The Research Error That Gave Us the Phrase ‘Missionary Position’
The Research Error That Gave Us the Phrase ‘Missionary Position’ Missionaries have no direct involvement in this origin story. Alfred Kinsey, on the other hand ... In his 1972 sex manual The Joy of Sex , author Alex Comfort described “matrimonial” sex, in which a man is on top of a supine woman, as “the good old Adam and Eve missionary position.” Though missionary is by no means exclusive to that gender pairing, the fact that some people just recently learned so while watching 2023’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves that Comfort’s representation from over half a century ago still has some gas in the cultural relevance tank. Missionary position, if in stereotype only, is the kind of vanilla sex favored by husbands and wives either too in love to unlock eyes or too lazy to try something else. It’s chaste enough to have made the final cut of a Marvel movie and so strongly associated with baby-making (sans scientific evidence, mind you...