January 2nd, 2015, 09:37
I recommend to posters with some time on their hands Sodomy and the pirate tradition (http://www.amazon.com/Sodomy-Pirate-Tradition-Seventeenth-Century-Caribbean/dp/0814712363) (I sent a447 a copy as a Xmas present). Many fascinating facts and assumptions are presented, including one that sodomy (and I assume mutual masturbation) was the most common sexual practice in male-to-male sex at least in the British Isles before the late 19th century as men outside the upper class generally did not bathe frequently enough to keep the area under the foreskin sufficiently clean for oral sex to be an attractive option. This despite the fact that smegma (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smegma) when harvested by Greek men is sold as fetta cheese. Another hypothesis is that those sailors who preferred female company had ample opportunity to join the coastal fleet. And let's not forget Churchill's alleged response as First Lord of the Admiralty when asked about the proud traditions of the Royal Navy: "The Royal Navy has only three traditions - rum, sodomy and the lash".