How deep throating exploded into America's bedrooms

The film, which introduced the late Linda Lovelace to the world, and the world to hardcore pornography, follows the struggle of a woman whose clitoris happened to live in her throat. Eventually, she realizes that the only way to stimulate the misplaced pleasure point is to pivot her oral sex technique-She must learn how to open wider and go deeper than ever before. Not before long, audiences began to adopt the same style of fellatio. And that’s how the “deep throat” method trickled off screen and into bedrooms across America.

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Today, the phenomenon continues to pop up in popular culture. In 2013, Amanda Seyfried starred in a biographical drama about Linda Lovelace (born Linda Boreman). The season-one finale of the HBO series The Deuce was structured around the Deep Throat premiere. The Chicago-based rapper Cupcakke has even released a song titled after the sex act.

Meanwhile, in the wide world of porn, “deep-throating” remains as popular a search term as “college,” “big boobs” and “masturbation.” Porn veteran Sasha Grey has a “Vibrating Deep Throat Sucker” made in her likeness. Benzocaine-laced sprays designed to ease the act of deep throating have become so popular you can pick one up at your local Rite Aid.

Kimberly Smith is an owner and instructor over at StripXpertease, an instructional studio that offers a variety of classes related to sexuality. She’s recently added a blowjob class to the curriculum yhat covers a series of tips to help clients perform a perfect deep throat. “No one really teaches us these things growing up so we have to fumble along, trying to learn as we go,” she tells Men’sHealth.com. “We get clients who are 18 and up and clients who are over 60. We get virgins, newly divorced women, those who want to spice up their relationship, curious, single gals and everyone in between.” Each student is instructed to show up with a dildo with which they can practice the techniques Smith demonstrates for them throughout the two-and-a half-hour lesson.

What these students may not realize is that what they’re learning is an act that rests well within the realm of kink. According to the Kinsey Institute, just 1.8 percent of the sexually active population admits to having been involved in any BDSM scenarios within the previous year. But, according Dulcinea Pitagora, an New York City-based sex therapist and host of the web series talk show Kink Doctor, “Deep throating is a hardcore form of play,” she insists. So, if deep throating is really as common as porn, pop culture and bedroom anecdotes suggest, then it would seem as there are generations of kinksters out there who don’t even know they qualify for the title. And are likely not incorporating some of the safety elements built into the practice.

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For those who have a difficult time believing something as zeitgeisty as deep throating could actually extend into the sexual fringe, consider first that deep throating involves entering the trachea. That means whomever is on the receiving end of the act is going to have a hard time breathing, at least temporarily. One could argue that qualifies as “breath play,” a relatively common staple within the BDSM community. Deep throating also inspires the release of certain bodily fluids, something that’s often incorporated into the world of “wet and messy fetishism.” Spit, phlegm, and, sometimes (sorry) even vomit, may accompany the act. “Happens all the time on set,” says adult film actress Sofia Rose. “That’s why I don’t eat prior to a shoot.”

Attempting to casually incorporate hardcore acts into more vanilla contexts can backfire for reasons more substantial than embarrassing bodily expulsions. “Explicit consent tends to happen more frequently in BDSM interactions than in non-BDSM interactions,” explains Pitagora. “Deep throating isn’t always thought of as BDSM-related, therefore one can surmise that there may be less explicit consent being given for deep throating in ‘vanilla’ bedrooms.”

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Those who want to experiment with kink have to remember they can’t just borrow the moves. They’ve got to adopt the ethos as well. There’s a popular acronym that exists within the BDSM community: SSC. It stands for safe, sane and consensual. According to Pitagora, it’s best if couples find ways to apply the principle before engaging in any kind of kink, including deep throating. “One reason explicit consent prior to engaging in this form of play relates to what makes deep-throating so hardcore,” she says. “Once someone has something filling their throat, they are no longer able to verbally communicate, and non-verbal communication can look different.”

“As with any sexual interaction, BDSM-related or not, the explicit exchange of consent before engaging is paramount,” she adds. “Ideally, consent for specific types of sexual interactions, particularly one that for some is a form of edge play, happens in a neutral setting before one is in a sexual situation, as well as immediately before engaging in it.”

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There is, of course, nothing wrong with dipping a toe in the kink pool. In fact, studiesshow that BDSM practitioners experience high levels of relationship satisfaction than members of other demographics. Modern sex research suggests that most Americans have participated in some kind of “deviant” sexual act. But how often do they realize that’s what they’re doing while doing it?

Deep throating has now been on the checklist of American bedrooms for more than 45 years. And still, it seems likely that some of its most dedicated practitioners opt to identify within the vanilla bubble. But if deep throating is in your repertoire with your partner, and you’re practicing it with proper consent, hey, wear your kind with pride.