Where Three is a Couple: Young Australians Rejecting Monogamy

A recent survey by Joseph Banks University has found that the nature of teenage sexual relationships in Australia is being turned on its head.

Lead researcher Dr Leona Cheng has found a significant increase in young girls participating in bi-sexual relationships, while sexual patterns for young boys have reportedly remained relatively unchanged.

The Banks University study surveyed over 1000 Australian teenagers from the ages of 14 to 19, equally split along gender lines.

Previous studies in this area found an overall consistent preference towards hetero-sexual monogamy, amongst both young males and females. Although this pattern was expected to soften, few in the study expected the level of change that was recorded.

Dr Cheng said that “the results of this survey were quite unexpected, not only in terms of the shift, but the significant extent of the shift towards bi-sexuality.”

Dr Cheng claimed that what was most remarkable was that this shift was completely one-sided. “Young males have barely changed in their sexual patterns, especially when it comes to the stigma against male bi-sexuality and male homosexuality.”

“Females however seem to have accommodated a more fluid type of sexuality, moving from male partners to female partners quite seamlessly”, Cheng says.

The report also found that young female girls claim to have up to one and a half times more sexual activity on average than boys during their teenage years.

Cheng attributes this difference in sexual activity between genders not only to the female bi-sexual factor, but also to an apparent sharp increase in masturbation amongst teenage girls, closing in on the gap with boys.

The survey, which provided anonymity for the respondents due to the sensitive nature of the questions, found that up to 75% of teenage girls admitted to being sexually attracted to other girls, the majority of these having already engaged in some form of bi-sexual contact.

In a related study by PhD student Rodan Castro, 7 three-way couples from the western suburbs of Sydney were interviewed on their unconventional relationships. These unconventional couples comprised one heterosexual male and two bi-sexual females, in what Castro describes as the onset of a new relationship category in Australia, the Trouple.

Castro claims that more relaxed sexual attitudes along with the economic stresses of modern city living have combined to compel many couples to open to and often seek a third partner in their relationship, almost always being an extra female.

Trouples typically share one residence and one bed, but the male is intimate with both the females, while the females are bi-sexual and are intimate with the male and between themselves.

Ben is a 28 year-old IT service-desk officer who has been in a consensual 3-way relationship with Lisa and Janice for over a year. Ben was originally in a long-term relationship with Lisa, but through the internet they met Janice and the three of them haven’t looked back since.

Ben claims that Trouples have the best of both worlds, but accepts that petty jealousies and tensions still exist and need to be constantly worked on.