The 2026 Pleasure Census · A Study by HUD App × Girls Get Off
The 2026 Pleasure Census
Decades of sex research, and none of it asked what we actually enjoy. So we did.
2,183 honest answers, not one of them shy!
Two thousand honest answers
A big, broad, gloriously candid crowd, and every one of them anonymous.
We set out to capture how people actually understand pleasure in 2026, not a clinical sample and not a niche one. The 2,183 people who answered skew young and female, almost a third identify as something other than straight, and they span 63 countries.
Pleasure is one of the few subjects people still quietly lie about. So we removed every reason to. No name, no email, no login, no way to trace an answer back to a person. Anonymity here is the method, not a courtesy.
Women, with 30% men and 2% gender diverse.
Aged 31 or under. A Gen Z and millennial portrait.
Identify with a sexual orientation other than straight.
01 The Solo Story
The SoloStory
Solo pleasure is now a routine more regular than the gym.
Before pleasure is relational, it is personal. So we started by asking how people show up for themselves, and the answer is: reliably. Four in five engage in solo pleasure at least weekly, and nearly a third make it daily, which is more than most manage with the recommended amount of weekly exercise.
The barriers, where they exist, are strikingly ordinary. Time and environment top the list, while shame, the thing everyone may assume rules this space, actually only came out at eight percent.
All that self-knowledge has really raised the bar. Four in five respondents say they are not having as much sex as they would ideally like. Call it raised sexpectations: people know what makes them feel good, and they have stopped settling for less.
Engage in solo pleasure at least weekly. 29% make it a daily practice.
All 2,183 respondents. Daily 29% · Weekly 50% · Monthly 12%.
Own a vibrator, toy or other pleasure product.
Engage in solo pleasure every single day.
Still are not having as much sex as they would ideally like.
The Performance
Trap
No partner. No audience. Still performing.
Performance has permeated all aspects of our lives thanks to social media, influencer culture and reality TV. But it may be a shock to hear that performance has entered our bedrooms as well, even when we're alone.
Over half of all Gen Z respondents (54%) say they have caught themselves performing during solo pleasure. Even when completely alone, they think about how they look, how they sound, and even what they're meant to feel.
Appearance pressure runs right through everything. Nearly three-quarters of Gen Z say concerns about how they look make sex and pleasure harder to enjoy, with women reporting these concerns at well over twice the rate men do.
First, your guess: what share catch themselves performing during solo pleasure, even completely alone?
Have caught themselves performing during solo pleasure, even when completely alone.
Yes 44% · No 40% · Not sure 16%. Among Gen Z: 54%.
Of Gen Z catch themselves performing, even completely alone.
Of Gen Z engage in solo pleasure weekly, the highest of any age group.
Of Gen Z say concern about their appearance makes sex harder to enjoy.
03 Beyond Porn
Beyond Porn
Porn taught a generation. Women are rewriting the syllabus.
Sex education left a vacuum. 62% say theirs didn't mention pleasure at all, and only 1% learned the most about pleasure from a classroom. That gap was filled by the most available material: over half of respondents use mainstream porn sites, and a quarter first discovered what they like through porn or a partner rather than on their own terms.
When it comes to what we now use to get off, the most interesting migration is happening among women. Nearly one in three women use written content, books, erotica or fan fiction as part of solo pleasure (three times the rate of men). Books drive it: 18% of women use books specifically compared to only 2% of men, with audio erotica showing the same shape.
Meanwhile, watching porn daily remains a male habit, with 28% of men reporting daily porn consumption, compared to only 7% of women. Are we entering a post-porn era? With an industry built around the male gaze, half the audience is quietly building its own library instead.
Of women use written content (books, erotica, fan fiction) for solo pleasure. For men, it is 10%.
Nearly 1 in 3 women. Books 18% vs 2%, audio erotica 12% vs 4%.
Say their sex education never mentioned pleasure.
Use mainstream porn sites, still the single biggest source.
Of men watch porn daily. For women, it is 7%.
In their words · "What do you wish you had been taught earlier?"
"That it's nothing like mainstream porn, what one person enjoy another might not."
Woman, 25-31, Straight
"The best way to learn what feels good for you is to learn your body on your own first before letting anyone else learn it."
Woman, 25-31, Bisexual
"That I was allowed to say no. And that I'm allowed to WANT pleasure."
Woman, 39-45, Pansexual
04 The Desire Deficit
The Desire Deficit
The "sex recession" is real. The desire recession is not.
Four in five respondents are not having as much sex as they would ideally like, with men and women reporting very similar numbers (88% and 76% respectively). Whatever is driving the much-reported decline in sex, it is not a lack of appetite.
The gap sits exactly where you would expect. Among people who want more sex, 36% are having it only a few times a year or never.
And underneath the frequency gap runs the orgasm gap. 39% of men orgasm every time with a partner, compared to only 16% of women. Nearly three-quarters of women have faked an orgasm, but they're not alone in that; 31 percent of men have too.
Of women orgasm every time with a partner. For men, it is 39%.
Self-reported by all 2,183 respondents, 2026.
Want more sex than they are currently having.
Of women have faked an orgasm. For men, it is 31%.
Of the people wanting more are having sex a few times a year or never.
"That everyone's libidos are different and it's ok to not want sex as much as you feel you should."
Woman, 32-38, Straight
The Communication Bottleneck
Everyone wants better sex. Almost no one wants to ask for it.
Here is where the deficit actually lives. The number one reason people stay quiet in bed is not wanting to "ruin the moment". At 29%, it outranks fear of judgement and worry about a partner's feelings. The moment may survive; the wish list often does not.
The confidence gap is gendered. 44% of men are very comfortable telling a partner what they want; for women, it is 31%. With 40% of women saying they understand their own pleasure very well, it's clearly not a lack of information that's causing the silence.
What we found is that talking really does work, measurably. People whose partner knows what they like because they have talked about it openly are three times more likely to orgasm every time.
More likely to orgasm every time, when a partner knows what you like because you have talked about it.
34% orgasm every time once it has been said out loud, vs 11% when a partner does not know. The strongest correlation we measured.
Stay quiet in bed to avoid "ruining the moment", the number one barrier.
Of women are very comfortable asking for what they want compared to 44% of men.
Have told friends sex was good when it was not.
In their words · "What do you wish people talked about more openly?"
"Their desires, I feel too many people are scared of being judged or shamed for what they are into."
Man, 25-31, Bisexual
"All of it. We still treat sex and pleasure as such shameful things, which leads to people having unhealthy relationships with it."
Woman, 25-31, Pansexual
"Talk about the stuff that was not pleasurable and how they addressed it with their partner."
Woman, 18-24, Straight
"When you're 100% comfortable with the person, you can be fearless. Trust is everything, feeling safe is everything."
Woman, 46-52, Bisexual.
Feel more comfortable exploring pleasure with someone openly sex-positive.
06 By the Numbers
By the Numbers
Fifteen core findings of The 2026 Pleasure Census. Each stat listed here can be found as ready-made downloadable graphics below, because pleasure is something to share.
Perform during solo pleasure, even when alone.
The Performance Trap
Engage in solo pleasure at least weekly.
The Solo Story
Are not having as much sex as they would ideally like.
The Desire Deficit
More likely to orgasm "every time" when needs have been talked about openly.
Communication
Of women have faked an orgasm, compared to 31% of men.
The Desire Deficit
Of women orgasm every time with a partner, compared to 39% of men.
The Desire Deficit
Stay quiet in bed to avoid "ruining the moment".
Communication
Women use written content for pleasure. Men: 1 in 10.
Beyond Porn
Of women use books for pleasure, compared to 2% of men.
Beyond Porn
Of men watch porn daily, compared to 7% of women.
Beyond Porn
Had sex education that never mentioned pleasure.
Beyond Porn
Of Gen Z engage in solo pleasure weekly, the highest of any age group.
The Performance Trap
Of Gen Z catch themselves performing during solo pleasure, even when alone.
The Performance Trap
Own a vibrator, toy or other pleasure product.
The Solo Story
Of men feel very comfortable asking for what they want, compared to 31% of women.
Communication