Safe sex just got a whole new meaning, thanks to a new piece of research on the dangers caused by our favourite positions. The study, which focuses on male injury rather than female, investigated which positions patients were getting freaky in when "penile fracture" occurred. Yikes.
The research of heterosexual sex, titled "Relationship between sexual position and severity of penile fracture" and published in the International Journal of Impotence Research, found that the UK's favourite position – doggy style – is most likely to break a man's penis. Sorry. You may have thought a rather more adventurous position would be the most hazardous, but no, doggy style was responsible for 41% of penile fractures in the study.
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The second most threatening? The ever reliable missionary, which caused 25% of the injuries, followed by woman-on-top, aka cowgirl, which was responsible for 10% of penile fractures. One of the dangers is that unless the man is diligent as he thrusts, he may accidentally come into collision with the woman's pubic bone. So, it seems you're safe to continue making your way through the Kama Sutra (if that's your thing...).
While doggy style caused the most penile injuries, it caused the same level of damage as missionary, while cowgirl caused the least damage. "The 'man-on-top' and 'doggy style' positions showed more associations with bilateral fractures of the corpus cavernosum and urethral lesions," the researchers noted, which doesn't sound healthy at all.
The researchers analysed data from 90 patients, with an average age of 39, whose penises had fractured during sex. Now we're waiting for a similar study focusing on the vagina. C'mon, scientists.
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