What percentage of heterosexual men have tried pegging?

1. What the published numbers actually measure — and why that matters

Most sources don’t directly ask “Have you tried pegging?” and instead report related items — fantasies about receiving anal sex, lifetime anal sex, or “anal pleasure” among college samples — so translating those figures into a pegging prevalence is speculative ^{[3] [1]}. For example, Justin Lehmiller’s work and book-surveys report high rates of fantasy about receiving anal sex (about 60% in some samples), which signals interest but not that people acted on it ^[3]. Other pieces cite studies that asked about anal pleasure or anal sex more broadly; those measures include many behaviors beyond pegging ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Representative snapshots cited in the reporting

A widely‑repeated figure across popular summaries is 24%: one university study reported 24% of heterosexual male college students had experienced some form of anal pleasure ^{[1] [2]}. Another source summarizes a survey of 880 sexually active Americans that found roughly 10.4% of heterosexual adults reported having tried anal practices — again, not pegging specifically ^[3]. These are the concrete numbers available in current reporting but they measure different populations and different behaviors ^{[1] [3]}.

3. Interest vs. behavior: fantasies are common; action is rarer

Multiple outlets emphasize that fantasies about being anally penetrated are much more common than people who report having tried anal acts: some surveys find ~60% of men have fantasized about receiving anal sex, while far fewer report actual experience with anal practices ^{[3] [4]}. That gap is crucial: fantasy or curiosity does not equate to having been pegged, yet journalism often conflates the two when discussing “how common” pegging is ^{[3] [4]}.

4. Trend signals: searches and sales, not direct prevalence

Journalistic coverage and retail data point to rising interest — Google Trends spikes and increased sales of pegging gear are cited as evidence that pegging is becoming more visible (e.g., 400% search spike in a Rolling Stone piece; rising sales of strap-on gear reported in consumer writeups) — but search or sales growth documents interest and cultural visibility rather than how many heterosexual men have tried pegging ^{[5] [1]}.

5. Limits of current academic coverage and ongoing research

Academic work on pegging specifically is scarce; qualitative studies (N=15 in one paper) explore experiences of people who regularly peg but cannot estimate population prevalence ^[6]. Large, representative sex surveys generally ask about anal sex in broad terms and often omit whether penetration was with a partner using a strap-on (the defining feature of pegging), so the field lacks a definitive, comparable national figure ^{[3] [6]}.

6. How journalists and retailers sometimes conflate measures

Several consumer articles and sex-advice pieces mix statistics from college samples, fantasy surveys, and retail sales to make broader claims about “how common” pegging is; readers should note the heterogeneity of sources and measures before accepting a single percentage as definitive ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

7. Bottom line and guidance for readers

Available sources do not provide a single, representative percentage of heterosexual men who have tried pegging; the best proximate estimates in reporting are 24% among heterosexual male college students for “anal pleasure” and roughly 10.4% of heterosexual adults in one survey reporting anal practices — neither is a direct pegging prevalence and both cover different populations ^{[1] [3]}. If you need a precise, generalizable percentage specifically for pegging, current reporting and academic summaries say that explicit, representative survey data are not available ^{[6] [3]}.