Missionary position

Missionary position is a way of doing sex with the man on top and the woman having her legs spread out. Many people like doing sex the missionary way though it can become boring through repetition, it's also called vanilla sex showing that it is pleasant but a bit ordinary. Unless done expertly it doesn't stimulate the lady's clit very well.

Although the name of the position is widely believed to have come into existence either as a consequence of the actions or the teachings of Christian missionaries the truth is somewhat more complex.

The Christian position

Modern Christians are sometimes more liberated but traditionally Christians taught that sex should be done in the missionary position only.

Christian wives

How does a goodly Christian wife react when she’s in the missionary position?

1. Perhaps if she’s liberated and belongs to a Christian community that accepts sexuality she murmurs seductively something like, “That’s lovely hubby, give me more”.
2. Perhaps she dreams wistfully about adventurous positions and there are even more but she feels guilty because she’s sure the priest, preacher, pastor, minister would disapprove of the websites where she found out about those positions.
3. Perhaps especially if she belongs to a group that treats sex as dirty and doesn’t encourage men to please their partners she lies back, spreads her legs and thinks of England. The more repressive Christian groups think intercourse is only proper between the sheets which physically prevents him arching his back to stimulate her clitoris.

Sex should be decidedly one of the better parts of marriage or a good relationship, it is sad that for so many Christian wives sex is a burden.

The Bible and history

The Bible says nothing about sexual positions still the Roman Catholic Church taught for centuries that the Missionary position was the only way of doing sex that God liked and you could get into big trouble if you were caught doing it any other way.

Thus, husbands and wives were obliged to look to rabbis and priests (most of whom were celibate) rather to each other for sexual permissions. Early religious law set down very restrictive laws governing the "when and how often" of sex between married partners, even to the point of limiting sex to the so-called missionary position.

At one point the Catholic Church had "sex police."

For example, a married couple could be burned at the stake if they were caught having sex with the women on top. Sex was only for conceiving children, and for the male (and especially the female) to enjoy sex was not only deemed sinful, but could send you to hell.

Protestants sometimes copied this attitude to sex so for centuries Christians lost a lot of the variety and fun they could have got from sex.

Don’t look at what you’re doing

Partners can see each other’s faces but not each other’s bodies when they are doing the missionary position. Now Christians are never quite sure if God likes them to look at each other’s bodies, see Exhibition and voyeurism in Christianity.

There is a good and a a bad side to Christianity, see the category page

Footnotes

Adapted from an out of date RationalWiki article