Group sex

Group sex is sexual activity involving more than two people. Participants in group sex can be of any sexual orientation or gender. Any form of sexual activity can be adopted to involve more than two participants, but some forms have their own names.

Contents

• Terms
• Types of sex party
• Swinger party/gathering
• Orgy
• Daisy chain
• Health
• Prevalence
• Law
• Media portrayals
• See also
• Notes
• References
• External links

Group sex most commonly takes place in a private sex party or semi-public swinger gathering, but may also take place at massage parlors or brothels or, in some jurisdictions, at purpose-built locations such as sex clubs. In places where non-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 by Kinsey'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 subgenre in pornographic films.

Terms

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.

• Circle jerk: Group masturbation among men, usually sitting in somewhat of a circle formation.
• Daisy chain: Group of participants perform cunnilingus or fellatio on each other in a circular formation, permitting each participant to both give and receive oral sex simultaneously.
• Gang bang: A number of people performing sex acts on one person, either in turn or at the same time.
• Reverse gang bang: Sexual intercourse involving multiple women in which one man is the central focus
• Threesome or three-way: Three people all having sexual relations, not necessarily simultaneously. Not to be confused with ménage à trois (literally, "household of three").
• Foursome or four-way: Sex between four people. Not to be confused with ménage à quatre (literally, "household of four").
• Double penetration: When a person is entered or penetrated in the vagina and/or anus by two people at the same time. This is usually when one person enters the anus while another enters the vagina; however, it also refers to two simultaneous penetrations in the same orifice.
• Spintrian: A term used by Suetonius to describe sexual group practices indulged in by the emperor Tiberius on Capri. ^[4]
• Monogamous group sex or same room sex (a.k.a. soft swapping): Couples engaging in sexual activity in the same room but in separate pairs, without any swapping of partners or other major sexual activity between couples.

Types of sex party

A sex party is a gathering at which sexual activity takes place. Sex parties may be organized to enable people to engage in casual sexual activity or for swinging couples 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:

Daisy chain

A daisy chain refers to a sexual act involving three or more people, during which each person simultaneously has sex with the person beside them in the group, thus forming a chain. ^[9] Some sources consider only groups of four or more people to be a daisy chain. ^[10]

Thus, in an "erotic foursome or partie-carrée", "two couples ... form a chain or Maltese cross carefully alternating man and woman". ^[11]

"The matter of ... erotic or spintrian chains ('daisy-chains')", ^[12] i.e., "of 'spintries' or erotic human chains, ... has been taken to ... permutational development in the appendix of postures to the well-known Manual of Classical Erotology (1824) of the Fichtean philosopher, Friedrich Karl Forberg, and in a Swedish work, Ju fler vi är tillsammans ('The More the Merrier'), by a schoolteacher, Ragnar Aaslund, published in 1966 and intended frankly as a manual of group-sex." ^[13]

Health

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 to sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

From the mid-1980s there was active lobbying against gay bathhouses, blaming them for the spread of STIs, in particular HIV, and this forced closures in some jurisdictions, particularly in the United States. ^{[14] [15]} Sociologist Stephen O. Murray writes that, "there was never any evidence presented that going to bathhouses was a risk-factor for contracting AIDS." ^[16] This statement ignored the fact that few studies had been done. ^[17] Later studies have confirmed a higher risk off STI from bathhouses. ^[18] 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. ^[19]

Proponents claim that venues where group sex takes place often provide condoms, 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. ^{[20] [21] [22] [23]}

Prevalence

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). ^[24]

Law

The Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalized homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age in private in England and Wales; ^[25] 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 the European Court of Human Rights in 2000. ^[26]

Section 20A of the Immorality Act, 1957, ^[27] 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 the Immorality Amendment Act, 1969 and remained in force until it was found to be unconstitutional in 1998 by the Constitutional Court in the case of National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Justice .

A 1996 sexual harassment case filed against Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) highlighted corporate involvement by Mitsubishi in sex parties arranged by managers and other employees. ^[28]

Group sex is illegal in China, due to Article 301 of China's 1997 Criminal Law which bans “group licentiousness”. ^{[29] [30]}

In Canada, in a 2002 decision regarding a case in which three people were engaged in sexual intercourse, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta declared section 159 of the Criminal Code in its entirety to be null, including the provisions criminalizing anal sex when more than two persons are taking part or present. ^[31] In June 2019, C-75 passed both houses of the Parliament of Canada and received royal assent, repealing section 159 effective immediately. ^[32]

Media portrayals

Sex parties, under various names, have been a common focus of moral panics fed by media reports claiming that such parties are prevalent, or growing in prevalence, especially among teenagers. ^[33]

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 the Southern and Midwestern United States were forming "non-virgin clubs", in which they organized and held sex orgies with reports of couples being paired off by drawing numbers from a hat. These claims were investigated and debunked. ^{[34] [35] [36] [37]}

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. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the school ^[38] on behalf of the girls and won a settlement which included monetary damages and a change in the school district's policy. ^[39]

A rainbow party is a baseless urban legend spread from the early 2000s. At these events, females wearing various shades of lipstick reportedly took turns fellating males in sequence, leaving multiple colours on their penises, ^[40] ignoring the fact that in such a situation the colors would blend. Rainbow parties were covered on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2003, and became the subject of a juvenile novel called Rainbow Party. ^[40] On May 27, 2010, the television program The 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. ^[40]

Similar stories concerning teenagers using gel bracelets as coupons or signals for sex also arose at the time, with a similar lack of corroborating evidence. ^[41]

See also

• Bacchanalia
• Orgia (ancient Greek rite)
• Sex positions of groups

Notes

Related Research Articles

Fellatio is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed fellatio, or colloquially as teabagging.

Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer sex or protected sex to indicate that some safe sex practices do not eliminate STI risks. It is also sometimes used colloquially to describe methods aimed at preventing pregnancy that may or may not also lower STI risks.

Swinging, earlier commonly known as wife-swapping, is a sexual activity in which both singles and partners in a committed relationship sexually engage with others for recreational purposes. Swinging is a form of non-monogamy. People may choose a swinging lifestyle for a variety of reasons. Practitioners cite an increased quality and quantity of sex. Some people may engage in swinging to add variety into their otherwise conventional sex lives or due to their curiosity. Some couples see swinging as a healthy outlet and means to strengthen their relationship.

An orgy is a sex party where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex.

In human sexuality, a threesome is "a sexual interaction between three people whereby at least one engages in physical sexual behaviour with both the other individuals". While the term threesome typically refers to sexual activity involving three participants, it has at times been used to refer to a long-term domestic relationship, such as polyamory or a ménage à trois.

A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards gay and bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they have been used for sexual activity.

An open relationship is an intimate relationship that is sexually non-monogamous. An open relationship generally indicates a relationship where there is a primary emotional and intimate relationship between partners, who agree to at least the possibility of sexual or emotional intimacy with other people. The term "open relationship" is sometimes used interchangeably with the term polyamory, but the two concepts are not identical.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are men who engage in sexual activity with other men, regardless of their sexual orientation or sexual identity. The term was created by epidemiologists in the 1990s, to better study and communicate the spread of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS between all sexually active males, not strictly those identifying as gay, bisexual, pansexual or various other sexualities, but also for example male prostitutes. The term is often used in medical literature and social research to describe such men as a group. It does not describe any specific kind of sexual activity, and which activities are covered by the term depends on context. The alternative term "males who have sex with males" is sometimes considered more accurate in cases where those described may not be legal adults.

Sex clubs, also known as swinger clubs or lifestyle clubs, are formal or informal groups that organize sex-related activities, or establishments where patrons can engage in sex acts with other patrons. A sex club or swinger club differs from a brothel in that while sex club patrons pay an entrance fee and may pay an annual membership fee, they only have an opportunity to have sex with other patrons, not with sex workers.

Casual sex is sexual activity that takes place outside a romantic relationship and implies an absence of commitment, emotional attachment, or familiarity between sexual partners. Examples are sexual activity while casually dating, one-night stands, prostitution or swinging and friends with benefits relationships.

Non-monogamy is an umbrella term for every practice or philosophy of non-dyadic intimate relationship that does not strictly hew to the standards of monogamy, particularly that of having only one person with whom to exchange sex, love, and/or affection. In that sense, "nonmonogamy" may be accurately applied to extramarital sex, group marriage, or polyamory. It is not synonymous with infidelity, since all parties are consenting to the relationship structure, partners are often committed to each other as well as to their other partners and cheating is still considered problematic behavior with many non-monogamous relationships.

Plato's Retreat was a heterosexual swingers' club catering to couples. From 1977 until 1985 it operated in two locations in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The first was the former location of the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse that also showcased artists who went on to great success including Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, and Melissa Manchester.

Faggots is a 1978 novel by Larry Kramer. It is a satirical portrayal of 1970s New York's very visible gay community in a time before AIDS. The novel's portrayal of promiscuous sex and recreational drug use provoked controversy and was condemned by some elements within the gay community.

Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth. Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vulva while fellatio is oral sex performed on the penis. Anilingus, another form of oral sex, is oral stimulation of the anus.

A glory hole is a hole in a wall or partition, often between public lavatory cubicles or sex video arcade booths and lounges, for people to engage in sexual activity or to observe the person on the opposite side.

Serosorting, also known as serodiscrimination, is the practice of using HIV status as a decision-making point in choosing sexual behavior. The term is used to describe the behavior of a person who chooses a sexual partner assumed to be of the same HIV serostatus to engage in unprotected sex with them for a reduced risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV/AIDS.

Sex on premises venue (SOPV) is the term used primarily in British and Australian medical literature for the various commercial venues expressly for engaging in public sex, as opposed to spaces such as parks which may be used for sexual behavior but are intended for general public use.

Non-penetrative sex or outercourse is sexual activity that usually does not include sexual penetration, but some forms, particularly when termed outercourse, include penetrative aspects, that may result from forms of fingering or oral sex. It generally excludes the penetrative aspects of vaginal, anal, or oral sex, but includes various forms of sexual and non-sexual activity, such as frottage, manual sex, mutual masturbation, kissing, or hugging.

Cunnilingus is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a vulva by using the tongue and lips. The clitoris is the most sexually sensitive part of the vulva, and its stimulation may result in a woman becoming sexually aroused or achieving orgasm.

Gay bathhouses in the United Kingdom are referred to as "gay saunas", as opposed to gay bathhouses, the term more commonly used in North America. There are gay saunas throughout the UK in most major cities, including eight in London.

References

• "What Parents Don't Know About Their Teen Daughters' Sex Lives" (part of "The Secret Life of Teens"). Primetime , May 18, 2006. ABC.
• Primetime , July 21, 2005. ABC.^{[ full citation needed ]}
• Adkins, Lesley and Adkins, Roy A. (1998). Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece. ISBN   0-19-512491-X.
• Alexander, Timothy Jay (2007). A Beginner's Guide to Hellenismos. ISBN   978-1-4303-2456-0.
• Alexander, Timothy Jay (2007). Hellenismos Today. ISBN   978-1-4303-1427-1.
• Burnet, John (2005). Early Greek Philosophy. ISBN   1402197535.
• Dillon, Matthew (2002). Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion. ISBN   0-415-20272-8.
• Legman, Gershon (1969). Oragenitalism: Oral Techniques in Genital Excitation . New York: The Julian Press Inc.
• Maffesoli, Michel (1993). The Shadow of Dionysus: A Contribution to the Sociology of the Orgy. ISBN   978-0-7914-1239-8.
• Murray, Stephen O. (1996), "Chapter 4: The Promiscuity Paradigm, AIDS, and Gay Complicity with the Remedicalization of Homosexuality", American Gay , University of Chicago Press, ISBN   0226551911
• Partridge, Burgo (1960). A History of Orgies .
• Persson, Martin (1970). The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion. ISBN   0-8196-0273-6.
• Talese, Gay (1980). Thy Neighbor's Wife .
• Weill, Sabrina (2006). The Real Truth About Teens and Sex: From Hooking Up to Friends with Benefits – What Teens Are Thinking, Doing, and Talking About, and How to Help Them Make Smart Choices . New York: Perigee. ISBN   978-0-399-53280-1.
• Wilson, Nigel Guy (2005). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. ISBN   0-415-97334-1.
• Woods, William J.; Binson, Diane (2003), Gay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy, Routledge, ISBN   9781560232735

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Group sex .

• Weinberg, Martin S.; Williams, Colin J. (December 1975). "Gay Baths and the Social Organization of Impersonal Sex". Social Problems . 23 (2): 124–136. doi:10.2307/799651. JSTOR   799651.