More Men Are Interested in Pegging Than Ever Before. Why?

Not long ago, conversations about pegging tended to happen quietly that is if they happened at all. Even more rare was the conversation about a woman "dominating" a man in the bed and the man really enjoying it. Today, those hushed confessions are increasingly getting voiced with confidence.

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According to dating app Feeld’s Raw 2025 report, interest in pegging among cis men has risen by 200 per cent year-on-year, while Mumbai has been declared the world’s cuddling capital. The figures have been shared widely, often accompanied by raised eyebrows or knowing jokes, as if they signal a sudden kink epidemic. But focusing on the act itself misses the point..But pegging is not the headline. Men indulging in it is.

What Is Pegging?

Pegging is a term used to describe anal penetration using a strap-on dildo, typically by a woman penetrating a male partner. The word was popularised in the early 2000s and has since become a common shorthand in discussions about sex, pleasure, and power dynamics.

In contemporary usage, the definition has broadened. Pegging is no longer limited to heterosexual or cisgender couples; it can involve people of any gender, as long as one partner uses a strap-on to penetrate another anally. What distinguishes pegging from other forms of anal play is the use of a strap-on and, often, the role reversal it implies. Culturally, pegging has attracted attention less because of the mechanics involved and more because it challenges long-standing assumptions about masculinity, sexual roles, and who is “meant” to receive pleasure. For some couples, it carries a power-play element; for others, it is simply another way to explore intimacy, trust, or physical sensation.

Importantly, interest in pegging does not define someone’s sexual orientation. It refers to a sexual practice, not an identity — a distinction increasingly emphasised in both academic research and modern discussions of sexuality.

According to Dr Luke Brunning, Lecturer in Applied Ethics at the University of Leeds “Pegging has shifted from taboo to mainstream preference. Feeld data shows cis men are driving the surge – a sign of decreasing stigma around anal pleasure, regardless of gender and sexuality,” Dr Brunning explains, adding that the trend points “towards a vision of masculinity that is more comfortable talking about the body, pleasure, and female agency.”

Why The Spike?

It’s tempting to read the rise in men interested in pegging as a headline-grabbing kink trend. The data, however, tells a more nuanced story. What’s changing is not men’s bodies or appetites, it’s actually their willingness to explore themselves sexually without panic, apology, or rigid labels. Men have become more open than ever or at least some have.

But why?

At the centre of this shift is a broader redefinition of intimacy. Unlike the rigid Victorian times, sex is no longer framed purely as performance or conquest, but as experience: something to be felt, negotiated, consented, and understood. And practices like pegging sit at the crossroads of that change because they require communication, trust, and a temporary suspension of traditional sexual roles. For many men, it’s liberating.

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Feeld’s Raw 2025 report makes this context hard to ignore. Alongside a 200 per cent year-on-year increase in interest in pegging among cis men, the app recorded a 193 per cent rise in people identifying as heteroflexible, as well as a 400 per cent increase in interest in sex toys overall. These trends are not isolated. They point to the same underlying movement: sexuality is becoming less binary, performative, and tied to identity anxiety.

The rise of sex toys reinforces this shift given in 2025 popstar Harry Styles and Indian Youtuber Bhuvan Bam in 2024 launched their own sexual wellness brands offering a range of sex toys and sexual wellness products as part of the sex positivity shift in culture.

Once framed as competition or compensation, today toys are increasingly understood as tools — ways to enhance connection rather than threaten it. Their growing acceptance has helped normalise experimentation, especially for men who were historically taught that sexual competence should be instinctive and pegging, which relies on communication and mutual awareness, fits naturally into that new landscape.

Heteroflexibility, in particular, also reflects a growing comfort with sexual curiosity that doesn’t demand a fixed label. Many men are no longer asking, “What does this make me?” before allowing themselves to ask, “Do I enjoy this?” That distinction matters. When attraction, sensation, and identity are no longer collapsed into a single test of masculinity, exploration becomes possible without existential fallout.

There’s also a quieter emotional factor at play: fatigue. Traditional masculinity placed men firmly in the role of initiator and controller. Always leading, always knowing, always performing is exhausting. Practices that allow men to receive, slow down, or relinquish control — even briefly — offer relief and a chance to their partners to take care of them.

Ultimately, the spike in interest in pegging reveals a little more about what men feel permitted to explore. Intimacy has become more collaborative and curiosity is no longer treated as a threat to masculinity, and these trends reflect that well.