element artwork: Autostraddle

Thank you for visiting
The Gay B C’s of Sex
! Monthly I’m defining a new sex-related phase that’s utilized inside the queer community. I’m creating these definitions with assistance from queer archives, pop tradition, interviews, and. Take into account that language — particularly when it comes to intercourse — varies extensively across communities, no solitary meaning or article can encapsulate every person’s experience with these conditions. Use this column as a jumping off point on your own reflection and dialogue in the opinions.

If you have ever pressed the nether regions against somebody’s genitals, thigh, butt, pubic bone tissue, or just about any other part of the body, congratulations — you tribbed! Rubbing the bits against another hot bod is actually actually and aesthetically enjoyable, whether you choose to refer to it as “tribbing,” “tribadism,” “humping,” “grinding,” “scissoring,” or something like that else. Contained in this month’s line, i am particularly investigating “tribbing” due to the lengthy (and fraught) history. Jump in the elegant queer time machines — we’re heading to historical Greece! But basic, here’s our very own description:

tribbing (letter.) – the work of rubbing genitals against somebody’s human body

“thus I’ll say anything arbitrary that nobody’s ever mentioned, like ‘peanut butter tribadism!'”

— Bo Burnham,
“from the Abyss”

“Tribbing” or “tribadism” arises from the Greek verb τρίβω, this means “rub.” In Ancient Greece, this word in the beginning outlined the act of
a woman or intersex individual
penetrating a partner employing their clitoris or a vibrator (yep, dildos were anything long before producing silicone).

Later, the text “tribas” (Latin) and “tribade” (French) were used to explain any girl whom partcipates in penetrative or non-penetrative sex together with other women, or, to quote the 1843 book

A Greek-English Lexicon

, “a female who practices
an abnormal vice
with by herself or with other females.” Hot.

If you were implicated to be a tribade — really, that could be bad news for the reputation. Here is an example: Queen of France Marie Antoinette had been portrayed as a tribade in a number of pamphlets (aka 18th 100 years political cartoons) criticizing the Queen’s relationship with Austria. One satirical book known as “The regal Dildo” painted Marie Antoinette as
an orgy-loving, deviant pervert
who regularly banged English baroness woman Sophie Farrell of find a sugar baby in bournemouth. A few years later, Marie Antoinette ended up being apply test for treason among additional different crimes, including
false accusations incest

. She was
located accountable
and beheaded.

Despite the phrase’s sordid record, queer ladies, intersex folks, and trans individuals have reclaimed “tribadism” and “tribbing” in previous decades to spell it out gender acts that include genital scrubbing, but meanings vary across resources. The Meriam-Webster dictionary
defines tribadism
as “a kind of intercourse between feamales in that the outside genitalia are rubbed collectively,” but in the 1988 publication

Sapphistry: The Ebook of Lesbian Sexuality

, Patrick Califia consists of a bigger variety of gender acts under the “tribadism” umbrella: “Tribadism is completed by scrubbing your own vulva against your spouse’s mons veneris, hip, or leg. Some lesbians also always scrub against their own partners’ buttocks and other body parts.”

If you’re thinking, “wait a second…this all seems like scissoring,” I’m right there along with you. What exactly just could be the difference in tribbing and scissoring? As always, viewpoints vary, but based on
this 2018 Autostraddle post
, scissoring and tribbing are basically the same: “…scissoring is actually a colloquial umbrella term for many kinds of functions of tribadism, aka: massaging vulva against all sorts of human body bits!”

In
this Healthline article
, intercourse teacher Lisa Finn throws it this way: “Scissoring is a colloquial phrase, so there’s wiggle room in definition…Officially, tribbing is the intimate act, while scissoring is one certain situation.” This basically means, in accordance with Finn, “tribbing” requires scrubbing your genitals anyplace on a partner’s human anatomy, while “scissoring” talks of the sex position your Barbie dolls most likely enjoyed. You are sure that, one that kinda seems like this:

But if Barbies could flex their unique hips, maybe it might seem like this:

Both these photos come from A.E. Osworth’s
scissoring guide
.

Listed here is your own indication that sure, the classic scissoring intercourse place is, indeed, an actual thing that some queer individuals enjoy, and NO, that doesn’t mean it’s comfy, enjoyable, or possible for every set of sexy human beings (especially if you should be choosing clit-on-clit motion, since that requires you to definitely aim for

really

small goals). If you have tried this position and disliked it, whether it’s just not your thing, or if your bits along with your partner’s bits simply could not hook up like Lincoln Logs, 1. You are not alone, and 2. That doesn’t mean this intercourse place merely happens in porn or in lesbian films guided by guys. The scissoring positions/techniques represented above

carry out

happen in real world sometimes, even when they’re not happening within bed room.

In the end, the difference between “tribbing” and “scissoring” actually crucial. If you like what you’re doing, refer to it as what you would like, continue humpin’, and go ahead and test! Grind against someone’s face, calf, boob, leather-based boot — whatever seems enjoyable and enjoyable for everybody involved.

If you would like discover more about tribbing/ scissoring, see A.E. Osworth’s
scissoring tips guide
, A. Andrews’
intercourse position guide
, all of our visitors’
emotions about scissoring
, and Archie’s
scissoring gift tips guide
(and, naturally, see our very own scissoring
merch
).