group sex

Group sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. 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.

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. 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.

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.
*

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

.
*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:

Swinger party/gathering

A swinger party or partner-swapping party is a gathering at which individuals or couples in a committed relationship can engage in sexual activities with others as a recreational or social activity.

Swinger parties may involve various group sex activities. Partners can engage in

penetrative sex

, known as "full swap", or choose to "soft swap" in which they engage only in non-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. "Soft swinging" is when a couple engages in sexual activities with only each other while other couples perform sex acts in the immediate vicinity. Technically this is a form of exhibitionism rather than "group sex" per se.

Orgy

An orgy is a gathering where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex; and a bunga bunga orgy is an orgy in which participants have sex underwater, such as in a

swimming pool

or a

hot tub

.

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. Some sources consider only groups of five or more people to be a daisy chain, and some define the term to require all participants be female except one male.

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

"The matter of ... erotic or spintrian chains ('daisy-chains')", 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."

Gender notation

A system of initialisms has evolved to describe the variety of group sex arrangements, using the letters ''M'' (for ''male'') and ''F'' (for ''female''). These notations have appeared in erotic literature and film descriptions, member profiles in online communities, and personal ads.

Adjacent letters are sometimes used to signify sexual contact between the participants represented by those letters, though this does not necessarily mean there is no contact between the other participants. For example, ''MMF'' might indicate a

ménage à trois

of two men and one woman in which the center male has sexual contact with the other male and the female, and in which it is not specified whether there is contact between the female and the other male. ''MFMF'', on the other hand, implies no same-sex contact.

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. Sociologist Stephen O. Murray, writes that, "there was never any evidence presented that going to bathhouses was a risk-factor for contracting AIDS." 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.

Proponents point out that venues where group sex takes place often provide

condom

s, dental dams, latex gloves, lubricants and other items for safer sex. 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.

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).Sexual diversity in the United States, 2015 survey
/ref>

Law

The Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalized homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age ''in private'' in

England

and

Wales

;"From Section 28 to a Home Office float - Tories come out in force at gay march"
''The Guardian'', London, 3 July 2010. 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.

Section 20A of the Immorality Act, 1957, commonly known as the "men at a party" clause, was a

South Africa

n 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.

Group sex is illegal in China, due to Article 301 of China's 1997 Criminal Law which bans “group licentiousness”.

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.

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.

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 to return to school until each had submitted to a medical examination for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, and school officials were allowed to examine the results. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the school on behalf of the girls and won a settlement which included monetary damages and a change in the school district's policy.

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,Lewin, Tamar (June 30, 2005)
"Are These Parties for Real?"
''

The New York Times

''. Retrieved August 27, 2009. 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''. 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.

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.Mikkelson, Barbara (2003)
"Sex Bracelets"
snopes.com. Retrieved December 22, 2005.

See also

* Bacchanalia
*

Orgia

(ancient Greek rite)
* Sex positions of groups

Notes

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.
* Adkins, Lesley and Adkins, Roy A. (1998). ''Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece''. .
* Alexander, Timothy Jay (2007). ''A Beginner's Guide to Hellenismos''. .
* Alexander, Timothy Jay (2007). ''Hellenismos Today''. .
* Burnet, John (2005). ''Early Greek Philosophy''. .
* Dillon, Matthew (2002). ''Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion''. .
* 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''. .
* Partridge, Burgo (1960). '' A History of Orgies''.
* Persson, Martin (1970). ''The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion''. .
* Talese, Gay (1980). '' Thy Neighbor's Wife''.
*
* Wilson, Nigel Guy (2005). ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece''. .

External links

*

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