Sunday Star Times
February 22, 2004

Beyond macho: The group-sex culture
by Alex Spence

Why would a group of strong, presumably proudly heterosexual police watch each other having sex with the same woman - a teenager at that? Alex Spence finds the reasons can be complex but often come down to mateship and machismo. In some cultures, he discovers, group sex is simply another team sport.


Two English premiership footballers and two of their friends were last September accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old woman in a London hotel room. The British army is being sued by a former officer amid claims of sexual harassment, habitual group nudity and frequent extramarital sex.

In the US, the University of Colorado has been accused of using wild sex parties to attract recruits to its football programme and a former female squad member claimed she was harassed and raped by teammates. Members of a college basketball team from St John's were alleged to have engaged in group sex on a road trip.

And, perhaps most infamously, during last year's California election, a 1977 magazine interview surfaced in which Arnold Schwarzenegger boasted of participating in a gang bang at a Gold's Gym.

In a subculture of the sexual world, group sex is common. Swingers clubs, for instance. Anecdotally - to judge from various lurid accounts at adult websites and internet chat room discussions - this seems to be about curiosity, exploring intimacy with multiple partners, breaking sexual taboos. It often involves couples and women are often not only consenting, but in control.

This, however, is different. The above examples weren't about sexual intimacy or exploring one's curiosity. They involved powerful men, and the women - whether consenting or not - were in a position of subservience.

What's the attraction? Is it about power? Male bonding? The manifestation of repressed homosexual fantasies?

The Sunday Star-Times contacted a number of psychologists who deal with sex and sexuality, but they could only speculate as to the appeal of group sex to aggressively masculine men. People who engage in group sex don't present to sex therapists, as Dr Robyn Salisbury, director of Sex Therapy New Zealand, points out, "because they don't think there's anything wrong with it".

The explanations posited - ego, arousal, voyeurism - all appeared partially correct but, on their own, insufficient.

Social historian Dr Jock Phillips, who has written perhaps the best-known book about New Zealand manhood, A Man's Country? says group sex under these circumstances should be considered in the context of the institutions to which the male participants belong.

"This sort of behaviour is not dissimilar to behaviour which has occurred in many exclusively-male groups in many societies," Phillips says.

"It's particularly the case where those groups have an emphasis on teamwork, and where physical strength, courage and masculine characteristics are held in high regard."

It's well established that, because of the risks inherent in police and armed forces work, the requirement for loyalty, discipline and physical strength have traditionally encouraged an atmosphere of machismo. Women are equated with emotion, unreliabilty, weakness; they become treated as "objects".

PHILLIPS believes male-dominated group sex is a symptom of this environment - "a natural progression from jokes about women, comments on their appearance, wolf-whistles".

Former police psychologist Dr Ian Miller, manager of police psychological services from 1985 to 1999, describes a culture - typical, he says, of not only the police but the fire service and armed services - in which insular, tight-knit teams are developed as a defence against the dangers of the job and the trauma officers often experience.

"Key individuals may create a climate of expected group behaviours, and other members are expected to go along with them or at least not to question them," he says. These groups encourage loyalty and competitiveness and reject self-examination. Off duty, or off the field, that can result in a group becoming involved in inappropriate actions - particularly if drinking is involved, as it often is.

According to Miller, the competitiveness of such groups is often manifested sexually, particularly if the group is involved in "high-demand activities".

Group sex "was not considered the norm in my experience of the culture", he says, but there was certainly an atmosphere in which officers boasted about their conquests. Individuals who were able to "score" carried greater distinction.

Extramarital liaisons were not uncommon - perhaps, Miller suggests, as a defence mechanism against the more unpleasant aspects of the job - and it was implicit that such infidelities were not discussed outside the team.

SO GROUP sex in this context is more likely a result of competitiveness. It's about performing for the team and competing with your teammates. Proving you belong. These strong, well-built guys want to prove themselves to their colleagues, to demonstrate their sexual prowess, that they have what it takes to be part of the group. And vanity should not be overlooked.

As Schwarzenegger said in his now notorious gang bang interview with magazine Oui, not all the men at his gym took part - only those who felt their members were large enough to display in public.

The group may get carried away but to refuse, to back out, would demonstrate weakness. "Each individual comes under group pressure to assert their acceptance of the group values by joining in anti-women behaviour," Phillips says. "To abstain from such behaviour invites endless ribbing, accusations that you're a poofter or effeminate."

It's the "whaddarya?" mentality, he says, citing the famous line from Greg McGee's play Foreskin's Lament.

The demands of the job and the authority bestowed by the uniform may encourage certain controlling, authoritiative personalities to exhibit aggressive, exploitative behaviour, Miller says, but such individuals are not confined to the police, nor do they dominate the force.

Rather, they represent a small number whose actions have a potential to attract high attention and widespread concerns bringing all police into disrepute.

"Like corrupt officers, or those who engage in criminal activities, the damage they do is disproportionate and lasting."