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The Safest Sex Position Is Also The Most Unoriginal

Apparently penises can break more easily than we all thought.

It’s nothing personal, guys of the world, but if we’re being totally honest, the missionary position can get pretty boring. So can you really blame girls for wanting to have a little fun and get on top?

Yes, it turns out you can. That is, when your penis snaps and unleashes a tornado of pain on your poor body.

In a study published in the Advances in Urology journal, scientists found that the “woman on top” position is responsible for half of all penile fractures during sex.

For the unacquainted -- and we certainly hope you are -- a penile fracture is as cringe-inducing as it sounds. It’s when the penis basically snaps, making a loud cracking sound and swelling up before intense pain sets in.

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Over 13 years, a team of researchers in Brazil looked at patients with suspected penile fractures, using hospital records and in some cases interviewing them. They found that the cowgirl position was responsible for half of the fractures, doggy-style followed behind with 29 percent of fractures, and the boring, traditional “man on top” position accounted for just 21 percent.

The researchers hypothesized that cowgirl is so dangerous for dudes because of the woman’s weight when she lands on the penis. “Our hypothesis is that when woman is on top she usually controls the movement with her entire body weight landing on the erect penis, not being able to interrupt it when the penis suffers a wrong way penetration, because the harm is usually minor in woman with no pain but major in the penis,” the researchers wrote.

They continued, ”On the contrary, when the man is controlling the movement, he has better chances of stopping the penetration energy in response to the pain related to the penis harm, minimizing it.”

But don’t fret, wannabe rodeo queens. The scientists admit that penile fractures are pretty rare, so you don’t necessarily have to give up cowgirling anytime soon. Just be warned that penises are not as sturdy as we’d all like to think, so go ahead and play it (relatively) safe.

Got more questions about sex and sexual health? Check out It's Your Sex Life.

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