What’s considered sex may vary from person to person. This isn’t necessarily bad – it can help you and your partner decide what’s safe to do.
There are a few different types of sex: intercourse, vaginal, anal and oral (fellatio or cunnilingus). All have some risks, so you need to use protection every time.
Manual Stimulation
Physical, sexual stimulation is the touching of body parts containing many nerve endings. This stimulates your brain and triggers a feeling of excitement, arousal, or satisfaction.
This type of sexual activity can include making out, masturbating together, playing with sex toys, grinding, dry humping, or virtual sex through teen cams. The degree of arousal triggered by such action depends on the person and the circumstance.
Manual stimulation may also encourage a stallion to mount a teaser mare or dummy before a more conventional semen collection. It is effective in stallions unable to mount a mare or form due to injury, fear, or neurological conditions.
Intercourse
In a romantic relationship, intimacy is essential for achieving sexual gratification. It can include a variety of sexual behaviors, from flirting to dirty dancing to sending lewd texts and photos.
What actually counts as sex depends on the individual and their sexual orientation. It also varies by situation, as some sexual activities may suit great in one setting but not another.
A recent study by Ava Horowitz, a social psychologist at the University of Lincoln, found that people who are heterosexual are most likely to count intercourse as sex. However, non-heterosexuals could rate nonmutual penetrative sex acts (nipple play, deep kissing or masturbating on the phone simultaneously) as sex.
Penetration
Penetration is the act of entering or making your way through something. It also means a profound insight or perception, some people also try penis enlargement injections for enhancing fun, such as when a basketball team penetrates the other team’s defense.
But while most people would agree that penetration is part of sex, it’s not the only form. There are plenty of ways to enjoy sex that doesn’t involve penetration (aka non-penetrative sex) but that still release oxytocin, the same chemical released during orgasms.
This can include things like rubbing up on your partner, known as frottage. It’s a great way to increase your clitoral stimulation and help you feel completely immersed in pleasure.
Nipple Stimulation
What counts as sex can vary widely from one person to the next. A 2015 study of heterosexual college students found that some depended on oral sex, mutual masturbation, and even nipple stimulation as sex.
Nipple play (rubbing or touching nipples during sex) can be exhilarating for some people. This can be done with or without a partner, and some enjoy using sex toys like nipple clamps to heighten the experience.
Research has shown that nipple stimulation can increase sexual arousal in both men and women. A short questionnaire was sent to 153 university students who were asked to answer questions about nipple and breast manipulation during lovemaking.
Oral Stimulation
Oral sex is an incredibly intimate and pleasurable experience for many people. It may be a prelude to penetrative intercourse or the main course for an exciting sexual encounter.
Whether “going down” or “rimming,” oral stimulation uses the mouth to stimulate the penis, vulva or anus. It includes fellatio (oral-penile sex), cunnilingus (oral-vaginal sex) and anilingus (oral-anal sex).
While there are very few health risks associated with oral sex, it’s still important to protect yourself against sexually transmitted infections like herpes, gonorrhea and syphilis. That’s why using a condom is the best way to avoid catching these STIs. Talk to your partner about how you’ll help protect each other during oral sex.