# Is the Mormon practice of "soaking" a real thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223 "2024-08-26T02:45:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/1 "2024-08-26T02:45:02Z")
> **description of a sexual practice hidden because this is the op** > > “Soaking” is the act of a dude inserting his ding dong into a woman’s vagina without humping. Also known as “floating”. > > This is crazy. If anything, wouldn’t this practice increase temptation? A complete mindfuck at the least. It would be like taking a bite of your favorite food and spitting it out or sticking your foot in a pool on a hot day and not jumping inside. If you know any Mormons, have any of them ever admitted to soaking/floating? Midwest Degenerate Gambler -Latter Day _Taints_ ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/2 "2024-08-26T03:10:26Z")
Just because I was curious, I googled, and found this website from an actual LDS member. He sums it up in this one paragraph: > [@](#): > > “Mormon soaking” is not an accurate representation of LDS teachings or typical behavior among Church members. Instead, it’s an obscure practice that has been widely blown out of proportion in popular media and discussions. Because yes, it’s rather absurd and hilarious. He also gives a little more definition: > [@](#): > > “Mormon soaking,” refers to a practice rumored to be done by some individuals within the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in an attempt to circumvent the Church’s teachings on chastity and abstaining from sexual relations before marriage. In essence, it’s said to involve a couple engaging in intimate physical contact without any form of movement. > > You might say it’s sexual Intercourse without the “course”, just the “inter”. It’s also sometimes referred to as “parking” or “docking”. So, yes, it’s probably real, though it’s (a) not a behavior that’s actually condoned by the church, and (b) probably talked about more than actually done. > **["Mormon Soaking" Defined & Explained (By A Mormon) | LDS Quotations](https://ldsquotations.com/blog/mormon-soaking/)** > > Ah yes… Soaking… As a Mormon (or Member of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) I’m not only familiar with this term, I went to BYU with friends who’d “soaked.” As a Mormon, I want to make it clear: Yes, this is odd behavior… My name is... ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/3 "2024-08-26T03:19:04Z")
I had heard of it and mentally put it in the same category as a Rainbow Party. It probably has happened in real life a few times, but the concept is mostly kept alive as a thing to be outraged against, rather than by the much smaller group of people who would actually do it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/4 "2024-08-26T03:24:19Z")
Rarity and/or ridiculousness aside, what is the punishment for the male for failure, as opposed to punishment for the female for failure (besides becoming an unmarried pregnant woman, that is)? By the way, before anyone mocks me for misunderstanding The Mormon Church, I am sure we should treat this just as seriously as the fact that Beavers, Muskrats, and Capybaras are actually fish. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/5 "2024-08-26T03:59:38Z")
I have heard of it before but as a part of yoga or some such practice. By the way, “docking” as a sexual term has quite a bit different meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/6 "2024-08-26T04:04:54Z")
What I do with my boat is none of your damned business. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/7 "2024-08-26T04:37:35Z")
Again with you out there fishing for capybaras.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/8 "2024-08-26T10:21:25Z")
What messed with me is that I am familiar with a different definition of soaking involving religion and Christianity. But it’s more like a meditation/prayer while listening to Christian music. So that’s what I assumed Mormon soaking was like at first. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/9 "2024-08-26T10:49:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What I do with my boat is none of your damned business. - Which could lead to a trial by a jury of your piers. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/10 "2024-08-26T12:34:19Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > This is crazy. If anything, wouldn’t this practice increase temptation? A complete mindfuck at the least. It would be like taking a bite of your favorite food and spitting it out or sticking your foot in a pool on a hot day and not jumping inside. Well, you left out a crucial bit of information. You’re supposed to get a third party to assist by jumping up and down on the bed. I knew this sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember why. Luckily Wikipedia has a page on this practice with a “In Popular Culture” category. In the reality show “Jury Duty” where one juror thinks they’re on jury duty and the rest are all paid actors, there’s a religious and shy guy who asks the main character for romantic advice concerning a female juror; when things work out he asks the main character to act as the third party. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/11 "2024-08-26T14:32:13Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I have heard of it before but as a part of yoga or some such practice. Yeah; never heard of it in connection to the Mormons, but I _have_ heard it attributed as a “Tantric” practice. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/12 "2024-08-26T14:35:26Z")
Based on both “Betteridge’s law of headlines” rule, and the “Anything you hear about another religion’s sex practices are usually nothing more that bigotry”, the answer is clearly “No”. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/13 "2024-08-26T14:42:49Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Well, you left out a crucial bit of information. You’re supposed to get a third party to assist by jumping up and down on the bed. According to my extensive research on the topic, “soaking” is just the lying there without any movement (since any movement would turn it into actual sex). The adding a of third person to provide the movement (which doesn’t turn soaking into actual sex because the soakers aren’t actually doing it) is called “jump humping”. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/14 "2024-08-26T14:46:39Z")
I might suggest you try to be a little less susceptible to pier pressure. [ETA: didn’t see @running_coach 's comment ;-)] ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/15 "2024-08-26T17:24:35Z")
John Humphrey Noyes was a product of the same Second Great Awakening that inspired Joseph Smith to invest LDS. Noyes created Perfectionism; one aspect of which was Complex Marriage, communal polyamory. Mature members would initiate virgins of the opposite sex (one of the rifts in the community was the age of consent). For the older women, this was an early version of “soaking” since the young men were trained in sexual continence: laying atop and inside his mentress without ejaculating. To prevent emotional bonding that would corrupt the overall group bond, these sessions would take place in sparsely furnished rooms on narrow beds. Here’s a photo: [![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b0086fe4b066a5a28b222e/7ac8560b-8cc9-4667-822e-582d4eba9da4/IMG_0209.jpg?format=750w) ](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54b0086fe4b066a5a28b222e/7ac8560b-8cc9-4667-822e-582d4eba9da4/IMG_0209.jpg?format=750w) One initate, drawn to the community by the prospect of free love, was Charles Guiteau (from my hometown of Freeport Illinois). But he was too much of a nudnick to gain consent from the woman, and departed in a state of disgruntlement that eventually resulted in his assassination of President Garfield. The commune itself dissolved bit by bit, until the only remaining vestige was the Onieda silverware manufacturing business, which shuttered itself in the 2000’s ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/16 "2024-08-26T17:26:37Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > One initate, drawn to the community by the prospect of free love, was Charles Guiteau (from my hometown of Freeport Illinois). But he was too much of a nudnick to gain consent from the woman, and departed in a state of disgruntlement that eventually resulted in his assassination of President Garfield. The commune itself dissolved bit by bit, until the only remaining vestige was the Onieda silverware manufacturing business, which shuttered itself in the 2000’s I remember this story from the Knowing Better episode (I assume on the LDS but it could have been a side story on another episode) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/17 "2024-08-26T18:37:37Z")
I never heard of “Mormon Soaking” before. But this would have been considered too blatant and unacceptable by the LDS couples I knew. Or even the Catholic and Methodist couples I knew. I traveled with a pretty strait-laced bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/18 "2024-08-26T18:51:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Or even the Catholic and Methodist couples I knew. I traveled with a pretty strait-laced bunch. Well, yeah, you’d obviously have to unlace _something_ to make this work. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/19 "2024-08-26T19:39:05Z")
Soaking is also a practice of some Amish, but not widely engaged in. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223/20 "2024-08-26T20:03:36Z")
[Madge, the manicurist] “Vaginal lubricant? You’re soaking in it!” [/Madge the manicurist] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mormon-practice-of-soaking-a-real-thing/1006223.md?page=2)