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Fisting

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Fisting

Fisting—also known as fist fucking (FF) and handballing[1][2]—is a sexual activity that involves inserting one or more hands into the rectum (anal fisting) or the vagina (vaginal fisting).[1] Fisting may be performed on oneself (self-fisting) or performed on one person by another.[3] People who engage in fisting are often called "fisters".[1][4]

Fisters have developed a distinct subculture with its own history, norms, and values, including literature and clubs for sexual, social, and spiritual exploration.[5][6][7][2][8]

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Vaginal self-fisting

History

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Fisting's emergence as a sexual practice is commonly attributed to gay male culture.[9][7][2] However, its precise origin is disputed. Some claim fisting began in the twentieth century,[10][11][12] whereas others assert the practice dates back to the eighteenth century or earlier.[9][5][13] Sex educator Robert Morgan Lawrence, for example, claimed the practice dates back thousands of years.[14][15]

Fisting gained visibility and popularity around the time of the gay liberation movement.[16][7][17] Whereas until the 1960s fisting was generally confined to the bedroom,[7] by 1969 men openly engaged in fisting at gay bathhouses such as St. Marks Baths in New York.[16] The hanky code and personal advertisements allowed fisters to safely and discreetly signal their interest to potential partners around the world.[18][19][20] By 1973, gay bars, bathhouses and clubs such as the Red Star Saloon in South of Market, San Francisco were publicly advertising fisting.[16][21] Sex clubs dedicated to fisting quickly emerged, including the Catacombs,[15] Handball Express,[22] and Red Hanky Express.[23]

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A patch for The Catacombs, a gay and lesbian fisting club, from the Leather Archives & Museum's collection

By 1980, associations had formed in major cities around the world for fisters to meet, play, and socialize with like-minded men,[2][7][17][24] including "Fist Fuckers of America" (FFA),[16][25] "Total Ass Involvement League" (TAIL),[26][27] and "Mid America Fists In Action" (MAFIA).[7] Founded in the late 1960s,[7] FFA established chapters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Philadelphia, Miami, and Washington, D.C.[28][29] FFA registered as a non-profit under the pseudonym "Fall Festival Association."[28][26] TAIL was founded in the early 1970s and included members in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.[30][31][7] MAFIA was founded in Chicago in 1978 and remains active as of 2025.[32][33]

Fisting parties became a major social activity for "dedicated handballers," some of whom attended as many as three each month.[7] Parties tended to be held at gay bathhouses with carefully controlled guest lists ranging from eight to eighty people.[7] In 1975, approximately 300 men gathered for a two-day fisting convention and contest organized by FFA in Ossining, New York.[16] In addition to arranging sex parties, associations organized social events including dinners, games, cook-outs and bar meet-ups.[32][34][35]

Crisco was commonly used as a fisting lubricant since it was inexpensive and widely available,[7][36] as depicted in pornographic films such as Erotic Hands (1974).[37][38] As a result, "Crisco" became a euphemism for fisting in gay slang.[16][39]

The onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s claimed the lives of countless fisters, many of whom were particularly vulnerable due to the common pairing of fisting with unprotected anal sex and drugs.[2] In response to the AIDS crisis, safe sex advocates launched public health campaigns to promote the use of gloves.[40][2][41][42][43] Meanwhile, cities such as San Francisco[44] and New York[45] forcibly closed gay establishments that—accurately or not—were believed to permit unsafe sex,[46] including fisting.[36][17] Consequently, many popular venues for fisting permanently closed.[47] Although closures were supported by some members of the gay community, many regarded the closures as a product of anti-gay hysteria as well as anti-sex attitudes and disapproval of gay sexual activity in particular.[46] The gay press, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and San Francisco Human Rights Commission criticized the closures as counterproductive and a violation of civil liberties.[46]

Fisting's visibility and popularity has grown in the twenty-first century,[48][49] likely due in large part to the internet and greater HIV prevention and treatment options.[50] Fisting pornography is now widely available online and fisters can easily meet via social media platforms, some of which are tailored for fisting (e.g. Recon).[51][52][53] Gay bathhouses have made a comeback, with some once again hosting and advertising fisting parties.[54][36]

Techniques

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Trust between partners is generally imperative to ensure physical and psychological safety and enjoyment.[5] A common technique, particularly for beginners, is to extend four fingers straight with thumb tucked beneath. Some refer to this technique as the "silent duck."[2][3] In more vigorous forms of fisting, often referred to as "punching" or "punch fisting", the hand is partly or fully clenched into a fist before, during, and/or after insertion.[55]

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"Silent duck" hand position

Oftentimes, hands are inserted up to the wrist.[9] Some experienced fisters enjoy deeper penetration, referred to as "depth play", in which hands may be inserted as far as (or past) the elbow.[6][7][9][4] Taking two hands at once is referred to as "double fisting".[3][4] In the case of double fisting, pleasure may be derived more from the stretching of the anus or vagina than from the in-and-out movement of hands.[2] In rare cases, experienced fisters are capable of taking three hands.[27][56]

Lubricants designed specifically for fisting or with fisting as an intended use are widely available in some countries.[57] Fisters commonly use sex toys to loosen the anus or vagina before or during a fisting session.[6][4][58] Sometimes a penetrative partner may insert their penis or a sex toy at the same time as their hand(s), to masturbate inside the receptive partner's rectum or vagina.

Douching is common before anal fisting both for aesthetic purposes and to reduce risk of fecal contamination.[7]

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Anal self-fisting

Terminology

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According to The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English, "fisting" and "fist fuck" entered the American slang lexicon no later than 1969.[1] Common fisting-related terms include:

  • Fist; fist fuck (verb): "the practice of inserting the hand (and part of the arm) into a partner's anus (or vagina) for the sexual pleasure of all involved,"[1] commonly abbreviated as "FF" or "FFun."[5]
  • Handball: synonym for fistingA
  • Fister; fist-fucker: a practitioner of fisting; or, depending on context, a penetrative partner ("top") in a fisting session involving two or more people.[1][4]
  • Fistee: a receptive partner ("bottom") in a session involving two or more people.[4]
  • Punch; punch fist (verb): fisting in which the hand is partly or fully clenched into a fist before, during, and/or after insertion.[2][55]
  • Double; double fist (verb): fisting in which two hands are inserted simultaneously.[4]
  • Rosebud; prolapse: when rectal walls prolapse to such degree that they protrude out of the anus. Can be induced by fisting or other ass play (named due to resemblance to a rose flower).[59][60][61]
  • Bloom (verb): the act of inducing a rosebud or prolapse.[59]

In medical contexts, fisting is sometimes referred to brachioproctic eroticism[62] or brachioproctic/brachiovaginal insertion.[63]

^A "Fisting" and "handballing" are often used interchangeably, but some consider the former term to be crude or violent and perceive the latter as more closely associated with "intimate love-making and spiritual communion."[2][17]

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A blooming rose is a common symbol and metaphor for fisting

Risks

Safe enjoyment of fisting requires an understanding of potential risks and techniques for mitigating them.[6][7] Fisting carries a risk of transmitting sexually transmitted infections. When practiced improperly, fisting can cause serious injuries, including perforation of the vagina, perineum, rectum, or colon, that in rare cases can result in death.[6][64][65][66][67][68] Sexual activities that force air into the vagina can lead to a fatal air embolism, predominantly during pregnancy.[69]

A 2021 study found that men who practiced anal fisting were more likely to experience fecal incontinence than men who engaged in other forms of anal sex, but more research is required to establish a causal link and determine whether this is temporary or long-term.[70][71][72][73]

A 2022 study found that "clinical and forensic research has over-inflated the ‘dangers’ of fisting without an understanding of contexts in which fisting takes place."[36] It also found that anal and vaginal fisting present "low to no risk" of sexually transmitted infections.[36] Gloves, lubricant, and fingernail trimming can help reduce risk.[74][57][58]

In popular culture

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References to fisting can be found in art, music, cinema and other forms of popular culture. Examples include:

Art

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San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley

Performance art

Music

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The Monument to Joe Louis, which made headlines in 2013 for what was widely considered a fisting joke

Film

Pornographic films

Television

Literature

Clubs

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La Fistinière, a fisting club in France

Other

  • In 1980, Drummer reported that the Rodeo Riders (a Chicago-based leather club) "are making plans for their first annual "Mr. Fist Contest." They'll have you singing the praises of two-fisted love in no time!"[120]
  • In 2011, adult performers Jiz Lee and Courtney Trouble proclaimed October 21 as "International Fisting Day," which Lee described as "a day of international celebration and education" intended in part to combat censorship.[51][36]
  • In the handkerchief code, the color red signifies interest in fisting.[121]
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In the handkerchief code, the color red signifies interest in fisting.

Legal status

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In some nations, fisting—particularly anal fisting—has historically been censored and criminalized due to its association with gay sex and characterization by critics as an obscene and deviant act.[3][122]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, performing fisting[123] and fisting pornography are both legal.[124] However, until 2019, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) considered publication of fisting material to be grounds for prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act 1959[125] and Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, the latter of which prohibits so-called "extreme pornography."[126] In 1998, the University of Central England was involved in a controversy when a library book by Robert Mapplethorpe was confiscated from a student by the police, who informed the university that two photographs in the book (including one involving fisting) would have to be removed. If the university agreed to the removal (which it did not) the book would be returned. The two photographs, which were deemed possibly prosecutable as obscenity, included “Helmut and Brooks, NYC, 1978”, which shows anal fisting.[80][81][127] However, after a delay of about six months, the affair came to an end when Peter Knight, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, was informed that no legal action would be taken.[81][127] The book was returned to the university library without removal of the photos.[128] In R v Peacock (2012), the jury found Michael Peacock not guilty of breaching the Obscene Publications Act for selling DVDs containing anal fisting.[129] That same year, a jury took less than 90 minutes[130] to acquit Simon Walsh for possession of images of anal fisting that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) alleged constituted illegal, extreme pornography.[123] In 2019, the CPS declared it would no longer prosecute pornography produced by consenting adults engaging in legal acts,[131] including fisting.[124]

United States

Fisting was historically subject to censorship in the United States. For example, in the 1970s, the Los Angeles Police Department forced director Wakefield Poole to remove depictions of fisting from his films as a precondition for airing them in the city.[122][132] Fisting was included on the Cambria List, meant to be a list of sex acts that carry risk of prosecution under U.S. obscenity law, created by Paul Cambria in 2001 to help producers avoid obscenity lawsuits.[51] However, as of 2019, the Cambria List is generally regarded as obsolete within the American pornography industry.[133]

See also

References

External links

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