determined by complicated social and religious conventions which, obeyed or transgressed, are formative of human sexuality.

Mary Sheriff

Bibliography

Guiraud, P. (1978). Dictionnaire Erotique, La langage de la sexualité, Vol. 1. Payot, Paris.

See also ejaculation; erection; reproductive system; sex.