From Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality The song may go, “Birds
do it, bees do it,” but there is a world of difference between
what occurs in the animal and insect kingdoms and sexual
intercourse between humans. Sexual intercourse is the act in
which a man’s penis is inserted into a woman’s vagina and
together they begin the rhythmic movement that may lead to male
orgasm and the conception of a child. Sexual intercourse is also
called coitus, which is drawn from the Latin root coire, meaning
to go or to come together. While sexual intercourse is obviously
an integral part of the reproductive process and, therefore,
basic to the very existence of the species, the solely
reproductive aspects of sexual intercourse, as it has evolved
among humans, have become only a small, one could almost say
vestigial, part of the act. But while humans may have developed
ways of reproducing that do not require actual sexual
intercourse (see insemination by donor; In Vitro Fertilization),
the act is no more likely to disappear fr