Open relationships and sex parties seem to have been gaining more media coverage in recent years, thanks to changing attitudes about sexuality (and also maybe Fifty Shades of Grey). If you've ever wondered how people really feel about these subjects, a new poll from the Huffington Post and YouGov revealed Americans' attitudes about open relationships and sex parties and the results are pretty fascinating. HuffPo and YouGov teamed up on a survey asking 1000 adults from across the United States about both of these subjects, querying both their viewpoints and experiences. Because of the sexual nature of the survey, 94 people — almost 10 percent — opted out of participating, so the actual results came from the answers of 906 American adults from YouGov's opt-in online panel.
The survey, conducted earlier this month, was based on another experiment conducted by HuffPost's Love + Sex podcast, which traveled to Brooklyn, NY to find out what exactly goes on at a sex party. The diversity of people the hosts saw at the soiree promoted them to find out exactly what the average American thinks about these new hot button subjects. Here's what the survey found:
1. Three-quarters of respondents aren't interested in having an open relationship.
Although non-monogamous relationships are becoming more common, most respondents said they weren't interested in participating in one When the participants were asked if they would ever think about being in an open relationship, 72 percent said "no" and 13 percent said they were "not sure." Only 14 percent of people said yes, with the other two percent not wanting to specify their preference.
2. 14 percent of respondents, however, did have experience with open relationships.
The survey participants were given a definition of an open relationship to be one in which "both people agree to be non-monogamous." They were also told that open relationships can include "each person having other sexual partners, or the couple inviting other people to engage in sexual activities with both partners in the relationship." Only after they were given the definition were they asked whether or not they had ever been in an open relationship. 86 percent of people said they hadn't been; of the remaining 14 percent who didn't say no, 10 percent had been in one before and only three percent were in one currently (the others preferred not to give specifics).
3. Only 9 percent of respondents had attended a sex party...
If you were feeling out of the loop because you have no interest in sex parties, don't worry, because it turns out that not many people do. Americans are pretty conservative when it comes to sex parties too, as only 9 percent of participants had ever attended one.
4. But that doesn't mean they're not interested in attending a sex party.
You might chalk up the last question's result to people not having access to sex parties, but when promoted with the question of if they'd ever like to go to one, only 13 percent of participants said yes. 12 percent were unsure however, so if that maybe turned into a yes for even half of this group, that would put the number at around 20 percent — or about one in five.
If you want to see the full results of the survey, head over to YouGov — they're definitely worth a look.
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