Dr. Ziggy's Lifestyle Study

[drziggy 89]

Well, although I concur with what you said I'm afraid that the acceptance of swinging as a main stream, social behaviour will not be that simple. To this day there is still much complaining about Kinsey an his reports on human sexuality, how he biased his population samples, how he had an "agenda" because he was bisexual, etc. There has to be consistent and factual research on swinging, and swingers, before it becomes an "acceptable" alternative to enforced monogamous sexual behaviour for married couples.

I agree with you that there may be some surprises with respect to the results of the study. I'm hoping that the data will supplement, and verify what other studies have suggested, that swingers are not a pathological group of weirdos expressing "sick" behaviours, destroying the fabric of the family, and promulgating the spread of venereal disease. Rather, that they're an heterogeneous group, just like any group in society, which have found a way to strengthen, and add to, their married relationships.

Thanks again for your comments.

Cheers!

DrZiggy

[The Fuse 1,012]

I've just filled out the survey... count one more female.

 

DrZiggy, thanks for your efforts and good luck.

[drziggy 89]

Thank you so much for participating!

Cheers!

[drziggy 89]

Just a quick note to all of you that have participated in this discussion.

As I suggested I approached several on-line swingers dating sites and asked to have the link to the survey made available to the membership (just the link with a brief explanation of the survey)

The only site that responded favorably, and have helped promote the study was Swingers Date Club (SDC). Also, quite a large number of the on-line social clubs were indeed kind enough to advertise the study to their membership

The following sites either refused to carry the link or ignored my queries altogether (some of them refused in a rather rude manner, there was even one that asked for payment...).

SLS (SwingLifeStyle), Swapper, Swingular, PLayful Swingers, Bay Couples, and LoveVoodoo, and even NASCA and the Lifestyles Organization, did not reply to requests for help with the study. Not even a quick note to tell me to go stuff myself...

However, I did contact individual swingers in some of these clubs/sites ( we have memberships therein..) and asked for participation.

Perhaps you choice of on-line membership should reflect which sites support the swinging movement for better understanding and acceptance of this lifestyle. Moreover, your views should be expressed to the webmasters and/or "owners" of these clubs that make money out of swinging but don't seem to show any other concern for swingers' social acceptance.

As you can see, and as some of the topics discussed in this thread have suggested, there is a lack of formal research on swinging. Perhaps, we now know why...!

I am indeed indebted to Julie here at Swingers Board for her support, and encouragement, over the months that took to put this study together.

And to all of you that had something to say about the survey/study/

Thank you

Cheers!

DrZiggy

 

PS: as of this afternoon, there were 1100 respondents.

 

Cheers!

[ShellyM 0]

:kissface:drziggy,

best of luck to you; keep us informed on what you find out.

[drziggy 89]

Just wanted to wish everyone here a very Happy Holiday, a great NEW YEAR with lots of friendship and satisfying sex.

 

As a follow up on the survey...

 

AS o today I have collect 1, 275 responses....WOW:wow:

 

This is the biggest response ever in any of the previous swinging surveys.

 

THANK YOU for your participation!

 

Cheers!

 

DrZiggy

 

:xmas:

[JustAskJulie 2,595]

I've been bad. Dr Ziggy sent me the final report a while ago and I haven't followed through. He asked me to post the link to the final results, so here they are:

 

The Swinging Paradigm

[fun4Ds 1,098]

I looked over some of the results a few days ago. Some I find expected and some not.

 

One of the things I wonder about or missed as I honestly looked briefly was. Whats the ratio of people being compatible with others with different incomes. Those are questions I didn't see in the collection of data. Just a personal Hummmmmm. Like, do birds of a feather flock together. In my personal experience, no.

 

To me, like drama, some things are left at the door. It doesn't matter to us, but does it correlate to the population of swingers as a whole ? An example, statistically this is a larger number than what I know personally.

[rpu3 630]

An example, statistically this is a larger number than what I know personally.

 

Your sample size from your life is probably smaller and potentially "biased" than his 1,500+, so that is kind of hard to compare the two that directly? Your personal sample is not likely to have the same breadth as his much larger sample.

 

rpu3

who clearly spent too much time around The Spousal Unit during his dissertation process

[Chicup 41]

So far I love this study....

 

These findings may appear counter-intuitive since there seems to be a disparity between the social and sexual views usually associated with conservatism. Conservative individuals espouse strict sexual morality and monogamy, which contrasts the non- monogamous sexual behavior of swingers. It would be of interest to research the level of cognitive dissonance of the more conservative elements of the swinging population.

 

Bravo for pointing this out Ziggy, bravo.

 

Though its not cognitive dissonance, its that there is libertarian conservative vrs religious social conservative, very different beasts, maybe I should email the good Dr.

 

I'll be reading the whole thing tonight.

[drziggy 89]

I do think there is a level of cognitive dissonance by which people's main attitudes, if conservative in nature, aren't reflected by their sexual behaviour.I suggest that these individuals compartmentalize sex in a category that differs from political of social views.We have seen this happen within the fundamentalist christian movement where infidelity is no tolerated. However, preachers are the first break in line to frequent prostitutes and the like, or to have extra-marital affairs. "Do as I say and not I as do" is indeed a example of cognitive dissonance.

Look forward to further commentary.

Cheers!

[lustylearning 705]

Dr. Ziggy, there is a difference between moral conservatism and political conservatism. Therefore, cognitive dissonance is not a necessity among conservative swingers.

[drziggy 89]

TRue, and the study does show that. It think that result alone is significant as it is the fact religiosity can be high among a certain group of swingers. One of the purposes of the study was to establish a based line for this population and show that it is not an homogeneous group in many aspects, socially, politically, and otherwise. No other study of swingers has addressed some of these topics. It is indeed a very difficult population to research.

Thanks for the comments.

Cheers!

[Chicup 41]

I think perhaps the problem is not with the concept that some religious swingers are perhaps exhibiting cognitive dissonance, but the usage of the word conservative.

 

It gets rather irksome as a libertarian thinking atheist with a degree in evolutionary biology, to be lumped with ultra religious social conservatives who think the world is 5000 years old because we share the view that the government shouldn't write a lot of checks for people using other peoples money.

 

Its one of those areas where conservative/moderate/liberal are just inferior as labels.

 

I would correct your statement as 'SOME conservative individuals espose strict sexual morality and monogamy, as do some liberals'.

 

Rather than focus on conservative, I would have focused on those with a more orthodox religious faith.

[drziggy 89]

The problem is always with the operational definition of the "label". In a quantitative study where the operational definition is subjective the the interpretation of the the respondent, one has to rely on a general interpretation fo what "conservative", religious", etc. really mean. A qualitative study has usually more validity with regards to the specification, and interpretation, of those labels. Yes, some individuals with social or political liberals may indeed hold more conservative "sexual" views regarding monogamy or lack thereof..

religiosity is explore in this study as well. I was more interested in eventually comparing religious and political views of the participants vis a vis their geographical location. i.e. europeans versus north-americans, perhaps canadians versus americans, etc. I have acquire an extensive data bank, some of which wasn't addressed in the present study.

[Chicup 41]

Just to add, over all I think it looks well done trying to investigate a subject that tends to 'stay indoors' and avoids direct observation.

[drziggy 89]

It is indeed extremelly difficult o investigate swinging and swingers. This study has established me as a bona fide researcher hence I have better opportunities to access a wider audience. The study also has an international flavour which I hope to explore further.

Any and all suggestions for future topics of research are welcome at this time. Ans thank you for taking the time to read the study.

[fun4Ds 1,098]

Thank you drziggy. You have put so much time and effort in this as well as interaction with us here.

[drziggy 89]

Thank you so much. It is my pleasure indeed. The topic of swinging must be researched in great detail. After all swingers constitute a large part of the population and the behaviour and individuals are still stigmatized by the media and society at large.

Cheers!

[rpu3 630]

I see in your dissertation that you disabled the IP address tracking. I know one of the concerns early in the thread was that you would get the disenfranchised or the outright swing haters taking your survey to skew the results.

 

When you did pull down the data, did you see any evidence of attempted skewing, given that you would not have been able to red-flag odd responses from a particular IP address?

 

I'm just curious - a lot of online research I've seen add a lot of controls to their online submissions (such as the depravity scale like at depravityscale.org) while others, like the some reseracher's use of the IAT, there are no subject controls at all (depending on the researcher's intent of course - there are plenty of lab studies on the IAT as well as general online studies).

 

So I was wondering if you did see any odd results after all, in light of some of the original concerns/questions?

[drziggy 89]

Actually, one of the concerns of the IRB was that the IP addresses would ve available hence compromising the anonymity of the respondents. I had no problem with disabling the IP addresses, a tool provided by the survey host. However, I maintained daily watch as the results came in to see if I could detect any unusual patterns of response. Also, the link was made available to the paying members of swingers date club (the only paying swingers site that carried a link to the study, the others had declined...) which minimized (but didn't eliminate..) the possibility of tampering. I was rather disappointing that NASCA and Lifestyles refused to publish the survey link.

Otherwise, there was no other attempt to minimize tampering. The patterns of the responses did not show any anomalies. Data processing afterward showed a very high Alpha as well hence a concurrence of the responses.

I think if care is taken in the methodological set-up and data collection the chance for interference is minimal. Also, since my sample size was very large any individual attempts by nefarious elements to "colour" the results would prove insignificant.

But thanks for sharing your concerns and suggesting IAT and depravity scale.

Cheers!

[drziggy 89]

Forgot to mention, I use the IAT for a class that I teach on the Psychology of Global Prejudice. It is indeed an interesting test.

Cheers!

[rickmccool 23]

Dr Ziggy,

 

The most surprising thing in your survey, to me at least, was that 20% of the men identified as bisexual. Am I reading that right? I think most people realize that there are closeted bisexual men in the swinging community but that's a pretty high number and surprised even me. Do you think that's a correct figure or maybe skewed in some way perhaps by the way you gathered your participants or respondants treating the survey as entertainment and entering flippant answers or just plain out lying.

[drziggy 89]

I'm afraid that that number reflects a previous study I did about 6 years ago. At that time the percentage of males reporting being bisexual was 18 %. The percentage reflected in this study is in line with the percentage of bisexual males in the larger population which is estimated at about 22%. By the way, this wasn't an entertainment survey but rather a strict scientific study. The sample was derived from a population of swingers which seem to be representative of swingers at large. The sheer number of respondents does minimize the chance for tampering.

I'm afraid that the reported percentage does fit the reality of bisexuality among male swingers.

[Speed & Trixie 163]

Just finished reading the study. Interesting stuff, especially for us "academic newbies"

 

I didn't expect to see such a high percentage of female bisexuality -- for some reason, I thought we were in the minority. That got me wondering about the vanilla world. Do you think the % of bisexual swingers (male and female) is higher than the general population? My bisexuality is what started our conversations about bringing another woman into the picture.

 

Trixie

[drziggy 89]

It seems that female bisexuality is higher in the swinging population. However, that is a misleading statement, perhaps better to say that it appears that more bisexual women are attracted to swinging. The incidence of bisexuality among women in the general population has not yet been established in concrete terms, it is estimated that as much as 30% of the women in the general population may engage in bisexual behaviour at some point in their lives. AS for bisexual males, the numbers in the study seem to be about correct although, as with the women, it is very hard to get a true percentage.