3nder: Trios Made Easy, Kept Secret
For as much as people talk about threesomes, you’d think they were happening all the time. Not so, apparently! But that may be about to change: The New York Post reported this weekend on a new app, 3nder (pronounced “threender,” apparently), modeled after Tinder, but for people interested in threesomes. Sixty thousand people signed up before the app even launched.
3nder’s website features a rubbery animation of logs and donut shapes, producing a sort of queasy, sexually nonsexual effect that is pretty revolting. Its tagline is “Trios made easy,” below which the description continues: “Meet couples and singles with mutual desires and interests. The easiest way to form a trio, without the knowledge of your friends and family.” Though the app’s aim is, at least in part, an effort to bring threesomes into the outskirts of commonplace, the sneaking around implied by this last line sends “trios” hurtling into the shadowy land of key parties and marital infidelity.
It’s hard not to imagine 3nder’s usership as a room full of straight men waiting for the onslaught of gorgeous women interested in having sex with them, but apparently the threesome crowd is slightly more diverse than popular culture would have us believe. According to the Post, “A worldwide study released last year by the Metro publication showed 20 percent of people have had a threesome—up from 14 percent a decade ago.”
Ultimately, 3nder seems like the perfect place to find a threesome in this crazy world. It beats Craigslist (maybe? hopefully?) and definitely beats your boy-/girlfriend’s apartment, which you may find yourself promptly outside of after suggesting a ménage. One user said, “It becomes a matter of finding the people you are attracted to and with whom you have common interests”—and isn’t that the point of online dating of any kind, either on Tinder or on OkCupid? Easier to find someone interested in a threesome on a threesome dating app than on a twosome dating app, for sure. More power to the 3nderers.
Follow John Sherman on Twitter @_john_sherman.