Frot - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Frot is a slang term derived from frottage (ult. from the French verb frotter, "to rub") describing a form of non-penetrative

Non-penetrative sex

Non-penetrative sex is sexual activity without vaginal, anal, or oral penetration, as opposed to the penetrative aspects of those activities...

male/male sex that usually but not always involves direct penis

Penis

The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...

-to-penis contact.

The term "frot" was originally popularized by gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

male activists who disparaged the practice of anal sex

Anal sex

Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...

. The term has since evolved to encompass a variety of preferences for the act, which may or may not imply particular attitudes towards other sexual activities.

Owing to its non-penetrative character, frot has the safe sex

Safe sex

Safe sex is sexual activity engaged in by people who have taken precautions to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. It is also referred to as safer sex or protected sex, while unsafe or unprotected sex is sexual activity engaged in without precautions...

advantage of minimizing the transmission risk for HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

/AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

, and may also help to lower the risk of certain other sexually transmitted infections, without the inconvenience of purchasing condoms and condom-safe lubricants.

Concept and etymology

Genito-genital sex or genital-genital (GG) sex is a physically descriptive term for sex in which there is contact between the genitals, in the same naming convention as "genital-anal sex" and "genital-oral sex". This type of sexual intimacy is not restricted to humans. "GG rubbing" is a term frequently used by primatologists to describe tribadism among female bonobos, and is sometimes used in reference to "GG rubbing" among bonobo males, under the term "penis fencing." Thus, penis-to-penis rubbing between males is thought, according to some evolutionary theorist, to have existed before the development of hominids into humans and bonobo

Bonobo

The bonobo , Pan paniscus, previously called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee...

s, and may or may not have occurred in the homosexual activity of both of these genetically related species.

As a modern concept that describes a specific activity among men who have sex with men

Men who have sex with men

Men who have sex with men are male persons who engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, regardless of how they identify themselves; many men choose not to accept sexual identities of homosexual or bisexual...

(MSM), the term "frot" emerged in a context of a debate about the status of anal sex within the gay male community; some in the anti-anal, pro-frot camp insist that anal sex ought to be avoided altogether. Another view argued that the popularity of anal sex would decline (presumably with a corresponding drop in HIV rates) if gay men could somehow be persuaded to stop thinking of anal sex as a "vanilla

Vanilla sex

Vanilla sex is a description of what a culture regards as standard or conventional sexual behaviour. Different cultures, subcultures and individuals have different ideas about what constitutes this type of sex...

" practice, but rather as something "kinky" and not-quite-respectable—as was the case in the 1950s and 1960s, when gay men who preferred to do only mutual masturbation and fellatio sometimes used the mildly disparaging slang term "brownie queen" for aficionados of anal sex. Oral sex was heavily practiced in the 1950s and early 1960s, and people who invited anal sex were called by a pejorative name such as "brownie queens".

Gay activist Bill Weintraub began to heavily promote and recommend the gender-specific meaning of "penis-to-penis rubbing" as "frot" on Internet forums sometime in the late 1990s, and said he coined the term. "I don't use the word 'frottage,' because it is an ersatz French word which can indicate any sort of erotic rubbing," he stated. "Frot, by contrast, is always phallus-to-phallus sex." Weintraub believes that is what actual sex is – genital-genital contact.

Alternatives terms for frot include frictation, which can refer to the wider meaning of "frottage" but also penis-penis sex specifically, and frontism. Slang terms for frot include "cock rub," "bumping dicks," "knocking cocks," "tummy stix," "sword-fighting", "Oxford style", "Princeton rub", and "Ivy League rub". On the Internet, the slang term "g0y" (spelled with the numeral zero) is sometimes used to describe a man who has sex with men but tends to abstain from anal sex and has a preference for frot.

General

Frot can be enjoyable because it mutually and simultaneously stimulates the genitals of both partners as it tends to produce pleasurable friction against the frenulum

Frenulum of prepuce of penis

The word frenulum on its own is often used for the frenulum of prepuce of penis, which is an elastic band of tissue under the glans penis that connects to the prepuce, or foreskin to the vernal mucosa, and helps contract the prepuce over the glans. This is sometimes colloquially known as the "banjo...

nerve bundle on the underside of each man's penile shaft, just below the urinary opening

External urethral orifice (male)

The external urethral orifice is the external opening or meatus of the urethra, normally placed at the tip of glans penis; it presents as a vertical slit, possibly bounded on either side by two small labia-like projections, In some cases the slit may be more rounded. This occurs naturally in some...

(meatus) of the penis head

Glans penis

The glans penis is the sensitive bulbous structure at the distal end of the penis. The glans penis is anatomically homologous to the clitoral glans of the female...

(glans penis). The lesbian form is referred to as tribadism

Tribadism

Tribadism or tribbing, commonly known by its scissoring position, is a form of non-penetrative sex in which a woman rubs her vulva against her partner's body for sexual stimulation. This may involve female-to-female genital contact or a female rubbing her vulva against her partner's thigh, stomach,...

, a term derived from the Greek word for "rub" and that was historically used interchangeably with lesbian. According to this way of looking at things, penetration, including anal penetration, is "male-defined" sexuality.

Safe sex

Since frot is a non-penetrative sex act, the risk of passing a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that requires direct contact between the mucous membranes and pre-ejaculate

Pre-ejaculate

Pre-ejaculate is the clear, colorless, viscous fluid that emits from the urethra of a man's penis when he is sexually aroused. It is similar in composition to semen, but has some significant chemical differences...

or semen

Semen

Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...

is reduced. Notably, HIV

HIV

is among the diseases that require such direct contact, and is therefore very unlikely (but possible) to be transmitted via frot. However, frot can still transmit other sexually transmitted infections, such as HPV

Human papillomavirus

Human papillomavirus is a member of the papillomavirus family of viruses that is capable of infecting humans. Like all papillomaviruses, HPVs establish productive infections only in keratinocytes of the skin or mucous membranes...

, HSV-II (genital herpes

Herpes genitalis

Herpes genitalis refers to a genital infection by Herpes simplex virus.Following the classification HSV into two distinct categories of HSV-1 and HSV-2 in the 1960s, it was established that "HSV-2 was below the waist, HSV-1 was above the waist"...

) and genital warts.

Comparison to anal sex and debates

Some gay men, or men who have sex with men

Men who have sex with men

(MSM) in general, prefer to engage in frot or other forms of mutual masturbation because they find it more pleasurable and/or more affectionate than anal sex

Anal sex

, to preserve technical virginity, or as safe sex

Safe sex

alternatives to anal penetration. This preference has led to some debate in the gay male and MSM community regarding what constitutes "real sex" or the most sensual expression of sexual intimacy. Some frot advocates view "two genitals coming together by mingling, caressing, sliding" and rubbing as "sex" more than other forms of bodily pleasuring. Others associate male masculinity with the sexual positions of "tops" and "bottoms" during anal sex.

During anal sex, the insertive partner is referred to as the top or active partner. The man being penetrated is referred to as the bottom or passive partner. Preference for either is referred to as versatile. Some frot advocates insist that such roles introduce inequality during sexual intimacy, and that frottage is "equal" because of mutual genital-genital stimulation. The lack of mutual genital stimulation and role asymmetry has led other frot advocates to denounce anal sex as degrading to the receptive partner. This view of dominance and inequality associated with sex roles is disputed by researchers, who state that it is not clear that specific sexual acts are necessarily indicative of general patterns of masculinity or dominance in a gay male relationship, and that, for both partners, anal intercourse can be associated with being masculine. Additionally, some frot advocates, such as Bill Weintraub, are concerned with diseases that may be acquired through anal sex. In a 2005 article in The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...

, one anal sex opponent said that no longer showing anal sex as erotic would help avoid AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

, and opined that some gay men perceived him to be antigay when he was only trying to keep gay and bisexual men alive and healthy.

The view that anal sex is something that should be discouraged is not supported by all frot supporters. Author Joe Perez states that Weintraub and his followers have "gone overboard" in their enthusiasm for frot by claiming that supporting frot means disowning anal sex or that the latter is "inherently degrading, unnatural, or disease-spreading." He says Weintraub and his supporters' views should be taken "with a grain of salt if you can" and that he hopes for more inclusive frot communities.

Gay men, and MSM in general, who prefer anal sex may view it as "[their] version of intercourse" and as "the natural apex of sex, a wonderful expression of intimacy, and a great source of pleasure". Psychologist Walt Odets said, "I think that anal sex has for gay men the same emotional significance that vaginal sex has for heterosexuals." The act is generally viewed as vanilla sex

Vanilla sex

among MSM, and is often thought to be expected, even by MSM who do not prefer the act. "Some people like [anal] because it seems taboo or naughty," stated author and sex therapist Jack Morin. "Some people like the flavor of dominance and submission... some don’t."

MSM who defend the essential validity of anal sex have rejected most of the claims made by radical frot advocates. Others have at times disparaged frottage as a makeshift, second-rate form of male/male intimacy — something better left to inexperienced teenagers and "closeted" older men. Odets said, "No one would propose that we initiate a public health measure by de-eroticizing vaginal sex. It would sound like a ridiculous idea. It's no less ridiculous for gay men."

Among male bonobos and other animals

Genital-genital rubbing has been observed between males of other animals as well. The homosexual activities of bonobo

Bonobo

s are of special interest because of their genetic closeness to humans; however, despite their genetic similarity, bonobo sexuality has been described as "not driven by orgasm or seeking release. Nor is it often reproductively driven. Sex for a bonobo is casual, it's quick". Among bonobo

Bonobo

s, frot frequently occurs when two males hang from a tree limb and engage in penis fencing. Frot also occurs while two males are in missionary position

Missionary position

The missionary position is a "man-on-top" sex position usually described as the act in which the woman lies on her back and the partners face each other. Though often acted on and applied by heterosexual pairings, it may also be used by gay and lesbian couples.The missionary position is an example...

. A special form of frot called "rump rubbing" in which males stand back to back on all fours and rub their genito-anal regions together.

Frot-like genital rubbing between non-human males has been observed among bull manatees, in conjunction with "kissing". Bottlenose dolphins have been observed rubbing their genitals against the genital area of other males often leading to the penetration of the genital slit, or less commonly the anus. Other forms of frot are also common among homosexually active mammals. Most species of bird do not possess a penis; for those animals, the distinction between penetrative and non-penetrative sex does not exist, though mounting and insemination are common aspects of avian homosexuality even when a phallic organ is not present.

Concept and etymology

General

Safe sex

Comparison to anal sex and debates

Among male bonobos and other animals

See also

Further reading