How Many People Are Into Double Penetration?

A reader asked the following question:

“How many people are into DP [double penetration]?”

Double penetration is a popular theme in the world of porn and often appears in threesome scenes. However, the term itself tends to be used indiscriminately to refer to a number of different sex acts. For example, it’s sometimes used to describe one person who is being penetrated in two different orifices at the same time by two different partners (e.g., vagina and anus, vagina and mouth, etc.). By contrast, other times it is used to describe one person who is penetrated by two partners at the same time in the same orifice.

Based on its popularity in porn, DP would seem to be a fairly common sexual interest; however, it’s not something that you hear about much in the world of sex research, whether in terms of fantasy or behavior. So our knowledge of it is quite limited.

However, I did ask people whether they had ever fantasized about double penetration in the survey of 4,175 Americans I conducted for my book Tell Me What You Want. The specific survey question I asked was about whether people had fantasized about DP in the context of having two penises in a vagina or anus at the same time. Thus, the results only speak to that particular form of DP—but they at least give us some insight into how many people might find the idea of this activity to be arousing.

Overall, 60% of participants said they’d fantasized about DP at least once before, while 22% said that this is something they fantasize about often. However, the numbers varied quite a bit across gender and sexual orientation:

• 45% of heterosexual women reported having had the fantasy, with 13% fantasizing about it often
• 56% of heterosexual men reported having had the fantasy, with 18% fantasizing about it often
• 61% of lesbian and bisexual women reported having had the fantasy, with 24% fantasizing about it often
• 75% of gay and bisexual men reported having had the fantasy, with 33% fantasizing about it often
• 64% of trans and nonbinary persons reported having had the fantasy, with 26% fantasizing about it often

Thus, on average, men and gender diverse persons were more likely to have had the fantasy (and have it often) than women and, further, gay and bisexual folks were more likely to have had the fantasy (and have it often) than heterosexual folks.

Now, of course, these data only speak to the fantasy of DP—not the reality. Also, just because someone fantasizes about something doesn’t necessarily mean that they want to act on it. So while DP does indeed appear to be a common sexual fantasy, I can’t say how many people actually want to try it in real life or how many have ever done it before. The few other studies I could locate really only seemed to look at DP in the context of porn performers’ experiences with it and also whether people have ever seen it in porn.

In case you’re curious, I did look at how DP is related to other sexual fantasies as well as some personality characteristics in order to get a better sense of the psychology behind this sexual interest. Here’s what I found:

• DP fantasies were related to more multi-partner sex fantasies of every type (threesome, orgy, gangbang, etc.), suggesting that people who are into multi-partner sex in general are more into DP.
• DP fantasies were related to more BDSM fantasies of every type, suggesting that interest in DP may be related to greater interest in dominant-submissive dynamics and/or mixing pleasure and pain.
• DP fantasies were also linked to having more fantasies about taboo sexual activities in general (such as voyeurism, exhibitionism, etc.), which also points to the possibility that the taboo nature of this act may be part of the appeal.
• People with sensation-seeking personalities were more likely to fantasize about DP, which isn’t surprising—they tend to be drawn to more intense sexual fantasies and behaviors in general due to their heightened threshold for stimulation.
• Persons who saw sex and love as separate (i.e., those with an unrestricted sociosexuality) were more likely to fantasize about DP than those who saw sex and love as going together. However, those who saw sex and love as separable fantasized more about group sex and non-monogamy in general, so their interest in DP may simply stem from that, given that DP requires multiple partners (unless you’re using sex toys as a stand-in).
• Those who were more open to new experiences in general and who had active imaginations were also more likely to fantasize about DP, suggesting that this fantasy is sometimes just the product of a wandering mind with no deeper meaning.

What you can see here is that DP fantasies are connected to many other types of fantasies—and also to several personality traits and characteristics. And, of course, they’re also connected to gender and sexual orientation. What all of this tells us is that interest in double penetration may spring from multiple sources and different people might be drawn to it for very different reasons.

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Image Source: Photo by Dainis Graveris on Unsplash