General overview

An orgy may involve four or more people of any gender or sexual orientation. The events themselves may be characterized by sex; for example, a straight orgy would involve only heterosexual sex. Some venues for orgies may be intended for a particular group or groups of people; for example, many sex parties in the United States are restricted to women or couples. In the gay male community, there are nightclubs, bath houses, and internet groups that organize and participate in group sex. Different types of orgies may or may not involve switching partners. Some sex clubs, for example, require entrants to come in pairs and do not typically involve actual physical contact between people in different pairs. Orgies may involve a specific set of sexual activities; for example, some involve BDSM, while "vanilla" orgies do not.

Orgies in contemporary culture

In many cultures, public intercourse is considered taboo and is illegal (see indecent exposure); many groups also frown upon sex that is not monogamous. Orgies often take place in private or clandestine locations, including homes, unpopulated areas like forests, abandoned buildings, or private clubs. Sex clubs are often open to members only, while less formal locations (truck stops, wooded areas) may be semi-secret. Group sex also sometimes takes place in nightclubs, bathhouses, massage parlors, or bars, although such places (particularly those frequented by sexual minorities such as gays or lesbians in countries intolerant of homosexuality) are sometimes subject to legal repercussions. Orgies may be a part of other social activities such as parties, although some venues such as gay bathhouses tend to eschew talking.

Prevalence

There isn't much reliable information about orgy-related behavior in the United States in recent times. Information about remote times and places is even more scanty. The Kinsey Reports represent one of the better known data sets. This information, collected between 1948 and 1953, from interviews with about 10,000 people suggests that this kind of sexual activity is uncommon. Many forms of sexual behavior were reported by Kinsey's subjects, but the official Kinsey Reports web site does not mention threesomes, group sex or orgies in the summary of Kinsey's findings. Presumably, such reports were too scanty to mention.

Safety

Since the advent of the AIDS epidemic, group sex is widely considered a dangerous activity, precipitating crackdowns on venues where it takes place. In response to the threat of sexually transmitted infection, some people have begun to organize safer sex parties in order to give people who enjoy group sex a risk-reduced way to participate in it. Such events typically do not involve intercourse or sex without necessary barrier methods such as condoms, focusing on group masturbation, protected oral sex, the use of sex toys, or other activities involving minimal risk of STI transmission. Many venues where orgies often take place provide condoms, dental dams, latex gloves, lubricant, or other tools for safer sex to participants. However, sex involving potential fluid exchange is considered a major risk factor for HIV or other diseases.

Further Reading

Partridge, Burgo A History of Orgies 1960