# Oregon Trail - Marital Relations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925 "2012-10-26T13:09:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/21 "2012-10-26T23:21:35Z")
If you find this topic… interesting… you should watch Enemy At The Gates. (Or just search for Enemy at the Gates sex scene). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/22 "2012-10-26T23:36:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Privacy wasn’t the concept then that it is now. Many a family had the parents in the bed and the children in the trundle. Yet they still had more kids. > > Now, if Mommy is a screamer, things might get dicey… 😃 That’s not a problem. Women were not allowed to enjoy it until the late 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/23 "2012-10-27T00:01:42Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > You wait till it sounds like everyone’s asleep, then you keep the noise down! As an SCA Constable, I assure you, many people don’t bother waiting, or keeping the noise down. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/24 "2012-10-27T07:07:59Z")
> [@wmulax93](#): > > I knew I shouldn’t have bought so many bullets! I thought [lots of bullets](http://xkcd.com/623/) was the way to go… BTW, the OP mentions circling the wagon every night. Nope they didn’t do that. They only circled the wagons when they felt threatened. Too much work to do it. Most of the time they just stopped the wagons and camped in line. That is, when they were in line. On the wide open prairies, they usually spread out so they weren’t directly behind the wagon in front so as not to have to eat their dust. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/25 "2012-10-27T13:20:26Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > As an SCA Constable, I assure you, many people don’t bother waiting, or keeping the noise down. SCA people are…different. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/26 "2012-10-27T14:25:02Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Large chunks of the world still live with a whole family to one room. The options are: > > 1. Wait till the kids are asleep and be quiet about it. Sex without privacy calls for short, quiet, semi-clothed sessions. > 2. Wait till the kids are asleep and slip outside/inside/out back/behind the wheel/etc. > 3. Go out together behind some tall bushes at the local market, watering hole, etc. Many public facilities would have formal or informal places where a couple could have some alone time. 1. While on an airplane, make a tent out of a flight blanket, and then join the mile high club. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/27 "2012-10-27T17:25:56Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > Would you feel like sex if you were dirty, dusty, and generally pretty exhausted already? Here’s one of these questions that helps to show the difference between men and women. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/28 "2012-10-27T17:44:31Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > SCA people are…different. As opposed to the RenFaire folks who put a sign up with performance times and charge admission to watch 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/29 "2012-10-27T20:31:08Z")
I once read an account of one of the Oregon Trail wagon trains. One of the women on the train was quite active. The article referred to her as a “nymphomaniac” but whether that would be considered official is not clear. Anyway, she spent a lot of time with various men in the party, including married men, and trouble ensued. She was eventually expelled from the train. So, yes, sex happened. And other people noticed it. Being tired and dirty has little effect on people’s sex drives. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/30 "2012-10-27T20:35:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > That was in the adult upgrade service pack. They changed it from hunting squirrels to hunting beaver. Surely you didn’t still trade the pelts in this version? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/31 "2012-10-29T17:52:33Z")
Back to the tents, I recall going to the museum and seeing Mongolian yurts. One half of the yurt was for the hubby / dad. Other half was for the mom and kids. So I am guessing when hubby wanted his wife she walked over to his half made a baby and then if he chose to kick her out of his bed, she would walk or crawl back to her half. This would be done discreetly not to wake the kids. But hey the kids would have seen goats and sheep and ox fornicating, so nothing out of the ordinary. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/32 "2012-10-29T18:01:45Z")
Real privacy is a very modern conceit. What do you think people did for rest stops in the wide open prairies? Or if it was unsafe to venture alone into the woods? In most bodily functions, if necessary, people just looked the other way provided the performance was not blatant and exhibitionist. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/33 "2012-10-30T01:13:18Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Real privacy is a very modern conceit. What do you think people did for rest stops in the wide open prairies? Or if it was unsafe to venture alone into the woods? > > In most bodily functions, if necessary, people just looked the other way provided the performance was not blatant and exhibitionist. I think that’s different, at least from a 21st century perspective. I don’t think I would have a problem saying that I have to (to females) go use the “little boys room” over in the bushes, or (to males) take a leak. It would be different to announce to a group of thirty that you and the wife had to go “scavenge for food” or something similar. One dunce in the group wouldn’t get the idea and offer to go along and help. It seems that you would have to scream that you wanted to go fuck your wife for everyone to understand and leave you alone. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/34 "2012-10-30T01:43:55Z")
I’ve been camping with mixed company and people are just pretty quiet about it. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/35 "2012-10-30T01:56:40Z")
Worst video game expansion pack _ever_. Seriously, it’s a little odd to single out the Oregon Trail. Only in the last hundred years or so have the majority of people had the kind of privacy that we nowadays think is appropriate for sex regularly. One or two room houses were the norm. Hell, they still are outside of first world countries. We’ve had threads around here where people discuss listening to their college roommate have sex _while in the room_ and writing it off as no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/36 "2012-10-30T02:07:38Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Worst video game expansion pack _ever_. > > Seriously, it’s a little odd to single out the Oregon Trail. Only in the last hundred years or so have the majority of people had the kind of privacy that we nowadays think is appropriate for sex regularly. One or two room houses were the norm. Hell, they still are outside of first world countries. We’ve had threads around here where people discuss listening to their college roommate have sex _while in the room_ and writing it off as no big deal. I think the thing that throws people is the fact that people back then were, on the one hand, so much less open about sex, so much more concerned about the sexes being kept separate, so much more concerned about nudity, so much more concerned about the appearance of sexual propriety, etc., but on the other hand, so much less concerned with sexual privacy. Hard for the modern mind to reconcile. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/37 "2012-10-30T04:25:36Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > Would you feel like sex if you were dirty, dusty, and generally pretty exhausted already? Well, yeah. Especially since we are talking about people who are probably also seriously bored on top of everything else. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/38 "2012-10-30T04:38:17Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > Would you feel like sex if you were dirty, dusty, and generally pretty exhausted already? _Especially_ then. Dopers must be a sheltered lot. Never mind, one room families in poor places, I remember taking a sleeper train in Holland a few years ago and the couple in he bunk below mine went at it, quite loudly all bloody night. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/39 "2012-10-30T05:22:09Z")
> **[Bundling (tradition)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_(tradition))** > > Bundling, or tarrying, is the traditional practice of wrapping a couple together in a bed sometimes with a board between the two of them, usually as a part of courting behavior. The tradition is thought to have originated either in the Netherlands or in the British Isles and later became common in colonial United States, especially in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Bundling is associated with the Amish as a form of courtship. Some Nebraska Amish may still practice it. > It is possible the precedent f... Fine old Yankee tradition - “here you two lovebirds, go sleep in the same bed but no hanky panky…” ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925/40 "2012-10-30T06:02:05Z")
In the wagons, per “Wagons West” series. Also implied by Michener in his fictional “Centennial.” Then of course, the wagoneers wintered in semi-permanent cabins so there might have been more births the following September. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oregon-trail-marital-relations/638925.md?page=1)