Group sex issexual activity involving more than two people. Participants in group sex can be of anysexual orientation orgender. Any form of sexual activity can be adopted to involve more than two participants, but some forms have their own names.
Group sex most commonly takes place in a private sex party or semi-public swinger gathering, but may also take place atmassage parlors orbrothels or, in some jurisdictions, at purpose-built locations such assex clubs. In places wherenon-monogamous sex is taboo or illegal, group sex may take place in private or clandestine locations including homes, hotel rooms, or private clubs.
Fantasies of group sex are extremely common among both men and women.[1][2] Many forms of sexual behavior were reported byKinsey's subjects, but the official Kinsey Reports website does not mention threesomes or group sex in the summary of Kinsey's findings.[3]
Group sex is a popular subgenre inpornographic films.
In principle, any sexual behavior performed by more than two people can be referred to as group sex, but various terms are used to describe particular acts or combinations of people. Many swingers argue that non-swingers have conflated the terms because of lack of understanding and that there are distinct differences among the terms with specific meanings as to number, intent, sexual orientation, and familiarity of the persons involved.
Asex party is a gathering at whichsexual activity takes place. Sex parties may be organized to enable people to engage incasual sexual activity or people interested in group sex to meet, but any gathering where sexual activity is anticipated can be called a sex party.
There are a number of types of sex parties:
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Anorgy is a gathering where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex; and abunga bunga orgy is an orgy in which participants havesex underwater, such as in aswimming pool or ahot tub.[5]
Aswinger party or partner-swapping party is a gathering at which individuals or couples in acommitted relationship can engage in sexual activities with others as arecreational or social activity.[6]
Swinger parties may involve various group sex activities. Partners can engage inpenetrative sex, known as "full swap", or choose to "soft swap" in which they engage only innon-penetrative sex. New swinging couples often choose a soft swap before they are comfortable with a full swap, although many couples stay soft swap for personal reasons.[7] "Soft swinging" is when a couple engages in sexual activities with only each other while other couples perform sex acts in the immediate vicinity.[8] Technically this is a form of exhibitionism rather than "group sex" per se.
As with all sexual activity, the relative risks of group sex depend on the specific activities engaged in, although having a large number of sexual partners increases one's risk of exposure tosexually transmitted infections (STIs).
From the mid-1980s there was active lobbying againstgay bathhouses, blaming them for the spread of STIs, in particularHIV, and this forced closures in some jurisdictions, particularly in the United States.[9][10] SociologistStephen O. Murray writes that, "there was never any evidence presented that going to bathhouses was a risk-factor for contracting AIDS."[11] This statement ignored the fact that few studies had been done.[12] Later studies have confirmed a higher risk off STI from bathhouses.[13] In other countries, fears about the spread of STIs have prompted the closing of bathhouses—with their private rooms—in favour of sex clubs, in which all sexual activity takes place in the open, and can be observed by monitors whose job it is to enforce safer sex practices.[14]
Proponents claim that venues where group sex takes place often providecondoms,dental dams,latex gloves,lubricants and other items for safer sex, although they cannot prove that those items are used and use is typically not mandated. Bathhouses in particular are a major source of safer sex information—they provide pamphlets and post safer sex posters prominently (often on the walls of each room as well as in the common areas), provide free condoms and lubricants, and often require patrons to affirm that they will only have safer sex on the premises.[15][16][17][18]
In a 2015 US survey, a significantly larger percentage of men than women responded that they had any lifetime experience of a threesome (17.8 vs 10.3) or group sex (11.5 vs 6.3).[19]
TheSexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalized homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of agein private inEngland andWales;[20] however, the privacy restrictions of the Act meant a third person could not participate in the sex or even be present, as well as that the two men could not have sex in a hotel. These restrictions were overturned in theEuropean Court of Human Rights in 2000.[21]
Section 20A of theImmorality Act, 1957,[22] commonly known as the "men at a party" clause, was a South African law that criminalized all sexual acts between men that occurred in the presence of a third person. The section was enacted by theImmorality Amendment Act, 1969 and remained in force until it was found to be unconstitutional in 1998 by theConstitutional Court in the case ofNational Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Justice.
A 1996sexual harassment case filed againstMitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America by theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) highlighted corporate involvement by Mitsubishi in sex parties arranged by managers and other employees.[23]
Group sex is illegal in China, due to Article 301 of China's 1997 Criminal Law which bans “group licentiousness”.[24][25]
In Canada, in a 2002 decision regarding a case in which three people were engaged in sexual intercourse, theCourt of Queen's Bench of Alberta declared section 159 of theCriminal Code in its entirety to be null, including the provisions criminalizing anal sex when more than two persons are taking part or present.[26] In June 2019, C-75 passed both houses of theParliament of Canada and receivedroyal assent, repealing section 159 effective immediately.[27]
Sex parties, under various names, have been a common focus ofmoral panics fed by media reports claiming that such parties are prevalent, or growing in prevalence, especially among teenagers.[28]
Sensational media reports about the prevalence of sex parties, especially among young people, appear with some regularity. In the early 1950s, for example, it was alleged that teenage girls, mainly throughout theSouthern andMidwestern United States were forming "non-virgin clubs", in which they organized and heldsex orgies with reports of couples being paired off by drawing numbers from a hat. These claims were investigated and debunked.[29][30][31][32]
Several stories of this type arose in the US in 2003. In New York, rumors began that teens had been taking days off from school to attend "hooky parties" while their parents were at work. One school even suspended a group of girls for allegedly skipping school to attend such a party, refusing to let them return to school until each had submitted to a medical examination for sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy, and school officials were allowed to examine the results. TheNew York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the school[33] on behalf of the girls and won a settlement which included monetary damages and a change in the school district's policy.[34]
Arainbow party is a baselessurban legend spread from the early 2000s. At these events, females wearing various shades of lipstick reportedly took turnsfellating males in sequence, leaving multiple colours on their penises,[35] ignoring the fact that in such a situation the colors would blend. Rainbow parties were covered onThe Oprah Winfrey Show in 2003, and became the subject of a juvenile novel calledRainbow Party.[35] On May 27, 2010, the television programThe Doctors discussed the topic with dozens of teens, parents, and professionals. However, sex researchers and adolescent health care professionals have found no evidence for the existence of rainbow parties, and as such attribute the spread of the stories to a moral panic.[35]
Similar stories concerning teenagers usinggel bracelets as coupons or signals for sex also arose at the time, with a similar lack of corroborating evidence.[36]
At the St. Marks Baths, for the price of a locker or a room, patrons now get a free condom, enclosed in a package that bears the legendthe contents of this envelope could save your life.
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