A new study published in Evolutionary Psychological Science sheds light on the differences between consensual rough sex and regular sex. The research indicates that it is commonly triggered by a need for novelty and typically results in little violence.
“We were interested in how the research on rough sex mostly focused on sexual violence or aggression, and how that wasn’t what we were hearing in our sexuality classes. Students were interested and open about recreational rough sex and other sexual variations, so we decided this was an important area to study,” explained lead researcher Rebecca L. Burch, a professor in the Department of Human Development at SUNY Oswego.
In the study, which surveyed 734 male and female undergraduates, the researchers found that the most common behaviors during rough sex were spanking, clawing, pushing, name calling, and tearing clothes. Rough sex resulted in very few injuries for men or women, the most common being minor injuries such as scratches and bruises. The participants engaged in rough sex 28.22 times a year on average and men tended to initiate it a bit more often than women.
“Sex is far more varied than many people believe and rough sex doesn’t automatically mean sexual violence or nonconsensual sex. It is important to realize that both men and women reported initiating rough sex and that rough sex usually isn’t that rough, at least according to our sample,” Burch told PsyPost.
Curiosity and the desire to try something new were cited as common triggers of rough sex. But the researchers observed a difference between the male and female participants: Men were more likely to report triggers related to jealousy than women.
Women also reported reaching orgasm faster during rough sex, and men reported thrusting more vigorously during intercourse.
“Overall, rough sex appears to be a largely recreational and mutually initiated behavior that consists of mild forms of playful aggression and some mildly painful actions. However, it also appears to have clear links to male sexual jealousy and sperm competition as well as increased sexual satisfaction and shorter latency to orgasm in women,” the researchers wrote in their study.
“One big unanswered question is what is happening behind these findings. Is it a generational shift? Is it the result of greater access to pornography and depictions of rough sex? Other research shows that millennials and younger are more likely to report a greater range of sexual behavior, and that many young people are viewing pornography and this is affecting their own sexual behavior,” Burch told PsyPost.
“But this openness about sex can also do a great deal to reduce embarrassment when reporting existing sexual behavior. We are going to be looking at the effect of pornography use in future studies. It would be very interesting to see how these questions are answered by older generations. That would certainly help investigate whether this is a generational shift.”
The study, “The Rough Stuff: Understanding Aggressive Consensual Sex“, was authored by Rebecca L. Burch and Catherine Salmon.