THE NETWORKERS
I talked to a couple that was obviously not there for the sex. A few minutes into our conversation, the woman handed me a business card for her photo studio after I told them I was a journalist and producer. She launched into a monologue on the popularity of boudoir photography and suggested I do a story on her and her husband’s studio. The couple left while the party was still in drinks and chatting mode, missing all of the action that came later on.
It isn’t too much of a surprise that people attend swingers’ parties simply to network. The type of people who come to an invitation-only event like this are mostly well-off, since the membership fee isn’t cheap and you generally need to know someone in the circle to get in, so they are typically professionals who could be helpful for business. Hey — nothing wrong with thinking outside the box to get away from the standard, stuffy networking event.
THE PROS
There were a couple of people, both guys and girls, who looked suspiciously too good-looking. These two guys in particular showed up about an hour into the party, looking like Dolce and Gabbana models in black suits. Even though they showed up together, they were definitely not gay and hung out at the fringe of the crowd, casually looking around the room and talking to people who approached them. While a woman can attend most swingers’ parties on her own, men are often required to bring a woman or otherwise not show up at all. So the fact that these two studs were allowed in on their own made their purpose pretty obvious.
Every good swingers’ party needs a few instigators, and the only way to ensure this is to hire a few pros. This does not necessarily mean they’re prostitutes — people like my friend were also paid to be there, but to maintain the ambiance and encourage people to socialize, not to f*ck them.
THE ONES WHO WERE DRAGGED THERE
Among the first people we greeted when we arrived was a young couple in their 20’s. They seemed nice and at ease together. A little while later, when I went downstairs to the bathroom, I saw them in an empty corridor, the girl in tears and the guy looking clueless and amused at the same time. “I don’t want to — ” was the last sniffle I heard from her before I turned the corner. I felt bad for the girl, who I guessed was pulled into this decadent party by her boyfriend.
THE EXPERTS
The mood at the party heated up a couple of hours in when a handful of folks got on one of the beds and began massaging each other. They had their own little thing going — I didn’t venture close enough to participate — but I could hear snippets of their conversation, and they were talking about previous parties and the naughty things they’d done. They later partnered up and openly had sex.
These are the real experts; the people who’ve been to many a swingers’ party and know exactly what they want, how they want it, and who they want it with. A swingers’ club relies primarily on yearly membership fees, so these guys are the life and blood of the party, so to speak.
