Loose Buttholes?

[iluaf]

While I've been in college I've been hearing people joke about loose buttholes, it's also come up in some of the male/male erotica I've read, and I've even seen a gay man compile a list of the various stages of anal loosening based the number of times the person has had anal intercourse, as if it were fact.

But I feel like is just a myth in the same way loose vaginas are. I mean, the anus is a muscle too, right? So it makes sense to me that it would work in the same way the vagina does, in that it can relax and contract based on whats inside of it. But I haven't found anything denying the occurrence of loose anuses, here on scarleteen or anywhere else.

Can anuses be permanently loosened? And if so, is it caused by damage from not having enough preparation/lube, since anuses don't self lubricate? That's the only reason I could think of for why it might be true.

Thanks for your help, I really want to know what's up with this rumor

[Heather]

Indeed, this is stuff based in ignorance (including the ignorance that homophobia tends to be fueled by) and fear, not in fact, for the most part.

I say for the most part because this can be an issue with some health conditions, and with aging, particularly in very old age, all the tissues of our skin, including muscle, tend to become a bit less flexible and less taut.

[iluaf]

Ok, thanks for clearing things up. That's what I thought was going on, but the sheer pervasiveness of the rumor at my university had me second guessing myself.

[Heather]

Sadly -- and quite ironically -- institutions of learning are often anything but when it comes to sex and sexuality.

[iluaf]

Absolutely! It makes me really glad that I found this website back when I was still in high school. Sometimes I really want to print out scarleteen business cards and hand them out to people around campus, haha.

[Heather]

You know, I did just get a bunch of stickers made....