In 2001, in his popular Savage Love column, Dan Savage noted that there was no common name for the practice of females penetrating heterosexual men with a dildo. The practice was nothing new. In the earliest photographic depictions of Victorians doing the deed, we see examples. Although we’ve inherited these images, the proper term, apparently, has been lost.
Apparently the Showtime series “Weeds” made reference to the practice (Season 2, episode 6). There is a depiction of pegging in the William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch. The dildo used in the scene is called a “Steely Dan III.” Apparently, it was the inspiration for the band name Steely Dan. Though no one, to my knowledge, uses the term “Steely Dan” to reference the sexual act of a gal ding her fella with a strap-on.
A popular porn series, “Bend Over Boyfriend” has become the standby name. Sort of like “Kleenex” becoming synonymous with tissue paper and Q-tip with that cotton swab thing you stick in your ear. But “Bend Over Boyfriend” is a mouthful. Some folks shorten it to an acronym, “BOB.”
But what to do with “BOB”? Could it become a verb? As in, “Last night my girlfriend and I were bobbing.” Last night we went bobbing? Last nigh my girlfriend “bobbed” me?
You can see the confusion. So, June 2001, in his column Savage Love, Dan Savage announced the winner of a new name for “Bend Over Boyfriend.”
And the winner….. (drumroll)…..pegging. As in, “Last night my girlfriend pegged me.” Humm…sounds more direct. And sort of dirty, like a pirate. Arrrrr.
Will the name stick? Almost 8 year later, it seems to be gaining some, ummm, traction…
Someone has posted a Pegging Resource page. And perhaps most hilarious of all: a site called Christian Nympho that discusses, in detail, whether pegging is a sin.
Pegging, as a sexual practice, has been given an entry on wikipedia, though, it has not yet gotten into the dictionary.
All in due time.
