They were guilt-shaming people of other cultures into believing that the only acceptable and moral way to have intercourse was within the bounds of interpretations of their (the missionaries) churches' teachings, which meant that the only position that could be used was face-to-face and male-superior. The missionaries were appalled that people had the audacity to use imagination and performed some of the same positions found in the animal kingdom.
Is that true? I can well imagine that people were making fun of, or surprised by the, very staid ways of the missionaries and perhaps named the position after them?
Yes, I'm sure. Missionaries themselves may not have named the position, but because they were the ones who espoused it (pun unintended), its fame derived from their "teachings". In India, for example, the Kama Sutra was denounced by the British and other Europeans as evil and pornographic, vestiges of which exist centuries later. In the Pacific and throughout Polynesia, the rear-entry position was widely practiced by natives until the missionaries arrived, who in turn objected to it as being only for animals, especially dogs, ergo the term doggie-style. Even female-superior positions, such as what's known today as cowgirl and reverse cowgirl were seen as taboo because women controlled their own pleasure and focused on the woman's orgasm. The missionaries were having none of that. Sexual pleasure was wrong, sex was only for procreation, but if anyone was going to enjoy it, that would be the man. ~
Well either way it's really quite a fascinating subject isn't it? Mind you when you say British, I think we can agree many, or even most missionaries in the early days were British - but just to say it wasn't the *British* who were prudes or teaching that that was the only way to go... It was religious devotees, prudes, who more than likely thought all sex was wrong and certainly not to be enjoyed. The *British* at that time were not unadventurous per-se - there are many historical documents to testify that even the Victorians weren't quite so staid when it came to sex as we had been led to believe.
I found this... which was interesting.. pretty much says the natives were curious.. I think the missionaries browbeat and said that sex should be prescribed and only for procreation.. I can't imagine many missionaries really having much sex for the natives to peek in and see!
Christendom's missionaries brought shame and reproach to God's name and the sanctity of his Word. Because of their abhorrent behavior many have rejected the life saving message.