With so much threesome talk on the interwebs and all up in your Netflix queue (we’re looking at you, Frank and Claire Underwood), you’d think that everyone is getting their ménage à trois on these days. But new research suggests that’s not necessarily true.
An actual scientific survey of 274 heterosexual people aged 18 to 24 found that 24 percent of men and 8 percent of women said they’ve already had a mixed-gender threesome (or a ménage in which at least one man or one woman are involved). So, no, the entire world isn’t having threesomes without you. (Or with you, for that matter.)
Related: Should you have a threesome? 4 things you need to consider
The survey results, which were published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, did, however, find that a good portion of men and women really dig the concept, regardless of whether they’ve actually engaged in a threesome before. Specifically, 82 percent of men and 31 percent of women said they’re interested in having a threesome. “Compared to the women, the men reported significantly more positive attitudes and greater interest … in mixed-gender threesomes,” researchers wrote in the study. (We’ll give you a moment to get over the shock from the news that way more men are into this idea than women.)
Another interesting nugget: Men were more likely to want to know the third party, while women said they only cared about knowing the other people if they were the additional partner.
We just wanted to point out a few more things here: First, it’s one thing to think the idea of a threesome is hot, but it’s something else entirely to actually do one. Plenty of people fantasize about having sex with a stranger, for example, but few actually do it.
Related: What to do with the other guy in a threesome
Plus, there’s a huge gap between the percentage of men who said they’ve had a threesome and the number of women who said the same. While it’s possible these guys are just getting down with women older than the ones surveyed (or another dude), it’s also equally possible that they’re, um, lying.
Just a little something to keep on the back burner in case you feel out of the sexual loop.