Why is what some might call the most classic, or perhaps conservative, of all sexual positions named after missionaries? It's time to pull back the covers of this erotic story and see what's beneath.The missionary position is a strange name for a face-to-face, horizontal, often heterosexual bedroom manoeuvre with the man on top.

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But the story behind the naming of this routine sexual position has more plot twists than one might expect.

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Did missionaries spread the idea of the missionary position?

Since medieval times, Catholic popes, bishops and priests were meant to refrain from having sex, an indulgence that would distract from their devotion to God.

But that does not mean they think other people should not be doing it.

"The church of course needs people to go to the church, to keep the church alive. So, the more you have children, the more you are a good Christian," said Cinzia Giorgio, the author of "The Erotic History of Italy," which she wrote while was working for the Vatican.

Furthermore, it was claimed there was one particular sex position was most conducive to making those babies: the missionary position. It is alleged that Church authorities made the assertion for centuries, not based on any scientific evidence, but on some vague thoughts about gravity.

A plausible and very popular theory is that the missionaries, who travelled around the world trying to convert people to Christianity, were telling people to have sex this particular way in order to increase the Christian population.

"But that is not true," Kate Lister, a historian of sex and sexuality and the author of "A Curious History of Sex," told DW.

Lister says there is no evidence Christian missionaries promoted this position.

"Even though you will find this theory in books, in medical texts, dictionaries and research papers, it's a giant rumor. It was just taken as a gospel truth that the missionary position came from Christian missionaries. It didn't."

But though missionaries might not have popularized a classical sex position, they did impose a whole new system of sexual morality and values.

This includes in India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, an ancient guide to love and sex, but where talk about sex became a taboo topic when missionaries helped the British colonize the country.

Solving the mystery of a sexual cliche

But why do we still call it the missionary position?

"The term itself crops up round about the 1960s," says Lister, adding that it can be traced back to legendary US sexologist Alfred Kinsey.

In 1948, Kinsey wrote a groundbreaking book, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male," which argues that Americans apparently prefer a face-to-face, man-on-top sex position. He called it "the English American position."

Kinsey further referenced the work of anthropologist, Bronisław Malinowski, who had travelled to Australia, New Guinea and Melanesia to "study" Indigenous people in the 1920s. In one of his numerous books, he writes about the sex lives of the Trobriand people in Papua New Guinea.

Quoting from this book in his own work, KInsey said that Malinowski noted that the Trobriand people were actually laughing at the way white men had sex. They performed "caricatures" of the English American position around campfires "to their great amusement." The locals called the sex style "the missionary position."

The problem was, however, that Kinsey made a mistake while researching and quoting Malinowski.

"If you go back to Malinowski's work, he doesn't actually say that," notes Kate Lister.

Instead, Malinowski actually wrote that the Trobriand people made fun of face-to-face, man-on-top style sex but learned from "white traders, planters or officials," not missionaries.

And Trobriand people referred to "missionary fashion" not "missionary position," a reference to holding hands and public displays of affection, not sex.

"So Kinsey has misreported the work of Malinowski," according to Lister. She adds that the sexual position still "enters general conversation and culture" as it is a good story.

Along the way the story is altered slightly: Rather than locals mocking white man sex, it was often wrongly suggested that the missionaries were telling people to have sex in this way.

How the whole misunderstanding came to light

In 2001, the scientist Robert Priest was writing a paper about how the missionary position had become this symbol for everything people wanted to criticize about Christianity – for being uptight, anti-pleasure, overly restrictive, patriarchal and dominant.

So he sifted through hundreds of texts trying to fact check the true story behind the name.

"Kinsey apparently invented a legend while believing himself to be reporting historical fact," wrote Priest. "[He] coined a new expression while thinking he was reporting an old one."

If you want to know more about the story behind the missionary position you can listen to our bi-weekly DW Podcast "Don't drink the milk". You will find it on our website or just hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

Charli Shield and Rachel Stewart contributed to this article.

Edited by Stuart Braun.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 29, 2024 08:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).