Is Swinging Bad for Your Mental Health?
Study finds swingers aren’t as happy as you may think
Every time I think about swingers, I always assume they’re some of the happiest people in the bedroom. And why not? They’re acting out their desires, always have variety in their sex lives, and have partners who are about as open sexually as you can get. So obviously, they’re thrilled with their lifestyle, right?
Not necessarily.
Although there may be some truth to my notion that swingers are blissfully getting it on in the bedroom, a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that there is a lot more to this story than meets the eye. In fact, although swingers may seem to be having a good old time swinging off the chandelier every night, they may actually deal with mental health issues because of the stigma associated with their lifestyle.
“People in consensually non-monogamous relationships do indeed report experiencing stigma in a variety of ways,” lead researcher Elizabeth Mahar explained in a statement. “Furthermore, this experienced stigma is associated with psychological distress.”
In a study of 372 people in consensually non-monogamous, or CNM, relationships, researchers found that 40 percent of them have experienced some stigma because of their lifestyle…
