Will Swingtown change swinging as we know it?

[good times]

I posted a bit of my thoughts regarding this in another thread, but thought it would make a good thread on its own.

My question centers on the idea that millions of people who have no clue of what swinging is, or that it really exists, will be watching the show and maybe becoming more enlightened about the subject either through the show itself or by having their interest peeked by the show and exploring swinging further.

My question is, if a significant part of the vanilla population, who previously had no, or very little knowledge about swinging become better informed, will this have a negative or positive impact on swinging as far as we swingers are concerned?

I'll leave it at that for now, so what do you think?

[VegasLee]

Anything that brings Swinging more into the public eye or makes it easier to access changes the Lifestyle.

The Internet changed swinging in a big way about thirteen years ago.

Any time one of the Clubs gets some major press it changes things.

This show, depending on how long it last can change things also. No idea in what ways but I think we will see more people checking out the clubs. This happens when a club gets any major or local press also. You get a few that stick with it but many just coming to see what us "swingers" look like. We are a special group all to ourself you know, we don't look like normal people.

Another thing that will happen is that it also brings us attention of those that feel we should not be doing what we do. That is NOT a good thing. You can get some groups and elected officials that feel we are a good cause to fight this time of year since elections are coming up in November.

As far as SwingTown, people are going to be very surprised if they come to a club expecting what they are seeing in that show. I think many will leave very let down that it is not today like it was in the 70's. Hell, I am let down that it is not what it was in the 70's,

Only time will tell if it is for better or worse but any time you start involving lots of outsiders at one time it normally does not change for the best.

[ncmd_couple]

Lee, you just want to be 30 years younger!

The only constant is change. The show might get some bible thumping politician fired up, but that will be short term. It will attract more people to swinging, some people will be fascinated with it, explore a bit, but no way would they do that! Some will like the lifestyle and stay, some will go. Optimistically, it will make the general population more tolerant. Who knows!

[JustAskJulie]

What Lee said!

[SJK977]

I don't know if it will change anything, but we recently got an e-mail on Swing Lifestyle from a couple who's become interested in swinging after watching the show. Of course, they've never done it before, but are interested in checking it out. We didn't agree to meet up with them, but I referred them to this board and to take a look around to learn a bit about things and to see if they think they are suited for this lifestyle. We'll see what happens.

[cplnuswing]

I don't know that the show will change it, but I wonder if we aren't starting to see another societal shift. Society's acceptance level on things seems to swing back and forth like a pendulum, think the 50s vs 60s, 70s vs 80s. By acceptance I don't mean society as a whole all of a sudden becomes interested in doing it for themselves, but maybe a higher percentage just become a little less concerned with what others are doing.

Over the last year, browsing the women's magazines like Glamour, etc (yes, I admit it, I glance through her magazines every month ) I have noticed several even-handed references to things other than the traditional definition of monogamy. Put little things like that together with a show like Swingtown even making it on the air on one of the major networks, and the times, they may be a changin' (again). Maybe good, maybe bad, but I'm hoping for the good.

[Chicup]

Over all I think it may bring some more couples into swinging who never thought of it, but I don't think it will be a major shift. It may start a few 'what if' conversations with couples who are open to the idea and never articulated it with each other.

Originally Posted by VegasLee

You can get some groups and elected officials that feel we are a good cause to fight this time of year since elections are coming up in November.

Sadly the only group I know who would be 'pro swinging' are libertarians and they never have a prayer. Locally its a crap shoot as I've seen both parties come down on swingers, blue state, red state, didn't matter.

[MN hotdish]

Good question!
Personally I think that it will trigger the curiosity of open minded people &
I think it could bring a better understanding to non-judgemantal vanillas.
I think that for the "haters" it'll just give them an excuse to bring up the topic of swinging so that they can make sure that everyone around them KNOWS that THEY'D NEVER do it because of how filthy & wrong it is.
I actually overheard this excat line of fire in my break room today. GEE... should I out myself @ work, seeing as I'm that hag's superior?

[sweet_tna]

I think more people will be made aware of swinging because of the show. And those that actually develop more than a passing interest in it might start doing their research (which will hopefully lead them here). Some will try, a few will stick it out. Those that are against it will likely use the show as more "ammunition" for their arguments.

Ideally, the overall effect would be just a general acceptance of sexuality in general and a more open minded attitude from society as a whole. But I'm not holding my breath here. I really think the overall impact will be more of a ripple than a wave.

=)

[steversk]

So far we have only discussed the possibility of swinging. We both enjoy the show and it has started more discussions. This is a good thing and I'm sure that it will foster discussions with other people.

[2inSanDiego4u]

FWIW, we usually keep track of how many members are registered on AFF, and we've noticed a pretty big jump since Swingtown started airing, to the tune of about a 15% increase in users! Not sure if Swing Lifestyle has had a similar jump, but Swingtown certainly seems to be acting as a catalyst for the lifestyle.

[lovinher]

I think it may have some affect on those who are on the fence but I don't think it will change anybodies mind who are not. You either have an open mind or you don't. But I suppose it could open a discussion between a couple they might not have otherwise have.

Lovinhim and I were talking about this the other day. With ours friends we may discuss different TV shows that we watch.

"Do you like to watch such and such? You don't? Well you should, It's a great show."

I can't see us admitting that we watch it to vanilla friends or vanilla friends admitting that they watch it. We have friends who already make jokes and comments about us swinging. Telling them that we watch it would definitely add to the rumors.

Now if they could just improve the acting........If it were not for the subject I don't think I would have watched more than 5 minutes of it.

[ViSexual]

Loveinher,
I sort of disagree about the acting. I'm a few years younger than these charactors portray, but they're pretty much like folks were in '76.

OK, about talking about the show..., I work with folks who talk about everything and I'm guessing that nobody but me has seen this show or else they're hesitant to admit they saw it. Interesting!

The main difference between then and now in swinging is that 'then' it was so much more spontaneous. Even with couples you knew before hand that something would happen, you never knew how or what. Nobody discussed that they expected. It was just more of a double date. I liked that. You never knew it would be soft or full swap.

[JustAskJulie]

I've been thinking about the idea of the show bringing swinging more out in the public and I don't really think it will any more than any other shows have done. A few years ago around the time that Oprah did her big show on swinging, swinging was showing up EVERYWHERE it seemed like. I've run across a few reruns lately of some of those shows, but basically swinging was alluded to or mentioned on almost every sitcom containing a married couple, as well as CSI and other shows, and even in several commercials (most of those were discussed in the thread: Great Moments in TV Swinging History

CSI: Episode Title SwapMeet - just replayed on Spike again last night (second time in like a month).

Still Standing: Episode Title Still Graduating - also replayed this last week (and I saw it in reruns within the last few months). The son graduates and the parents decide to turn his room into a new master retreat but don't want him to think they are in a hurry for him to leave so they try to hide what they are doing, when he comes home and hears his parents in the bedrooms with the contractors (a married couple) he assumes they are swingers.

I can recall it on "Yes, Dear" - the two couples were both fighting over their new "friends" a couple that one of them had met and brought home to dinner, only to discover that the couple was swingers... and they were fighting to give the couple to the others.

And then the truck commercial where the two trucks pull up next to each other and the one guy looks at the other and says "wanna swap?"

There are others and most of them are probably in that other thread, but those are ones I can recall off the top of my head... I say all that to say that it seemed to be showing up everywhere at the time and while the Oprah show had a pretty massive effect on our traffic here and on new folks wanting to swing in general, it didn't really change swinging. I don't think this show on its own is going to have more effect than Oprah combined with swinging showing up in so many different places at one time.

[2inSanDiego4u]

Originally Posted by JustAskJulie

I've been thinking about the idea of the show bringing swinging more out in the public and I don't really think it will any more than any other shows have done.

CBS really hyped up Swingtown though. It seemed like every time we tuned in during the past 3 months, there was a little ad spot about Swingtown on CBS.

Here's a link:

Breaking News - THE PREMIERE OF "SWINGTOWN" BUILDS ON ITS "CSI" LEAD-IN AMONG ADULTS 18-49 AND ADULTS 25-54 | TheFutonCritic.com

We're not sure how it will do in the long run, but the type of audience the show is targeting (the CSI crowd) will probably be somewhat interested in at least googling "swinging" and exploring it a little.