New research to shed light on group sex in Canada

A bedroom door is seen in this image from Shutterstock.com. (Shutterstock)

This Valentine’s Day, B.C. researchers are putting the less understood practice of group sex in the spotlight by launching a national survey they hope will improve health care for those who partake.

The University of Victoria study is the first-ever Canada-wide survey dedicated to group sex.

“We just don’t know very much about group sex in Canada, period, and there are some really big gaps around the health equity for this underserved population,” said member of the research team Aki Gormezano, a postdoctoral fellow at UVic’s School of Public Health and Social Policy.

He told CTV News there has been plenty of research focused on sexual health care like STI prevention for other sexual minorities, such as queer men, but none have taken into account the full range of people who may participate in group sex.

The team hopes the survey will fill that gap by bringing in responses from people with a wide diversity of experiences and identities.

Questions focus on three main themes: what makes people’s experiences with group sex positive; what participants do to keep themselves and others safer sexually, emotionally and physically; and what people’s experiences with health-care providers are like. Specifically, participants will be asked if they disclose the fact they have group sex to their doctors, and if so, what quality care they receive.

Another section of the survey will ask in-depth questions about participants’ best or most recent group sex experience, “just to better understand what group sex looks like in a Canadian context, in the very bottom-up scientific perspective,” Gormezano said.

Other aims of the project, he said, are to improve STI care for people who practice it and challenge the negative stereotypes and stigma around group sex.

“One of the pieces that really inspired the study is some of the interview work that we’ve done in the Victoria area with people who participate in group sex,” he said. “One of the things we’ve learned is, contrary to stereotypes that position group sex as a hedonistic pursuit just entirely about sexual gratification, it really seems like a lot of group sex takes place in the context of community, really centers belonging and connection, and that people are doing quite a bit to keep themselves and others safe already.”

The survey is open to anyone who lives in Canada, is 18 or older, and has participated in group sex at least once in the past five years.

“We’re very open in terms of what we mean when we say group sex, where we have a very loose definition,” Gormezano added.

The survey is part of a wider initiative called The Group Sex Project, and in addition to traditional academic articles the team hopes to put together an educational zine for practitioners and a best practices guide for health-care providers.

“We think that learning more about these practices will be beneficial, not only for other people who have group sex, but for sexually active adults overall,” the researcher said, “From how we communicate around sexually transmitted infections to how we take care of each other after intense sexual experiences.”

The survey is available on The Group Sex Project website.