College is a place for young people to expand their knowledge of the world as well as knowledge of their selves as individuals by being immersed in a community where learning takes place constantly. This learning continues even in the bedroom, where sex is the subject of experimentation and group work takes on a whole new meaning.
Movies and television often portray college students as party-hard alcoholics who only care about getting laid. This stereotype perpetuates the notion that not only is everyone at college having sex, but they are having a lot of it –and sometimes with more than one person at a time.
According to a survey taken by McDaniel juniors and seniors, four of the fourteen respondents have, in fact, engaged in sex with more than one person at the same time, meaning threesomes, foursomes, etc.
The 2013 Metropolitan Report surveyed over 5,000 people from all over the world and concluded that 1 in 5 people (20%) have had a threesome.
Out of 14 McDaniel students, six know someone who has had a threesome and four have personally done so. Of those four who admitted to participating in group sex, two were male and two were female.
Ten students, five male and five female, had generally positive attitudes about threesomes and are open to trying it someday or, for those who have already had one, trying it again.
A female student responded enthusiastically when questioned about willingness to try a threesome saying, “I am so willing!” while another said that she would only be willing if she were “close to both guys and they liked each other.”
There does seem to be an interesting difference between the assumptions made by girls and guys concerning whether the threesomes will involve two females or two males. Since stereotypes from popular media suggest the most common type of threesome requires one man and two women, the alternative usually preferred by heterosexual females is often overlooked.
One male who admitted to having participated in a three-way explained, “My first experience with a threesome was excellent. I know my partner is willing to try again, so we’re trying to make a second one happen.” The second male student to confirm having had a threesome said that he would do it again because “it was a good change of pace and very enjoyable. There’s more variety than what you would have with a single partner in things you can do and what the other person’s “style” is.”
No males surveyed expressed negative views about threesomes, but females who did usually reasoned that it would mess up a current relationship. One who has previously engaged in a threesome said that she would possibly try it again because “it was fun and pleasing but now being in a relationship complicates it.”
An anonymous sophomore who identifies as a member of the Christian faith stated, “I just really think that sex is something special that should be shared between only two people. For me, sex is all about love and being one with the other person. It would be impossible to feel that if more than two people were involved.”
Based on these reactions, it seems that students actually do care more about interpersonal relationships between the people in their sex lives rather than just having sex with as many people as possible for the bragging rights.
Of those surveyed, most McDaniel students do not consider group sex common in the college setting, though some were uncertain since it is not a topic openly discussed or recorded.
“I don’t think they’re common because it’s hard to find the right people for it,” said one of the students when asked if group sex is common on campus.
“I’m not entirely sure,” another student explained, “I don’t know of too many people who have had one, but it’s possible that they occur.”
Overall, students tend to agree that threesomes on college campuses are not as common as movies and porn make them seem. Yet, apparently, threesomes are not too far from the thoughts of some sexually active McDaniel students who think that the more the merrier.
