The first time I heard....

[JustAskJulie]

I don't remember when I first heard the term swinger, but I can't say I recall any question as to what it meant. I do recall the first time I realized I knew someone who had an "open marriage" as they called it. It was a guy that I had known in HS who had gotten married young (we were all under 20 at this point) and he and his wife were very open about their open marriage. Somehow even though I had never been introduced to such a thing, I knew what that meant. To this day I don't know exactly to what level their marriage was open (if they were swingers, or if they just had an open door policy to do who and what they wanted).

What do you recall being your first introduction to swinging?

[LikeMinds321]

My introduction was through a magazine article. Don't remember what magazine. I think it was during the 80's and the article was accompanied by plenty of BIG pictures that made as much impact as the article.

I was disturbed by the whole thing.

I remember one picture of two couples naked in their backyard hot tub. There didn't seem to be much privacy where they were and it was the middle of the day. I remember thinking "their neighbors would see them, what are they thinking!" Funny now to think back to that.

Something that I clearly recall is the article's mention of their 15 year old son knowing they swing and I got the impression that the kid hung around when they had their swinger friends over (of course I imagined the worst, that they swung in front of him).

The whole article seemed like it was written for shock effect, and it certainly shocked me.

LM

[shymxcpl]

I was first exposed to this idea when one of my friends from school got an old 70's car for his birthday. He was very excited. The clunker had a bumper sticker on the back that read:

"I'm a Freestyle Swinger"

After riding that car a few times we learned what it meant. He didn't peel it off. Of course we were all fresh out of Jr High so it was kind of cool. I remember I thought it was sick!

I imagined walking in on my SO with another man and the rage I would feel... Now that I think back I laugh about it but I used to be extremely jealous and possessive. How times change!!

[Swingercast]

I was 16 and working at a movie theatre. The manager (married man in his mid 30's) was always leaving with the assistant manager (single female, late 20's) after work.

I walked in to the office one day to turn in receipts and they were kissing/embracing.

They saw I was a little shocked and I guess they felt compelled to explain the situation to me. I certainly did not ask.

They didn't call it swinging. It was an "open marriage." I never walked in on them again but I did meet the manager's wife and grew accustomed to watching them all 3 leave together after work.

John

[steversk]

I probably first heard the term in the 60's reading my dad's Playboys. Being married in the 70's of course we were aware of it and discussed it, but never participated. We got very friendly with several couples at parties we hosted, but it never got to full swinging.

[funcpl4life]

Well, I got exposed to it when my very very very square parents alternately giggled and fretted over the name of their car: Dodge Dart Swinger.

I couldn't figure out why it bothered them and *made* them explain it to me.

Mr. FC4L

[Tia Vampire]

I thought it was something of the past or something only the rich folk participated in. Not until I started researching about it, I found out that it was still very active and there were people from all walks of life involved in it.

[des1re06]

We were at a resort in Mexico, Blue Bay Getaway (now called Temptations) and the husband of a couple approached me about his wife's interest in me.

It started our conversations about swinging ourselves.

Mrs. D

[Pepper & Drew]

We had watched an HBO special on swingers. But, the first time that I actually thought about "real people" being swingers was when Drew & I were at a strip club and we got separate lap dances. When we got back to our table, Drew said that his dancer had asked if we were swingers. I replied, 'we look like we could be swingers?' I guess it was the first time I thought of swingers as normal folks.

Pepper

[two4youinswva]

The first time I remember hearing the term was in high school. A girl I dated told me her parents were swingers.
I was somewhat aware of what that was, and I promptly decided that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard of.

I didn't start changing my mind about swinging until I was in my late twenties.

[2aussies]

I - Mr Aussie - was good friends with a couple who always appeared to be totally in love with each other. Then I got a call one Friday afternoon invitying me to dinner. After a few drinks the husband said: "you know, we're swingers." I thought playground equipment.
Then they explained and took me into their bed. No playground equipment. 30 years later I was able to tell my wife about the experience and now we're in the lifestyle too.

[Nudesailing]

since we are very old, lol, we were in college in the 60s and sex was very open, we often laugh that we may have had sex before we ever officially met but we are not sure, oh the 60s sure miss them. it was called open marriage, we first heard the term swingers when we went to a Club Med in early 70s and met a couple from Marin County Ca. and they were very proud of the fact that they were swingers. that was the first time we thought of it as swinging....

[willyoats]

We were married in '63 and had essentially an open marriage from the beginning. My wife had one sex partner for a few months. I had a few soft encounters but no intercourse. Her lover tried, in vain, to get his wife and me together.

Then for a long time we didn't have any more sexual contact with others. After about 25 years I began to want sex with other women. We talked about it quite openly, and that's when we started using the term "swinger" regularly. We agreed to go to a swing club, and that's how we started a delightful swinging "career."

My wife stopped swinging a few years ago, but I still have another partner whom I see several times a year. My play dates are usually on the days when my wife is out for volunteer activity or her bridge game. Somtetimes when she comes home the three of us have lunch or go for a boat ride or just sit around and shoot the breeze. It all works out very well.

[cplnuswing]

Can't remember the exact time I heard the term, but it was probably from a book, and it didn't take long to grasp the concept, although it wasn't an entirely accurate one until we got involved ourselves many years later.

The first contact with kinda, sorta, maybe they're swingers was from a girl I dated in high school. Her parents had divorced several years earlier followed by a somewhat nasty custody battle. One of the rumors flying around town at that time was the father and stepmother had "key parties" at their house. We talked about it out of curiosity, and while she doubted the parties at their house part, she said she wouldn't be surprised if there was at least some truth to the story. It didn't bother her a bit though.

[sweet_tna]

I was just out of college, and Mr. Sweet and I were watching The Dinner Party. I didn't totally get it, but that was my first exposure to open marriage/swinging. The next time was last year when our friends confided in us that they'd begun swinging.

=)