Introduction
During the last decade more and more evidence has been presented by leading psychologists and sociologists concerning the growing problem of alienation. We are assaulted daily by ghetto problems, generation gaps and other social upheavals unheard of fifty or even twenty years ago. Divorces just about equal marriages. Apartment dwellers fear their neighbors. No one seems to talk to anyone any more.
Then, seemingly quite suddenly, the American scene is presented with the widespread phenomenon of "wife-swapping." Another time and another place, this would have been greeted with cries, outraged and lynch-mob angry, of protest. In the early 1970s, however, it is almost an accepted part of the life style of the liberated citizens of this country.
What is wife-swapping exactly? That, perhaps, is one of the more difficult questions to answer since the phenomenon has only recently come to light. On a very superficial level, it is exactly what it says it is, mates changing partners for sexual intrigue. But there are other levels to the practice, and many of them can be observed by following the strong-and weak-characters in frankly-written Girls for Pleasure.
We mentioned alienation earlier, and this fact of the hustle-bustle of modern living certainly has something to do with wife-swapping. Boy meets girl; boy marries girl; boy seeks other girl; girl seeks other boy. Somewhere along the line the idea that a single mate is no longer sufficient for each individual cropped up, and the liberated spouse, knowing right from the start that her husband would not be entirely faithful-and he, just as obviously, suspecting that neither would she-become intrigued with the idea of keeping the infidelities "in the family," so to speak. Suddenly there were house parties, too many cocktails and the tedium of the affluent society. It must have been easy to suggest the game of turning off the lights and tossing the house keys into a scramble on the floor-letting the men take a set of keys and the wife to some other house.
All of this is part of the alienation of our new and liberated society. It stems, as one authority on marital matters has expressed, from the fear that the new man and woman have in the closest of all human relationships, marriage. In a society that puts great emphasis upon success, public image and "getting ahead," the close relationship of the marital bond seems to fit too tightly, allowing no room for our public, admired images to dominate. There is simply no room in marriage for dishonesty or, more politely, the "scamming" of the public. The public in marriage is just the partner. Then, no longer able to kid one another, it is best to seek other outlets, lest our secret selves be known to the marriage partner. Yet there is still a strong Puritan ethic in this country which makes miserable those who would violate the sanctity of the marriage vow. Dilemma? Indeed, but there was a solution, is a solution, and the solution is in wife-swapping. All partners have agreed to the infidelity, ergo, no one is hurt by the fact. But, even better, there is a collective guilt which, in a very real sense, is no guilt at all. And without guilt there can be no danger to the status quo.
Girls for Pleasure doesn't delve into the head-shrinker's realm of motivation. It simply portrays, frankly and dramatically, what can happen to two healthy, lively and uninhibited married couples who let their mutual estrangement take the better of themselves. Certainly Girls for Pleasure is not typical. The practice of wife-swapping is so widespread that there would hardly be room for all the blackmailers-or markets for them. Yet the blackmailing activities are not really important to the story. What is really important in this book is the depiction of the phenomenon of wife-swapping itself, its pleasures and its possible agonies. But more than the exciting writing of the dramatic events of the two couples is the feeling that there is total alienation here. Phil and Donna, assured seemingly on the surface, still need the other interests of Jim and Anne.
At first glance, it would appear that Phil and Donna are some sort of ogres, seducing the other couple, planning it and setting the stage for it. But then we must suspect that Jim and Anne, fearful at first, have some very serious problem of relating to themselves, otherwise it would seem impossible for them to fall into the neatly played waterbed of their handsome neighbors.
What Girls for Pleasure really comes to is simply a strong story of two couples who, through upbringing, the search for financial success and the need to "keep up" their images, are so fearful of their respective mates that they use their beautiful sexuality to avoid that confrontation of honesty with each other. Is wife-swapping the answer to the alienation problem? It's doubtful, but through the pages of Girls for Pleasure one may get a better understanding of the phenomenon and, possibly, a hint as to how to direct one's own life-without alienation.
-The Publishers