ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses experiences and perceptions of stigma related to threesome experiences. Generally, the findings suggest people were open to telling others about their experiences, but exercised a degree of caution before selectively disclosing to others. Usually, individuals were comfortable in sharing their experiences freely with close friends but would also tell others if directly asked. Behaviours were most regularly concealed from particular groups of people including family, workmates, and those perceived to be judgemental. Overall, negative reactions on hearing of someone’s threesome experience(s) appeared to be less common than positive or indifferent reactions (although these were sometimes still problematic). Accordingly, it would appear that although threesomes were recognised to be a stigmatised sexual behaviour, this stigma did not necessarily translate into lived experience and neither did it frequently have a significant impact on people’s lives. From this perspective it is argued that threesomes may actually have more in common with monogamy than consensual non-monogamy.
