Thread by @LuxAlptraum

I understand the criticism that "pegging" is a homophobic term and that there's no reason to distinguish between a cis man getting strap-on fucked and any other form of anal play, but please, at least know where the term comes from

Pegging is a 20 year old term that entered the lexicon thanks to a Savage Love poll; it was one of three options submitted by readers (the others were bobbing and punting). thestranger.com/seattle/Savage…

I think it *does* matter that it's a twenty year old term because the discourse around ... all of this ... was very different at the time, and the term pegging (or, uh, the entire Bend Over Boyfriend series) was intended to be celebratory and liberatory

Has it aged well? I mean, pretty much nothing from that era has.

But I remember the genesis of the term and I remember the rationale and ethos behind it, and given that a bunch of queers were involved in this discussion — not just Savage but Jackie Strano, who wrote in to the column to advocate for bobbing — "homophobic" feels like a stretch

Also I would argue that saying that a man — and esp a cis het man — taking it up the ass from a cis woman is a different sex act than other forms of anal is not automatically saying "no homo!!!!!"

Does a sex act being different from other sex acts necessarily warrant a term all unto itself? Perhaps not, but I don't know that homophobia is the specific problem with the term "pegging."

Also just to be clear: Dan Savage didn't create the term pegging. Dan Savage responded to a reader request for a term specific to the act by asking readers to submit suggestions and then letting readers vote on which term should win. And we got pegging as a result.