Feeld Raw 2025: What Our Data Reveals About a Year of Exploration and Redefining Modern Intimacy

LONDON, December 29, 2025 — Feeld, the dating app for the curious, presents Feeld Raw 2025, its annual deep dive into the desires, identities, and connections that shaped modern intimacy this past year.. The data reveals a dramatic surge in sexual fluidity, with heteroflexible growing 193% as the fastest growing sexuality on the app, and a major shift in pleasure positivity, highlighted by a 200% increase in pegging as an interest among cis men. 

Feeld’s report underscores a cultural pivot where once-taboo sexual practices and fringe relationship dynamics are moving firmly into the mainstream, reshaping how people connect, experiment, and evolve. Dr. Luke Brunning, Lecturer in Applied Ethics at the University of Leeds, returns to unpack how this year’s cultural currents have shaped the ways people understand themselves and their relationships. 

Key Findings

1. Identity today is more flexible, expansive, and self-defined than ever before. 

• Heteroflexible is the fastest-growing sexuality on Feeld (+193%) with frequent shifts between heteroflexible and straight identities. 
• Millennials lead this growth, though Gen Z is catching up quickly. 
• NYC saw the fastest-growing bisexual population (+161%), part of a broader trend rejecting singular sexual labels.
• Dr. Luke Brunning: “These changes speak to the growing awareness that sexuality is complex. If anything, it would be surprising if people were never sexually curious about people of their own sex or gender, or if attraction worked in neat and predictable ways.” 

 2. Pleasure positivity is reshaping conversations around intimacy.

• Pegging has surged among cis men (+200%), signaling normalized pleasure and broadening definitions of masculinity and sexual wellness. 
• Toys, in general, was one of members’ top three growing desires (+400%)
• Dr. Brunning: “Men may also be appreciating how toys can enhance pleasure and intimacy, rather than threaten it.”

3. Global Sexual Maps: 

• Feeld’s worldwide data highlights playful yet meaningful patterns. 

  • Brazil is the vanilla capital of the world, occupying the top four cities with São Paulo as number one.

• Sub/dom dynamics: Portland and Seattle are the top cities for tops, bottoms, switches, and submissives. 
• Most heteroflexible city: Berlin
• Pegging Capital: Miami
• Edging Capital: Boston
• Role Play Capital: San Francisco
• City with the highest percentage of open relationships: Berlin
• Cuddling Capital: Mumbai

4. Gen Z Embraces Sports

• Of Gen Z’s fastest growing interests, sports took 8 of the top 10.
• Members are increasingly integrating structured physical activity into their social lives, with growth in interests such as tennis, soccer, basketball, and fitness (+300-600%) 

A Year of Exploration“Thanks to our incredible community, Feeld has a depth and diversity of data like no other,” says Dina Mohammad-Laity, Feeld’s VP of Data. “Feeld Raw offers a unique look at how intimacy and identity are evolving. This year, cultural moments—from Harry Styles’ entrance into the sex toy space to Lucy Bronze’s viral moment—have sparked visibility, curiosity, and experimentation among our Members. We’re seeing a surge in people exploring connection and playfulness in authentic, fluid ways, redefining what it means to be seen and to connect in 2025.”

About Feeld

Feeld is the dating app for the curious; those open to experiencing people and relationships in new ways. Founded in 2014 by Ana Kirova and Dimo Trifonov after questioning the status quo of their own relationship, they were inspired to challenge cultural scripts around gender, sexuality, and dating on a global scale. Feeld’s ever-evolving platform creates a safer space online and IRL for people to explore their curiosities outside of existing blueprints and find meaningful human connections of all kinds. Feeld has led with a progressive mindset since its inception, pioneering a remote-first work model with a globally distributed team. With over 20 sexuality and gender options in-app and growing, Feeld is a space for the experiences that make us feel alive and most intimately connected to ourselves and others. Learn more at www.feeld.co.

Instagram: @feeldco

About Dr. Luke Brunning

Dr. Brunning also specialises in Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Relationships; Applied Ethics; Ethics; Philosophy of Emotion; and, Moral Psychology. Along with his partner, he co-directs the Centre for Love, Sex and Relationships (CLSR) at the University of Leeds. 

The CLSR is interested in deepening our understanding of the nature and significance of intimacy, and exploring the ways different relationships might be impacted by technology, social institutions, and the state. Learn more at ahc.leeds.ac.uk.

Instagram: @leeds_clsr