Posted March 3, Reviewed by Gary Drevitch. Rough sex is one of the most popular sexual fantasies. In fact, when I surveyed 4, Americans about their fantasies for my book Tell Me What You Want , I found that most people had fantasied about some type of rough sex before. And how many people actually enjoy the idea of rough sex in real lifeβnot just in their fantasies?
A recent study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior provides some important insight into these questions, at least among young adults. Researchers at Indiana University surveyed 4, Midwestern college students on the subject. Rather than using convenience sampling i. The sample obtained was then statistically weighted to correct any potential imbalances in demographic groups that were under- or over-represented, with the goal of making the survey more reflective of the overall student population.
Participants were asked what rough sex means to them and could indicate their responses via a checklist. They were also asked to report how much they enjoyed rough sex and about their previous experiences with it.
Put another way, more than half of the sample counted the above activities as forms of rough sex. Items endorsed by less than half of the sample included:. There were some differences across groups in terms of what people counted as rough sex, though. For example, transgender and non-binary participants generally counted more of these behaviors as rough sex than their cisgender counterparts. These activities also statistically clustered into two groups that differed based on intensity.
One group of behaviors included things like being pinned down, hard thrusting, and spanking; by contrast, the other included things like choking, punching, and slapping.
