This position, named after a famous surgeon-gynecologist, is a modified rear-entry position, recommended by Dr. Friedman for instances where the woman is obese and the man is not. The woman begins by lying on one side. Then, the doctor informs us, "she draws her upper leg all the way up (toward her head) so that the knee of the upper leg is opposite the hip of her lower leg. This position makes her vagina readily accessible from slightly above and behind. The man kneels behind her, with one knee on each side of her straight leg, and makes entry from the rear at a slight sideward angle. If necessary, he can raise his body slightly by means of a pillow below each knee."
Frankly, I think this just makes the whole process unnecessarily complex, and it seems to me that a woman would need ballet training before she could lift her knee to the desired height, even assuming that other parts of her anatomy didn't get in the way. Nevertheless, this is just a personal prejudice. I can't speak from experience.

UPSIDE-DOWN POSITION-

crew magazine offers this approach for a fat couple: "Lying down on your side, turn yourself around so that your partner's head is at your feet, and vice versa. Then shift slowly until your genitals are aligned. This way, you can completely avoid belly-to-belly contact."

T-SOUARE POSITION-

"One of the most effective positions is the 'T-square' technique," suggests David Reuben. "The woman is in the usual position on her back with her legs spread wide apart. Her partner lies with his hips under the arch formed by her raised legs. With both abdomens safely out of the way, penis and vagina have a clear field for fun."

X POSITION-

A modified T-square, the X position is another form of acrobatic copulation recommended by Dr. Friedman. "Here, too, the woman lies on her back with her legs bent at the hips and her thighs spread as wide as possible. After the penis is inserted into the vagina, the woman then brings both legs together, while the man swings his body in either direction 45 degrees, thus forming a large X. The woman should contract the muscles of her vagina during this maneuver to avoid the possibility of the penis slipping out. In this position, the partners' abdomens are not in juxtaposition, but sufficiently removed from each other to permit proper sexual thrusting and satisfactory consummation of the sex act."

STAND AND DELIVER-

Sometimes a fat couple needs to copulate at a greater-than ninety degree angle in order to keep their abdomens out of the way. "In these cases," states Oliver's Clinical Sexuality, "an alternative position such as the woman semi-reclining across the edge of a low bed or a padded table, two chairs supporting the feet, and the man kneeling or standing in front of her, recommends itself." Alex Comfort concurs. "If approach is tricky," he writes, "she can lie face up over the edge of the bed and he can stand or kneel."

Dr. Friedman gives a different set of blueprints for when the man is fat and the woman isn't. "In this position," he writes, "the man lies face up over the edge of the bed with his legs together and his feet touching the floor. I would suggest that he place a pillow under the small of his back for support. The woman then stands astride him close to the edge of the bed, and thus is able to make contact with his erect penis." Either way, with one partner standing and the other lying over the edge of the bed, the standing partner has a lot of options for adjusting the angle of approach. The more furniture, the more options.

Rear entry is often facilitated when both partners are standing (the woman can rest her arms and/or torso on the bed). "One guy told me he loved to enter his wife who is big and fat by having her stand up and put one leg up," noted Jack Jardine's Adrena. "I've tried that, and it works pretty well."

ORAL SEX-

Oral sex can be tremendously fulfilling if you enjoy it, tremendously demeaning if you don't. The stereotypical view of fat women holds that they enjoy all oral activities. "The plump woman will often be adroit at oral sex because she is generally expert at other oral pursuits," suggests Eugene Schaimann. "She is usually a warm person who enjoys conversation. She is a healthy eater who loves food. Using her mouth to express herself is a thing that almost seems to come naturally to her." Porn publisher Al Goldsten has different ideas. "The fatty's expertise in oral sex," he writes, " ... comes from her own desexualization. She would rather give because she does not feel herself worthy to receive."

Shelley Bovey might agree. After interviewing woman at a gathering of fat feminists, she concluded that lesbian sex could be as demeaning to fat women as the heterosexual variety. "In lesbian lovemaking there are elements of activity and passivity; there is making love and being made love to," she writes. "And the women who felt bad about their fat bodies found themselves in the age-old female place of being the giver they could make love to their partner, but could not easily accept being made love to, in case they repelled their partner, or from a conviction that it must be revolting to make love to their fat bodies. So they were constantly giving, and constantly deprived. It was clear that where lesbianism is a part of feminism, then feminists have let their sisters down badly."
Sex should be a meeting of equals, not a game of conquest and plunder. Oral sex, like any other sexual act-including the sharing of food-should be an occasion for mutual pleasure, not a means of establishing dominance. So long as that caveat is kept in mind, there can be nothing more pleasurable and natural. Positioning is not generally a problem in oral sex, though I am reminded of a cartoon in which a fat couple is advised by a sex therapist that "you can do six, and you can do nine, but 69 is pretty much out of the question." It might also help to avoid a partner with claustrophobic tendencies.

ASSISTED INTERCOURSE-

Screw magazine facetiously recommends that a fat couple call upon friends and family to assist them in achieving intercourse. Failing that, the author suggests that the woman wear a sexy corset. King Edward VII used an adjustable bed (built rather like an examining table) in order to find the best sexual positions to accommodate his own bulk and that of his partners. (Edward, a born FA, also had a chair that doubled as a set of scales. He liked to weigh his guests twice: once when they arrived, and once again just before they left, to see how many pounds he'd added in the meantime.) A certain enormous and libidinous 17th-century Cardinal is famous for having installed a system of slings and pulleys over his bed so that he could enjoy near-weightless sex with a young mistress. The possibilities appear limited only by one's imagination, one's budget, and one's sense of modesty.

SEX WITHOUT INTERCOURSE-

That may seem like an oxymoron, but it isn't. One can do amazing things with a properly trained set of fingers. A fat woman's body also provides opportunities for pleasure that a thin woman's body cannot. Some men swear that the sensation of having the penis fondled by a woman's cleavage is the closest thing to heaven on earth. Fat women have cleavage everywhere.

There are other forms of intercourse between men and women: talking, laughing, touching, reading the Sunday paper together, watching a favorite movie on late night TV, or driving to the airport together just to watch the planes take off. Sometimes the feelings you get from just being close to someone are as good or better than any feelings you can get from intercourse itself. It may not be sex, but it sure is making love.