In a 2005 article in The Advocate, one anal sex opponent said that no longer showing anal sex as erotic would help avoid HIV/AIDS, 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. Additionally, some frot advocates, such as Bill Weintraub, are concerned with diseases that may be acquired through anal sex.
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. The lack of mutual genital stimulation and role asymmetry has led other frot advocates to denounce anal sex as degrading to the receptive partner. Some frot advocates insist that such roles introduce inequality during sexual intimacy, and that frot is "equal" because of mutual genital-genital stimulation. Those with no strong preference for either are referred to as versatile. The one being penetrated may be referred to as the bottom or passive partner. ĭuring anal sex, the insertive partner may be referred to as the top or active partner. Other men who have sex with men associate male masculinity with the sexual positions of "tops" and "bottoms" during anal sex. Some frot advocates consider "two genitals coming together by mingling, caressing, sliding" and rubbing to be sex more than other forms of male sexual activity. 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 gay men, or 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 or more affectionate than anal sex, to preserve technical virginity, or as safe sex alternatives to anal penetration. Vaccines are available against HPV.Ĭomparison with anal sex and debates However, frot can still transmit other sexually transmitted infections, such as HPV (which can cause genital warts) and pubic lice (crabs). HIV is among the infections that require such direct contact, and research indicates that there is no risk of HIV transmission via frot. Since frot is a non-penetrative sex act, the risk of passing a sexually transmitted infection (STI/STD) that requires direct contact between the mucous membranes and pre-ejaculate or semen is reduced. See also: Gay sexual practices General įrot can be enjoyable because it mutually and simultaneously stimulates the genitals of both partners as it tends to produce pleasurable friction against the frenulum nerve bundle on the underside of each man's penile shaft, just below the urinary opening (meatus) of the penis head (glans penis). The female version of frotting is called tribbing, which also means "rubbing " and is derived from Greek. Īlternative terms for frot include frictation, which can refer to the wider meaning of frottage but also penis-penis sex specifically, as well as sword-fighting, Oxford style, Princeton rub, and Ivy League rub. "Frot, by contrast, is always phallus-to-phallus sex." Weintraub believes that is what actual sex is – genital-genital contact. "I don't use the word 'frottage,' because it is an ersatz French word which can indicate any sort of erotic rubbing," he stated.
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. One 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" 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 disparaging slang term brownie queen for aficionados of anal sex. The modern definition of 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.