Surprising number of men, women open to multiple partners or spouses

SWANSEA, Wales — So much for monogamy. A new study by researchers from Swansea University in the United Kingdom reveals that a third of men and one in 10 women are open to having more than one romantic partner — at the same time!

The study, which involved 393 heterosexual men and women, uncovered varying levels of “openness” to these arrangements. Approximately 33 percent of men surveyed in the U.K. expressed a willingness to consider the idea of having more than one wife or long-term girlfriend in a committed partnership if it were legal and consensual. In contrast, only 11 percent of women indicated a similar openness to the concept of polygamous marriage.

The research explored individuals’ perceptions of committed partnerships in which they either shared their partner with others or shared themselves. The team examined two specific relationship models: polygyny, where a man has multiple wives, and polyandry, where a woman has multiple husbands.

The study revealed that nine percent of men surveyed were willing to share a partner, while only five percent of women expressed interest in such an arrangement.

“Comparing polygyny and polyandry directly, men were three-and-a-half times more likely to say ‘yes’ to the former than the latter, while women were twice as likely to say ‘yes’ to having more than one partner, compared to the idea of sharing their partner with someone else,” says study lead author Dr. Andrew Thomas in a university release.

Man texting in bed on smartphone next to sleeping wife
(© diego cervo – stock.adobe.com)

Polygyny and polyandry are alternative forms of marriage that involve multiple spouses, and their acceptance varies across cultures. In the United Kingdom, these practices are not legally recognized or widely accepted within mainstream culture, which is based on monogamy.

“Committed non-monogamy has received a lot of attention recently. It’s a hot trend with more and more couples talking about opening up their relationships to include other people,” says Dr. Thomas. “However, these types of relationships are far from new.”

While most people still seek monogamous relationships, the study demonstrates that a significant minority of individuals in the U.K. are open to considering non-monogamous relationships, even though they are currently prohibited by law. Notably, more men indicated openness to such arrangements than women, although there is interest on both sides.

The study is published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

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Comments

  1. Now ask how many women don’t want men at all, would rather have a female partner or no partner at all. THAT will be eye-opening.

  2. Openness – not the way it was designed to work.

    Matthew 19:4-6

    4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

  3. The UK is full of Muslims who have or want multiple wives and the women can only have one, so this is the most biased ‘study’ as you can get. Do the same study in the US, Canada, Australia, Poland, Japan, or even in Russia, China, or ANY other non multicultural country. This is a joke page most of the time.

    1. It’s biased as most Muslims will out grow their previous wife then get another one. Having 4 to 5 in a life time. Still loving the previous partners. I am still fond of my first child’s mother as much as the latest. It’s simply living comfortablely in your human body. I would still be with the first of not for a lack of trust on her part, from our youth. Is what it is. Muslims and specifically India will propel England last the rest of the world. Count your blessings for not being a Nazi Scum state.

    2. I completely disagree. I think it would be the same in Canada and the US and not just because of the Muslims.

  4. What kind of people are they studying? Humanity is so sick today. I feel like I am reading about ancient Rome most days.

  5. My people practiced plural marriage in Utah. The Federal govt has no authority under the Constitution to regulate family life, but they did anyway and made my people stop having multiple wives in the 1890’s. 100 years later, the Federal government now says multiple wives are still illegal but now it’s ok for men to marry men and women to marry women.

    What’s next?

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