Editing Fisting (section)

== History ==
<!-- Please don't remove images without first seeking consensus on the talk page - your edit will be reverted -->Fisting's emergence as a sexual practice is commonly attributed to [[LGBT culture#Gay men's culture|gay male culture]].<ref name=":16" /><ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last1=Navin |first1=Helen |date=March 1981 |title=Medical and Surgical Risks in Handballing:: Implications of an Inadequate Socialization Process |journal=[[Journal of Homosexuality]] |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=67–76 |doi=10.1300/J082v06n03_06 |pmid=7341668}}</ref><ref name="Herrman" /> However, its precise origin is disputed. Some claim fisting began in the twentieth century,<ref name="Damousi">{{cite book |last1=Damousi |first1=Joy |last2=Reynolds |first2=Robert |title=History on the Couch: Essays in History and Psychoanalysis |date=2003 |publisher=Melbourne Univ. Publishing |isbn=978-0-522-85057-4 |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9NIWYP7MmkC&pg=PA57 }}</ref><ref name="Bergman">{{cite book |last1=Bergman |first1=David |title=The Violet Hour: The Violet Quill and the Making of Gay Culture |date=2004 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50383-9 |pages=206–207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yam1zo4yUlsC&pg=PA206 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Piontek|first=Thomas|title=Queering Gay and Lesbian Studies|url=https://archive.org/details/queeringgaylesbi0000pion|url-access=registration|access-date=October 9, 2014|date=January 2006|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|isbn=978-0-252-03031-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/queeringgaylesbi0000pion/page/90 90]}}</ref> whereas others assert the practice dates back to the eighteenth century or earlier.<ref name=":16">{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Jarred H |title=Fisting intimacy: The sexual scripting of intimacy in gay men's anal fisting |journal=Psychology & Sexuality |date=3 April 2023 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=416–431 |doi=10.1080/19419899.2022.2148119 |hdl-access=free |hdl=2263/88857 }}</ref><ref name=":30" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Jonathan |date=2011-08-15 |title=A Hand in the Bush - An Interview with Deborah Addington |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-hand-in-the-bush-an-interview-with-deborah-addington/ |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |language=en}}</ref> Sex educator [[Center for Sex & Culture#Robert Lawrence|Robert Morgan Lawrence]], for example, claimed the practice dates back thousands of years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Taormino |first=Tristan |author-link=Tristan Taormino |date=1998 |title=The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women |publisher=Cleis Press |url=https://archive.org/details/ultimateguidetoa00taorrich |url-access=registration |page=103 |isbn=9781573440288}}</ref><ref name="1occupytampa.org">[[Gayle Rubin]], "The Catacombs: A Triumph of the Butthole", in ''Leatherfolk: Radical Sex, People, Politics, and Practice'', Alyson Press, 1992, {{ISBN|1555831877}}, pp. 119-141; reprinted in ''Deviations: A Gayle Rubin Reader'', [[Duke University Press]], 2011, {{ISBN|0822349868}}, {{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://occupytampa.org/files/tristan/introfem/final/introfem%20final%20final/Gayle_S._Rubin_Deviations_A_Gayle_Rubin_Reader_a_John_Hope_Franklin_Center_Book__2011.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006082917/http://occupytampa.org/files/tristan/introfem/final/introfem%20final%20final/Gayle_S._Rubin_Deviations_A_Gayle_Rubin_Reader_a_John_Hope_Franklin_Center_Book__2011.pdf |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |access-date=September 30, 2014}}, retrieved September 30, 2014.</ref>

Fisting gained visibility and popularity around the time of the [[gay liberation movement]].<ref name=":27">{{Cite book |last=Heidenry |first=John |title=[[What Wild Ecstasy|What Wild Ecstasy: The Rise and Fall of the Sexual Revolution]] |date=1997 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-0-7432-4184-7 |location=New York |pages=67, 162–163}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":25">{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Jarred H. |date=24 March 2025 |title=Fisting Subjectivity: Narratives of Sexual Subjectivity Among Gay Fist-Fuckers |journal=[[The Journal of Sex Research]] |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=398–410 |doi=10.1080/00224499.2024.2339521 |pmid=38629693 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Whereas until the 1960s fisting was generally confined to the bedroom,<ref name=":2" /> by 1969 men openly engaged in fisting at [[gay bathhouse]]s such as [[St. Mark's Baths|St. Marks Baths]] in New York.<ref name=":27" /> The [[Handkerchief code|hanky code]] and [[personal advertisement]]s allowed fisters to safely and discreetly signal their interest to potential partners around the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gremore |first=Graham |date=2016-05-19 |title=Levi's Is Bringing Back The Hanky Code Just In Time For Pride |url=https://www.queerty.com/levis-bringing-back-hanky-code-just-time-pride-20160519 |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=[[Queerty]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1979 |title=Happy Holidays Issue |journal=[[Drummer (magazine)|Drummer]] |volume=4 |issue=33 |pages=34–40}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=February 1983 |title=Bondage Issue |journal=[[Drummer (magazine)|Drummer]] |volume=7 |issue=61 |pages=58–59}}</ref> By 1973, gay bars, bathhouses and clubs such as the Red Star Saloon in [[South of Market, San Francisco]] were publicly advertising fisting.<ref name=":27" /><ref name=":22" /> [[Sex club]]s dedicated to fisting quickly emerged, including the [[Catacombs (sex club)|Catacombs]],<ref name="1occupytampa.org" /> Handball Express,<ref>{{cite book |last=Rofes |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Rofes |url=http://www.ericrofes.com/pdf/70s_Walking_Tour.pdf |title=A Walking Tour of South of Market in the 1970s |date=2005 |location=San Francisco |pages=16–17 |chapter=The Handball Express, 975 Harrison Street |access-date=November 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031170033/http://www.ericrofes.com/pdf/70s_Walking_Tour.pdf |archive-date=October 31, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and Red Hanky Express.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Avatar Club Los Angeles records |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8t15b61/dsc/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=[[California Digital Library#Online Archive of California (OAC)|Online Archive of California]]}}</ref>

[[File:San Francisco Catacombs.jpg|thumb|A patch for [[Catacombs (sex club)|The Catacombs]], a gay and lesbian fisting club.]]By 1980, associations had formed in major cities around the world for fisters to meet, play, and socialize with like-minded men,<ref name="Herrman" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":25" /><ref name=":24">{{Cite journal |date=1992 |title=Red Hankie Socials |url=https://leatherarchives.org/ca/index.php/Detail/occurrences/1083 |journal=Trust: Handballing Newsletter |location=San Francisco, California |publisher=Alamo Square Press |issue=17 |quote=Red Hankie Socials were fisting community bar nights advertised by the publishers of Trust. As of 1992, Trust listed Red Hankie Socials in Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, Provincetown, San Diego, San Francisco and Vancouver, BC. Red Hankie Socials were organized by FFA in Fort Lauderdale and Washington DC, and by MAFIA in Chicago. |via=[[Leather Archives & Museum]]}}</ref> including "Fist Fuckers of America" (FFA),<ref name=":27" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=M.A.F.I.A. News [Mid-America Fists in Action], 1997 |url=https://archives.lib.ku.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/88265 |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=[[University of Kansas|University of Kansas - Kenneth Spencer Research Library Archival Collections]] |series=Steve Wheeler papers - File — Box: 8, Folder: 10}}</ref> "Total Ass Involvement League" (TAIL),<ref name=":29" /><ref name=":28">{{Cite book |last=Holland |first=Erik |title=The Nature of Homosexuality: Vindication for Homosexual Activists and the Religious Right |date=2004 |publisher=[[iUniverse]] |isbn=978-0-595-30508-7 |location=New York |page=33}}</ref> and "[[Mid America Fists In Action]]" (MAFIA).<ref name=":2" /> Founded in the late 1960s,<ref name=":2" /> FFA established chapters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Philadelphia, Miami, and Washington, D.C.<ref name=":26">{{Cite web |title=Fist Fuckers of America |url=https://leatherarchives.org/ca/index.php/Detail/entities/2822 |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=[[Leather Archives & Museum]] |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cheshes |first=Jay |date=1999-05-27 |title=Sexual Roulette |url=https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/sexual-roulette-6331044 |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=[[New Times Broward-Palm Beach]] |language=en}}</ref> FFA registered as a non-profit under the pseudonym "Fall Festival Association."<ref name=":26" /><ref name=":29">{{Cite web |title=Guide to the Mariposa Education and Research Foundation records, ca. 1951-1987. |url=https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM07300.html |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=[[Cornell University]] |series=Collection Number: 7300}}</ref> TAIL was founded in the early 1970s and included members in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=GLBT Historical Society Archives - Periodicals |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b53b13285ede173115cb784/t/5c5a2322b208fc626186868c/1549411112694/GLBTHS+Complete+Periodicals+List.pdf |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=[[GLBT Historical Society]] |format=PDF}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=TAIL Newsletter |url=https://arquivescollections.andornot.net/link/catalogue15857 |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=[[The ArQuives]]}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |date=July–August 1978 |title=League Happenings |journal=T.A.I.L. Newsletter |location=San Francisco |volume=VI |issue=4 |page=94}}</ref> MAFIA was founded in Chicago in 1978 and remains active as of 2025.<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal |last=Ash |first=Donovan F. |date=1983 |title=M.A.F.I.A. Celebrates 5th Anniversary |url=https://www.houstonlgbthistory.org/Houston80s/Assorted%20Pubs/Club%20Scene-Los%20Angeles%20794-Niebur/ClubScene12-83.compressed.pdf |journal=Club Scene |location=Houston, Texas |publisher=Alan Lipkin & Dan McIver |issue=12 |pages=9–10 |via=Houston LGBT History}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rhodes |first=Dave |date=1988-09-30 |title=1988 |url=https://www.theleatherjournal.com/news/1988 |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=The Leather Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref>

Fisting parties became a major social activity for "dedicated handballers," some of whom attended as many as three each month.<ref name=":2" /> Parties tended to be held at gay bathhouses with carefully controlled guest lists ranging from eight to eighty people.<ref name=":2" /> In 1975, approximately 300 men gathered for a two-day fisting convention and contest organized by FFA in [[Ossining, New York]].<ref name=":27" /> In addition to arranging sex parties, associations organized social events including  dinners, games, cook-outs and bar meet-ups.<ref name=":23" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Reed |first=Rick |date=2003-06-11 |title=Tales from the Sexual Underground |url=https://windycitytimes.com/2003/06/11/tales-from-the-sexual-underground-8/ |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=[[Windy City Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fist Fuckers of America Miami |url=https://leatherarchives.org/ca/index.php/Detail/entities/10776 |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=[[Leather Archives & Museum]]}}</ref>

[[Crisco]] was commonly used as a fisting [[Personal lubricant|lubricant]] since it was inexpensive and widely available,<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":15" /> as depicted in [[pornographic film]]s such as ''[[Bijou Theater (Chicago)#Bijou Video|Erotic Hands]]'' (1974).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erotic Hands |url=https://bijougayporn.com/tour/dvds.php?id=24 |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=[[Bijou Theater (Chicago)#Bijou Video|Bijou Video]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=People v. Arno (1979) |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/90/505.html |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=[[Justia|Justia Law]] |language=en}}</ref> As a result, "Crisco" became a euphemism for fisting in [[gay slang]].<ref name=":27" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Harron |date=2020-01-30 |title=The Fisting Emoji Has Arrived |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/new-fisting-pinched-fingers-emoji-2020/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

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 sex|unprotected anal sex]] and drugs.<ref name="Herrman" /> In response to the AIDS crisis, [[safe sex]] advocates launched public health campaigns to promote the use of gloves.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Slagstad |first1=Ketil |date=8 July 2023 |title=Visualizing BDSM and AIDS Activism: Archiving Pleasures, Sanitizing History |journal=[[Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences]] |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=270–303 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/jrad012 |pmc=10329774 |pmid=37011106}}</ref><ref name="Herrman" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=There's more to safer sex than condoms: always love with a glove |url=https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101451336-img |access-date=2025-04-12 |website=[[United States National Library of Medicine]] |series=NLM 101451336}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=There's more to safer sex than condoms: always love with a glove |url=https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101451330-img |access-date=2025-04-12 |website=[[United States National Library of Medicine]] |series=NLM 101451330}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Auf geht's |url=https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101451317-img |access-date=2025-04-12 |website=[[United States National Library of Medicine]] |series=NLM 101451317}}</ref> Meanwhile, cities such as San Francisco<ref>{{Cite news |last= |date=1984-10-10 |title=14 San Francisco Sex Clubs Told to Close to Curb AIDS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/10/us/14-san-francisco-sex-clubs-told-to-close-to-curb-aids.html |access-date=2024-01-20 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=8 }}</ref> and New York<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Maurice |date=1985-10-26 |title=State Permits Closing of Bathhouses to Cut AIDS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/26/nyregion/state-permits-closing-of-bathhouses-to-cut-aids.html |access-date=2024-01-20 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=1 }}</ref> forcibly closed gay establishments that—accurately or not—were believed to permit unsafe sex,<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Hank |first=Trout |date=2021-12-22 |title=The bathhouse battle of 1984 |url=https://www.sfaf.org/collections/beta/the-bathhouse-battle-of-1984/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=[[San Francisco AIDS Foundation]] |language=en-US}}</ref> including fisting.<ref name=":15">{{cite journal |last1=Barcelos |first1=Chris A. |date=4 May 2023 |title=Adventures in fisting |journal=[[Sex Education (journal)|Sex Education]] |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=279–286 |doi=10.1080/14681811.2022.2061441}}</ref><ref name=":25" /> Consequently, many popular venues for fisting permanently closed.<ref>[[Gayle Rubin|Gayle S. Rubin]], "Elegy for the Valley of Kings: AIDS and the Leather Community in San Francisco, 1981-1996", in ''In Changing Times: Gay Men and Lesbians Encounter HIV/AIDS'', ed. John H. Gagnon, Peter M. Nardi, and Martin P. Levine, [[University of Chicago Press]], 1997, {{ISBN|0226278573}}, pp. 101-144.</ref> Although closures were supported by some members of the gay community, many regarded the closures as a product of [[Homophobia|anti-gay]] hysteria as well as [[Antisexualism|anti-sex]] attitudes and disapproval of gay sexual activity in particular.<ref name=":12" /> The [[gay press]], [[San Francisco AIDS Foundation]], and [[San Francisco Human Rights Commission]] criticized the closures as counterproductive and a violation of civil liberties.<ref name=":12" />

Fisting's visibility and popularity has grown in the twenty-first century,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-24 |title=Exploring The Pleasures Of Fisting: A Guide To Safe And Enjoyable Fisting Sexual Experiences |url=https://www.allohealth.care/healthfeed/sex-education/fisting-sexual |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=Allo Health |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Hayes |first1=Kaitlyn |last2=Beresford |first2=Meka |date=2016-06-23 |title=UK sex trends: "Fisting is the new black" |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2016/06/23/uk-sex-trends-fisting-is-the-new-black/ |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=[[PinkNews]] |language=en-US}}</ref> likely due in large part to the internet and greater [[Prevention of HIV/AIDS|HIV prevention and treatment options]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cheves |first=Alexander |date=2019-07-10 |title=4 Perspectives On How The Internet Has Changed Kink |url=https://www.them.us/story/how-the-internet-has-changed-kink-bdsm-leather |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=[[Them (website)|Them]] |language=en-US}}</ref> 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 (app)|Recon]]).<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Dickson |first=E. J. |date=2014-10-21 |title=Is fisting the Internet's last taboo sex act? |url=https://cashmeremag.com/fisting-taboo-law-75692/ |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=Cashmere Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=2016-05-10 |title=Another Day, Another Hack: Is Your Fisting Site Updating Its Forum Software? |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/rosebuttboard-ip-board/ |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cheves |first=Alexander |date=2016-12-13 |title=Don't Make Vanilla Guys Bark |url=https://www.advocate.com/love-and-sex/2016/12/13/dont-make-vanilla-guys-bark |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=[[The Advocate (magazine)|The Advocate]] |language=en}}</ref> Gay bathhouses have made a comeback, with some once again hosting and advertising fisting parties.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-05-24 |title=IML 2017: International Mr. Leather in Chicago |url=https://www.windycitytimes.com/lgbt/IML-2017-International-Mr-Leather-in-Chicago/59220.html |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=[[Windy City Times]]}}</ref><ref name=":15" />