I did some research. This time my topic was the swinger lifestyle. Given our penchant for getting hot and talking about other sex partners coming to play, I thought I would look into it.
So far, I am not convinced this is compatible with marriage ā at least not our marriage. Some people seem perfectly happy with their alternative relationships, many were not. I have to admit I am too educated in virology/bacteriology and epidemiology to casually dismiss concerns about disease. I am also a parent, so concerns for my health are matched with a need to be healthy and available to my kids well into their adulthood (and to leave them an healthy inheritance).
I was not thrilled by the average local swinger club. Here I found a number of “houses” where people could gather in a somewhat tired-looking environments to meet up with other members. The club would have you call as a couple, get an “invitation” to a party and pay a membership fee. Then you pack clothing, your own beverages, toys and what have you and arrive at your pre-arranged date to conceivably to participate in group sex, trade partners, watch or just have sex with each other at the party. So far as I could see, the houses themselves were sordid. If I am aroused enough I can have sex anywhere. If I am planning an encounter, I would like the place to be a bit less stale. Even if I was going to have an environment where the entire place is one real live fuckfest in which to get nasty with my husband, I would like for it to be either totally bohemian or a little more sybaritic. I think a bar with a skilled bartender would be nicer than a cooler of hard lemonade. Perhaps even snacks to keep up the energy? Perhaps more “destination” parties would be much more appealing. Vegas and the Caribbean come to mind…
Next I explored the blogs of open marriages, that regularly dabble in extramarital liaisons individually and occasionally together. In some cases the individual affairs occurred when the group event was no longer the new rush. Often, the writing represented the perspective of one partner, so some critical information on dual satisfaction was missing. Regularly, the writer did mention times when boundaries were crossed and conflict ensued.
I wonder if you are really going to make one-sided relationships with people for a rush, isn’t it like a drug? Won’t you want it to keep getting more titillating? Won’t sneaking out on your partner or maybe having the encounters you do not have sanctioned become the next logical step in this process? It seems that breaking the “rules” set down in the beginning as boundaries for the activity were now reaching a point where they were the new, tantalizing forbidden fruit. Now he was sneaking out, doing chicks at the office, having secret partners, and/or or looking at her non-swinger friends with an eye for seduction. He was less concerned about her opinion of his partners. She was seeking her long-term boyfriend in new secret ways, more intimate places, secretly fucking her boss or slyly dabbling in the guy next door. She was craving more time with these men in more dangerous or un-agreed to ways and feeling betrayal if her casual flings had other casual flings.
It was not surprising at all to find that hurt feelings were occurring within many of these arrangements, even though all of them insisted the lifestyle prevented them. These feelings did not seem all that different to me to those you might have if your partner in a closed marriage cheated.
I thought the nearly universal “don’t fall in love, or stop seeing them,” rule was jarring. Jack had an interesting observation: if one of the rules is “break it off if you fall in love,” what part of themselves is this person denying, crushing by doing that? What are you doing to yourself if you regularly open up to the possibility of love and then kill it? It seems that the natural human inclination to bond would get burned out. I don’t think I could completely detach emotionally from anyone that I had fucked repeatedly and had come to crave. At some point he/she would start talking about his/her life and at some point Jack or I might start to give a shit. That sounds like dangerous ground.
Other possibilities for a dedicated couple are encounters with clean and experienced professionals that practice total detachment and strict boundaries. I saw an interesting episode of the Diary of a Call Girl. Here Belle and Ben helped a couple get reconnected, by essentially starting them in a foursome. Early into the swapped-couple foreplay, the husband could not take his eyes off of his wife. He stood up and joined his wife in the bed and Belle and Ben carefully withdrew, watched and pretended to do the same on the same bed. The couple had the foursome excitement, but renewed their attraction to each other.
Other intriguing idea is to attend sex parties for the ability to watch others and fuck each other in public. Here I think the environment might be exceptionally stimulating if the expectations of each person were clearly outlined ahead of time. It might be very good fantasy fodder. Again, I am sure Vegas would oblige.
I might like to have encounters with a couple that is also strictly monogamous, but interested in frankly sexual content, discussions and in separate, parallel play nearby. Making love in the presence of others that are clearly in love with each other and also enjoying each other would have its own distinct thrill.
I have more research to do.