Review: The Secret World Of Swingers on VH1
Allie and I finally got around to watching this show night before last. We’ve had it queued up in our TiVo for a week or two, and we found some time to have a look.
I have to admit that the entire time I was watching, I was waiting for the “punchline.” You know, some condemning thoughts from the narrator or an “expert” giving some parting shots on how swinging wrecks relationships, or something to that effect. Instead, the show stuck pretty much to the three different couples it was spotlighting: a newbie couple in NYC headed to a Halloween swing party; a veteran hardcore swinger couple headed to the same swinger party; and a seasoned couple from Pennsylvania. The show gave each couple equal time, and showed how different their experiences are. After heading to the party, the male half of the newbie couple realized that swinging really wasn’t his scene–the couple broke up soon after (they’re weren’t married). The hardcore couple hooked up with some friends at the party, and our small-town Pennsyvania couple found a great encounter as well.
We both thought that the show stayed pretty positive. It didn’t try to present swinging as either good or bad, but instead portrayed it as just something that’s out there, as well as a lifestyle that’s growing in acceptance and popularity. There were a few good scenes of people making out at the party, as well as in a motel room.
We were encouraged too by VH1 showing couples that were generally our age: Gen X’ers, and not middle aged. Nothing against that age group, it was just a nice change of pace to see folks our age, and not from our parents’ generation. We’ve seen too many shows on the lifestyle that spotlight people in there 40’s and 50’s. It was just refreshing, is all. Of course, swinging is definitely a lifestyle that cuts across age, race and status bonds and barriers. The show illustrated some of the jealousy issues that do exist, especially with new couples. However, the couples that were successful demonstrated that it is possible to separate love from sex, and just have a good time!
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Posted by David | Oct. 15, 2004 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
