Hentai has given us a great deal of modern smut. It’s brought us the drooling, no-thoughts-but-dick ahegao face, monstrous tentacle penetration and cat-girls in school uniforms with impossibly large breasts. And now, deep from the trenches of Japanese erotica, hentai brings us… missionary position. Well, missionary position on steroids, more aptly.
The “mating press,” as it’s typically called, is a version of the missionary position from hentai that’s increasingly creeping into mainstream sex, both in porn and the average bedroom. A few key things separate it from standard missionary. First, the woman must have her legs up, ideally by her shoulders. Next, the man must be absolutely pile-driving her, and might need to be up on his knees or even his feet to do so. The third detail only pertains to porn or other visual depictions of the position, but it’s key to its ethos: The mating press is best viewed from the back, butts-n’-balls on full display.
Most likely, it’s called the “mating press” because hentai that features it often focuses upon the woman being impregnated. On r/MatingPress, a subreddit with 105,000 members, breeding is a repeated theme, as is the idea of impregnating someone against their will (or at least playing with the idea of consensual non-consent). In one hentai comic, for example, a woman is spontaneously penetrated in the mating press while saying, “Today’s not safe,” meaning she’s in a place in her menstrual cycle where she may be fertile. She then seems to succumb to the pleasure, and simply says “Oh” with a heart emoji.
Another video, featuring real humans, is captioned, “Begging him to come inside her unprotected pussy.” “If I’m putting her in the optimal breeding position, best believe it’ll be unprotected sex,” one commentor wrote. “Imagine doing this with the love of your life. Locking eye contact and holding hands. Man, that’s the dream,” added another.
Along those lines, the mating press seems partially popular for the intimacy it allows. It features the intensity of other positions like doggy-style while still allowing for the face-to-face connection of traditional missionary. Depending on how it’s angled, it likely also allows for extra clitoral contact for the woman and deeper penetration for the man. And for viewers, of course, the biggest benefit is that it leaves none of that penetration to the imagination. If seeing someone’s balls slap against another person is your thing, the mating press is the porn position for you.
For those who want to try it in real life, though, be warned that the position has allegedly left at least one person in the hospital. As a Reddit user who tried it a year ago shared in r/TIFU, the position led to the rupture of a hemorrhagic cyst in her abdomen. But considering most of us don’t currently have a cyst in our abdomens, it’s probably not actually something to worry about. Otherwise, enjoy your plowing!
Magdalene Taylor
Magdalene Taylor is a staff writer at MEL. She covers internet culture, sex and the online adult industry. She lives in Brooklyn but is from God's Country, Western Massachusetts.
