The propensity for people on the far left to engage in partner swapping and group sex may be down to their belief that property is theft, and populist-right wingers enjoy kinky sex because their willingness to reject feminism and social norms in politics also extends to the bedroom, a new study claims.

Commissioned by “libertine social network” Wyylde, the study of 4,000 French individuals found that people on the far left are much more likely than the average Frenchman to share partners and have group sex, while Front National voters are more inclined towards sexual domination, spanking, and practices polling company IFOP says are derived from “porn culture”.

“It is in the electorates of the ‘protest candidates’ that one finds a greater proportion of people who engage in more obscure and transgressive sexual acts,” commented IFOP.

“[It is] as if their rejection of ‘the system’ is linked with a greater ability to overcome society’s prevailing standards of sexuality,” the polling company added.

People situated “to the left of the [traditional] left” on the political compass are “distinguished in particular by their experimentation in practices of a libertine nature,” the study said.

“Having a threesome” and partner-swapping are examples given in the commentary, which highlights that the proportion of swingers amongst far left voters (23 per cent) is more than double the average in France (nine per cent).

Other sexual activities favoured by the far left, according to the research, are “encounters which lack any emotional dimension — such as one night stands”, and types of ‘polyamorous’ relationships in which participants each have multiple sexual partners.

The tendency amongst left wing extremists to swap and exchange their sexual partners could be driven by their “Proudhonian concept of property issues”, suggested IFOP, referring to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the anarchist theorist most famous for asserting that “property is theft”.

On the populist right, the research found that respondents backing Front National candidate Marine Le Pen are more likely to engage in practices IFOP says are related to “porn culture”.

“Contrary to popular belief, voters on the extreme right are not sexually conservative in reality”, the study states, noting: “Le Pen voters are generally some of the most likely to engage in transgressive practices.

“The research shows that Front National sympathisers are distinguished by greater experimentation with ‘hard’ behaviours derived from pornography such as spanking, facial ejaculation, and ‘penis slapping’.

“Le Pen voters are generally less influenced by feminist culture,” IFOP suggested. Its research found that 23 per cent of Front National voters reported having received a slap from a partner’s penis, compared to the national average amongst women in France of 13 per cent.