THREE'S COMPANY

Oliver Keens didn't set out to have threesomes this summer - from heterosexual couples 'seeking a third' to sex-positive 'MMF friendly' individuals, the opportunities found him...

- Oliver Keens

There are plentiful moments in movies where two women and a man hook up for a threesome. They're often crass and exploitative, as well as inevitable, in a male-dominated Hollywood system - but to give them credit, they are at least depictions of something most of us crave. According to research by the Kinsey Institute's Dr Justin Lehmiller, 87 per cent of women and 95 per cent of men have fantasised about sex with more than one partner.

In contrast, whenever two men and a woman are amorously connected in movies, they’re almost always framed in the safe and genteel confines of a “love triangle” (take French romantic drama Passages from 2023 or the Korean film Past Lives, about a married woman reconnecting with a childhood beau as recent examples). I missed the April release of Challengers, which teasingly marketed itself around a single moment: when the film’s tennis star protagonist (played by Zendaya) is kissed by two men on a bed. Instead, I spent the summer somewhat improbably having a snowballing series of actual sexual hookups with men and women at the same time. It left me wondering what the movies are so scared of.

Only a small part of me was looking for this kind of encounter at the start of summer, but things developed surprisingly rapidly. There’s absolutely no formula for a threesome, but using apps to make some like-minded friends and build a network of sexpositive people is a good start. Being open-minded and reasonably good at communicating desire goes a long way, as does being single: you’re more likely to be affectionately tapped up by the much-memed “couple-seeking-a-third”.