Expert finds out out how many people actually want their partners to be hotwifes or cuckolds

We can't see a week go by without hearing about someone from the internet's weird sex trend of fetish these days, and hotwifing is the latest on an increasingly long list.

For the vast majority of us, having a relationship means being exclusively with that other person but nowadays, the mantra of sharing is caring is being taken very literally by an alarming amount of couples, with the popularity of the UK's biggest swinging festival only proving that further.

Just in case you're not chronically online or searching through weird sex posts on Reddit, hotwifing and cuckolding are terms to describe when you or your partner has sex with another person, while the other watches on.

While that might sound crazy, or even very much like cheating to most of us, lots of couples are saying it's 'saved their relationship', so clearly I know nothing.

'Hotwifing' is more common than you might think (Getty Stock Image)

And it turns out that there's a surprising amount of Americans who have entertained the idea of becoming a hotwife or a cuckold, according to research from Justin Lehmiller.

For his book Tell Me What You Want, Justin surveyed 4,175 Americans about their sexual fantasies and there were some pretty remarkable results.

He asked about two different types of cuckolding fantasies - watching your partner have sex with someone else (voyeuristic cuckolding), and fantasies about having sex with someone else while your partner watches (exhibitionistic cuckolding).

The social psychologist and author found that 26 percent of heterosexual women, 42 percent of non-heterosexual women, 52 percent of heterosexual men 66 percent of non-heterosexual men had fantasised about voyeuristic cuckolding.

Interestingly, men were seemingly less interested in the idea of sleeping with someone else while their partner watched, whereas over half of non-heterosexual women are keen, with 40 percent of heterosexual women, 58 percent of non-heterosexual women, 50 percent of heterosexual men and 55 percent of non-heterosexual men having fantasised about this particular form of 'hotwifing' or 'hothusbanding'.

Realistically, some of your mates probably do this (Getty Stock Image)

So, if the popularity of TV shows such as Open House: The Great Sex Experiment or the increase in number of 'spicy cruises' hasn't already convinced you that this is far more common than you might realise, then this data really does spell it out.

The study author explains: "As these numbers reveal, cuckolding fantasies in general (both voyeuristic and exhibitionistic) are quite common; however, there are some interesting gender differences.

"In general, women are more likely to fantasise about exhibitionistic cuckolding (being watched by their partner) than they are to fantasise about voyeuristic cuckolding (watching their partner).

"Women in general are more likely than men to picture themselves as the object of desire in their sexual fantasies. By envisioning themselves in an exhibitionistic role, one necessarily becomes the object of desire, unlike when one takes a voyeuristic role.

"So maybe this speaks more broadly to the ways in which men and women tend to see themselves in their fantasies."