What is swinging?

Swinging is partnered people, often couples, socialising and connecting sexually with others, usually together and usually in a social setting. Think parties, clubs and events more than one-on-one dating. It is one of the older and more organised corners of non-monogamy, with its own etiquette and its own spaces.

Like everything here it covers a range. Some people keep it to the occasional event, some build it into a regular social life, some draw a firm line at certain kinds of contact and some do not. What stays constant is that it happens openly, between partners who have talked it through first.

The social side is a big part of the appeal. For a lot of people it is as much about the community and the night out as anything else.

These are starting points, not rulebooks. For anything that happens in person there is no substitute for reading the room and asking.

This is the starting point for swinging. More guides are coming soon.