View source for Irrumatio

{{Short description|Type of oral sex}}
{{Redirect|Egyptian rape|the phenomenon of rape in the Arab Republic of Egypt|Rape in Egypt}}
[[File:Wiki-dthroat02.png|thumb|An illustration of a woman being irrumated by a man|250x250px]]

'''Irrumatio''' (also known as '''irrumation''' or by the colloquialism '''face-fucking''') is a form of [[oral sex]] in which someone [[pelvic thrust|thrusts]] their [[Human penis|penis]] into another person's mouth, in contrast to [[fellatio]] where the penis is being actively orally excited by a fellator. The difference lies mainly in which party takes the active part. By extension, ''irrumatio'' can also refer to the sexual technique of thrusting the penis between the thighs of a partner ([[intercrural sex]]).<ref name="SL">{{cite web|url=http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/irrumatio|title=irrumatio in Sex-Lexis|access-date=2009-07-07}}</ref>

In the ancient Roman sexual vocabulary, ''[[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Irrumatio|irrumatio]]'' is a form of [[oral rape]] (''[[os impurum]]''), in which a man forces his penis into someone else's mouth.<ref>Amy Richlin, "The Meaning of irrumare in Catullus and Martial", Classical Philology 76.1 (1981) 40–46.</ref>

== Etymology and history ==
The [[English language|English]] nouns ''irrumatio'' and ''irrumation'', and the verb ''irrumate'', come from the [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|irrumāre}}'', meaning ''to force receptive male oral sex''.<ref name="Whitaker irrumare">{{Cite web |url=http://archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wordz.pl?keyword=irrumatio |title=Whitaker's Words: irrumatio |access-date=2018-05-06 |archive-date=2022-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930111355/http://archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wordz.pl?keyword=irrumatio |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=269544|title=Richlin, A. 1981. "The Meaning of Irrumare in Catullus and Martial". ''Classical Philology'' 76 (1): 40–46. Link to preview available from the WWW.|pages=40–46|last1=Richlin|first1=A.|author-link=Amy Richlin |volume=76|issue=1|journal=Classical Philology|year=1981|doi=10.1086/366597|s2cid=162094918}}</ref>  J.&nbsp;L. Butrica, in his review of R.&nbsp;W. Hooper's edition of ''The Priapus Poems'', a [[text corpus|corpus]] of poems known as ''[[Priapeia]]'' in Latin, states that "some [[Roman Empire|Roman]] sexual practices, like ''irrumatio'', lack simple English equivalents".<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2000/2000-02-23.html|title=Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2000.02.23|journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review|last=James L. Butrica|access-date=2009-07-07|date=February 2000}}</ref>

There is some conjecture among linguists, as yet unresolved, that ''irrŭmātio'' may be connected with the Latin word ''rūmen, rūminis'', the throat and gullet, whence 'ruminate', to chew the cud, therefore meaning 'insertion into the throat'. Others<ref>Adams (1982), ''The Latin Sexual Vocabulary'', p. 126.</ref> connect it with ''rūma'' or ''rūmis'', an obsolete word for a teat, hence it would mean "giving milk", "giving to suck". (Compare the word ''fellō'', which literally meant "suck (milk)" before it acquired its sexual sense.)

As the [[quotation]] from Butrica suggests and an article by W.&nbsp;A. Krenkel shows, ''irrumatio'' was a distinct sexual practice in ancient Rome.<ref>{{cite book|last=Krenkel, W. A.|title="Fellatio and Irrumatio" in W.&nbsp;Bernard and C.&nbsp;Reitz (eds.). ''Naturalia non turpia'' (this work is one of a series of articles written by Krenkel about sexuality in the Roman Empire.)|publisher=Ildesheim|location=Zurich & New York|date=1980|pages=205–232}}</ref>{{Clarify|date=December 2012}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Krenkel, Werner|title="Masturbation in der Antike." "Pueri meritorii." "Fellatio und Irrumatio." "Tonguing." and "Tribaden." |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Wilhelm-Pieck-Universität Rostock|pages=28 (1979): 159–89; 29 (1980): 77–88; 30 (1981): 37–54; 38 (1989): 45–58}}</ref> J. N. Adams states that "it was a standard joke to speak of ''irrumatio'' as a means of silencing someone".<ref>{{cite book|last=Adams, J. N.|title=''The Latin Sexual Vocabulary''|publisher=Baltimore|year=1982|pages=126–127}}</ref> [[Os impurum|Oral sex]] was considered to be an act of defilement: the mouth had a particularly defined role as the organ of oratory, as in [[Greece]], to participate in the central public sphere, where discursive powers were of great importance. Thus, to penetrate the mouth could be taken to be a sign of massive power differential within a relationship. [[Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum|Erotic art from Pompeii]] depicts ''irrumatio'' along with ''[[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Male–female sex|fututio]]'', [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Cunnilingus and fellatio|fellatio and cunnilingus]], and ''[[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Anal sex|pedicatio]]'' or anal sex.<ref name="Pomp">{{cite web|url=http://www.focusarticle.com/children/article349.htm |title=Roman Sex ?C Hot Sex from the Frescos in Pompeii |last=Tarkovsky, S. |access-date=2009-07-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220094859/http://www.focusarticle.com/children/article349.htm |archive-date=December 20, 2008 }}</ref> The extant wall paintings depicting explicit sex often appear to be in bathhouses and brothels, and oral sex was something usually practiced with [[Prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitutes]] because of their lowly status. Craig A. Williams argues that ''irrumatio'' was regarded as a degrading act, even more so than anal rape.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams, C. A.|title=''Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity''|publisher=Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]]|year=1999|pages=331}}</ref> S.&nbsp;Tarkovsky states that, despite being popular, it was thought to be a hostile act, "taken directly from the Greek, whereby the Greek men would have to force the fellatio by violence".<ref name="Pomp"/> Furthermore, as [[Amy Richlin]] has shown in an article in the ''[[Journal of the History of Sexuality]]'', it was also accepted as "oral [[rape]]", a [[punitive]] act against [[homosexuality]].<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=3704392|title=Preview of "Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the Cinaedus and the Roman Law against Love between Men"|pages=523–573|last1=Richlin|first1=A.|volume=3|issue=4|journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality|year=1993}}</ref> [[Catullus]] threatens two friends who have insulted him with both ''irrumatio'' and ''pedicatio'' in his [[Catullus 16|''Carmen'' 16]], although the use could also mean "go to hell," rather than being a literal threat.<ref>{{cite book|author=Micaela Wakil Janan|title=When the Lamp Is Shattered: Desire and Narrative in Catullus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5gG9Zcc6aeUC&pg=PA45|access-date=26 May 2016|date=18 January 1994|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-1765-3|page=45}}</ref>

In modern English, the term "fellatio" has expanded to incorporate ''irrumatio'', and the latter has fallen out of widespread use.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/fellatio|title="Fellatio" in Sex-Lewis|access-date=2009-07-07}}</ref> Likewise, ''irrumatio'' might today be called "forced fellatio" or "oral rape". In modern English, especially in a non-rape context, the term "face fucking" is often used.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-08 |title=Face fucking |url=https://definedictionarymeaning.com/topic/208763/face-fucking |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Define Dictionary Meaning |language=en-US}}</ref>

Another synonym for ''irrumatio'' is ''Egyptian rape'' or simply ''Egyptian''; this goes back to the time of the [[Crusades]] when [[Mamluk]]s were alleged to force their Christian captives to do this.<ref>Edwardes, Allen; Masters, Robert E. L. ''The cradle of erotica''. New York: Julian Press, 1963.</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2016}}

== Ethnology ==
<blockquote>Peruvian erotic pottery of the [[Moche culture|Mochica cultures]] represent a form of fellatio in the vases showing oragenital acts. See the vases illustrated in color in Dr. Rafael Larco-Hoyle’s ''Checan'' (''Love!''), published in both French and English versions by Éditions Nagel in Geneva, 1965, plates 30–33 and 133–135. The action should really be considered ''irrumation''<ref>{{cite book|last=G.|first=Legman|title=Oragenitalism: Oral Techniques in Genital Excitation|publisher=The Julian Press and devious quantivies. |year=1969|pages=243}}</ref></blockquote>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Human sexuality}}
* [[Deep-throating]]
* [[Latin obscenity]]
* [[Pearl necklace (sexuality)|Pearl necklace]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Legman, G. (1969). ''[[Oragenitalism|Oragenitalism: Oral Techniques in Genital Excitation]]''. New York: Julian Press.

== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary inline|irrumatio}}
* {{Wiktionary inline|irrumation}}

{{Sex}}
{{Human sexuality}}
{{Sexpositions}}
{{Sexual slang}}

[[Category:Fellatio]]
[[Category:Human throat]]
[[Category:Oral eroticism]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Sexual acts]]
[[Category:Sexuality in ancient Rome]]