The Man's Guide to Women: Scientifically Proven Secrets from the Love Lab About What Women Really Want

by John M. Gottman

Now, you can imagine how painful it would be for two porcupines to mate. They are covered in quills, and those quills are razor sharp. The male porcupine has a very interesting dilemma (that perhaps you can relate to). He wants to have sex quickly once he’s interested, but if he mounts the female porcupine too soon, and her quills are still up, he is going to get mightily injured. So what he does is he sits down in front of the female porcupine, and he puts his paws on either side of her face. Then he strokes her face very slowly and gently, over and over again. She closes her eyes. Patiently, he continues to stroke her. After a while, he goes behind her and he checks to see if her quills are down. If they aren’t, he returns to his former post and keeps stroking her face for as long as it takes. Once her quills are down, it means she is ready for some porcupine loving, and the relationship is consummated, without injury, porcupine style.