How common is prostate play among self‑identified straight men in recent surveys?

1. What recent surveys are measuring — and what they actually asked

A prominent recent survey reported in Scientific American asked a cross‑section of people with and without prostates about anal sex and masturbation and found that “over 50 percent” of straight cis men said they had engaged in anal masturbation, with more than a third of cisgender women reporting the same behavior, indicating that anal play is not confined to gay men ^[1]. That survey explicitly separated anal masturbation from receptive anal intercourse and other activities, underscoring that prevalence varies by the specific act asked about ^[1].

2. Numbers are high for some measures but not universal across behaviors

The “over 50 percent” figure applies to self‑reported anal masturbation in that study and therefore should be read as a measure of one specific behavior rather than a universal metric for all prostate stimulation practices; the same work also reported substantial recent activity within the past month for a subset of respondents, showing both lifetime and recent prevalence can differ ^[1]. Other research on people with prostates documents varied experiences of receptive anal sex and prostate pleasure but focuses on descriptive experience and harms rather than producing a single prevalence metric for prostate stimulation across populations ^[2].

3. Sampling, question wording and stigma shape the results

Surveys rely on self‑report and, depending on recruitment and confidentiality assurances, can either undercount or—when anonymity is strong—reveal higher levels of sexually stigmatized behavior; the Scientific American reporting reflects a study designed to include people both with and without prostates and to ask directly about masturbation and anal practices, which likely reduces underreporting compared with studies that avoid explicit questions ^{[1] [2]}. At the same time, many large public‑health datasets do not routinely collect detailed questions about anal masturbation or prostate stimulation, so there is no single, long‑running national series that tracks “prostate play” specifically ^{[3] [4]}.

4. Context from related research: knowledge, health care and identity

Separate literature on prostate health and sexual minorities shows substantial gaps in data collection and clinician training — studies documenting PSA screening and prostate cancer outcomes routinely note that sexual orientation and anal‑sex practices are under‑measured or inconsistently recorded, underscoring why population estimates for prostate play are patchy ^{[3] [4] [5]}. Surveys of urology knowledge and patient discussions likewise point to limited conversations about sexual practices that involve the prostate, which can shape both reporting and clinical awareness ^[6].

5. Bottom line — a balanced conclusion

Taken together, recent survey evidence indicates that prostate stimulation via anal masturbation is common among self‑identified straight cis men—at least one recent study reports over 50 percent lifetime incidence—yet exact prevalence depends on question wording and sampling methods, and comprehensive nationally representative estimates of all forms of prostate play are lacking ^{[1] [2]}. The reporting landscape also shows that much research has focused on prostate health in sexual minorities and on clinical screening behaviors rather than producing standardized population prevalence measures for prostate stimulation specifically ^{[3] [4]}.