1. Dives in Misericordia, Encyclical Letter by John Paul II "On the Mercy of God," Footnote 52. The womb connection is only one of the feminine imageries expounded upon in describing the Mercy of God



2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, element 2370. Also, based on what I've been able to determine, the reason that Thomas Aquinas took a dim view of the "woman encompassing the man" was primarily because of a belief that conception could not be possible in that position, thus making the act a sin against nature (also described in various places or translations as a sin contrary to nature, or an unnatural vice). In terms of human nature, this requires that the marital act acknowledge both the unitive and procreative purposes. (Summa Theologica, II-II, 154, 11 and 12). It stands to reason, though, that the procreative has no business taking place unless the unitive occurs, "in Spirit and in Truth," which of course means that the act must truly be an act of love toward one another, be truly human, and affirm the dignity of the human person.



3. Van de Velde, "Ideal Marriage." He indicated that, due to the deep penetration that is possible when the woman is on top, the "spermatazoa has the greatest opportunity to invade the uterus (womb) in the very act of ejaculation," and this is because "the tip of the phallus comes into close contact with the portio vaginalis, or mouth of the womb....the neck [ie, cervix] of the womb droops freely and loosely into the vaginal canal, and the woman in this position is able to move her pelvis and abdomen sideways and in all directions. These swaying motions extend to the portio or mouth of the womb, rubbing it aginst the glans.". It is now fairly well understood that semen, once in contact with the cervix (which, if Van de Velde is to be believed, can occur nearly instantaneously upon ejaculation when the woman is on top) coagulates fairly quickly, even if much of it seems to seep out
   
   It is therefore worth remembering that a man’s ejaculation serves a very practical function, in addition to providing pleasure. The force of the ejaculation, followed by quick coagulation onto the cervix, allows the semen to easily counteract any effects of gravity. It is almost as if God, in intending the marital act---and thus conception---to occur with the woman on top, specifically designed a man’s response (ie, ejaculation) to occur so that any effects of gravity would be effectively counteracted. This would not be the case if God intended for the man’s substance to be merely “poured” into a woman’s “garden,” in which case the “missionary” or rear-entry positions would be the only licit positions. Most providentially, this isn’t the case. Since the woman-on-top position is the only sexual position that can guarantee “effective” results (ie, the mutual pleasure of both spouses) on a consistent basis, it means that it better insures that spouses will “commune” with one another on a more frequent and prolonged basis. The increased duration and frequency facilitated by the woman-on-top position thus ensures that both the unitive and procreative functions of the marital act are met. The increased frequency would also counteract any possible effects of gravity (as discussed previously), as does the fact that there are literally millions of sperm in a man's ejaculate-----and to think that it only takes one: a very special one known only by and chosen by our Heavenly Father (cf Psalm 139:13-15; Ezekiel1:5) .
   
   The Biblical injunction to “keep the marriage bed holy” must also be considered. A “love nest” will, unavoidably, tend to possess at least small “residuals” from the marriage act (which is the case even if sexual positions other than the female-superior are used). In addition to the moral implications of things like adultery, or fornication with multiple partners, there are also the obvious hygienic implications. God, being as He is quite practical, was well aware of all of this when he established His Natural Law. Such a “nest” or “sanctuary” is therefore to be used only by the same two spouses, lest such “holiness” be illicitly (and unhealthily) transmitted elsewhere (cf Ezekiel 42:14; 44:19; 46:20), to foreign “sancuaries” (ie, “beds” and “bedrooms” of other people or couples) or other “tabernacles” (ie, women or wives). To do otherwise is idolatry, and people do so at their own eternal (as well as temporal) risk.



4. W.L. Holladay, "Jeremiah and Women's Liberation," Andover Newton Quarterly 12 (1972); " "Jeremiah: Spokesman Out of Time," Chapter 7. Also, refer to article by Bernhard W. Anderson in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly 40 (1978), pp 363-378, which studies verses 15-22 of Jeremiah Ch. 31. NOTE: The seeking and searching aspect is perhaps reflected by a woman's greater chance, when she "encompasses the man," to move in a way that allows her to "find" where and how her husband's "fountain of life" can "satisfy" her. From a safety standpoint, such circular caresses or back and forth motions at the point of deepest penetration (as described in somewhat more detail in the previous footnote), most generally occurring when the woman leans back slightly by propping her hands on the mattress or on her husband's legs, can prevent a so-called "broken penis" injury, which is one of the risks involved if the woman is doing a vigorous, up-and-down thrusting-type motion.



5. Penner, "Getting Your Sex Life off to a Great Start" Chapter 10. Chapter 10 provides a pretty detailed discussion on how newlyweds can avoid "hurrying love before its time" (cf Song of Songs 3:5), prior to and during such first-time intercourse. Concerning the latter stages of pregnancy, countless books about having a safe and successful pregnancy, in their discussions on sex during pregnancy, recommend the woman-on-top position



6. Masters and Johnson, "Sexual Inadequacy" NOTE: Most of the methods recommended by the book to treat impotence or premature ejaculation in men (all too possible when the "man goes into the woman") or frigidity in women require that the woman-on-top position be used



7. Many parts of the Book of Jeremiah are an indictment of how the men have become effeminate, and the women have become "giddy" and wayfaring, and have become like a harlot both toward God and presumably their husbands. Another prophet ( Ezekiel), in his Book, mentions abominations done by women with male images [dildo's(?) (Ezekiel 16:17)]. Perhaps they would not have felt compelled to go this route if the bond with their husbands had perhaps been maintained by a position that, by its very nature, engenders bonding, communication, and the opportunity for them to truly "experience" their husbands, whom they desire and love, instead of inferior alternatives whose attractions are rooted in self-indulgent, selfish, idolatrous motives, and in the end blaspheme God by presenting a human nature and behavior that is contrary to the image in which God created them.
   
   Women, in using things such as dildos, are seeking to fulfill inner, instinctive desires to possess the “real” thing. A woman thus has, as provided by God, a deep-felt need to possess the “object” of her desire (a man), and on her terms, which can only occur when she can encompass, and thus “caress” and “make love to” her man, which can only occur in the woman-on-top position.
   
   Men, on the other hand, have an instinctive desire, as provided by God, to be “caressed” by a woman. This perhaps explains the origins of things such as masturbation. Just as a dildo used by a woman is an inferior (and thus illicit and idolatrous) substitute for the “real” thing, so are the “caresses” that a man attempts to impart to his “member.” Those deeply rooted and instinctive physical and emotional desires can only be met with the man and the woman together, and with the woman encompassing the man (ie, using the woman-on-top position).
   
   Perhaps this is because this arrangement was the one that God created from literally the very beginning, when He created Eve and brought her to Adam. God cast Adam into a deep sleep before He did His Work in creating Eve. Certainly, God had in mind from the start showing to Adam and Eve that they were to be together, both for unitive and procreative purposes. There was probably no better way to illustrate this to them than for Adam to wake up from his deep sleep to find Eve, as the “new thing” in the earth, “encompassing” him. Perhaps this is the reason that men frequently tend to wake up in the mornings with very hard erections, as well as have things such as “wet dreams” when asleep.
   
   Perhaps this is also why the visual aspect of the sexual experience is so important for men which, as opposed to inferior substitutes such as pornography or "strip shows," can be satisfied only when a man is in "communion" with she whom he can see, while in the most profound physical communion possible: That which can cement nuptial bonds as well as bring forth new life and a new soul known only at first to God. Once again, maybe this is because, when Adam woke up from the deep sleep that he had been cast into, and saw Eve for the first time, he took great joy to find himself in "communion" with the "new thing" that God created, while at the same time seeing the physical grace and beauty of what God had created: She who was "flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone"-----similar but in many ways quite different and quite fascinating. The same phenomena that can be re-presented to a man each time he "communes" with his wife using the face-to-face woman-on-top position: Visual fulfillment (as both behold each other's bodies) AND physical communion, while both he and his wife reach deeply into each others' souls as they look deeply at times into each other's eyes, and both tenderly caress each others' bodies with their hands [such "handwork" which is not possible when in the other sexual positions (which essentially use little more than impersonal, "batter and ram" motions].



8. Wojtyla, K. (aka John Paul II, in 1960, when he was still an auxiliary Bishop) "Love and Responsibility" Chapter V: Sexology and Ethics. A detailed discussion is presented indicating the importance that the man pay sufficient attention to the fact that a woman's sexual responses and orgasm take longer to attain, and this attention (ie, observation and communication) is necessary for the good of the overall relationship. Wojtyla also maintains that this is even more of a challenge for the man, because a man, by nature, tends to be the active partner. If these principals are to be applied to the woman-on-top position, this means that a man must do more than simply watch, or lay back and enjoy the "ride," so to speak. It means that the man must continue to take an active role in properly stimulating his wife and, perhaps, even be the one "choreographing" part of the motion at times. In order to ensure that this does not merely degenerate into a "batter and ram" operation from below, it means the man should gently guide or facilitate the woman's motions by, for example, holding onto her hips. Doing so may help provide a major psychological component for a woman, lest she be afraid that there is no one there to hold onto her as she approaches orgasm.
   
   Another issue must also perhaps be considered: Some may contend that the woman-on-top position is not as intimate as the so-called missionary position insofar as there tends to be less full-body contact, thus violating God's command for man and woman to become "one body, one flesh" in their union. A response to this contention may come in the fact that, just as a marriage is a process and a person's union/communion with God is a process, so is the marital act a process. The ultimate end of the marital act, being orgasm that results in, at times, the creation of new life, also helps to enhance the covenant union of both husband and wife as they pour themselves out to one another until there is nothing left to give, similar (somewhat) to God giving us Eternal Life and renewing His covenant union with us by pouring Himself out for each of us (as at Calvary).
   
   The greatest union, then, in the marital act is following orgasm (and possible conception) when both husband and wife, being "poured out," come to rest in each others' arms while still "connected" anatomically (at least for a while longer) as well. The man, being more prone to fall into sleep afterward, is better able to immediately receive and hold his wife in his arms if he is already "in position" to do so. This, of course, is best facilitated when the "woman encompasses the man." From a logistical standpoint, this also is best accomplished when the "woman encompasses the man," since a man tends to weigh more than his wife. It makes much more sense for a woman to be able to immediately fall into the man's arms (and not the reverse) following intercourse. Thus they can more easily remain "one body, one flesh" (ie, "connected"), as a longer-lasting sign of the process that preceded and achieved that union.



9. Mulieris Dignitatem Apostolic Letter by John Paul II "On the Dignity and Vocation of Women," elements 10-11. Also, some “teachings” have supposedly stated that the devil “taught” Eve to use the woman-on-top position. On the contrary, it is my view that the devil, being the jealous individual he is, derives great pleasure in taking “credit” for something (the woman-on-top position) that God actually ordained when he created the “new thing” in the earth (that “the woman encompassing the man”). The devil, through the misguided notions of men as a result of the promulgation of such lies (the Lilith ”legend” is merely one of them), thus attempts to discredit both God and the crowning achievement of His Creation (the Woman). In being the liar and the murderer that he (the devil) is, he thus attempts to destroy human life at its outset (the marital act and thus conception) by foisting recriminations and disharmony onto the relationship between the Man and the Woman. The devil does this by promulgating, though our fallen humanity, the lie that the procreative purposes in marriage are achieved only through sexual positions such as rear-entry and “missionary” that have produced, through the ages, only misery and grief, fear and even violence for so many men and women. The devil thus also encourages people not to trust in the providence of God (the Lord of all Life) in such unitive and procreative matters.



10. From Aristophanes' "Lysistrata," verse 773
    LYSISTRATA (reading a prophecy from a scroll)
    But when the swallows, in flight from the
    hoopoes, have flocked to a hole
    on high, and stoutly eschew their
    accustomed perch on the pole,
    yea, then shall Thunderer Zeus to
    their suff'ring establish a stop,
    by making the lower the upper..
    
    KLEONIKE
    
    Then we'll (the women) be lying on top?
    
    LYSISTRATA
    
    But should these swallows, indulging their
    lust for the perch, lose heart,
    dissolve their flocks in winged dissension,
    and singly depart
    the sacred stronghold, breaking the
    bands that bind them together---
    then know them as lewd, the pervertedest
    birds that ever wore feather
    
    KLEONIKE
    There nothing obscure about that oracle!
    
    SPECIAL NOTE: Is there likewise really anything obscure about the prophecy in Jeremiah 31:22??

Why A Discussion on Sexual Positions??

So, what's the idea having a page like this at this Website?? The answer is several-fold:

1. To show that the Church does not favor any one sexual position, as long as it remains open to the possibility of life, and affirms the dignity of the human person [although a reasoned evaluation will conclude that there is really only one (woman on top) that can truly meet these criteria on a consistent basis]
2. To raise the level of discussion on the World Wide Web, w/r the topic of sexual positions, since some web-sites are downright lurid at worst, and at best give a rather shallow, cavalier, discussion of the unitive and procreative requisites of sexual intercourse
3. To show that a failure to affirm such requisites inevitably affirms instead a "culture of inverted sexuality" as alluded to by Patrick F. Fagan in the November, 1998, issue of the Catholic World Report.

Here, Point 3 is what will be focussed on primarily.

Patrick F. Fagan, in his article, contends that "contraception has begotten a trend which might be characterized as the 'homosexualization' of heterosexuality." Other key points from include:

From the preceding, MY contentions are as follows:

• If you prefer to use the woman-astride position because you think it is a contraceptive method, given that all the "seed" seems to spill out afterward, you are in for a rude disappointment, at least if the sources I referenced are to be believed

• If you prefer to use the female superior position as an "in your face" gesture toward an inflexible "missionary position" that you think an out-of touch, prudish, patriarchal Church has taken w/r sexual techniques, then I suggest you read what current as well as long-standing Church documents actually say, and then, in the light of such documents, read what Thomas Aquinas actually said w/r the so-called "unnatural vice," sins against nature, sins contrary to nature, and so forth.

• If, upon realizing that a woman can still conceive when, as mentioned in the prophecy by Lysistrata, the "lower becomes the upper," you instead have decided to resort to oral sex or heterosexual anal sex for their contraceptive "value," then I submit to you that you are indeed perilously close to having the type of inverted sexuality described by Fagan in his article, and you need to cut it out and return to the way from which you strayed (Jeremiah 31:21-22).

• If you think that the rear-entry position (otherwise known as the "doggie-style" position) is a happy(?) medium between the missionary position and the woman-on-top, then you should really consider what you are doing. The sexual act involves more than mere thrusting, and manipulation of the "hydraulic equipment"; etc. And, if you are doing it because you like the "animalistic" connotations in the type of motions, postures, and the name itself, then you need to realize that we are more than animals. We need to see each others' faces during the act, or else, once again, you are getting perilously close to the type of aloofness alluded to by Fagan. Furthermore, "going into" a vaginal orifice from behind becomes just as easy as "going into" an anal orifice is from behind, and the anal route might start to look quite "attractive" when the prospect of assured contraception continues to present itself. Once again, you are perilously close to a form of "inverted sexuality."

How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth: a woman protects a man.

Evaluation

Many, including St. Jerome and other early Church Fathers, have taken the verse to mean that the Virgin Mary (the Woman), would carry the God-Man (Jesus) in her womb. This Truly Virgin Daughter of Yahweh would in turn, as Mother of the Church (Yahweh's other Virgin Daughter and analogous to His Virgin Daughter Israel (which has strayed at times and acted as a harlot), would instead return, be loyal, and carry a most perfect fruit of generation (ie, a Virginal conception). This is no doubt what has truly come to pass. The Woman (Our Lady), in being the Tabernacle for our Lord, gave birth to the Church, the Tabernacle of the overall Body of Christ and sanctuary of all Spiritual Life for the members of that Body.

On the other hand, the Talmud Yebamoth 62b indicates that a good woman (wife) will be a protecting wall of wisdom. I believe that this evaluation is significant in that such a woman that protects her man w/r True wisdom will also be wise in ways that will protect his (and as a matter of course her) chastity, and also that of her children. This also has major implications regarding the family as the "domestic Church."