I think some of the posters so vehemently against anal sex or any education about it do need to take a step back and consider the fact that more people (male and female) are aware of/practice (as in, engage in- not as in “do it lots to improve your skills”, which some posters seem to have misunderstood from a previous post) and you can’t put that genie back in the bottle. It’s there, they know about and human nature being what it is, they are curious. Making it taboo/ shameful/ something you should not talk about is not the answer and it certainly won’t protect women.
Education is key. Education about all aspects, including consent and coercion, including the issues relating to porn and how that is impacting on the idea of what “normal sex” is like. If there is no education is available as to the risks of things like anal injury, incontinence etc, then how will anyone know there IS a risk? Plenty of people (male and female) don’t and many also don’t know about safer ways to have anal sex, if they want to.
I think it is probably worthwhile considering that there are also quite a large number of men AND women who are unaware of the risks, as well as the ways to mitigate that risk. So it’s not like all men know the risks but chose to hide it from women- ignorance is on both sides here. It’s also not the case that all men know the risks and still want to do it despite those risks to their partner or without taking time to learn about how to do it safely.
A blanket “don’t have anal sex it’s dangerous/ disgusting etc” won’t change a single thing, other than seeking to shame those who do engage in it, making it far less likely that those people will seek help or advice about what they are doing or if something goes wrong. Those who advocate this approach “because they care about women” are misguided in their approach. It will cause harm. It’s a bit like (not exactly like, obviously) telling people not to have sex before marriage because it was sinful, but with no sex education provision. Sex before marriage still happened and the treatment those who did often received when found out (e.g, through pregnancy etc) was awful. It caused so much harm. Just telling people don’t do it, it’s bad for you etc won’t stop it happening. It really won’t- it’s not like anal sex is a new invention, porn has just made it more “mainstream”- you can educate about risks, but I doubt it’s going to stop it happening. So the only correct thing to do is provide very clear education regarding the risks and potential consequences, but also provide information about how it can be done more safely (though being clear this reduces risk rather than eliminating it).
There is clearly a huge issue regarding consent when men are penetrating women anally without asking and coercion is another common consent issue, both need significant input at an educational level, but also at enforcement/policing and societal level.
I think we need education on all of these things. Providing this is not “promoting anal sex”- it is about giving everyone the information they need in order to make the right decision for them, giving them the confidence to say “no” if it’s not for them and highlighting issues relating to consent and coercion. And yes, also providing information about the safest way to have anal sex, if that is their choice.