Of the 6,000 respondents to Pornhub's online poll, 43 percent rated doggystyle their favorite position to have heterosexual sex in. The somewhat surprising runner-up: reverse cowgirl, with 27 percent. Missionary came in a distant third, with just 17 percent of the vote.
The other positions, in descending order of popularity:
• “The Counter Top” (3%): The woman lies or sits on a counter or table while the man stands and penetrates her.
• “Happy Scissors” (3%): A representative for Pornhub explains, "During intercourse, the woman raises her legs in the air, at which point the male holds onto the woman's ankles in each hand. From there the female's legs can be spread apart farther, held together, the options are endless really."
• “Shake-N-Bake” (3%): "To accomplish this position, the male withdraws and rests the tip of his penis on the clitoris. At that point, the male takes the base of the penis and shakes it quickly from side-to-side to stimulate both the clitoral head, as well as the head of the penis. This results in simultaneous pleasure."
• “Modified Coital Alignment Position” (2%): Like missionary, but with the woman's legs closed between the man's. Apparently allows for greater clitoral stimulation.
• “Baring the Scepter” (1%): Either partner pulls down on the skin of the penis so it's taut, which increases sensitivity. Says the Pornhub rep, "This isn't so much a position as it is a trick."
• “The Seated Scissors” (1%): While the man penetrates the woman, she straddles him with one leg between his legs and the other to the side of his hip. This allows her to grind against his pubic bone.
These responses may be skewed somewhat by the makeup of Pornhub's audience, which isn't a nationally representative sample. According to Quantcast, its visitors skew male, though not overwhelmingly so — 59 percent of visitors in the last month were male. They also tend to be young — 64 percent in the last month were under 35. So all we can say for sure is that doggystyle is the preferred position of a group of 6,000 youngish porn fans.
Pornhub isn't the only outfit conducting such research. The condom company LifeStyles did a similar survey of favorite sex positions last year. Their winner: missionary.