Transmission of Sexual Positioning in Relationship with Female Orgasm

The art of the bedchamber is a series of Chinese sexual techniques of thousands years of tradition. On one hand, the art is the practice to become better-being by promising health improvement, longevity, pregnancy, immortality and the accomplishment of the state of the immortal that often involve certain religious connotations. On the other hand, it can be methods for female sexual pleasure, since Chinese sexual arts value female orgasm much more than male’s.

Amongst various techniques in Chinese sexual arts, sexual positioning is one of those with a long tradition. The earliest reference for sexual postures can be found in Mawangdui sexual manuals of which burial date goes back to 168 B.C. These earliest extant of sexual positioning, however, does not tell us the purpose or possible effectiveness of each style, nor show us precise positioning for both sexes. Yet, consulting with sexual postures in later sex manuals, the following suggestions can be made; First, the sexual positioning might have had several different traditions. Secondly, the art being a method for better being, the variation in sexual postures relates with certain health improvements. Finally, they are, yet, certainly exercises to increase female sexual excitements and pleasure.

The paper attempts to discuss the transmission of sexual positioning with possible different traditions, and the differences in purpose for the use of different sexual postures. The arguments will be consisted of three main parts. At first, I will investigate the shift of naming for positioning among the Mawangdui example and later sex manuals up to Ming dynasty, which includes some comparisons and contrasts of postures in reality between positioning with similar names. Secondly, the paper will examine the positioning for the health improvements which involves damaging situations and therapeutic postures. Finally, I will survey regulations and rules accompanied with some sexual positioning most of that seem to intend to increase female sexual pleasure.

The result of this analysis would hopefully indicate possible variations and unifications of the sexual positioning on the way of its transmission.