The HUD App, a dating service, has published statistics from their “pleasure census,” a survey of 2,183 users in 63 countries, mostly young females, about a third of them identifying as something other than heterosexual. 88% of men and 76% of women report getting less sex than they desire; most cite inhibitions about communicating their desires to partners. Some of the most interesting revelations are about their habits of self-pleasuring: 79% masturbate at least once weekly, and 29% daily. 28% of men view porn daily, compared to only 7% of women, but women are over three times as likely as men to use written erotica while pleasuring themselves (31% vs. 10%). Such media makes up for the complete absence of pleasure in sex education curricula, reported by 62%. Although the HUD analysis did not break down its data on masturbation by sexual orientation, a Spanish study from 2025 did, and found that both gays and lesbians initiated masturbation at an earlier age than heterosexuals and that as adults gay men masturbate more frequently than heterosexual males, although lesbian women do so less frequently than straight women. Both gay and straight men report more feelings of shame and inadequacy in regard to their solitary habits than women, who report more intense orgasmic experiences when playing solo.
New Data on Sexual Pleasure
