In 2001, journalist Dan Savage put out a call to action in Savage Love, his long-standing sex and relationships column. He’d realized the English language lacked a name for the act of a woman anally penetrating a man, and he wanted his readers to choose one. From the winning entry, the term “pegging” was born. 

Records of pegging (the act, not the word) date back to 1023. That year, Burchard of Worms, a bishop in the Roman Empire, published a collection of laws that asks: “Have you done what certain women are accustomed to do, that is, to make some sort of device or implement in the shape of the male member, of the size to match your desire, and you have fastened it to the area of your genitals or those of another with some form of fastenings and you have fornicated with other women or others have done with a similar instrument or another sort with you?” In Burchard’s code of law, penetration with a Roman sex toy was punishable by a five-year penance on “legitimate holy days.” 

Centuries later, pegging is kink’s rising star. According to Feeld, a dating app where users can specify their kinks, interest in pegging rose by 200 percent among cisgender male users in 2025. Still, the straight men who partake often face a stigma. At a moment in which they’re simultaneously told to be alpha males and to stream Heated Rivalry, exploring sexual preferences can be tricky. In the words of America Ferrera, it’s too hard, it’s too contradictory, and nobody gives you a medal or says “thank you.”  

To untangle that stigma and to get to the bottom of why straight men are taking up pegging, we spoke to four straight men who get pegged. Read on to learn why they like it, whether they’re open about it, and what tips they’d give others who want to give it a whirl.

All names have been changed to protect participants’ identities.

Riley

What I tell most of my friends who have never done it is that the orgasm is just completely different. If I am anally stimulated, I can come five or six times in a row, versus the second that I stroke myself, I come once and I’m done. The whole thing, for so long, has been taboo, like, “I’m going to be gay if I stick something up my ass.” While I understand that correlation, what’s gay about a man and a woman having sex? 

For me, at least, it’s giving the power over to my partner. Being able to see a different side of our dynamic is such a cool situation for me. I’ve been pinning girls up to the wall by their necks since I was a teenager. To be able to have a completely different way of enjoying my body and my partner, it’s awesome. Saying, “Yeah, I enjoy pegging” isn’t anything too crazy. I’m not telling the world, but people that know me probably can already tell. There’s an air to people who are into something like that, no? Maybe I’m thinking about it differently, but I think if you have this mindset and can get into this headspace, you walk around the world in your own way. You have a way about you.

Any guy thinking about getting into something like this, who has no prior knowledge: lube. Always use more lube.

Leo

Initially, I didn’t know that I would like it. It all started after I joined Feeld and got more into the lifestyle of the kink world, having the exposure to people I met on there. It was self-discovery, realizing that I like someone pegging me. It’s the thought of being under someone or being a sub. Being taken control of, pegging is an aspect of that. For me, it’s the icing on the cake.

If my circle were more explorative, I’d be open to talking about it, but not right now. Maybe if I end up in a circle who’s more open to opening up about these things, I’d do it. If not, I wouldn’t even think about it…It’s been a form of self-discovery, and I’m even still questioning why I’m into it. It’s still a learning process. I’ve tried it with two partners so far, and it’s a new world. Maybe I won’t continue searching for it, I don’t know. For now, I want to be exposed to it, but maybe my thoughts will change in the future.

Scott

There’s a kinkiness to it. I feel like I’m being very sexy while doing it, so that’s why I’m with it. I enjoy the act of doing it, but if I had to do it myself to get off, I don’t think I would. I’ve been interested in it since I was a teenager, but it wasn’t until 2019, when the right girl asked me, that I tried it…It’s funny how I remember her asking me to do it, but now that I’m thinking about it, I might have told her to do it. I just made myself OK with it by saying she’s the one who asked me, but if I’m really thinking about it, I might have asked her.

There’s still a part of me that grew up in the hood, and those guys, I wouldn’t want them to know. There’s still a stigma, but among straight guys, I think what made it kind of cool to be like, “It’s not the worst thing to admit this” — I used to listen to the Howard Stern Show a lot, and there was a straight, macho, older guy saying “I let my girl peg me.” It was like, oh, I want to be like that. He was like, “She puts it in and fucks me” and I wanted that. I still won’t let the people I grew up with know that type of shit.

J.A.R.

I can’t tell if I like it because I get pleasure from it, or because it’s just freaky. I’m super open-minded. Anything with a woman being dominant is an immediate yes for me. Growing up, I did not feel desirable. I think giving control over to the woman makes me feel desirable. When they have full control and I don’t have anything, everything they do is completely their agency, their choice, and therefore, their desire to do so. I think it’s an affirmation. 

I’ve discussed this with my other straight friends. They’ve never been pegged before, but they’ve had somebody put a finger up there and they didn’t mind it. It probably starts with that. There’s a chance that maybe, it’s their partner or girlfriend who tries to experiment a bit, and once they dip their toes in the water, it’s not as bad as it seems. 

The biggest stigma is that doing anything there, as a man, is gay. If a straight guy shamed me for it, what I would do is flip it back on them and tell them, “You wouldn’t do it because you’re just a fucking pussy.”