Science Explains The Ideal Threesome For Men And Women

By Editorial Staff in Life Style On 15th September 2016

Urban Dictionary defines a threesome as “when a group of three people join together for sexual pleasure.” Notice how there’s no specification of the genders of the people involved. That’s because there’s so many different possibilities for who would be involved. You have female-female-female, male-male-male, male-male-female, or male-female-female. Researchers spoke to almost 300 student-aged people to determine what they thought the ideal mixture of people would be for a threesome, so keep reading to discover the results.

#1 Threesomes.

They're popular, we all know that. They can be the key to unlocking a lot of other doors for any couple. They can also just be a fun activity for three strangers or three friends to engage in. The possibilities are seemingly endless. But Dr. Justin Lehmiller rightfully points out that not a lot is known about what people prefer when it comes to a threesome. Until now

#2 Who.

When you think of having a threesome yourself, who would you picture lying next to you in bed? Apparently, according to Dr. Lehmiller, women and men don't have the same preferences as to who they would want as a third in their threesome. But this isn't too surprising. But now there's research that shows exactly who is involved in an ideal male or female threesome.

#3 One thing to consider.

All of the people surveyed were heterosexual, so this is by no means an all-encompassing answer to the question who is the ideal threesome partner from the male and female perspective. Apparently, almost 300 Canadian college students. None of the participants were virgins.

#4 Also.

The large majority of participants in this study were White and involved at the time in a romantic relationship. According to Lehmiller, "The students were asked to rate how open they were to participating in two types of mixed gender threesomes." The first was two females and one male, and the second was two males and one female. But that wasn't the full extent of the study.

#5 Knowledge.

Students were also asked to determine how important it was that they knew the third person involved when they were having a threesome in the relationship they're in, and also "when they were the third party who was joining another couple," Lehmiller writes. Do you personally care about having sex with strangers? Let us know in the comments.

#6 Interest.

Dr. Lehmiller said he was surprised to see that the researchers found, on average, interest in having a threesome overall was fairly low. People's attitudes about threesomes were all vastly different, though. "While some weren't open to the idea at all," Lehmiller writes, "others were extremely enthusiastic about it."

#7 Men.

This most likely won't surprise you, but "men reported being far more interested in threesomes than women," Lehmiller writes. Men preferred threesomes with two females and one male. But what was interesting is that men and women both felt the same, relatively, about their interest in male-male-female threesomes. "Both had relatively low levels of interest in this kind of threeway," Lehmiller explains.

#8 Surprising.

Researchers had originally hypothesized that women would show some level of interest toward male-male-female threesomes, but were surprised to find out that their interest was relatively low. They thought women would at least be more interested in this scenario than a threesome with one other woman and another man.

#9 Why?

Women weren't more into MMF threesomes, but what gives? Two men might theoretically pique the interest of a heterosexual women more than adding another woman into the mix would. Lehmiller muses, "perhaps there are safety concerns with this scenario that dampen their enthusiasm." Double the chance of getting pregnant. Double the chances of getting an STD. He could be onto something.

#10 Taboo.

But Lehmiller also muses that threesomes may still be seen as a taboo activity by a lot of the women who were surveyed. This could have led them to "underreport their interest in this activity across the board," he writes. But it did matter to people how well they knew the third person in their threesome. Which way do you think people were leaning?

#11 Open.

Lehmiller writes that the research shows men as being more accepting of the concept of a threesome when a friend or an acquaintance is involved, as opposed to a stranger. Lehmiller said this didn't change if the man was inviting a third person into a relationship he was in or if he was joining another couple as their guest star.

#12 Women.

The reaction was a bit different as far as women were concerned. "Women only preferred to know the other people when they were joining another couple," Lehmiller writes. As far as adding a third to their own hypothetical relationship, it didn't matter to women how well they knew their guest star. Some more things to consider?

#13 Pool.

Like we said, the large majority of these students were White. They were all college-age so they were young. And they were all in relationships. These things could all, potentially, predispose them to feel a certain way about threesomes. More research would have to be done with different groups of people to determine if any of these factors predisposed people to feel a type of way about threesomes.

#14 But also...

To each his own. Perhaps they just happened to get fairly unlucky and get a group of people that didn't care too much for threesomes. Again more research is needed. But Lehmiller is in fact very correct in concluding, "not all threesomes are equal in the eyes of men and women."

#15 You.

What about you? Have you ever had a threesome before? Would you, if you never have? What's your ideal threesome formula?