Two’s company; three’s a party. At least that’s what the teen television show, Gossip Girl, wants us to think. Though not a fan of Gossip Girl, I did tune in to see Monday night’s episode, which featured a sexual threesome.
Prior to its airing on the CW, the Parents Television Council asked the network to pull this episode for obvious reasons. PTC’s president called the threesome storyline “reckless and irresponsible.” I agree.
As the storyline goes, former Disney star Hilary Duff plays Olivia, a Hollywood actress who wants to have a ‘normal college experience’. Her ‘normal college experience’, however, is guided by a ludicrous list of fifteen things to do before graduating, most of which involve getting drunk or similar activities she’s likely to regret later. The last thing on Olivia’s “to do” list is – you guessed it – a threesome.
In this episode, Olivia (Hilary), her boyfriend (Penn Badgely), and her roommate (Jessica Szohr) are sitting around drinking and discussing the list. An awkward conversation ensues about the threesome. There is a silent agreement to do it, and the kissing began, including a lesbian kiss between the two girls. The next scene is of the three of them in bed asleep, and viewers are left to imagine all the sex that took place between scenes.
Implied to the teen audience in this episode is that threesomes in college are commonplace. But it’s just television, and bad television at that.
Though the episode is intended to set the stage for a drama-rich love triangle in the next couple of shows, the storyline is laughable. Let’s face it: most college girls don’t like their roommates enough to share their personal belongings with them, much less their boyfriends.
Do threesomes happen? I’m sure they do, but only among those with unnatural sexual appetites. They are typically associated more with men’s sexual fantasies than women’s, as Dr. Steve Lamm of Psychology Today points out, and they just as typically destroy relationships:
In general, one of the partners, usually the male, is more enthusiastic than the other, and some form of persuasion, or worse, coercion, is employed to convince the other half. When love is involved in the relationship, it is not uncommon for intense feelings of jealousy, betrayal, and anger to be experienced by the coerced party. In addition, when bisexual acts are expected, many individuals feel particularly vulnerable and upset. The entire experience can become explosive, resulting in the permanent breakup of the relationship.
Threesomes certainly aren’t part of the ‘normal college experience’. But I guess when you have a bad show and low audience numbers, you’ll do anything for ratings.
Tags: threesomes
Oh threesomes, the most overhyped sex act. I do dislike how threesomes, and always MFF threesomes, are touted in mainstream society. And the people who want threesomes the most are rarely the ones with the maturity and communication skills to have them. I recall a couple other blogs complaining about this threesome as well, being both unrealistic and that the threesome was really just the lesbian kiss. One reason threesomes destroy relationships is people try them as a last-ditch effort to save their sex lives/ relationships. Of course a relationship lacking communication can not survive something like that.
That said, I don’t think its fair to say threesomes only happen among those with “unnatural” sexual appetites. The commonness of the fantasy shows its not unnatural. I know plenty of people who have said fantasies, and know some who acted on it. To say it is unnatural is to suggest it is both unhealthy and wrong. It’s only unhealthy if you’re not prepared (emotionally and physically) It’s only wrong if your own morality and belief system says so. I prefer not to pass judgement on responsible adults (which most college students are legally) experimenting or who just happen to like threesomes. This is not an act anyone should do unless they are 100 percent sure, and because they themselves are into it.
I’ve stuck to monogamy interested guys, so I’ve never had to use my hypothetical argument of “Of course we can have a threesome, which of our guy friends did you have in mind?”