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Health

Pain during intercourse is common among women who have sex with men

A survey of women who have had vaginal sex with men found that 4 in 5 said they had experienced pain during intercourse

By Elizabeth Hlavinka

28 June 2024

Sex lasting too long or being too frequent was a top reason why intercourse can be painful

grinvalds/Getty Images

Most women who have had vaginal sex with men have been in pain during intercourse, according to a survey of university students.

Carlotta Oesterling at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and her colleagues wanted to understand the factors that are linked to women experiencing pain during vaginal sex. They therefore surveyed 277 of the university’s students, who were all women aged between 18 and 33, on…

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