Survey – Sex Positions

452 men and 212 women answered
Take the Survey

How often do you and your
spouse have PIV intercourse?

• Gender overlap is fairly good here, with women showing slightly higher frequency. This is likely due to the women being somewhat younger than the men.
• About a third of couples who answered this survey have sex two or three times a week.

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In the last three months,
how many different positions
have you used for intercourse?

• Again the gender overlap is good, with women running a bit more.
• About 11% of couples used a single position over a three month period.
• Three positions was the most common.
• 20% used five or more positions.
• Older couples tended to use fewer postilions, but the difference was not significant.

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Please rate how much
you like these positions.

• The graphic above uses weighted scores to show how much each gender likes each position. The full data is below.
• There is a good deal of similarity by gender, with missionary and woman on top and rear entry being the most liked.

• Facing standing positions and seated not facing are the least tried, with half to two-thirds of individuals saying they have never tried them.
• Missionary and cowgirl have been tried by virtually everyone. Doggy has been tried about 9%.
• Women most dislike standing facing and reverse cowgirl.
• Men most dislike standing facing and side by side facing.
• Women’s top three are missionary, cowgirl, and doggy.
• Men’s top three are cowgirl, doggy, and rear entry standing.

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Women: How likely are you to
orgasm in each position?
(One or two answers per position.)

• Women are least likely to climax from reverse cowgirl, doggy, side by side facing, and spoons.
• The position most likely to result in orgasm without added stimulation is cowgirl, with almost 30% saying this usually happens. Second best was missionary at 19%
• The position most likely to result in orgasm with added stimulation is missionary, with 21% of women saying it usually happens this way. Doggy was a close second with 18% saying this is the case.
• Doggy is a mixed bag with 35% saying it never leads to orgasm, but 18% 9% and 16% saying that with added stimulation it results in orgasm usually, sometimes, and rarely.
• Spoons showed a similar pattern of both high, never, and yes with added stimulation answers.

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Women’s Comments

• ”added…” for us does not mean extra contraptions
• I could probably orgasm in any position if I had at least two different types of stimulation going during PIV. Once I get that first O, I can orgasm again and again with less stimulation.
• I don’t orgasm PIV. Clitoral stimulation only works. Only started orgasming after turned 40. Too body shy & large to try positions listed that haven’t.
• After menopause I orgasm with manual, oral stimulation and or vibrators. My husband is Very creative also with soft brushes, pearls, feathers. We have several vibrators to choose from. (All gifts from my husband). I have never had an orgasm only from intercourse. I have multiples with stimulation.
   
• As a sex positive woman, what leads most to my enjoyment and orgasm, in whatever position is used, is when we have a good friendship (emotional intimacy, trust and safety) and the husband does a great job with foreplay, communicates his emotional connection while making love and is a generous, passionate and thoughtful lover. When there wasn’t a good relationship and/or he was USING me for his physical pleasure or release (while being coercive, selfish, objectifying and emotionally distant) no amount of frequency or novelty would cause me to even be interested. Sex without emotional intimacy is just another hunt for a chemical hit (dopamine) and not loving nor Gods design.
• For me a women usually has to be facing, I feel like a “tool” if I’m facing away
   
• I think I likely could achieve orgasm with some work and added stimulation in a few different positions, but we typically revert to our favorites so we haven’t fully explored those options yet.
• Orgasm is nice, but I just like being held by my husband for the closeness.
• Positions are tricky for us due to weight and recently having a baby. 😔
• I have suggested rear entry (not anal) but he isn’t for it. I would love to do side by side but it seems impossible. He requested me seated on him, facing, a few times but it’s scary as I feel I’m going to fall.
   
• 1) we are down to once a week on average as I am struggling with my libido as a result of a host of health issues related to early peri-menopause, probably from multiple rounds of IVF in my late twenties. For most of our marriage we have averaged 4-5 times a week. 2) the positions above I have rated as dislike is principally because they don’t work for us as a result of our significant height difference. 3) I have answered that I can orgasm from all the positions, as I am just blessed with being able to orgasm easily (and often in a session) from intercourse alone.
• Some of these positions aren’t comfortable as my hubby has a bigger belly
• We have sex every other day except we may miss a day if my husband is too tired (or has knee pain, which occasionally occurs and is very distracting to him).
   
• My favorites only happened a few times. I really liked them, but it appears he didn’t. We’ve never been able to get rear entry to work, though we’ve tried different variations. I think there is just something about our anatomy that doesn’t work that way. I end up contorted into some really uncomfortable position just to make it possible. I genuinely have no idea how people have sex standing. Does the man have to be super strong or something? I feel like the curvature of the penis may affect these positions, but no one ever seems to talk about that.
• I wish I was having better sex
• I have never had an orgasm from intercourse but it has never bothered me. My husband and I have great sex and I always have an orgasm either by oral/manual in our younger days or vibrator/manual now.
   
• For me, there is no orgasm without clitoral stimulation – period! It is a MUST!
• I enjoy doggy style than all the styles I have tried. It gives me much pleasure and stimulation which leads to ORGASM when I’m properly lubricated.
• Woman on top is a winner. Sideways behind is sneaky, you start off thinking you’re never going to orgasm that way, then it… comes from behind… Lots of grabbing and groping from that position.
• I don’t think I’m alone in having never reached orgasm without additional stimulation.
• I can only orgasm with manual stimulation

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Men’s Comments

• wife not adventurous
• Some of the positions don’t work well because of a difference in height. Also this doesn’t really cover non-piv sexual positions.
• Encouragement should be given to the couples that sex starve themselves in the marriage.
• Sex with my wife is satisfactory.
• Missionary with wife legs up – both very fat
• My wife has battled vaginismus for years, and still battle vestibulitis, so our options are sadly VERY limited…..
• PIV not happening due to pain. Frustration due to her not making effort to treat it, not caring, assuming I’m ok with her lack of effort.
   
• Ok
• Of the many sex positions available, some are prohibited by what age has limited our bodies to be able to do. But, for what we are able to do, we use all of them on a fairly random basis, but the more exotic ones are less frequent than the old standby’s, Missionary PIV, side/side, WOT, standing beside the bed and various forms of 69.
• Would love to try more but wifey isn’t so adventurous
• Did not mention any oral positions (which I would love if my wife would).
• One we use is women on back, feet on floor and man standing and bending over supporting self with hands. Hand can be used for many things also. Great one.
   
• Really need incompatible option we are incompatible with many options.
• Another position we use often that was not listed as a choice in this survey is a “twisted” kneeling position. She lays on her side while I’m kneeling.
• We have a 10-month-old so we can’t always explore the sexual avenues. So missionary and cowgirl does the trick.
• The survey made me answer on positions we don’t use. We use ‘scissors’ or X position 99.9% of the time. Missionary doesn’t work. Wife won’t get on top. Standing, no way. Doggy feels good to me (husband) but she gets nothing from it so we rarely do that one. I think our sex life is mundane and predictable.
   
• I need more very good sex positions
• Non
• What % of women need manual clitoral stimulation to orgasm? Would it be appropriate to ask your spouse to agree to x number of sessions a week/month? I know these are unrelated questions.
• Good
• Have a small, 4inch, penis so many of these are not possible
• Most of these positions we sampled (often, for most) but after 45 years of marriage, we are limited in what we do, but we enjoy what we do.
   
• We stick with regular missionary or man kneeling missionary probably 90% of the time. I’m usually pretty quick to orgasm, but if she’s not into it I can take awhile and we do rear entry to help me orgasm. I love woman on top and DW will treat me with it every now and then, but it’s been a disappointment to me that she doesn’t get much out of it. She just can’t seem to figure out the motion to give herself some pleasure.
• No comment
• Women and men to communicate there Love Languages to each other. As a man, I prefer touch and my wife’s is service so sex is important to me but not to my wife. In exchange I provide services, to show my love to her and in return, she provides touch.
   
• Only missionary. Wife has lost her drive. Makes sex boring. No real bonding.
• Sadly, my wife has no desire anymore. To me, it is devastating. I wish I could find a woman who wanted me physically. It’s not like I am selfish. My wife always comes first. Oftentimes she ejaculates. She has no sexual drive. It isn’t fair. While it is a sin, I honestly wish I could find a woman where the husband has no desire.
• Want more
• Making love with my wife is my greatest privilege
   
• We’ve “done” six of the positions you listed, and I had four as “great” and two as “good”…apparently I like PIV sex! Historically, rear entry has been by far the best for my wife, and probably the best for me too, though by a smaller margin. Now that we’ve added a clitoral vibe that she controls during PIV, rear entry is almost the exclusive. We’ve tried using various vibe techniques to get her an O during PIV in missionary, but haven’t quite succeeded. The face-to-face options do have a different sense of closeness than rear entry, so if we could improve her physical pleasure in those positions, we’d do them more often. Many of the positions we “haven’t tried” we did consider once but either couldn’t make the pieces fit or it was such an awkward fit that it was only used shortly and then we gave up. The seated positions are definitely tempting, and I’ve fantasied plenty about having good face-to-face sex while seated in a Liberator lounger. Too bad we haven’t bought one yet, as our furniture doesn’t work for that. Reverse cowgirl is off limits. Wife says we tried it once, but I don’t even remember what it was like.
   
• Sex, even when it is not very good, is still great!
• Missionary anal is one of our favorites. It’s an almost guaranteed orgasm for her.
• Ed and other health issues impact our PIV sex
• We really like it on the counter!!! Or at least she does!!!🤪
• Oral, great
• We do multiple positions almost every time we have sex.
• As we age the simple more comfortable positions suit us . Not as flexible as we used to be.
• I can’t remember how long ago, but buying a liberator wedge & ramp really helped us get our bodies better aligned for most positions.
• As a male, standard missionary position is not pleasurable to me. Too much work. Most pleasurable positions for me are either woman on top or rear entry.
   
• Missionary or modified missionary is the best when my wife comes. When she’s doing it only for me it’s boring.
• Some positions are not possible for me due to spouse being overweight, not because I prefer not to.
• I love variety!!
• It has been one of my life’s greatest disappointments to discover my wife gets very little physical pleasure from plain sex. She does get emotional enjoyment out of it and that’ll just have to be good enough. I’ll admit this still bums me out on occasion and sometimes makes it difficult for me to orgasm when I dwell on her lack of enthusiasm. I’ll add, she refuses to “help” herself along or use toys that might help during regular intercourse. I do make sure she gets an orgasm anytime she desires from me manually beforehand.
   
• Lots of positions I like but wife only likes 2
• While DW and I both like Missionary (and I rated it good according to pleasure) we have to be very careful with it as the way our bodies fit together has caused a penile injury in the past. Most of the time we avoid that position, even though it is pleasurable, for the reason stated above.
• I am much taller than my wife so some of those positions are not possible.

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Image credit(s)
survey with pencil © neo tam / Pixabay