# Why is it called the "missionary position" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-the-missionary-position/233131 "2004-03-08T15:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-the-missionary-position/233131/21 "2004-03-11T05:20:53Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > So this is actually an important new fact about the origin of the term “missionary position.” At the time that Cecil wrote the column (presumably before June 2002), no written mention of the term “missionary position” before 1969 had ever been found. Now, though, we know that there was a mention of “European position” and “missionary fashion” in an anthropological text as early as 1929. samclem, does the online OED give any citations for “missionary position” between 1929 and 1969? So we ought to inform Cecil of this so he can update his column on this subject. So what’s the best way to tell Cecil of this? I presume he doesn’t read every thread on the SDMB. The on-line OED also has a cite which should have been available some time ago, although it might not have registered as important. > [@](#): > > 1948 A. C. KINSEY et al. Sexual Behavior Human Male x. 373 Malinowski…notes that caricatures of the English-American position are performed around the communal campfires, to the great amusement of the natives [sc. the Trobrianders of the south-western Pacific] who refer to the position as the ‘\*missionary position’. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-the-missionary-position/233131/22 "2004-03-11T05:30:05Z")
> [@Wendall Wagner](#): > > So what’s the best way to tell Cecil of this? I presume he doesn’t read every thread on the SDMB. Infidel! Cecil knows all! As punishment for your lack of faity, you shall be exiled to a south Pacific island and forced to learn non-missionary positions! (oh, wait… maybe that’s not such a bad thing…) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-the-missionary-position/233131/23 "2004-03-11T10:24:57Z")
But, first, I need to be rigorously trained in the missionary position before I leave for that south Pacific isle so I will be able to teach the natives about it while they teach me about other positions. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-the-missionary-position/233131/24 "2004-03-12T03:56:24Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > So this is actually an important new fact about the origin of the term “missionary position.” At the time that Cecil wrote the column (presumably before June 2002), no written mention of the term “missionary position” before 1969 had ever been found. Cecil’s column on “missionary position” was first published in _Return of the Straight Dope_ which was published in 1994. BUY THE LOUSY BOOK, PEOPLE!! (This is not directed at anyone in particular). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-the-missionary-position/233131/25 "2004-03-12T04:10:59Z")
Does Malinowski’s quote sound remotely plausible? Are there really cultures in which the “missionary position” is considered “impractical,” “improper,” and a “novel immorality.” This is saying something much stronger than the claim that there are natives in some (supposedly) primitive culture who considered missionaries ridiculous because they only use one sexual position. This is claiming that these people don’t use a sexual position which (in our culture) is the most common one used. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-the-missionary-position/233131.md?page=1)