Swinging History

Posted October 28th, 2008 by south

In much the same way as gay no longer means happy and carefree, swinging no longer makes reference to something being groovy and vibrant, like in the “swinging sixties”! There is much debate about how wife swapping came to be known as swinging but let’s start there!

A popular history tale is that “wife swapping” started with US airmen in the second world war, where wives would have sex with other airmen on the base while their husbands were away or possibly dead. This rapidly spread to off-base suburbia and the media of the time nicknamed the activities as wife swapping.

One view on the term swinger is that “swinging” was first used by a church minister who was appalled by non-monogamous behaviour saying that he had heard that many married couples were swinging from bed to bed like monkeys, his belief that these actions were unique in society are a little off the mark when you consider the orgies that would regularly take place in not only early Roman and Egyptian times but also in French royal courts and look at the antics of Kings and Queens of the past!

By the 1970s it was well known that wife swapping or “key parties” took place and were common in the UK as well as America, where married couples from a particular neighbourhood would meet at each others houses place car/house keys into a bowl and wives would pick out keys and the husband that claimed them could be her sexual partner for the evening. This image of wife swapping has always seemed a little seedy and looking back you can see why modern day swingers prefer not to have this label attached to them, after all in a non-sexist world wife swapping does imply the woman is a male possession to be used!

Certainly by the 90s with greater sexual freedom and non-married couples indulging in this activity meant that wife swapping really was an outdated term which no longer accurately described the activity of swinging, especially as many single people also now joined in, be it single females many bisexual and single guys for threesomes as they become known. Although even today many couples and the press still refer to this “lifestyle” as wife swapping.

Although there has been a long association in the UK with wife swapping it is the British reserve that has kept the activity behind closed doors, a dirty secret if you will. Unlike the continent where swingers clubs opened up in places like Spain, Holland & Germany with the full backing of the community and authorities any such clubs in the UK have had a hard time becoming established, with community action groups being set up by narrow minded busy bodies who probably wouldn’t know a good time if it jumped out at them!

Although the growth of the internet has certainly made it much easier for couples, singles and groups to contact others for the purpose of meeting for sex, in what ever form they choose, unfortunately attitudes in the UK and US still prohibit to a large extent the openness that this lifestyle can have!

However the more swingers there are the better & attitudes towards recreational sex will have to change!

Tags: history, swingers, swinging, wife swapping