Do people in a romantic relationship have a similar sexlife when compared to people with a more liberal type of relationship? Recent research among 1,100 respondents suggests interesting differences and similarities.
Conventional vs unconventional sex
Some ‘older’ researches suggest that there is no differences between the sexual activities between people in a steady romantic relationship and those with a fuck buddy (a friend with benefits). They all have the same amount of experience with kissing, mutual masturbation, oral sex, vaginal intercourse and anal sex.
Those older researches didn’t look at less commonly sexual practices however, like BDSM and group sex. Maybe fuck buddies practice group sex more often, because they insist less on exclusivity than people in a romantic relationship? And perhaps there is a better need for trust to practice BDSM, so it’s not likely to do that with someone you hardly know?
In a recent study, that was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality in Atlanta, about 1,100 adults were asked about there sexual experiences. About one quarter had a relation with a fuck buddy, three quarters was in a romantic relationship. Of all respondents, 73% was female and 74% was hetero. Next to the more conventional sexual activities, they were asked about their experience with different forms of BDSM and group sex.
Differences and commonalities
The research confirmed the idea of the older studies. Whether you are in a romantic relationship, or in a more loose libaral one: the experience with conventional sexual activities is more or less the same.
But, as expected, there were differences in the unconventional sexual experiences between both groups. People in a romantic relationship have more experience with certain forms of BDSM, such as bondage (33% of respondents in a romantic relationship have experience with bondage, as opposed to 22% of the people with a fuck buddy). On the other hand, fuck buddies have more experience with sex with multiple persons (17% of those in a liberal relationship have experience with it, as opposed to 9% of the people in a romantic relationship). This difference was partly noticeable bweteen the groups, where respondents said the relationship was monogamous (30% of the fuck buddies and 88% of the people in a romantic relationship). The respondents in a romantic relationship still had the same amount of BDSM experience, while fuck buddies that were monogamous (a minority, obviously) suddenly had less experience with threesomes.
In other words: If you want a sex life with threesomes and group sex, have a fuck buddy. Do you want to experiment with BDSM, have a romantic relationship.
The researchers think that this has to do with the need for good sexual communication between partners, that is necessary for BDSM, while for groep sex you need lees pressure on exclusivity.
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