Deepthroat

Taking a whole cock in your mouth and down into your throat, all the way to the base, past the gag reflex.

To deepthroat is to take a whole cock in your mouth and down into your throat, all the way to the base. As a noun, a deepthroat is the act itself, and a deep-throater is the man who can do it. It is the black belt of the blowjob, admired, practiced and talked about in tones of real respect.

It is not just a very good blowjob. Plenty of men give great head without going all the way down; deepthroating is specifically about depth, which means getting past the gag reflex. Much of its prestige comes from the fact that not everyone can do it, and that size makes the challenge harder.

Where it comes from

The phrase came from straight porn. Green's Dictionary of Slang credits the early-1970s "art porn" film Deep Throat, starring Linda Lovelace, with making the term popular. The film was a cultural event far beyond porn, and its title became so famous that the Washington Post's anonymous source in the Watergate investigation was nicknamed Deep Throat too.

Gay men did not need a film to invent the act, but they happily took the word. As a verb it is now ordinary sex vocabulary, written as one word or two, with or without a hyphen.

How it is used today

On the apps, "can deepthroat" is a skill listed in a profile, and "deepthroat me" a request. It is one of the few things in gay sex that is presented as a talent, like stamina or a big load. Tops who are well hung sometimes ask outright, since a size queen who also deepthroats is, in their eyes, the perfect match.

Men who learn it usually talk about practice and breathing: relaxing the throat, taking it slowly, breathing through the nose, and using angle rather than force. There is a whole folklore of tips, from bananas to toys, and none of it is complicated. The main ingredient is patience.

In porn

In gay porn, deepthroating is a set piece. Directors linger on it, performers who are good at it get a reputation, and "deepthroat" is a standard tag on tube sites. It often comes right before a facial or a swallow, and scenes built around blowjobs often promise it in the title. Like much of what you see in porn, it is staged for the camera: in real life most men need more pauses.

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