Pick Me Up

Houston is no exception. Near the airport, geriatric Club Connections and Rumors passed away and Radiance opened in 2004, packing in twenty- and thirtysomethings with hip-hop and a flashy Web site. Rick's International built Encounters near the Richmond Strip, a swing club that caters to much of the same crowd that might otherwise dance at Joia and M Bar and other redoubts of yuppie scenesters. Encounters created more floor space this year and began hosting Desirous Party, a periodic theme fete organized by and for the young and beautiful. "The majority of our crowd…they take care of their body," says David, 35, the burly, bronzed, spiky-haired organizer, "and if you do that, you want to show, I guess…what your mama gave you."

Sometimes the younger crowd bypasses couples clubs altogether. Every night in Houston offers at least one "meet and greet" at a seemingly nondescript watering hole. Swingers meet on Tuesdays at Martinis 'N More in The Woodlands, on Wednesdays at Clayton's Restaurant near the airport (where the tattoo-plastered Debbie puts on a lingerie show and convincingly covers Aerosmith) and on Thursdays at the Ritz Too, where the bi-wives dig the strippers. "We surround ourselves with folks in the scene," says 27-year-old Sandra, who with her husband sets up lifestyle parties online at traditional clubs under the pseudonym Funfukkers. She recently invaded South Beach, the Montrose gay club, with 58 couples. The young people loved it; the older ones in the scene stayed home. "Just found out my 19 yr. old will be there," a woman named Barbi44 wrote online. "…[S]orry, I have a problem partying with children."

So does Tucker's father. He's a swinger too, though he and his son don't talk about it. Tucker's old man wouldn't be caught dead in a gay club, he says, while Tucker, though straight, used to dress in tight clothes and hit the scene looking for free drinks. Swinging is less of a taboo for Tucker and just another option. "I've seen all walks of life," he says, "and I've partied with all walks of life."

Loath to party with their parents, however, younger swingers have flocked to their own corner of cyberspace. The Web site Couplestouch.com flickered to life in 2001 as the homepage for Encounters and gradually evolved into a message board. It separated from the club a year later and morphed into a community of more than 10,000 people who use the site to chat, swap photos and join subgroups such as Wild Girls Lunch Bunch, World of Swingcraft and Art of Squirting. The site has expanded beyond Houston into North Texas and Louisiana. It's so popular in Houston that couples on the street often probe other suspected swingers with the line "Do I know you from CT?"

Sandra, or "Ms. FunFukker," described Houston's swinger generation gap while instant-messaging from work: "[T]he older crowd (in my opinion) is either A) tired of fucking one another OR B) got married out of convenience and the younger one gets to fuck on the side to keep them happy." Then she wrote "LOL" -- an online giggle.

"They feel left out," she added. "…[T]hey're used to going out and getting laid right off the bat…the younger scene isn't like that."

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Peter and Cherie aren't even sure they want to get laid at all. At least not by other people. The 31- and 29-year-old couple recently downed giant margaritas at El Palenque on Westheimer and discussed their potential lives as swingers.

They agreed from the start that the idea of swinging is hot. Peter, who was wearing hollow aluminum ear studs, thought seeing his girlfriend go at it with another man would be like watching a tight porno. Cherie thought having a one-night stand and making out with a girl would be smoking. Besides, she's been a little miffed that Peter came to the relationship with more sexual experience. She calls him a man-whore.

Still, the couple fears a repeat of the past, which was sexually and romantically brutal. Seven years ago, Peter's wife cheated on him behind his back with his best friend. A few years later, Cherie's husband convinced her to do a ménage à trois with another woman, who she later found was dating him on the side. The two scalded divorcés met in 2003 at Empire Cafe for what turned into a six-hour date. As they crossed the street to a bar, she grabbed his hand. They saw each other every day after that and shacked up two weeks later. "We just didn't want to be apart," Cherie said.

The same fear of separation shaped their ideas about swinging. Peter wondered if he'd ever be able to interest her sexually after she'd been in an orgy. "Ten men vs. me?" he said. "Hello!" Cherie worried that Peter would get emotionally involved with someone else. So if they swing, maybe she'd prefer anonymous sex, she confessed.

"Really?" Peter asked.

"Yeah! I don't need to know who you are or what you do!" she blurted, sloshed from the margarita.

"I kind of do," he said.