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How Likely Are You to Break Your Partner’s Penis During Sex?

"Woman on top" is both the most likely sex position to result in penile fracture and the most-Googled sex position in America. Should we be worried for the people with penises in our lives?

In 2014, the peer-reviewed medical journal Advances in Urology published a study with the purpose "to determine the mechanisms predisposing penile fracture as well as the rate of long-term penile deformity and erectile and voiding functions." In other words, they wanted to figure out how people were breaking their dicks.

The study, which tracked medical records at the three main emergency/surgical hospitals in Campinas, Brazil over 13 years, concluded that the "woman on top" sex position was the leading cause of penile fracture. With that, article after article was published dubbing "woman on top" as "the most dangerous sex position."

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Last month, Askmen released findings from their own research analyzing Google data by state to reveal the most searched sex positions across the US. Coincidentally, they revealed that "woman on top" was the number one searched position in the country, with a whopping 22 percent lead over doggy style. With America's most-Googled sex position becoming synonymous with the "most dangerous," I wondered if we should start to worry about the people with penises in our lives?

"Penile fracture is uncommon and most people are not at high risk for it. [It's] wise not to over-hype it as 'dangerous' because it is not."

According to Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH, an associate professor at Indiana University School of Public Health and the author of The Coregasm Workout, the answer is no. "Woman on top is one of the most common sexual positions in the United States and in a number of other countries, too," she tells Broadly. Keep in mind, "woman on top" is a broad category that encompasses everything from cowgirl to the randy recliner and other positions no one's never heard of. "Fortunately, penile fracture is uncommon and most people are not at high risk for it," says Dr. Herbenick "[It's] wise not to over-hype it as 'dangerous' because it is not."

Still, according to the study, heterosexual sex is the most likely to result in penile fracture—which is often accompanied by sharp pain, bruising, swelling, and a popping sound. The injury must be treated urgently and medical professionals recommend visiting the ER immediately after sustaining any penile injuries suspicious of a fracture.

To put the risk of penile fracture into perspective, the region analyzed in this study has a population of over 3 million people. In 13 years of analyzing medical records there, researchers found only 42 patients with confirmed penile fractures, 14 of which sustained injuries from "woman on top" intercourse.

Read More: Straight Women Are Having Fewer Orgasms Because of Their Useless Partners

It isn't the woman simply being on top that makes this position more susceptible to result in penis injuries, according to Dr. Herbenick. It has more to do with technicalities that can go wrong during many different types of sex: "Penile fracture is more likely to occur in sex positions in which the penis fully comes out of a partner's body before going back in, with the risky moment being the re-entry into the vagina or anus or mouth."

If Google analytics are any indication of what's going on in Americans' sex lives and women are getting on top more, let us not be afraid—so long as we keep dicks inside us, we should be good to ride them into the sunset without the fear of breaking them.