Pegging generally refers to a sexual activity that involves a woman wearing a strap-on dildo while performing anal penetration on a man, although the term can also be used to describe it regardless of gender roles.[1]
Naming
The neologism "pegging" was popularized due to the sex education movie Bend Over Boyfriend released in 1998. After, it became the winning entry in a contest for the "Savage Love" sex advice column, held by Dan Savage in 2001 upon observing that except for the phrase "Strap On Sex" used by Queen and her partner Robert in their national lecture series (Robert was the original Bend Over Boyfriend at the Good Vibrations lectures), the concept lacked a common name and there was no dictionary entry for the act.[2][3] Other words include "buggery" or "sodomy", but these refer to anal sex in general.[3] "Strap-on sex" can be used for vaginal or anal intercourse between people of any gender using a strap-on, and is thus less precise than pegging.[4] Some queer people prefer "strap-on sex" instead of "pegging" because they feel the latter is too hetero and cis centric.[4]
Beckett and Miller use "pegger" and "peggee" to refer to the person penetrating and the person being penetrated; "top" and "bottom" are also used.[4]
Method
Pegging is penetrative sex with a strap-on dildo, usually anal penetration. It is usually defined as a practice in which a woman penetrates the anus of a man.[4][3] The woman uses a strap-on dildo, often a silicone phallus, attached with a harness, or a strapless dildo (that also penetrates the pegger).[4]Lubricant is also used.[4]
According to Tristan Taormino, gender and gender roles can play an important part in pegging.[3] Pegging reverses traditional cisgender heterosexual gender roles in sexual practices: the man is penetrated by the woman, becoming passive rather than active.[3]
A more modern and inclusive understanding has been suggested. "The defining feature of pegging is that there’s a strap-on and anal sex, not the gender or assigned sex of the partners doing it," Lisa Finn, Sex Educator
According to Beckett and Miller (2022), most popular representations of pegging are derogatory, negative or even amounting to sexual assault.[5]
Long before the term was coined as such, the 1970 film Myra Breckinridge depicted a pegging scene where Myra rapes a man with a strapon dildo.[6][7] The first explicit pegging scene is believed to be the 1976 pornographic film The Opening of Misty Beethoven.[8]Marquis de Sade describes a pegging act in his 1795 book Philosophy in the Bedroom.[9][10] There is a depiction of pegging in the William S. Burroughs 1959 novel Naked Lunch. The dildo used in the scene is called a Steely Dan III, and is the source from which the musical group Steely Dan takes its name.[11][12]Bend Over Boyfriend (1998) is based on a series of lectures and workshops by Robert Lawrence and Carol Queen. Bend Over Boyfriend originally inspired Dan Savage to call the act "BOBing" but his readers subsequently voted on the winning term, "pegging".[8]
Since the coinage of "pegging", it was featured in the TV show Weeds, on the episode "Crush Girl Love Panic" (2006).[8] Here, pegging appears to be non-consensual and is played as a joke towards the male character being forced into anal sex.[5] In the episode "Knockoffs" of the sitcom Broad City, Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) turns to friends and family for advice regarding Jeremy's request for pegging.[13] Subsequently, Jacobson called it "the best episode we've ever done".[14] In the 2016 film Deadpool, Wade is pegged by his girlfriend Vanessa, commemorating International Women's Day.[15] In François Ozon's 2017 film Double Lover, Chloé pegs Paul. Ozon stated that this scene, where the woman penetrates the man, "aligns with the feminist film that I advocate for".[16] In the episode "To Peg Or Not To Peg" of the TV series The Bold Type, Kat pegs Cody.[17] At the Met Gala 2021, Cara Delevingne worn a vest printed with the slogan "Peg the Patriarchy", garnering media attention. Speaking about it, she said: "It's about women empowerment, gender equality—it’s a bit like, 'stick it to the man',".[18]
^Chia-wen Kuo (Veronique Kwak) (1 January 2013). "The Subversive Plasticity of Posthuman Womanhood in the Cases of Vidal's Myra Breckinridge and Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Navigating Cybercultures. Brill Publishers. pp. 181–191. ISBN978-1-84888-163-1. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
^Sade, Marquis (2010). La Philosophie dans le boudoir [Filozofija v budoarju ali Nemoralni učitelj] (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Center za slovensko književnost. p. 110. ISBN978-961-6789-14-1.
^Philosophy in the Boudoir: Or, The Immoral Mentors. Penguin Classics. 2006. p. 74. ISBN0-14-303901-6.
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