Sixty Nine / 69

Sixty-nine (69) is the position where two partners simultaneously perform oral sex on each other — one lying over or beside the other so both mouths reach both sets of genitals at once, their bodies forming the shape of the numerals. It lets both people give and receive pleasure at the same time, a mutual, egalitarian exchange. It works for any pairing of anatomies and can be done lying down, one on top, or side by side. Despite the name's nod to '1969,' the position is surely as old as oral sex itself. It's a classic of mutual oral play.

The appeal is simultaneity and symmetry — both partners pleasuring and being pleasured at once, in a closely entwined, intimate tangle. For many the mutual give-and-take, and the sheer closeness of the position, are the draw.

One partner lies on their back while the other straddles over them facing the opposite way (or they lie on their sides), each using mouth and tongue on the other's genitals at the same time. A pillow to adjust height helps everyone reach comfortably.

Low-risk. The main quibble is that doing and receiving at once can be distracting — it's hard to focus fully on both — and mind the top partner's weight so the bottom can breathe. Usual oral safer-sex applies.