Anal arousal ranges from finger, penile, oral, toy to enema stimulation, and the individuals it satisfies are equally diverse, spanning all gender and sexual identities. Further, it permits these individuals to challenge gender and sexual roles, although historically, anal intercourse was not considered sexually liberating but a form of emasculation. Yet some continue to be repulsed and disturbed by the act and were disconcerted when anti-sodomy laws were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Lawrence v. Texas case in 2003 . Most often, the outrage is confined to the homosexual community and heterosexual sodomites were rarely punished or considered. However, heterosexual sodomy has become taboo because of domination issues and general squeamishness. Although anal sex is sometimes regarded as repulsive and domineering, sodomites argue that although this does not have to be the case, sometimes it is for these very reasons that individuals become attracted to the act.

The purely physical interest in anal sex indiscriminately entices all genders and sexual orientations. Some women feel they achieve their best orgasms during anal sex due to nerve endings between the rectal wall and the vagina as well as in the anus itself. For straight males, the tautness of the anus, in comparison to the vagina, is the main appeal, although stimulation of the prostate gland adds to the experience. Those gay or bisexual men who do participate can be either a top, the “active” partner, or a bottom, the “receptive” partner, though often they are versatile and switch between the two roles.

Most recent studies estimate that 30-50 percent of heterosexuals engage in anal sex on a regular basis, whereas approximately 80 percent of homosexual males in the United States reportedly have taken part. Incongruous with popular assumptions, not all gay or bi men take part in or enjoy anal gratification. Data is scarce and unclear as to what proportion regularly engage in anal sex versus those who have at one time experimented with or intermittently dabbled in the exploit. However, the Gay Urban Men’s Study maintains that only 50 percent of gay men participate. In the gay community, an intensifying trepidation of the AIDS epidemic focused attention toward anal sex. The lack of natural lubrication and the debility of the tissue make anal sex more vulnerable to the virus than oral or vaginal sexual acts.

The term “barebacking” served to differentiate between protected and unprotected sex in order to call attention to the growing taboo of unprotected anal sex during the mid-90s, when the number of HIV infections elevated dramatically. Although heterosexual barebacking exists, it has not received comparable moral and social outrage as the gay community, who have emerged from the AIDS epidemic a more cohesive and effective group on preaching and adopting safe sex practices.

Barebacking in pornography often romanticizes the practice while disregarding its dangers leading to controversy within and outside the gay community. While most view barebacking as a potentially lethal activity, some resent media attention that is in their view inconsistent to its actual ubiquity. They blame stereotypical assumptions of gay men’s promiscuity and general homophobia, adding that so long as the act is consensual there is no reason for condemnation as this is a private choice between partners. Further down the spectrum, a very small minority find the health risks add a certain thrill, transforming barebacking from a danger into a fetish.

“Bug chasers,” those who overtly seek the disease, sometimes attend gatherings such as “Russian Roulette Parties,” where a mix of HIV-positive and negative men have sex without condoms, or “Conversion Parties” where those “giving the gift” endeavor to infect willing partners. Although those who favor this high-risk sexual behavior are scarce, their glamorization of unsafe sex in addition to the plethora of bareback porn and discussion boards on the Internet disquiets many AIDS activists. Alternately, some homosexuals choose to forego anal sex altogether due to health concerns or a variant of other reasons.

Heterosexual anal sex has become controversial for other reasons. Although health risks still apply, critics have focused mostly on psychological degradation. Many have attributed female receptive anal sex as degrading submission. Feminists have argued that heterosexual men’s attraction to anal sex is based on a misogynist stigma of control over the weaker sex and is practiced by men who fear the vagina, emblematically diminishing women’s sexual desires and debilitating the female sexual identity. Many see heterosexual anal sex as an implicitly violent and demeaning act toward women and many men are, consciously or subconsciously, intrigued for this very reason. The fragility of the colorectal passage itself calls for delicacy and caution; if fucked too hard, one risks tissue tearing and bruising. But this potential for pain and the control often involved in the act are not the only titillating factors that encourage them. Sometimes, the attraction can be disgust.

However, it is certainly not uncommon for a female to penetrate her male or female partner with a finger, tongue, or a sex toy. When the woman penetrates her partner anally with a strap-on, a practice known as pegging, she can receive pleasure from the dildo itself, vaginal or anal plugs, a double-ended dildo, or a separate vibrator altogether. Psychologically, many men and women become excited with the submission and domination facets of the activity, although the actual act of penetration should not inherently be associated with domination.

However, because of historical and current societal conceptions, many women enjoy challenging and experimenting with stereotypical notions of gender and sexual roles in the bedroom. As individuals continue to reconsider and play with gender-correlated sexual expectations, pegging is one sexual activity that many men and women find liberating. Clearly, people have become more open and accepting of crossing sexual boundaries as reflected by the rapidly expanding market for pegging in the pornographic industry.

Historically, anal sex was not considered a form of liberation, but oppositely, connoted with degradation. Although its pervasiveness in ancient Greek culture is still undecided, some have argued that, in concordance with thinking in Rome, anal sex lowered men below their social status if penetrated by a lesser. Conversely, it has also been argued that to avoid this stigma many men simply practiced interfemoral intercourse. Often in cultures where female receptive anal sex is acceptable, a male who is penetrated is considered homosexual, no matter if it were his wife’s finger or a sex toy. And this social stigma has not dissipated; after all, only four years have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court decreed sodomy legal.

The majority of the objections and the punishment targeted gay men. In the United States, military anal sex threatens “good order and discipline,” according to a Pentagon spokesman. Although both heterosexual and homosexual sodomites are punished, heterosexuals are never discharged. Clearly, the military finds homosexual intercourse more offensive and threatening to moral and social normalcy. When the Supreme Court legalized sodomy in Lawrence v. Texas, they legally legitimized the homosexual lifestyle and their rights. Many moral conservatives feared that legalization of sodomy would not only lead to the final destruction of traditional marriage but condone other socially distasteful activities; a gateway to other “deviant” sexual acts, so to speak.

Anal sex has been described as a heinous crime against nature by conservative and religious fundamentalists and often considered a filthy practice tainted by implicit subjugation. For many individuals, religious and moral precepts bar them from considering participation while others are more subtly turned off by preconceptions of filth (both morally and physiologically). However, the pleasure received, and occasionally the very controversies argued against it, continue to attract and satisfy sodomites.