Tribadism
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Tribadism or tribbing is female-to-female genital sex. Two women rub their vulvae together to stimulate each other's clitoris to orgasm.
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[edit] Terminology
[edit] Etymology
According to The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, the word tribadism is formed from the English word tribade, which comes from the French word tribade, which comes from the Latin tribas, a direct transliteration of Greek τριβάς, from Greek τρίβειν, "to rub."
[a. F. tribade (16th c.), or ad. its source L. tribas, -ad-, Gr. τριβάς, τριβάδ-, f. τρίβειν to rub.]
The term tribadism (τριβαδισμός) is not attested in Ancient Greek. The term tribade (τριβάς) does not occur in any extant text until the second century B.C. (Halperin) After that it was used to refer to a woman who used a dildo on herself, on another woman, or on a man. (Halperin)
The English word tribade occurs as early as Ben Jonson's 1601 poem The Forest, X. Praeludium.
Go, cramp dull Mars, light Venus, when he snorts,
Or, with thy tribade trine, invent new sports ;
The earliest usages of the English word tribade cited by OED do not specifically and explicitly refer to either the use of a dildo or direct vulva-to-vulva stimulation. The meaning of the word may have been, at that point, merely "homosexual woman," like the modern meaning of the word lesbian.
The earliest use of the English word tribadism cited by OED is a document from the U.S. Surgeon-General's office from 1811. The first usage of the word to refer clearly and specifically to vulva-to-vulva stimulation is from 1965.
1811-19 Woods and Pirie v. Gordon (Index Catal. Libr. Surgeon-General's Office U.S.A. XIV. 752), Lady C. G...who had charged them with the practice of tribadism. 1864 tr. Caspar's Forensic Med. (N. Syd. Soc.) III. 335 Tribadism. Even in the Old Testament there is distinct allusion to this form of sexual aberration. 1882 PAYNE 1001 Nights II. 156. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Tribady. 1965 New Statesman 26 Mar. 492/3 The first [technique of lesbian intercourse], known as ‘tribadism’, consists in one woman lying on top of the other and simulating the movements of heterosexual intercourse in such a way as to stimulate the clitoris of each. 1970 G. GREER Female Eunuch 293 The prevalence of tribadism as the principal lesbian mode of lovemaking argues the relative unimportance of the masculine fantasy.
It appears that because the English word tribade originally referred to any homosexual woman, tribadism was originally essential a synonym for lesbianism. According to the OED, this is still its primary meaning, although the examples make it clear that from 1965 on, the term is used to describe vulva-to-vulva stimulation specifically. This specific usage was probably influenced by a reinterpretation of the literal meaning of tribade. The term is thought to ultimately derive from the ancient Greek word "to rub" tribein τρίβειν. This understanding probably influenced how the term came to specify female-female genital sex, as mutual genital "rubbing". The English verb to trib derives from an abbreviation of tribadism.
[edit] Colloquialisms
Colloquially tribbing is known as "bumping fur", "scissoring", "bumping donuts", "clit-clatting", "clam-jousting", "gash mashing", "hamster grappling", "axe grinding", "prawn wrestling", "happy slapping", "biscuit waxing", "horizontal lacrosse", "french puzzle", "french connection", "hackman", and so on.
Some Central American countries dub the act "making tortillas" since the physical act reminds them of the hand motions used for hand-flattening tortillas, so sometimes lesbians are called "tortilleras" (tortilla makers). And there is the element of the physical resemblance in some minds of the female genitalia to a taco, which is derived from tortillas. In Venezuela, where tortillas are not part of the diet, the analogous slang word is "Cachaperas" (Cachapa makers). Cachapa is a Venezuelan flat-shaped dish made of fresh sweet corn.
A less common term derives from ancient Chinese texts, "polishing mirrors" mó jìng (磨镜).
Sometimes the term tribbing is used to mean any form of rubbing a woman's vulva, even if her partner is male. For this sense, see the terms frottage and outercourse, which include all forms of sexual rubbing.
Some musical bands are named after tribadism, such as the Scissor Sisters, Scissorfight, and the lesbian punk band Tribe 8.
[edit] Tribadism among bonobo females
Bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are one of the closest related primates to humans, being 98% genetically identical. Bonobo females also engage in female-female genital sex, usually known as GG rubbing (Genito-Genital). It is the most frequent sex activity among bonobos. Females use GG rubbing to socially bond with each other, thus forming a female nucleus of bonobo society. While bonobo society is nonviolent and egalitarian, friendships among females organizes their offspring who maintain lifelong loyalty to their mothers. In this way, females often have more influence in group decisions. Adolescent females often leave their troop of birth to join another troop. Sexual bonding with other females establishes the new females as members of the group. This troop migration mixes the bonobo gene pools.
[edit] See also
- List of sexual positions
- Outercourse or frottage, various forms of sexual rubbing
- Sexuality in ancient Rome
[edit] References
- J. N. Adams The Latin Sexual Vocabulary, 1982, ISBN 0-8018-4106-2
- David M. Halperin "homosexuality" (pp. 722-3) in The Oxford Classical Dictionary, third edition, 1996, ISBN 0-19-866172-X
