Threesomes and swinging are on most male fantasy lists, but what happens when it goes horribly wrong?
Over the course of my three marriages I have been encouraged by husbands to engage in a variety of interesting (and some downright bizarre) possible sexual behaviors. Of course, I tended to marry sex addicts, so the range of possibilities stretched a lot further than my sensibilities.
Along the way, I’ve been “encouraged” to participate in all kinds of things that became problems later on. Some of these were physically not a good idea, and I won’t go into that!
My first husband liked fantasies. I am quite creative so I was able to come up with all kinds of fun and innocent stories to keep him excited. I became good at playing the part and keeping things spicy – nothing dangerous or problematic there. But then eventually with some of the stories, he liked the idea of making them happen. These included other people.
While I can appreciate the desire to add spice and variety to the bedroom, I’ve discovered through my own (and others) experiences, there are some kinds of behaviors that are a set up for disaster. When you open the door and invite another person into the intimate connection with your partner you are inviting in trouble.
Now, in theory, I will conjecture that there are couples secure enough with each other where they can have flings with other people and not do any perceivable damage to their relationship. I’ve just never seen it happen that way personally…
Dan and Jennifer’s comments:
While this is one experience, Dan and I have seen many successful open/swinging relationships… Even though we don’t agree with with everything in this article, we wanted to publish it to show what can happen when you get into swinging for the wrong reasons.
It is critical to be honest with yourself and you partner. Never allow another person to ‘push’ you into something that you’re not comfortable with. For a swinging relationship to be successful, it has to be something that both partners want, not just grudgingly agree to.
What tends to happen is that one member of the couple is more motivated than the other to pursue the “Swinger” lifestyle. For whatever reason, having one sexual partner for the rest of their life is not appealing, but they like having a life partner.
Therefore that partner encourages the other to participate in this “exciting” adventure of “Swinging”. Then both partners agree to it using certain ground rules.
Unfortunately, most of us are driven by feelings and impulses that have little to do with rational thought. So then here we are, for whatever reason, in a three or four-some with our significant other being sexual, or maybe we are just swapping. Either way, we have added unpredictable dimensions into the intimate setting of our sexual and personal relationship with our partner.
What’s predictable about it is that someone will end up hurt. The “ground rules” will be broken and someone ends up feeling betrayed and hurt. But, because the boundaries of the relationships fidelity were broken by the entire process of “Swinging” already, the “acting out” partner feels like they have done nothing “wrong”.
Dan and Jennifer’s comments:
This is where we completely disagree. It is NOT guaranteed that someone will get hurt.
In a swinging relationship, the only time someone gets hurt is when one person breaks the rules or is dishonest, or is not open about their feelings. It’s critical to communicate openly and honestly about your feelings before, during, and after any sexual experience with another individual or couple.
We can’t say this enough! Swinging or Open Relationships are only for couples who are VERY secure in their relationship and have enough self confidence to prevent jealousy issues. Swinging is NOT a relationship fix…
After all, the injured partner already said it’s “okay” to have sex with other people.
Often this ends the relationship and on painful terms, at least for the partner whose ground rules were broken.
Linda and Mark had been dating for about four years, and they had a very active, passionate sex life. Mark had encouraged Linda to try all kind of things that had been outside the range of her previous history, but because they pleased Mark, Linda enjoyed them. Over time, Mark pushed the boundaries even further. He wanted to experience having sex with two women at one time.
Linda admitted to being curious about what that would be like, so they found a willing partner. For a while, they enjoyed this three-some with jubilance and it added a lot to their excitement for each other. When they were not having sex with her, they were fantasizing about having sex with her. Before long, though, Linda found herself wanting time with the girl alone, without Mark. She didn’t see the harm in it, after all, having sex with another woman was not breaking their marital vows was it?
Unfortunately, Mark did not feel that way when he found them together one night when he arrived home early from work. Mark felt betrayed and could never look at Linda the same way again. Their relationship did not survive.
Dan and Jennifer’s comments:
Duh! Are we the only ones who see the problem here? Cheating is a breaking of trust. Having sex with another person without your partners agreement is cheating! Had she talked to Mark about her feelings, this situation could have been avoided all together.
So to us, this example represents an underlying communication issue. Linda did not feel comfortable sharing her feelings with Mark. That’s what broke them up – not the other girl…
Jane and Richard had been married for about three years when Richard started pushing Jane to go to “Swingers clubs” and see if there was a couple that they both agreed they’d like to engage in sex with. Jane was uncertain, but she went and eventually did find a couple they agreed upon. Richard loved this and told Jane how crazy he was about her and that he was really happy.
Richard bought Jane gifts and seemed to be happier than Jane had ever seen him. She felt good about her choices. One night they went to a bar together, to meet yet another potential “Swinger” couple. But this time only the woman was there. Richard became flirtatious and “handsy” with the other woman. He would pat Jane reassuringly occasionally.
Jane’s heart was broken. From this point, she tried to pull back and change the “ground rules” for their relationship. Richard wouldn’t hear of it, and decided they should separate and re-evaluate their relationship.
Dan and Jennifer’s comments:
So why was Jane’s heart broken? What was she expecting – a night of poker? They were going to meet swingers…
Did she tell him how his made her feel at the time, or did she just get jealous and brood over it the whole evening?
If you’re ever in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable – deal with right then. Letting an issue fester over night, or for days, can ruin your relationship because the jealousy monster takes over pretty quickly and likes to stay in control. Also, rather than backing away completely, perhaps Jane could have expressed her feelings in a non-threatening way and asked Richard to not do that again.
I feel that there’s more to this story than what we’re being told here. It’s rarely one incident that turns the tide…
Again – talk, talk, talk!!! Most of these issues could easily be avoided with a little honestly and open communication.
In both cases, the “Swinging” started out as something “fun and exciting” and ended up breaking hearts. Why?
For one thing, the relationships we have are fragile gifts not to be toyed with in the way we sometimes have a tendency to do. Our connections are more fragile than we think they are and our ability to let someone into our innermost layers is dependent on a lot of factors.
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