While those negative attitudes may not stop people from thinking about being in open relationships, it can deter them from engaging in them. In his research about sexual fantasies, for instance, Lehmiller has found that “most people have fantasised about being non-monogamous in some way before, such as by participating in swinging, opening up their relationship or being polyamorous”. However, he adds, “relatively few are practising it in real life”. Although there is no post-pandemic data on how many people are in these arrangements, Canadian research from 2019 puts the figure at about 4%, with a similar figure emerging in a 2018 US study.
