Heterosexual Anal Play: Increasingly Popular
Today, 40+ years after AIDS was identified, discussions of hetero-anal sex are less likely to focus on HIV risk than on anal play adding spice to lovemaking.
How prevalent is heterosexual anal sex? No one knows. Anal sex has long been considered taboo—and for many, still is—so people may not be honest when surveyed about it. But since the early 1980s when receptive anal intercourse was identified as a key route of HIV transmission, research into anal sex, including heterosexual anal, has increased substantially, and all credible evidence shows that hetero-anal has become, if not prevalent, at least somewhat more popular.
Note: Anal play includes penis-anus intercourse, anal sphincter massage, fingering, oral-anal contact (analingus), and anal insertion of sex toys. Here, “anal intercourse” means penis insertion, while “anal sex” or “play” means any form of anal eroticism.
Ancient Greek pottery (c. 500 B.C.) shows men engaged in homosexual anal intercourse. But the oldest known depictions of heterosexual anal appear 800 years later on Peruvian pottery (c. 300 A.D.). In Peru 1,700 years ago, hetero-anal intercourse was by no means rare. On surviving pottery depicting erotic art, one-third of it shows hetero-anal intercourse. Chinese and Japanese woodblock prints (16th to19th centuries) depict heterosexual anal intercourse fairly frequently. And ever since the invention of photography (1840) and motion pictures (1890), pornography has shown hetero-anal play.
Clearly, hetero-anal sex has been part of human sexuality for centuries, but in the U.S., it was rarely mentioned until AIDS appeared. Today, 40+ years after AIDS was identified, discussions of hetero-anal sex are less likely to focus on HIV risk than on anal play adding spice to lovemaking. These days, anal is often described as “the new sexual frontier,” or “the new oral sex.” Some young people committed to virginity until marriage engage in anal play because they don’t consider it “sex.” In one study (1999), 19 percent of college students agreed with the statement: Anal intercourse is not “sex.”
How Popular?
Today, anal sex is a staple of both commercial and amateur porn: sphincter massage, licking, fingering, butt plugs, intercourse, enemas, and pegging (women doing men with dildos). Why? In part, because many people who don’t actually play that way fantasize about it and gravitate to media that show it. And in part because anal sex is more popular than many believe.
Indiana University researchers surveyed 5,865 Americans age 14 to 94 (2,936 men, 2,929 women): Throughout the lifespan, around 40 percent of lovers admitted having tried penis-anus intercourse, with peak prevalence in the age range of 25 to 60. But anal remains a minority pleasure. During the year before being surveyed, anal intercourse ranged in popularity from around 5 percent (ages 14 to 19, and over 60) to 10 percent (20 to 24r, and 50 to 59), to around 25 percent (25 to39). Among the youngest and oldest lovers, anal intercourse is not rare, but it’s not prevalent. However, from age eighteen to sixty, it’s fairly popular.
Note: All forms of anal play carry some social stigma. When asked if they engage in stigmatized activities, people tend to under-state their involvement. Consequently, it’s almost certain that anal play is more prevalent than these figures suggest.
Other studies corroborate the Indiana findings. The National Survey of Family Growth (2011-2013) asked 9,175 Americans, and found that 42 percent of the men and 36 percent of the women said they’d tried penis-anus intercourse.
In addition, anal experimentation appears to be increasing. In 1992, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked 2,500 Americans if they’d ever tried it. Twenty-six percent of the men and 20 percent of the women said they had. Fifteen years later (2006), it was 38 percent of the men and 33 percent of the women—significant increases.
However, despite increasing experimentation, for most people, anal play, particularly intercourse, remains an occasional minority pleasure. Australian researchers asked 5,118 adults what they’d done during their most recent partner sex. Only one percent mentioned anal intercourse.
Researchers at California State University, Long Beach, asked focus groups of women why they engaged in receptive penis-anus intercourse. The main reasons, their own pleasure and to please lovers. Their main problems: pain and disgust.
Another study suggests a considerably higher prevalence. A study of 1,268 HIV-negative women shows that in six months before being surveyed, 32 percent reported receptive anal intercourse.
Two surveys of patients sexually-transmitted-infection clinics also suggest that anal sex has become more popular. In a 1993-1995 survey, 9 percent of men and women reported anal intercourse in past 3 months. But in a similar survey conducted in 1999-2000, the figures were 22 percent of the women and 21 percent of the men.
All these studies tracked penis-anus intercourse, but non-intercourse anal play is more popular. A 2010 Indiana University study of 1,478 heterosexual men showed that during the previous month:
• 24 percent had performed analingus.
• 15 percent had received it.
• 53 percent had anally fingered a woman.
• And 24 percent had received anal fingering.
If we include all types of partner anal eroticism, it appears that more than half of heterosexual American couples have indulged at least once.
Initial anal play is often unplanned. A tongue, finger, toy, or erection on its way into the vagina finds the anus instead. Some recoil, but others become intrigued.
What’s the Allure?
Anal aficionados cite many reasons why they play that way:
• Novelty. Anal is something different. Novelty enhances sex.
• Forbidden fruit. Many lovers consider anal play taboo, therefore exciting.
• Experimentation. Some try it accidentally or on a whim, like it, and continue.
• Intimacy. To some, anal play feels uniquely self-revealing. It’s a way for recipients to say: I’m all yours. And for inserters to reply: No part of you turns me off. Every square inch of you turns me on.
• BDSM. Anal play fits easily into consensual BDSM.
• A special gift. Some said they reserve receptive anal play as a special treat for special partners.
• Pleasure. In a Czech survey of women who engaged in regular anal play, more than half (58 percent) said it was “very arousing and pleasurable.”
Anal Play Not Involving Penis-Anus Intercourse Is Even More Popular
While most researchers have focused on penis-anus intercourse, non-intercourse forms of anal play are more popular. A study of 1,478 hetero men shows that 18 percent reported a history of penis-anus intercourse, meanwhile, 15 percent said they’d received analingus, 24 percent had performed analingus, 24 percent had received anal fingering, and 53 percent had anally fingered a woman. Men with no history of anal intercourse reported low rates of other anal play: 2 percent had performed analingus, 4 percent had received it, 3 percent had received anal fingering, and 10 percent had anally fingered a woman.
Across all recent surveys, anal play is associated with youth. This, too, suggests that anal sex is on the rise. Youthful sexual activities tend to remain in the repertoire through adulthood, so over time, as young people grow older, we can expect many to continue engaging in anal play, slowly raising its prevalence.
Anal Play Without Pain
Anyone interested in anal sex, particularly intercourse, should understand that it involves some health risks. Unprotected receptive anal intercourse is strongly associated with HIV risk. It’s also been linked to an increased risk of ano-rectal cancers. It appears that like cervical cancer, ano-rectal cancers have an infectious component and may be sexually transmitted. Condoms eliminate these risks.
If you’re interested in anal play and want to learn how to enjoy it without pain, I suggest starting with my book, Sizzling Sex for Life. Its chapter on anal play includes many suggestions for pain-free play. If you’d like more detail, I recommend two books: Anal Pleasure and Health by sex therapist Jack Morin, Ph.D., and The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women by Tristan Taormino.
[scroll down for related Questions & Answers]
References:
Benson, L.S. et al. “Correlates of Heterosexual Anal Intercourse Among Women in the 1006-1010 National Survey of Family Growth,” Journal of Sexual Medicine (2015) 12:1746.
Copen, C.E. et al. “Sexual Behavior, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Orientation Among Adults Aged 18-44 in the United States: Data from the 2011-2013 Natural Survey of Family Growth,” National Health Statistics Reports (2016) 7:1.
Halperin, D.T. “Heterosexual Anal Intercourse: Prevalence Cultural Factors, and HIV Infection and Other Health Risks, Part I,” AIDS Patient Care and STDs (1999) 13:717.
Herbenick, D. et al. “Sexual Behavior in the United States: Results from a National Probability Sample of Men and Women Ages 14-94,” Journal of Sexual Medicine (2010) 7(Suppl 5):255.
Hess, K.L. et al. “Prevalence and Correlates of Heterosexual Anal Intercourse Among Men and Women, 20 U.S. Cities,” AIDS Behavior (2016) 20:2966.
Heywood, W. and A.M. Smith. “Anal Sex Practices in Heterosexual and Male Homosexual Populations: A Review of Population-Based Data,” Sex and Health (2012) 9:517.
McBride, KR and JD Fortenberry. “Heterosexual Anal Sexuality and Anal Sex Behaviors: A Review,” Journal of Sex Research (2010) 47:123.
McBride, K. “Heterosexual Women’s Anal Sex Attitudes and Motivations: A Focus Group Study,” Journal of Sex Research (2019) 56:367.
Richters, J. et al. “Sexual Practices at Last Heterosexual Encounter and Occurrence of Orgasm in a National Survey,” Journal of Sex Research (2006) 43:217.
Questions & Answers
I’ve answered more than 12,000 sex questions from people around the world, of all ages, for free. Here are a few that relate to the topic of this post. If you’d like to ask me a question of your own, please go to GreatSexGuidance.com.
My wife loves to have a vibrator in her ass but won’t let me to enter her there. I would love to try it with her. How do I convince her to allow this? Read my response…
My wife was brought up very conservatively. When we met, we didn’t talk much about sex. She thought that anything other than vanilla, missionary sex was wrong, and early in our relationship, didn’t even want any foreplay or lube. Read more and my response…
I love my husband and I love sex. But after 17 years of marriage, he does not want to try anything different. I’m frustrated. I would love to have him finger me anally and maybe do more back there, but my husband won’t try anal. Is something wrong with me? With him? Read my response…
My boyfriend loves all kinda anal play but does not want to have intercourse. I am a heterosexual woman. Does this mean he is bisexual? Read my response…