What large-scale surveys report men's sexual act preferences and how were they conducted?
Executive summary
Large-scale surveys that report on men’s sexual act preferences include landmark probability-based studies such as the Kinsey reports, the British National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), the U.S. National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB), and more recent nationally representative internet panels like the 2015 Sexual Exploration in America Study; these projects vary widely in sample frame, question design and data collection mode, and those methodological differences shape what the studies actually measure [1] [2] [3] [4]. Taken together, the literature shows wide heterogeneity in men’s reported preferences and behaviors but also persistent measurement problems—social desirability, sampling bias, mode effects and question wording—that researchers explicitly try to mitigate through probability sampling, self-administered modules and weighting adjustments [5] [6] [7].
1. Kinsey’s sweeping interviews: large N, long era, face-to-face context
Alfred Kinsey’s mid-20th century "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" and companion female volume collected thousands of in-depth personal interviews—about 5,300 men over fifteen years—and reported lifetime frequencies and variety of sexual acts as part of a broad descriptive program, but its nonrandom recruitment methods and controversial sampling choices have long prompted methodological critique even as the reports remain historically influential [1].
2. Natsal and population probabilities: Britain’s repeated gold-standard approach
The National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) are large, probability-sampled, population-based surveys in Britain that use mixed modes including computer-assisted self-interviews for sensitive items to reduce interviewer effects; Natsal publications emphasize representative estimation of partner counts, prevalence of acts and changing patterns over time, while acknowledging differences in reporting by sex and response-style issues [2] [5].
3. NSSHB: measuring recent events and orgasm reporting in the U.S.
Indiana University’s National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB) uses national probability sampling to capture recent-event sexual repertoires and outcomes—reporting, for example, that about 85% of men reported their partner had an orgasm at the most recent sexual event—while highlighting behavior combinations and differential orgasm reporting by act type [3].
4. Internet-based probability panels: 2015 Sexual Exploration in America and PLOS findings
Academic teams have used internet probability panels (GfK’s KnowledgePanel®) to field confidential, nationally representative surveys about the appeal and lifetime prevalence of 50+ sexual behaviors; the 2015 Sexual Exploration in America Study surveyed roughly 2,021 adults and reported lifetime and recent engagement and appeal ratings for acts such as vaginal, oral and anal sex and kink-related behaviors, describing both prevalence and associations between appeal and practice [4] [8].
5. How these surveys were conducted: sampling frames, modes, and question batteries
Large-scale sexual-act preference surveys typically combine probability sampling (address- or random-digit-dial frames) with self-administered modules or computer-assisted interviewing to reduce social-desirability bias; methodological best practices articulated by review panels emphasize separating measures of identity, attraction and behavior, placing sensitive questions in self-administered sections, and using probability-based panels with weighting to approximate the population [6] [7] [9].
6. Known limitations: bias, mode effects and the unreliability of some self-reports
Scholars repeatedly warn that social desirability and recall errors distort sexual behavior data—men often over- or under-report certain behaviors, daily diaries show discrepancies with retrospective reports, and survey mode (telephone, face-to-face, web) and question wording materially affect estimates—so findings about "preferences" must be read as self-reported appeal or past engagement rather than objective measures of desire [5] [10] [6].
7. What the surveys converge on and what remains uncertain
Across studies using rigorous sampling—Natsal, NSSHB, Kinsey-era large samples and recent probability-panel studies—common patterns emerge (high lifetime prevalence of masturbation, vaginal and oral sex; lower but nontrivial lifetime rates of anal sex; sizable variation in appeal across individuals), yet differences in instruments and populations mean exact percentages and inferences about sex differences in preferences remain contingent on methodology and subject to participation bias and cultural change [1] [3] [4] [11].
8. Implications for interpreting “men’s sexual act preferences”
Interpreting survey results requires distinguishing between reported appeal, reported past behavior, and inferred desire; best-practice large-scale surveys use probability sampling, confidential self-administered questions, batteries separating attraction/identity/behavior, and weighting—researchers and consumers of these data should prioritize studies that document these methods and explicitly report limits of representativeness and measurement error [7] [9] [6].