# heterosexual anal sex **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 10, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646 "2009-04-10T16:06:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646/61 "2009-04-28T02:43:25Z")
The taste of a healthy, clean pussy does have a note of sweat, but it’s not like the sweat of an armpit after eight hours of work. It’s the sweat of a woman’s forearm when she has run a mile after a shower. There’s also a note of her saliva, after a sip of white wine. To my tongue, Penny tasted similar to other women. One lovely lady tasted metallic, but that was because the batteries had come adrift from a sex toy.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646/62 "2009-04-28T03:20:08Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I would be stumped as well. How do you describe that? As the best taste in the world? 😃 Actually I think **AskNott** came very close to nailing it. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646/63 "2009-04-28T13:56:32Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I would be stumped as well. How do you describe that? Risotto? ---
**Author:** ![\_momo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/8baadc/32.png) [@\_momo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_momo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646/64 "2009-04-28T18:39:42Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Since the people from our evolutionary past wouldn’t know that it’s bad to go from anal to vaginal, a desire for anal sex would result in that risk. So unless the risk for infection from that is very small, I don’t see how it could be outweighed by any advantages of a tendency for having fewer children. Well, the point of anal in baby reduction is that you don’t enter the vagina… There’s a considerable pregnancy risk even with coitus interruptus. In regard to the whole infection risk. People bathe in the Ganges every single day. And that thing may be sacred but by Western standards it’s … well there’s no accurate way to describe it without insulting millions of people. Point is that these people live. And there are no health warnings from the general surgeon about anal so I don’t think that many people actually get sick from it. Maybe immuno-compromised individuals but they get all sorts of exotic infections. There might be some danger from scat but that shit is nasty (no pun intended). Someone asked about a reference for the function of the rectum? That’s pretty lazy but I’ll google it for you. > **[Rectum and Anus - Digestive Disorders - Merck Manual Consumer Version](https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/digestive-disorders/biology-of-the-digestive-system/rectum-and-anus)** > > Rectum and Anus and Digestive Disorders - Learn about from the Merck Manuals - Medical Consumer Version. > **[Rectum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectum)** > > The rectum (pl.: rectums or recta) is the final straight portion of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals, and the gut in others. Before expulsion through the anus or cloaca, the rectum stores the feces temporarily. The adult human rectum is about 12 centimetres (4.7 in) long, and begins at the rectosigmoid junction (the end of the sigmoid colon) at the level of the third sacral vertebra or the sacral promontory depending upon what definition is used. Its diameter is similar Th... (Ok, I admit that wasn’t the easiest stuff to find. It’s all about cancer and perforations when you really just need info on the butt.) ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646/65 "2009-04-29T05:30:37Z")
“There might be some danger from scat but that shit is nasty (no pun intended)” It is so tiresome when people use the phrase “no pun intended” to point out that, Hey! I made a pun! Which begs the question, why are people who are obsessed with sex so tedious? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646/66 "2009-04-29T16:10:47Z")
\*\*/momo \*\* said: > [@](#): > > Someone asked about a reference for the function of the rectum? That’s pretty lazy but I’ll google it for you. How is it lazy of _me_ to ask _you_ to back up **your** claim with a cite? I do understand how the rectum is a temporary holding facility. I do understand that it stretches under load, stimulating the need to defecate. I do understand that once you defecate, the rectum is empty. I am less clear on the statement that if you get your rectum full and do not act upon the sensations, that the excrement will retract into the colon. That is what I was saying needs a cite. So far you have given one valid link, a statement in Wikipedia. Frankly, that’s a weak cite. Also, while the rectum may be empty of large amounts of excrement for extended times, that does not mean the walls are particularly clean during those times. Calling it a “shit-free zone” is, therefore, a bit of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646/67 "2009-04-29T17:41:55Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > \*\*/momo \*\* said: > > How is it lazy of _me_ to ask _you_ to back up **your** claim with a cite? > > I do understand how the rectum is a temporary holding facility. **I do understand that it stretches under load, stimulating the need to defecate.** I do understand that once you defecate, the rectum is empty. > _(Nott’s bolding)_ > > I am less clear on the statement that if you get your rectum full and do not act upon the sensations, that the excrement will retract into the colon. That is what I was saying needs a cite. So far you have given one valid link, a statement in Wikipedia. Frankly, that’s a weak cite. > > Also, while the rectum may be empty of large amounts of excrement for extended times, that does not mean the walls are particularly clean during those times. Calling it a “shit-free zone” is, therefore, a bit of a stretch. I, too, question that _Wikipedia_ page, but for a different reason. In the line I bolded, **Irishman** refers to Wiki’s claims that stretching sensors trigger the urge for defecation. I’m asking for an authoritative answer on this, for I am not an MD. I was taught, circa 1968, in zoology class that the go/no go decision in the rectum was made **by a chemical sensor.** From the duodenum (just past the stomach) to the large intestine, I was told, the stuff we ate is on the base side of the pH scale. Somewhere in the large intestine, it goes back to the acid side. When something goes wrong with the usual chemistry, the anal sphincter “holds back traffic.” If stretching were the trigger, nobody would ever be constipated. Medical science has changed a lot since 1968, and the things I was taught may be obsolete. What’s the straight dope on defecation triggers? ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646/68 "2009-04-29T18:34:59Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > What’s the straight dope on defecation triggers? Well, in my case a couple of cups of coffee in the morning get everything moving. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heterosexual-anal-sex/492646.md?page=3)