Literature Review # 16

History of the swinger life

In this article it says that swing dating has been going on since the early roman times. Because of its enthusiastic acceptance of orgies and alternative sexual practices. It states that both royalty and nobility in many cultures had consorts and concubines with each other. All though contemporary swingers celebrate those ideals, the actual practice of swinging in the 20th century began differently and was done way different. According to Terry Gould's The Lifestyle: A Look at the Erotic Rites of Swingers, swinging began among U.S. Air Force pilots and their wives during World War II. In this small community, the mortality rate among pilots was really high. Gould reports that a close bond between pilots arose, with the implication that the husbands would protect and care for all the wives as their own, both emotionally and sexually, if the husbands were away or lost. This historical narrative is debatable, however, since it would have been highly unusual for men’s wives to accompany them on any foreign tours of duty. Though the exact beginnings are not agreed upon, it is widely assumed that swinging began amongst American military communities in the 1950s. By the time the Korean War ended, these groups had spread from the bases to the nearby suburbs. The media picked up on them in 1957 and promptly dubbed the phenomenon 'wife-swapping.' It wasn't until the 1960s in Berkeley, California that the first organization, 'Sexual Freedom League', for swingers was opened. The most recent study, based on an Internet questionnaire addressed to visitors of lifestyle-related sites, found swingers are happier in their relationships than the norm. 60% Of swingers said that swinging improved their relationship and only 1.7% said it made their relationship less happy. This study, while enlightening, is of limited accuracy of the swinging population as a whole, due to its self-selected sampling technique. Internet-based sampling procedures create a substantial potential for bias. It is likely that those swinging couples who had stronger relationships were more motivated to complete the questionnaire. Alternatively, the stress that swinging may place on a marriage means that only those with higher than average levels of commitment to their partners are able to remain married whilst swinging. This is what this article was mainly about.

-Joaquin Avalos-