42.3% of US men aged 18 to 44 have had anal sex with a female partner, according to the CDC’s National Survey of Family Growth (2011–2013). That’s more than the 35.9% of women the same age who say they have.
Why men like it is harder to pin down, because few studies ask men directly. The data that exist point to curiosity, physical pleasure, the pull of porn and, for many men, their own receptive pleasure.
In this article, we’ll break down how many men have tried anal sex, how often they have it by age, the reasons research has found, porn’s role, men who enjoy receiving, the desire gap between men and women, consent, and health risks.
Top Statistics on Men and Anal Sex
- 42.3% of US men aged 18 to 44 have had anal sex with a female partner, compared with 35.9% of women (CDC NSFG, 2011–2013).
- 49.3% of US men aged 25 to 34 have had anal sex with a woman, the highest of any age group in the CDC survey.
- Only 15.2% of US men had insertive anal sex in the past year, compared with 42.6% who had ever had it (2015).
- 72.7% of Swiss heterosexual men aged 24 to 26 who have tried anal sex have had it more than once, compared with 62.2% of women (our calculation).
- 39% of men who have received anal penetration say they have orgasmed from it alone, compared with 19% of women.
- Anal sex appears in 17% of popular porn videos but in only 4% of US adults’ most recent sexual encounters.
- 74% of French men who have been anally penetrated say they really wanted it the first time, compared with 45% of women, in an online poll commissioned by sex-toy brand LELO.
How Many Men Have Had Anal Sex?
About 4 in 10 US men. 42.3% of men aged 18 to 44 have had anal sex with a female partner, according to Copen et al. (2016), based on 4,165 men who answered privately on a computer during in-person interviews in the 2011–2013 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).
That’s 6.4 percentage points more than women (our calculation). Men aged 25 to 34 have the highest rate, at 49.3%, compared with 29.3% of men aged 18 to 24.
Here’s a breakdown of US men and women who have had anal sex with an opposite-sex partner, by age:
| Age | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 18–24 | 29.3% | 28.4% |
| 25–34 | 49.3% | 39.0% |
| 35–44 | 44.8% | 38.0% |
| All 18–44 | 42.3% | 35.9% |
53.3% of men attracted “mostly” to women have had anal sex with a woman, compared with 42.8% of men attracted “only” to women, but the CDC found no significant difference by attraction.
The share has crept up over time. Among US men aged 25 to 44, it rose from 40% in 2002, according to Mosher et al., to 44% in 2006–2008, according to Chandra et al., and 47.0% in 2011–2013. That’s an increase of 7 percentage points (our calculation).
France shows a similar picture. 56% of French men have had anal sex, according to a 2025 online poll of 2,000 adults by Ifop for sex-toy brand LELO, and the share of French women who have tried it rose from 14% in a 1970 Ifop survey, according to Ifop, to 49% in 2025.
How Often Do Men Have Anal Sex, by Age?
Far less often than “ever” figures suggest. Only 15.2% of US men had insertive anal sex in the past year and 5.7% in the past month, compared with 42.6% who had ever done it, according to the 2015 Sexual Exploration in America Study of 2,021 adults.
That means about 1 in 3 men who have tried it (35.7%) did so in the past year (our calculation). In the 2009 NSSHB, past-year rates peak at 26.6% among men aged 25 to 29.
Here’s a breakdown of US men who have had insertive anal sex, by age:
| Age | Ever | Past Year |
|---|---|---|
| 18–19 | 9.7% | 5.6% |
| 20–24 | 23.7% | 10.8% |
| 25–29 | 45.2% | 26.6% |
| 30–39 | 44.5% | 23.9% |
| 40–49 | 43.1% | 21.2% |
| 50–59 | 40.4% | 11.3% |
| 60–69 | 26.7% | 5.8% |
| 70+ | 13.8% | 1.7% |
In any single encounter, it’s rare. Anal sex was part of only 4% of US adults’ most recent sexual encounters, according to Fritz et al. (2022).
Why Do Men Like Anal Sex?
Curiosity comes first. It was the most common reason for a first experience among 3,892 heterosexual Swiss adults aged 24 to 26, followed by being in love, according to Meuwly et al. (2021). The ranking was the same for men and women.
Men who try it are more likely to come back to it. 32% of Swiss heterosexual men had anal sex more than once and 12% only once, so 72.7% of those who tried it repeated it, compared with 62.2% of women (our calculation).
Physical pleasure is part of it. 89.4% of US men whose most recent encounter included insertive anal sex reached orgasm, in NSSHB event-level data by Herbenick et al. (2010), according to Sex and Psychology. Most of those encounters also included other acts, so the figure doesn’t isolate anal sex.
For comparison, 95% of heterosexual men usually or always orgasm during sex, a different measure from single-encounter rates, one side of the orgasm gap between men and women, according to Frederick et al. (2018).
Here’s a breakdown of the motives research has linked to men’s interest in anal sex:
| Motive | What the Data Show | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Curiosity and novelty | #1 reason for first anal sex, men and women (n=3,892) | Meuwly et al. (2021) |
| Love and intimacy | #2 reason for first anal sex | Meuwly et al. (2021) |
| Physical pleasure | 89.4% of men orgasmed at encounters with insertive anal sex | NSSHB (2009) |
| Porn | 25% of adults who watched porn with a partner during their last encounter had anal sex then vs 3% who didn’t (n=61) | Fritz et al. (2022) |
| Masculinity and “bragging rights” | Named in focus groups with 20 adults aged 19 to 56 | Hirst et al. (2022) |
| Own receptive pleasure | 23% of US men have had receptive anal intercourse | Zaliznyak et al. (2025) |
Qualitative research fills in the rest. In focus groups and interviews with 20 adults aged 19 to 56 in England, participants described anal sex as “the next rung” after vaginal sex, a way to try new things, something prompted by porn and, for some young men, a source of “bragging rights,” according to Hirst et al. (2022). Participants also described a script in which the man dominates.
Popular explanations such as tightness, dominance or the thrill of the taboo come mostly from media and forums. No large study has measured how many men cite them.
Does Porn Make Men Want Anal Sex?
Porn shows it about 4 times as often as it happens. Anal sex appeared in 17% of 2,562 male-female videos from two popular porn sites, compared with 4% of 1,378 US adults’ most recent encounters, according to Fritz et al. (2022).
It’s one of the widest gaps between porn sex and real sex, alongside kissing, condoms and female orgasm.
Source: Fritz et al. (2022), content analysis of 2,562 videos plus a 2014 US probability survey
Watching together lines up with it. 25% of adults who watched porn with their partner during their most recent encounter (15 of 61) had anal sex then, compared with 3% of those who didn’t watch porn together, about 8 times as often (our calculation). The study shows a link, not cause and effect.
Other content studies find a wide range. Heterosexual anal sex appears in 15% to 32% of internet porn videos, according to a systematic review by Carrotte et al. (2020).
It’s also one of the most-watched genres. Anal was Pornhub’s 4th most-viewed category worldwide in 2025 and was among men’s top 4, according to the company’s Year in Review as reported by Tyla. It ranked 2nd in 2024, according to Man of Many, and a ranking of the most popular porn categories shows the top five for both years.
Among Croatian adults aged 18 to 40, anal was heterosexual men’s 5th most-watched porn type, after amateur, oral, big breasts and threesomes, and the 1st among gay and bisexual men, in Hald and Štulhofer (2016), as summarized by Sex and Psychology.
Do Men Enjoy Receiving Anal Sex?
Many do. 23% of US men have had receptive anal intercourse, and 39% of those say they have orgasmed from anal penetration alone, compared with 19% of women, in a 2020 online survey of 466 men and 498 women matched to the US census by Zaliznyak et al. (2025).
That makes men about twice as likely as women to orgasm this way (our calculation). The 39% comes from the paper’s abstract; its results and discussion sections give 36%.
Only 16% of men who have received anal penetration have never orgasmed from it, compared with 32% of women, and 47% need other stimulation at the same time. The area men most often marked as pleasurable was the superficial anterior rectum, chosen by 13% of all men surveyed; the researchers did not assess the prostate directly.
Here’s a breakdown of men who have received anal stimulation across surveys:
| Survey | Men | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Ifop for LELO, France (2025)* | 52% | Ever anally penetrated |
| Ifop for LELO, France (2025)* | 40% | Ever stimulated anally with fingers |
| Zaliznyak et al., US (2020) | 23% | Ever had receptive anal intercourse |
| Zaliznyak et al., US heterosexual men | 17% | Ever had receptive anal intercourse |
| SEAS, US (2015) | 9.3% | Ever received anal sex |
*Online poll of 2,000 French adults commissioned by sex-toy brand LELO.
Sources: Paris Match Belgique; Zaliznyak et al.; Herbenick et al.
The measures differ a lot. The French poll asks about anal penetration without specifying how, while the US SEAS figure asks about receiving anal sex.
Stigma still holds many men back. 37% of French men said being anally penetrated is an attack on masculinity, rising to 51% among religious men, according to the Ifop poll reported by Paris Match Belgique. Even so, 30% of French women said they had anally penetrated a partner in 2025, up from 16% in 2017, according to Ifop.
Gay and Bisexual Men
Anal sex isn’t a given for gay and bisexual men either. Only 37.2% of nearly 25,000 US gay and bisexual men recruited online had anal sex at their most recent encounter with a man, in Rosenberger et al. (2011), according to Sex and Psychology.
Here’s a breakdown of anal sex roles among 8,755 French men who have sex with men:
| Role Identity | Share |
|---|---|
| Bottom (receptive) | 40.8% |
| Versatile | 30.8% |
| Top (insertive) | 24.0% |
In the US panel study, 39% of gay men had received anal intercourse, about 2.3 times the 17% of heterosexual men (our calculation), though only 79 gay men took part.
Do Men Want Anal Sex More Than Women?
Slightly more men than women have tried it in most surveys. In the 2015 SEAS, 42.6% of US men reported insertive anal sex at some point, compared with 37.3% of women who had received it, and men rated every anal behavior as more appealing than women did, according to Broadly.
Here’s a breakdown of men and women who have ever had anal sex, by survey:
| Survey | Age | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ifop for LELO, France (2025)* | 18+ | 56% | 49% |
| NSSHB, US (2009) | 25–29 | 45.2% | 45.6% |
| Swiss survey, heterosexual (2017) | 24–26 | 44% | 45% |
| SEAS, US (2015) | 18+ | 42.6% | 37.3% |
| NSFG, US (2011–2013) | 18–44 | 42.3% | 35.9% |
*Online company poll commissioned by sex-toy brand LELO.
Sources: Ifop; Herbenick et al. (2010); Meuwly et al. (our calculation); Herbenick et al. (2017); CDC NSFG
The bigger gap is in enjoyment. 25.7% of US women say anal sex with a penis has felt pleasurable and 34.0% say it hasn’t, according to Hensel et al. (2022), and our breakdown of how many women enjoy anal sex covers pain, orgasm and motives from women’s side.
Is Anal Sex Always Wanted?
Not always, and less often for women. Only 45% of French women who have had anal sex said their first time was something they really wanted, compared with 74% of men who have been anally penetrated, in the 2025 Ifop poll for LELO, as reported by Paris Match Belgique.
That’s a 29-point gap, and it leaves 55% of these women who didn’t really want their first time (our calculation). 39% of French women said they had agreed to anal sex to please a partner without really wanting it.
Here’s a breakdown of unwanted sex by gender:
| Measure | Men | Women | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| Really wanted first anal penetration | 74% | 45% | French adults with experience (2025)* |
| Agreed to anal sex to please a partner | Not reported | 39% | French women (2025)* |
| Had sex without really wanting it (any type) | 23% | 53% | 7,142 Swiss adults aged 24 to 26 (2017) |
*Online company poll commissioned by sex-toy brand LELO.
Sources: Paris Match Belgique; CHUV
The Swiss figure covers all kinds of sex, not only anal, but it shows women were about 2.3 times as likely as men to go along with sex they didn’t really want (our calculation). Their main reason was to keep a good relationship with their partner, according to CHUV.
In the English focus groups, practitioners described partner pressure, alcohol and young men seeking “bragging rights” as reasons some anal sex happens without real consent, according to Hirst et al.
Is Anal Sex Risky for Men?
Yes, more than vaginal sex. Insertive anal sex with an HIV-positive partner carries an estimated risk of 11 per 10,000 exposures, about 2.75 times the 4 per 10,000 for insertive vaginal sex, according to the CDC.
Receiving is riskier still. Receptive anal sex carries 138 per 10,000, about 12.5 times the insertive risk (our calculation).
Here’s a breakdown of the estimated per-act HIV risk by type of sex:
| Type of Sex | Estimated HIV Risk per 10,000 Exposures |
|---|---|
| Receptive anal | 138 |
| Insertive anal | 11 |
| Receptive vaginal | 8 |
| Insertive vaginal | 4 |
The CDC lists condoms among the factors that lower HIV risk, and condoms also lower the risk of other STIs. Anyone with pain, bleeding or bowel changes after anal sex should talk to a doctor, who can also advise on STI and HIV testing and prevention.
Methodology
We reviewed 145 data points from 25 sources. US prevalence figures come from national probability surveys: the CDC’s National Survey of Family Growth (2002, 2006–2008 and 2011–2013, adults aged 18 to 44 or 25 to 44), the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (2009) and the Sexual Exploration in America Study (2015). They measure “ever,” “past year” and “most recent encounter” differently, so their percentages are not directly comparable.
Swiss figures come from a 2017 national survey of adults aged 24 to 26 (Meuwly et al. 2021 for heterosexual respondents; a CHUV release for the full sample). Receptive anal data come from Zaliznyak et al. (2025), a paid online panel matched to the US census; its abstract and results give different orgasm figures (39% and 36%). Gay and bisexual men’s data come from online samples (Rosenberger et al. 2011; Herrero et al. 2023). Hirst et al. (2022) is a qualitative study of 20 adults.
French figures come from a 2025 Ifop poll of 2,000 adults commissioned by sex-toy brand LELO, compared with an earlier Ifop survey that used different methods. Porn figures come from Fritz et al. (2022), Carrotte et al. (2020), Hald and Štulhofer (2016) and Pornhub’s company-reported rankings as reported by the press. NSSHB orgasm figures come from a secondary summary (Sex and Psychology). HIV risks are CDC per-act estimates. Percentage-point gaps, ratios, repeat rates and Swiss “ever” shares are our own calculations.
Key Takeaways
Most men haven’t had anal sex, but many have: 42.3% of US men aged 18 to 44, peaking at 49.3% among men aged 25 to 34. It’s far rarer in practice, at 15.2% of men in the past year and 4% of adults’ most recent encounters, while porn shows it in 17% of popular videos.
Research points to curiosity, pleasure and porn as drivers, and many men also enjoy receiving: 39% of men who have had receptive anal sex have orgasmed from it alone. Women’s experience is less positive, and only 45% of French women who have had anal sex really wanted their first time, compared with 74% of men.
FAQ
Why do men like anal sex?
Curiosity was the #1 reason for first anal sex among 3,892 heterosexual Swiss adults, followed by being in love. Pleasure matters too: 89.4% of US men orgasmed when their last encounter included insertive anal sex, and 72.7% of Swiss men who tried it did so more than once.
What percentage of men have had anal sex?
42.3% of US men aged 18 to 44 have had anal sex with a female partner (NSFG, 2011–2013), rising to 49.3% of men aged 25 to 34. Only 15.2% of US men had insertive anal sex in the past year (2015).
Do straight men like receiving anal sex?
Some do. 17% of heterosexual US men have had receptive anal intercourse, and 39% of all men who have say they have orgasmed from it alone. In France, 37% of men still see being penetrated as an attack on masculinity.
What percentage of couples do anal?
Anal sex was part of just 4% of US adults’ most recent sexual encounters. When partners watched porn together during that encounter, it was 25%, compared with 3% when they didn’t.
Is anal sex risky for the man?
Yes. The CDC estimates the HIV risk of insertive anal sex at 11 per 10,000 exposures, about 2.75 times the 4 per 10,000 for insertive vaginal sex.
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