Consider the source on this one. It’s Heednly.com, a website catering to people who prefer being in open relationships.
A new study allegedly straight out of Silicon Valley says conservatives are more likely to swing than liberals. And by swing they mean swinger parties and group sex. By study, they mean they purportedly gathered the information from a survey of 2,800 respondents at Heednly.com. They assure 50 percent were conservative voters and 50 percent liberal voters.
How convenient to be so balanced for a survey.
The PR strategy on spreading the word on this important study is amusing. On day one, publicist Darren Shuster who runs Pop Culture Public Relations in Los Angeles sent a release with this all caps subject line: “CONSERVATI
I spoke with him by phone Thursday to learn more.
So why are conservatives supposedly drawn to swingerdom more than liberals?
“I think political conservatives tend to be more conservative socially and they don’t have as many outlets as someone who is socially liberal,” explained Darren Shuster, a publicist in Los Angeles who’s handling the account. “They are probably suppressed. I think this is safe for them to engage in something that is morally acceptable in that community.”
Shuster is married with two kids and assures me he is not a swinger. Still, he stressed that swingers tend to be a “fairly sensitive community because they have this mutual need for privacy.” On that front, he added, “I think it’s just a safe place to do what you want to do and not really be seen by colleagues, workers, others.”
Asked if he thought conservative readers would be offended by the study, he replied, “Well the conservatives should not be offended because apparently they are into this kind of thing.”
Let’s get to the findings.
Asked about their feelings and experiences with “open relationships” and “swinger parties,” the good folks at Heednly.com, a site that has been down for the past two days but that Shuster confirms is real, say they gleaned a lot about their more conservative respondents. While members joined Heednly.com because of their interest in “open relationships,” not all members are equally interested in participating in group sex or swinger parties.
They found that conservatives are more willing to include multiple women: “Of those conservatives willing to engage in Group Sex and Swinger Parties, more than half (54.3%) were willing to include 2-4 other partners in a single session; for liberals, they were happy with 2 or less (81.1%).”
They asked participants about something they call “extreme polygamy.” In other words, group sex and swinger parties. What they learned: “Mitt Romney voters (ironically, a Mormon, they helpfully point out), who claim to be economically, politically and social conservative, were more likely to engage in Extreme Polygamy.” And the numbers: 76.4 percent of conservative couples said they have participated in, or have attended, swinger or group sex parties; while only 59.8 percent of liberal couples participated or attended group sex parties.”
One thing’s for certain, says Heednly.com, there are more swingers than you think.
While the secretive nature of their sexual practices make it hard to gather stats (I imagine this is difficult for dominatrix studies as well), they say 7 to 8 percent of all Americans agree with the following statement: “I would entertain the idea of having an open relationship but two-way communication must be open and honest.”