Researchers uncovered 3 techniques for female anal pleasure after interviewing thousands of women

• Researchers uncovered three anal-sex techniques in a new study of thousands of women.
• The techniques are anal surfacing, anal shallowing, and anal pairing.

It could be time to rethink your anal-sex strategy, according to a first-of-its-kind study published June 29 in the journal Plos One.

Researchers at Indiana University and For Goodness Sake, a sex-research company, pinpointed three techniques — one of which doesn't include penetration — for pleasurable anal sex, after surveying and interviewing thousands of women.

Prior to conducting the study, researchers noticed that most anal-pleasure research focused on the body parts people inserted into a woman's anus but not the techniques used to create feelings of pleasure.

They wanted to find out if anal-sex strategy mattered, so they gathered data from sex surveys around the world, including the OMGYES Pleasure Report. Ultimately, they collected results from 3,017 women between 18 and 93, and interviewed 1,000 of these women themselves.

Since the majority of women cited anal-sex techniques that didn't involve penetration, the findings could help other women feel empowered to explore their pleasure preferences. The study findings also showed that "new pleasurable touch techniques can be discovered at any age and may encourage women to continue exploring their pleasure throughout the lifespan," the researchers wrote in the paper.

Anal-sex techniques hundreds of women love include anal 'surfacing' and 'pairing'

The researchers said three main anal-sex techniques became apparent in their interviews with women, so they created terms for them. They are:

• Anal surfacing, or sexual touch on and around, but not in, the anus. Forty percent of women in the study found this pleasurable.
• Anal shallowing, or touch just inside the anal opening, no deeper than a fingertip or knuckle. Thirty-five percent of women in the study found this pleasurable.
• Anal pairing, or touch on or inside the anus at the same time as vaginal penetration or clitoral touch. Forty percent of women in the study found this pleasurable.

If you want to try anal sex, take it slow and use lube

For anal-sex first-timers, it's important to ease into the experience.

You should start with fingers, butt plugs, and dildos before trying to insert a penis, Insider previously reported.

Since the anus isn't self-lubricating, it's also important to use lube.

And since sexually transmitted infections can be passed from partner to partner during anal sex, protection like condoms can stop STI spread. In February, the FDA approved the first-ever condom for anal sex.