Mexican Kama Sutra

Ceramic pieces featuring couples engaged in sexual intercourse are frequently sold to curiosity-seekers in Mexico. They are thought to be of approximately the same age as the Olmec culture (approx. 1500 to 400 BC). It is possible these were made as teaching aids to demonstrate different sex positions, like the more famous Indian Kama Sutra.

For more information, see Frontiers of Anthropology.

Taoist Sex: Two Dancing Phoenixes

Taoist Sex is the ancient Chinese equivalent of Tantric Sex. But whereas Tantra is the Way of the Goddess, Taoist Sex is focused more on enhancing the health and longevity of the male participant. While the sexual positions of the Kama Sutra are designed to heighten and prolong the pleasures of the female, their Taoist equivalents are aimed more at the pleasure of the male. This is particularly apparent in the position illustrated here (in a Japaneseshunga print of the late eighteenth century), in which a man is copulating simultaneously with two female partners. In this position, called “two dancing phoenixes”, one female lies on top of the other, both spreading their legs so that their vaginas (referred to in Taoism as “yin gates”) are easily accessible to alternate thrusts of the man’s erect penis (“yang spear”).

Sex in Babylon

The ancient Babylonians held an exalted view of sex as inducing an altered state of wonder. The clay plaque shown here dates from the early second millennium BC, and predates the Kama Sutra by over 1500 years. It depicts a man penetrating a woman from behind, one of the most popular positions seen in Babylonian art. Anal sex was a popular means of contraception in the ancient world, and the depiction of couples engaging in rear entry may be indicative of that practice.

Source: 4,000-year-old erotica depicts a strikingly racy ancient sexuality.

The Amazon

In the Missionary Position of sexual intercourse, the woman lies passively on her back with her legs apart, and the man thrusts his penis in and out of her vagina. The Amazon Position, illustrated here, is the exact opposite of this. It is named after the ruthless female warriors of ancient Greek mythology, the Amazons, who required complete control over their submissive male partners. To this end, the man lies passively on his back with his legs apart, while the woman grips his penis with her powerful vaginal muscles and thrusts energetically back and forth, mimicking the traditional “fucking” action of the male.

Adoration of the Anus

In Tantric Sex, anal intercourse is known as adhorata. This Sanskrit word has no direct linguistic connection to the English word “adoration”, although the meaning is much the same. To a skilled Tantric practitioner anal sex is a form of worship, in which the object of worship – or adoration – is the underlying reality of the cosmos, which in its eternally receptive nature is symbolized by the human anus.