Polyamory and ‘throuples’ have been getting more attention lately, especially after Zendaya’s latest film, Challengers, hit the screens.
Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist’s characters are primarily attracted to Zendaya, who is the key to their dynamic.
It refers to the attraction one might feel towards an established couple, rather than being drawn to them as separate individuals.
Sally W. Johnston, an adjunct professor of anthropology and sociology at Seattle University, recently carried out a study on this topic.
Her research revealed that many participants felt a sexual and romantic pull towards the ‘third force’ or ‘synergy’ present between the members of an existing couple, according to MailOnline.
Her findings, published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, were based on secondary data from The Pleasure Study conducted in 2023.
The study’s results explain: “Findings from this study support the hypothesis that people experience symbiosexual attraction, which they describe as an attraction to the energy, multidimensionality, and power shared between people in relationships.”
Johnston first came across symbiosexuality while researching how ‘unicorns’ are treated within polyamorous communities.
The term also means: “The sexual meaning of a unicorn is someone who engages in sexual activity with a couple but does not participate in other aspects of the relationship.”
They can face objectification and exclusion, a finding supported by her recent study.
“I wanted to learn more about this understudied attraction.”
