Swinging

The English-language usage of swinging for partner-trading sex first surfaced in the 1950s, but the modern subculture coalesced through the 1960s sexual revolution and the 1970s, when on-premise clubs and the magazine Select built the first organised infrastructure around it. Wikipedia's overview of swinging attributes the popular origin myth to mid-century American Air Force pilots and notes that historians have largely dismissed that claim, along with the so-called "key party" trope as urban legend rather than documented practice. A 2018 US prevalence study cited in the same article found that roughly 2.35% of Americans currently self-identify as swingers and 4.76% have done so at some point in their lives.

Internally, the community almost always uses the phrase "the lifestyle" rather than swinging, partly to sidestep the dated wife-swapping framing and partly because the umbrella has expanded well past partner-trading. Practice is usually divided between soft swap (no penetrative sex with outside partners) and full swap, with same-room and separate-room conventions layered on top. Venues range from private house parties to dedicated on-premise clubs, hotel takeovers, and clothing-optional resorts.

Although swinging falls under the broader consensual non-monogamy umbrella documented by APA Division 44, it is generally distinguished from polyamory by its emphasis on recreational sexual contact rather than the formation of additional romantic or emotionally primary relationships. That distinction is contested at the edges, but it remains the standard line drawn by both researchers and most community-facing educators.