Shutters close the windows to the outside world, while inside couples are just starting to get to know each other. They are seated on colourful sofas, leather sofas and on stools spread out over pieces of tacky red oriental carpets. A friend of mine had earlier told me about this club and I thought it would be an interesting experience to do some research on swinging, the phenomenon that started in the s as 'wife swapping'.
I did not tell them I wanted to write an article, and went there as a curious onlooker. As I entered the hidden world behind the shutters, some women were dressed in nightgowns, some men wore leather pants, but the atmosphere in general seemed too relaxed for my own anxiety. I was told that with the advent of spring, the club is increasing the number of thematic evening programmes to meet demand.
One conversation I overheard was a couple telling another couple how they like to be dominant in their little master-slave swinging endeavours. Swapping men with her is year-old Elinor, who says she will not take more than 10 men at a time. The room has a big cross on the wall with handcuffs attached to it. They told me that different evening programmes are arranged by member couples, but often there is limited access for hetero-, bi-sexual, and single men and women, with the latter offered free membership.
There are separate gay programmes. Some of the other rooms consist basically of large mattresses on which multiple couples can have sex at the same time. Mirrors surround the room and all you can see is skin going up and down, and moaning and grunting from every possible direction β the intensity of which painted an image of what doomsday would be like, especially with the effect of the sounds of whiplashes. In one room, there were about 10 people engaged in a network of sexual activity, barely saying a word, touching and kissing others as they had sex with each other.
Before the man left the room, he was stopped by another woman who offered to help him - ahem - improve his performance. At this point, I was kindly asked to leave the room if I was not going to participate. I went home and did further research.
