Bisexuality in the Swing Community
Male Bisexuality
I would like to begin by saying this: in the time I have spent in the swing community, I have never heard so much as one comment that I would characterize as homophobic. David Schisgall, when asked about homophobia at the Seattle premiere of The Lifestyle: Swinging in America, reported exactly the same thing. Furthermore, as was noted earlier, several independent studies have found swingers to be less homophobic than the general population.
However, when asked about the reason for the utter lack of male bisexual activity at swing parties, Schisgall's best explanation was that, rather than being the result of overt homophobia, it was simply ``not part of the culture.'' My personal assessment is similar.
Nevertheless, as was suggested by the City Attorney's comments following Phoenix's decision to close all of its swing clubs, as well as by the positive response Dr. McGinley received when arguing that the LSO's struggle against the California ABC was similar to the struggle for gay liberation, there may be tremendous value in the swing community being able to more systematically align themselves with other sexual minorities. If NASCA took a sexual orientation anti-discrimination stance similar to their stance against racism, they might create a prime opportunity to begin forging productive new alliances.
Female Bisexuality
In 1984, Dr. Joan Dixon published some fascinating research on female bisexuality within the swing community. Summarizing:
- She noted that the prevalence of sexual activity between females in the swing community is extraordinarily high.
- She assembled (apparently without difficulty) a sample of 50 women for her study, all of whom had their first experience with female-female sex in the swing community after age 30, and none of whom even fantasized about women before these first experiences.
- Her study found that ``the generally positive reactions of these subjects to their first sexual experience with other females after a lifetime of strict heterosexuality ... progressed through repeated experience to an overwhelming general rating of excellent,'' that the ``percentage of those whose masturbatory fantasies at times included other females as erotic sex objects rose from 4.5% to 61%,'' and that every one of the women in her study now self-identified as bisexual.
Male Bisexuality, Revisited...
Dixon noted that ``from the tone and content of the subjects' comments the vast majority of them made it clear that they would not have begun ... [same-sex] sexual activity had not their respective spouses suggested it, encouraged them to do so, and convinced them in various ways that they (the spouses) approved of it.'' This leads me to wonder whether we would start seeing a rapid increase in male-male sex (and eventually male bisexual self-identity) at swing events if female swingers began openly expressing their sexual desire and social approval for men who engaged in sexual activity with other men at swing events. Since watching men have sex together is a commonly-reported fantasy among women, this scenario may not be so farfetched.
