1, 2, 3, Peter, Paul and Mary: The Prevalence of the Triad in Popular Culture

Really, Britney? It’s the sexiest threesome you could think of? 

Lately, threesomes seem to be everywhere. Britney Spears is singing about them, Dr. McSteamy of Grey’s Anatomy fame is having one, and Amazon is pushing them.

 

On the Amazon front, I am going make a slightly embarrassing announcement—I love romance novels (Although Against Love: A Polemic has me rethinking them…) Amazon.com has a handy button that makes recommendations, so I tend to get some pretty risqué ones. For those of you who are not romance novel connoisseurs, there are multiple genres in Romance- not only Paranormal (vampires are everywhere!) and Historical, but also Erotica and Romantica. In the two latter worlds, the ménage genre has become all the rage, with many of the characters seeming to live in triads. While romance novels are not known for reworking gender, they do seem to be challenging heteronormativity and hegemonic sexuality, as my Amazon account has many “menage” books to recommend to me on a regular basis. Not only have triads increased in popularity and subsequent acceptance, but polyamorous relationships are seen as normative to the readers of these novels.  

Erotica novels are becoming more and more mainstream. Most publishing companies that specialize in romance novels have put out erotica lines and stores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble sell them.  One interesting aspect of these books is that sometimes the main characters will be cousins or brothers, and while they may not be sexually involved they are still involved with the same women. This reminds me of the “domino theory of sexual peril,” described in Gayle Rubin’s article Thinking Sex. By including possibly incestuous relationships in these novels, it perpetuates the idea that once someone has fallen out of the “charmed circle” it is suddenly possible for them to fall way out, as “the line appears to stand between sexual order and chaos.” These triad relationships already fall in the “outer limits,” as they usually describe unmarried, non-procreative, group sex. However, the popularity of these triad novels shows that “some behavior near the borders is inching across it,” in the same way the view of sexuality has been changed in the past. While these books are not completely mainstream, they are still selling and very popular, showing how the charmed circle can change over time. These novels provide a discourse more of an acceptance of polyamorous relationships and fluid sexuality. 

Another example of the normalization of the triad is Britney Spears’s new song, 3. Spears is bringing threesomes to the forefront in her new song, but to me it seems to be in a desexualized way, as she sings about Peter, Paul, and Mary and forming a team. However, as America bops along to this new tune, it does say something about a cultural acceptance of triads that this video inched into the American mainstream without being very controversial. In the video Spears gyrates with both women or men, once again disrupting the idea of a triad involving a relationship between one male and two females.  

Another appearance of a controversial threesome happened earlier this year in the Rebecca Gayheart/Eric Dane controversy. However, as far as sex tapes go, theirs is pretty tame, with no actual sex happening. It’s really just three people who are naked having a conversation, but since it involves a married couple and another woman, it was all over the news.

Something I find so interesting about the romance novel community is that the majority of the novels involve two males and a female, as opposed to the myth of the hot bi-curious chick that was discussed in Elisabeth Sheff’s article Polyamorous Women, Sexual Subjectivity, and Power. Sheff says that bisexual women “were among the highest status members of the subculture because they were most often sought as additions to existing female/male dyads to create the coveted and elusive F/M/F (female, male, female) triad.” In many ways, these novels are disrupting heteronormativity and hegemonic sexuality, since the typical triad portrayed in popular culture and even the polyamorous community so often involves a man and two women. It is interesting because these novels are predominantly read by females, so obviously this is a female fantasy that exists and is just now beginning to be recognized by any type of mainstream source.

Maybe polyamorous relationships are the new gay marriage- once hidden in their own closet, but about to come out as controversial but normative.

Explore posts in the same categories: Pop Culture, Sexuality

Tags: Britney Spears, domino theory of sexual peril, polyamorous, the charmed circle, triad

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