What percentage of men report positive versus negative emotional experiences with pegging?

1. What the studies actually measure — and what they do not

Most of the sources assembled measure prevalence (who has tried pegging or fantasized about it) or collect narrative accounts of experience rather than producing a population-grade, quantitative breakdown of emotional outcomes; for example, Women’s Health reports that roughly 16% of sexually active adults have tried pegging and that many men fantasize about anal penetration, but it does not translate those figures into a percentage who felt positive versus negative afterward ^{[5] [3]}. The strongest academic contribution here is a small qualitative paper (N=15) that analyzes “most amazing” pegging experiences and therefore samples for positive accounts rather than representing all experiences ^[1]. No source in the provided pool offers a large, representative survey explicitly asking a broad sample of men to classify their emotional response to pegging as “positive” or “negative” with percentage results.

2. The shape of the evidence: predominance of positive narratives

Across journalistic pieces, industry writing, and small-scale research, accounts cluster around positive outcomes: reports of increased intimacy, enhanced pleasure, and emotional opening are recurrent themes, and sites summarizing research conclude that those who engage often describe largely positive experiences ^{[2] [6]}. The qualitative study focused on “most amazing” instances found significant emotional and sexual gains—heightened arousal, emotional opening, and relationship intimacy—among its participants ^[1]. Industry and sex-education coverage likewise emphasizes that many men discover prostate pleasure, new erotic dynamics, and deeper trust when pegging is done with communication and care ^{[2] [3] [6]}.

3. The countercurrent: vulnerability, stigma and mixed reactions

At the same time, several sources highlight emotional downsides or ambivalence: commentators and mental-health oriented pieces describe feelings of exposure, shame, or anxiety tied to gender norms and fear of being perceived as emasculated, and they stress that pegging can trigger complex vulnerability even when physically pleasurable ^{[4] [7]}. Popular coverage warns that social stigma and internalized expectations of masculinity can make the emotional aftermath mixed for some men, and qualitative reports caution that not everyone experiences the intimacy gains described by enthusiasts ^{[8] [7]}.

4. Confounding influences and agendas in the reporting

Readers should note commercial and cultural incentives shaping available accounts: sex-toy and lubricant manufacturers promote narratives of growing interest—citing rising sales and curiosity statistics—that emphasize positivity and normalization ^{[5] [2]}, while advice- and health-oriented outlets often lean into framing pegging as a route to emotional growth or kink-based intimacy, which can underrepresent negative or neutral experiences ^{[3] [6]}. The small-sample academic work intentionally selected “most amazing” experiences, an explicit sampling bias toward positive reports ^[1].

5. Bottom line and what is still missing

There is no defensible single-percentage answer in the sourced reporting that states precisely what percent of men report positive versus negative emotional experiences with pegging; the best synthesis of available data is that most published and journalistic accounts of men who have tried pegging emphasize positive emotional and sexual outcomes, while credible sources also document a meaningful minority who report vulnerability, stigma-related distress, or mixed feelings—yet a representative, large-scale survey quantifying those attitudes by percentage is not present in the provided material ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [6]}. Future rigorous population surveys asking men who have tried pegging to categorize their emotional response would be required to produce the exact percentage split the question requests.