ABSTRACT
Swinging will be presently described in more specifi c terms, but the concept of dyadic couples deliberately engaging openly in partner-sharing sex began
to make its public appearance as a signifi cant minority middle-class recreational activity at the beginning of the 1970s. During that period swinging was called wife-swapping, spouse-swapping, mate-swapping or co-marital sex (Peabody, 1982), and was described as an agreement between husband and wife to ‘permit’ sexual relations with other people, usually at the same time and in the same place (Denfi eld, 1974).
