"The Personnel Security Committee of the U.S. Government Security Policy Board approved this promgram as a valuable tool and encouraged its use by al U.S. overnment agencies that make personnel security decisions. This program was developed by the Defense Personnel Security Research Centre. It has beeb reviewed by DoD Public Afairs and approved for public release. This version 2.2 dated July 2002."
(Much more up to date is this excerpt on swinging from the Promiscuity section of the US DSS's guidelines on vetting potential US Government employees for security risk. Bear in mind that the research for its conclusions was conducted in recent decades among predominantly middle-aged American swingers.)
Promiscuity is a potential concern because it may create circumstances that leave an individual open to exploitation or manipulation. To the extent that it is concealed or the individual is ashamed of the behavior, it may create vulnerability to influence or coercion. Given the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, extreme promiscuity may indicate a propensity for high risk behavior, poor judgment, or that sexual behavior is out of control.
Group Sex and Swinging
Group sex takes various forms including threesomes, orgies, and partner-swapping or swinging. A common element of all group sex is that sexual activity is pursued as recreation, rather than as an expression of emotional commitment to another person. One study estimated that 24% of single males and 7% of single females have engaged in some form of group sex, although most did this only once.
Wife or partner-swapping is a form of group sex often called swinging. Swinging is an attempt to reconcile two seemingly conflicting desires--the desire for sexual variety and the wish to maintain a stable marriage. As a general rule, it is an activity or lifestyle that couples engage in together as part of their relationship, although singles may also participate. Recreational sex of this type may take place only in private with close friends or with strangers at organized events held for that purpose. Some couples have rigid agreements as to when, where, and what is permissible, while other couples have mutual agreement on complete sexual freedom. For additional information, see Research on Swinging.
Group sex of all types raises moral issues for many people. Whether or not it raises security concerns depends upon the type, frequency, recency, and circumstances of the activity.
Depending upon recency and frequency, participation in any form of group sex may contribute to a decision against security approval if it is part of a pattern of dissolute behavior (drinking, drugs, gambling), high risk behavior, or emotional immaturity. It may not be a significant security concern if pursued discretely, and if subject shows no other behavioral weaknesses and medical evaluation indicates no emotional instability.
Potential for influence or coercion may not be a significant security issue if the swinging is a consensual activity with one's spouse or primary partner, and if participants make no great investment in secrecy. Swinging in private with a few close friends is of less concern than attending a swingers' club or having a number of anonymous contacts.
Valid research on psychological attributes of swingers is very limited. What little research is available, combined with anecdotal evidence, suggests that swinging may be one of several unusual varieties of sexual preference that are not necessarily associated with emotional disorder. Psychological or psychiatric evaluation would be appropriate prior to approval of any case in which group sex is an issue.
Research on Swinging
Some research suggests that 2% of all married couples, mainly middle class couples with children, have shared mates at least once during their marriage, but there are no valid data on how many couples do this regularly. The Kinsey Institute speculates that perhaps 0.5% of married couples engage in this practice on a regular basis. The North America Swing Club Association reported that as of 1990 there were about 200 swing clubs in the U.S., most of which were open to couples only. As many as 3,500 have attended a popular, annual swingers convention.
To learn more about swingers, Dr. Brian Gilmartin compared 100 swingers in suburban Los Angeles with a matched control group of 100 non-swingers of the same age living in the same neighborhoods and with the same socioeconomic background. Similar studies have been done with swingers in the Chicago and New York areas.
Gilmartin found that swingers were three times as likely as non-swingers to come from broken homes, and they generally had a less happy childhood and adolescence. Their parents' child-rearing approach was either laissez-faire with no rules or authoritarian; in either case there was not much care, respect or compassion for the feelings, needs, or individuality of the children. Nevertheless, there was little evidence of loneliness or social isolation during the swingers' formative years or later. As children and later as adults, swingers regarded good friends as more important than family, and they interacted with their friends substantially more frequently than non-swingers.
Swingers in general, but especially the wives, were a great deal more alienated from their parents and other relatives than non-swingers. Up to age 25 or so, those who became swingers might have tended to be less stable and content than others, but after they successfully grappled with the problems of their youth, the swingers emerged with a sense of personal happiness, self-esteem and adjustment to life which at the very least was equal to that of the non-swingers. The swingers were considerably more outgoing than the non-swingers and more likely to rate their health as "excellent."
A strong finding of the Gilmartin study was that, as adolescents, swingers experienced all forms of erotic and romantic behavior at an earlier age than non-swingers. This generally correlates with a life-long, stronger-than-average sex drive. Swingers were far more likely to have experienced divorce; many married young and divorced soon thereafter. Swingers were as happy or happier with their current spouses than the non-swingers. Swingers considered themselves monogamous from the standpoint of emotional and psychological commitment to their spouses, and they had intercourse with their spouses a great deal more frequently than the non-swingers.
Many swingers (38%) first met their spouses at swinging singles gatherings; in other words, the swinging preceded the marriage. Almost as many swingers as non-swingers had children, and most swingers said they would be pleased if their children adopted the same lifestyle; in many cases the parents had already facilitated their children's introduction to swinging.
One serious problem with the Gilmartin and other studies of swingers is that the sample is limited to currently active swingers; the unsuccessful swingers had dropped out. One study found that about three quarters dropped the activity within one year. Another found that many couples tended to gradually expand from swinging, in which the couple participated together, to individual sexual involvements and long-term intimate relationships with others.
