More Doncaster women than men try 'open' relationships, new sex survey reveals

Just under a quarter of women (23%) and 20% of men in the town have enjoyed at least one open relationship where they are not 'exclusive' with their main partner.

The main reason both sexes chose to open up their relationship was because they said ‘monogamy is boring’ - chosen by 82% of women and 78% of men who have slept with other people while staying with their partner.

Other reasons for making the switch included ‘I like the thrill of sleeping with new people, ‘ ‘I wanted to try something new’, ‘there was an offer of sex that was too tempting to refuse’, and ‘life is too short to stick with the same partner’.

The results are revealed in a new survey by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s leading affairs site.

A new Channel 4 show Open House: The Great Sex Experiment sees committed couples test whether opening up their relationship by having sex with other people can strengthen their bond.

The survey found that 48% of women and a similar number of men (46%) had better sex with new lovers after ‘going open’ than they did with their existing partner.

More women in open relationships (37%) than men (27%) admitted getting jealous when their partner was seeing someone else.

Just over a fifth of women (23%) admitted they had argued with their partner over the arrangement, compared to just 17% of men.

A third of women (31%) and 28% of men said they had lied about seeing someone else despite their relationship being open.

More than half of women (52%) and 51% of men said they would never go back to an open relationship after trying it once.

Slightly fewer women (48%) than men (49%) said they thought open relationships were great and they could never return to monogamy.

Opening the relationship up to new partners was instigated either by women or men 15% of the time, with 70% of couples saying it was agreed mutually.

Jessica Leoni, sex and relationship expert with IllicitEncounters.com, said: “Monogamy is not everyone’s cup of tea in Doncaster.

“Sleeping with the same person for years is boring to lots of people which is why more couples are embracing open relationships.

“Open relationships are great if they are genuinely open - the problems start when people start lying and seeing people in secret.”

More than a million people have registered with IllicitEncounters.com in the last decade.

The affairs site has had the busiest three months in its 19-year history during the start of 2022 as cheating surged following the end of Covid restrictions.

Top 5 reasons for embarking on an open relationship

1 Monogamy/staying with same partner is boring

2 I like the thrill of sleeping with new people

3 I wanted to try something new

4 There was an offer of sex that was too tempting to refuse

5 Life’s too short too short to stick with the same partner