What percentage of women are interested in a woman dominant sexual dynamic (heterosexual)
Executive summary
Existing surveys and academic work produce a wide, defensible range rather than a single number: depending on question wording and sample, anywhere from roughly 4% to about 60% of women can be said to express interest in woman-dominant or dominance-related sexual dynamics, but the best-controlled, population-level measures cluster in the tens of percent and — crucially — many studies do not separately measure wanting to be dominant versus wanting to be submissive [1] [2] [3].
1. The headline numbers and why they diverge
A media-friendly figure often cited is “up to 60%” of women fantasize about being dominated, a statistic reported by The Washington Post summarizing research on sexual fantasies [3], but that measures fantasies about being on the receiving (submissive) end rather than choosing to be the dominant partner; different studies ask different questions and therefore pull different levers on what “interested in woman-dominant dynamics” actually means [2].
2. Representative surveys: a more modest estimate
Nationally representative work that asked about specific BDSM or domination/submission acts suggests appreciable but more modest interest: one synthesis of U.S. data found roughly 20–40% of adults find many domination/submission acts appealing, though that study did not separate dominant from submissive preferences within each act — leaving ambiguity for the question at hand about how many women specifically prefer to be the dominant partner [2].
3. Specific measures of “wanting to be dominant” show much lower figures
Polling that explicitly asked about preferred role in bed finds significantly lower rates of women preferring dominance: a YouGov survey reported only about 4% of women said they would rather be dominant in bed while 21% preferred submissiveness [1], indicating that direct role-preference questions yield smaller percentages than broader questions about interest in domination-related acts or fantasies.
4. Kink-community and specialist studies tilt higher but are not general population estimates
Research sampling BDSM practitioners and enthusiasts finds higher rates of both interest and participation in dominant roles — for example, an international BDSM practitioner survey and related studies report that substantial minorities of heterosexual participants report interest in giving domination, with figures such as 25.5% reporting giving domination at least once and other studies noting ~34% of heterosexuals reporting BDSM interest — but these are non-representative convenience samples of people already in or curious about kink communities [4].
5. Academic nuance: dominance as an attraction trait versus sexual role preference
Separate literature on mate preferences and social-dominance dynamics complicates the picture further: some psychology studies explore whether women prefer dominant partners (a different question) and others link gendered power beliefs to sexual role attitudes, showing that social dominance orientation predicts believing men should dominate sexually — all of which underscores that “dominance” is a multidimensional concept mixing fantasy content, role preference in sexual acts, partner selection, and broader gender beliefs [5] [6].
6. Bottom line with method caveats and likely best estimate
The direct answer, given available reporting, is that no single precise percentage can be confidently asserted: narrowly defined, self-reports of women wanting to be the dominant partner in bed are low (about 4% in one YouGov item) [1]; broader measures of interest in domination/submission activities put the figure in the tens of percent (roughly 20–40% in a U.S. study and ~34% among heterosexuals in an international kink survey) [2] [4]; and sensationalized citations of “up to 60%” reflect different questions about fantasies and submissive roles, not women wanting to be dominant [3]. Important limitations are that many studies do not separate dominant vs submissive interest within the same questions, samples vary from representative to self-selected, and cultural framing and question wording strongly shift responses [2] [4].