Oral sex
As the quotation from Butrica suggests and an article by W. A. Krenkel shows, "irrumatio" was a distinct sexual practice in ancient Rome. J. N. Adams states that "it was a standard joke to speak of "irrumatio" as a means of silencing someone". Oral sex was considered to be an act of defilement: the mouth had a particularly defined role as the organ of oratory, as in Greece, to participate in the central public sphere, where discursive powers were of great importance. Thus, to penetrate the mouth could be taken to be a sign of massive power differential within a relationship. Erotic art from Pompeii depicts "irrumatio" along with "fututio", fellatio and cunnilingus, and "pedicatio" or anal sex. The extant wall paintings depicting explicit sex often appear to be in bathhouses and brothels, and oral sex was something usually practiced with prostitutes because of their lowly status.