Ménage à trois
Encyclopedia
Ménage à trois is a French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as "household of three". In contemporary usage, the meaning of the term has been extended to mean any living relationship between three people, whether or not sex is involved, but because it has also been extended to refer to the actual sexual act between three people, otherwise known as a threesome
Threesome
A threesome is a group of three engaged in the same activity. In relation to a sexual activity a threesome refer to the activity involving three people of any gender or sexual orientation...

, the term retains its suggestive quality.

Historical instances

Some known examples are:
  • Sir William Hamilton
    William Hamilton (diplomat)
    Sir William Hamilton KB, PC, FRS was a Scottish diplomat, antiquarian, archaeologist and vulcanologist. After a short period as a Member of Parliament, he served as British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples from 1764 to 1800...

     (British ambassador to Naples), his wife Emma Hamilton, and her lover, the naval hero Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, from 1799 until Nelson's death in 1805.
  • Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the Duke of Devonshire
    William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire
    William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, KG was a British aristocrat and politician. He was the eldest son of the William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire by his wife the heiress Lady Charlotte Boyle, suo jure Baroness Clifford of Lanesborough, who brought in considerable money and estates to...

    , and Lady Elizabeth Foster
  • Henry Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett
    Henry Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett
    Henry Ludwig Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett was a British politician, industrialist and financier.-Early life and education:...

     his wife, Amy Gwen Wilson, and writer Gilbert Cannan
    Gilbert Cannan
    Gilbert Cannan was a British novelist and dramatist.-Early life:Born in Manchester of Scottish descent, he got on badly with his family, and in 1897 he was sent to live in Oxford with the economist Edwin Cannan...

    .
  • In Sweden
    Sweden
    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

     in 1775, Count Adolf Fredrik Munck af Fulkila
    Count Adolf Fredrik Munck af Fulkila
    Adolf Fredrik, Count Munck af Fulkila was a Swedish and Finnish noble alleged to have been the biological father of King Gustaf IV Adolf.- Biography :...

     had reputedly been hired by king Gustaf III to assist him in the consummation
    Consummation
    Consummation is the initial sexual act made within a marriage.Consummation can also refer to:* Consummation , 1970 recordingSee also:* Consummation of days, event predicted in Daniel Chapter 12, verses 1-4...

     of his marriage with Queen Sophie Magdalena. He was to act as sexual instructor for the couple. His "aid" is alleged to have resulted in the birth of the future King Gustaf IV Adolf in 1778. By further rumors, he was the lover of the king as well as of the queen. These rumors eventually had serious political implications in the end of the House of Holstein-Gottorp's rule in Sweden.
  • The German intellectual Dorothea von Rodde-Schlözer
    Dorothea von Rodde-Schlözer
    Dorothea von Rodde-Schlözer , , was a talented German scholar and the first woman to receive a doctor of philosophy degree in Germany.-Life:...

    , her husband Mattheus Rodde and the French philosopher Charles de Villers
    Charles de Villers
    Charles François Dominique de Villers was a French philosopher. He was mainly responsible for translating the philosophy of Immanuel Kant into the French language.-Life:...

     from 1794 until her husband's death in 1810.
  • Poet Ezra Pound
    Ezra Pound
    Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...

    , his wife Dorothy Shakespear and his mistress, concert violinist Olga Rudge
    Olga Rudge
    Olga Rudge was an American-born concert violinist, now mainly remembered as the long-time mistress of the poet Ezra Pound, by whom she had a daughter, Mary....

    .
  • Surrealist painters Max Ernst
    Max Ernst
    Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...

    , Paul Éluard
    Paul Éluard
    Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...

     and his wife Gala, later Gala Dalí
    Gala Dalí
    Gala Dalí , usually known simply as Gala, was the wife of first Paul Éluard, then Salvador Dalí, and an inspiration for them and many other writers and artists.- Early years :...

    .
  • The writer Aldous Huxley
    Aldous Huxley
    Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...

     and his first wife Maria, with Mary Hutchinson a friend of Clive Bell
    Clive Bell
    Arthur Clive Heward Bell was an English Art critic, associated with formalism and the Bloomsbury Group.- Origins :Clive Bell was born in East Shefford, Berkshire, in 1881...

    .
  • The author E. Nesbit
    E. Nesbit
    Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television...

     lived with her husband Hubert Bland and his mistress Alice Hoatson, raising their children as her own.
  • William Moulton Marston
    William Moulton Marston
    Dr. William Moulton Marston , also known by the pen name Charles Moulton, was an American psychologist, feminist theorist, inventor and comic book writer who created the character Wonder Woman...

    , creator of Wonder Woman
    Wonder Woman
    Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

    , and his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston
    Elizabeth Holloway Marston
    Elizabeth "Sadie" Holloway Marston was an American psychologist who was a career woman at a time when it was difficult for women to be so. She was involved in the creation of the comic book character, Wonder Woman with her husband, William Moulton Marston...

     lived with and shared a relationship with Olive Byrne.
  • Philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche
    Friedrich Nietzsche
    Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...

    , Paul Rée
    Paul Rée
    Paul Ludwig Carl Heinrich Rée was a German author and philosopher, and friend of Friedrich Nietzsche.-Biography:...

     and their mutual friend Lou Andreas-Salomé
    Lou Andreas-Salomé
    Lou Andreas-Salomé was a Russian-born psychoanalyst and author. Her diverse intellectual interests led to friendships with a broad array of distinguished western luminaries, including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Rilke.- Early years :Lou Salomé was born in St...

     lived in an "academic commune" around 1882.
  • The actress and stage director Edith Craig
    Edith Craig
    Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England...

     who lived with and was in a relationship with the dramatist Christabel Marshall
    Christabel Marshall
    Christabel Gertrude Marshall was a British campaigner for women's suffrage, a playwright and author...

     and the artist Clare Atwood
    Clare Atwood
    Clare 'Tony' Atwood was a British painter of portraits, still life, landscapes, interiors and decorative flower subjects...

     from 1916 to 1947.
  • The actress Hattie Jacques
    Hattie Jacques
    Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...

     lived with her husband John Le Mesurier
    John Le Mesurier
    John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...

     and her lover John Schofield.
  • Speculation that, in 1547–8, Queen Catherine Parr
    Catherine Parr
    Catherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...

    , widow of Henry VIII
    Henry VIII of England
    Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

    , and her fourth husband Thomas Seymour
    Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
    Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG was an English politician.Thomas spent his childhood in Wulfhall, outside Savernake Forest, in Wiltshire. Historian David Starkey describes Thomas thus: 'tall, well-built and with a dashing beard and auburn hair, he was irresistible to women'...

     were involved in a ménage with the future Queen Elizabeth
    Elizabeth I of England
    Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

    , is probably exaggerated, although there were well attested episodes of sexually charged horseplay involving the three.
  • Russian and Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky
    Vladimir Mayakovsky
    Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...

     lived with Lilya Brik
    Lilya Brik
    Lilya Yuryevna Brik is known best as a muse of Vladimir Mayakovsky. She was an older sister of Elsa Triolet and wife of Osip Brik. Pablo Neruda called her "muse of Russian avant-garde"...

    , who was considered his muse, and her husband Osip Brik
    Osip Brik
    Osip Maksimovich Brik , , Russian avant garde writer and literary critic, was one of the most important members of the Russian formalist school, though he also identified himself as one of the Futurists....

    , an avant garde writer and critic.
  • British actress Tilda Swinton
    Tilda Swinton
    Katherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She has appeared in a number of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, The Beach, We Need to Talk About Kevin and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her...

     lives in Nairn
    Nairn
    Nairn is a town and former burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness...

    , near to Scottish painter John Byrne and their twin children: a son, Xavier, and a daughter, Honor. She travels with her partner Sandro Kopp, a German/New Zealand painter. She has been with Kopp since 2004 and the relationship has Byrne's blessing. In an interview, Swinton commented on her domestic situation: "It’s the way we have been for nearly four years. I’m very fortunate. It takes some extraordinary men to make a situation like that work."

In popular culture

The ménage à trois is a recurring theme in fiction and has been the subject of a number of books, plays, films and songs. Some notable examples include:

Literature

  • Marion Zimmer Bradley
    Marion Zimmer Bradley
    Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series. Many critics have noted a feminist perspective in her writing. Her first child, David R...

    , The Mists of Avalon
    The Mists of Avalon
    The Mists of Avalon is a 1983 novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which she relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters.-Plot introduction:...

    (1982): relates the relationship of King Arthur
    King Arthur
    King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

    , Guinevere
    Guinevere
    Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot...

    , and Lancelot
    Lancelot
    Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...

     as a ménage à trois.
  • The same theme is taken up in Guy Gavriel Kay
    Guy Gavriel Kay
    Guy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid...

    's "The Fionavar Tapestry
    The Fionavar Tapestry
    The Fionavar Tapestry is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Guy Gavriel Kay, set partly in our own contemporary world, but mostly in the fictional world of Fionavar. It is the story of five University of Toronto senior law and medical students, who are drawn into the 'first world of the Tapestry' by...

    ", where the Athurian characters are resurrected and have further adventures in the world of Fionavar, in the course of which they overcome the jealousies of their previous lives; when last appearing in this trilogy, Guinevere is depicted having one of her arms around each of the two men, the three of them bound to live happily ever after.
  • Michael Cunningham
    Michael Cunningham
    Michael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.-Early life and education:...

    , A Home At The End Of The World
    A Home at the End of the World
    A Home at the End of the World is a 1990 novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Michael Cunningham.The book is narrated in the first person, with the narrator changing in each chapter. Bobby and Jonathan are the main narrators, but several chapters are narrated by Alice, Jonathan's mother,...

    (1990): centers for the most part on a ménage à trois.
  • Arnon Grunberg
    Arnon Grünberg
    Arnon Yasha Yves Grunberg is a Dutch writer. Some of his books were written using the heteronym Marek van der Jagt....

    , The Asylum Seeker
    The Asylum Seeker
    The Asylum Seeker is a novel by Dutch author Arnon Grunberg. Published in 2003, the novel won the AKO Literatuurprijs and Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs in 2004, and has been reprinted more than fourteen times...

    (2003): has a ménage à trois involving a disillusioned man, a terminally ill woman, and an asylum seeker.
  • Ernest Hemingway
    Ernest Hemingway
    Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

    , The Garden of Eden
    The Garden of Eden
    The Garden of Eden is the second posthumously released novel of Ernest Hemingway, published in 1986. Begun in 1946, Hemingway worked on the manuscript for the next 15 years, during which time he also wrote The Old Man and the Sea, The Dangerous Summer, A Moveable Feast, and Islands in the...

    (written 1946–1961, published 1986): centers on an American expatriate couple who bring another woman into their marriage.
  • Jean Rhys
    Jean Rhys
    Jean Rhys , born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th-century novelist from Dominica. Educated from the age of 16 in Great Britain, she is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea , written as a "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.-Early life:Rhys was born in Roseau, Dominica...

    , Quartet (originally titled Postures) (1928): a roman à clef
    Roman à clef
    Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...

     in which Rhys fictionalised her affair with Ford Madox Ford
    Ford Madox Ford
    Ford Madox Ford was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature...

    .
  • Bob Shaw
    Bob Shaw
    Bob Shaw, born Robert Shaw, was a science fiction author and fan from Northern Ireland. He was noted for his originality and wit. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1979 and 1980...

    , The Two-Timers (1968): described a ménage à trois in which the husband and the lover are two versions of the same man, from two alternate time lines.
  • Adam Thirlwell
    Adam Thirlwell
    Adam Thirlwell is a British novelist. He was educated at the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree. He is assistant editor of Areté, an arts tri-quarterly. He also writes a column for Esquire magazine....

    , Politics
    Politics (novel)
    Politics is a 2003 novel by Adam Thirlwell about a father-daughter relationship and about a ménage à trois which includes said daughter and two of her friends. We are informed by the narrator that the novel is about "goodness".-Plot summary:...

    (2003): a novel about a ménage à trois, which is referred to as "the socialist utopia of sex".
  • In the Lunar society depicted by Robert Heinlein in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
    The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
    The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth....

    , a common form of family is a troika, composed of a wife, a senior husband and a junior husband.
  • Dylan Thomas
    Dylan Thomas
    Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...

    , Under Milk Wood
    Under Milk Wood
    Under Milk Wood is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, adapted later as a stage play. A movie version, Under Milk Wood directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released during 1972....

    : a ménage à trois is seen in the form of Dai Bread, and his two wives: Mrs. Dai Bread 1 and Mrs. Dai Bread 2.
  • Simone de Beauvoir
    Simone de Beauvoir
    Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir , was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and...

    's, She Came to Stay
    She Came to Stay
    She Came to Stay is a novel written by French author Simone de Beauvoir first published in 1943. The novel is a fictional account of her and Jean-Paul Sartre's relationship with Olga Kosakiewicz and Wanda Kosakiewicz.-Plot:...

    tells the semi-fictional story about a woman named Françoise whose open relationship with Pierre becomes strained when they form a ménage à trois with her younger friend Xaviere.
  • John Updike
    John Updike
    John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....

    , in Rabbit Redux
    Rabbit Redux
    Rabbit Redux is a 1971 novel by John Updike. It is the second book in his "Rabbit" series, beginning with Rabbit, Run and followed by Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit At Rest, and the related 2001 novella, Rabbit Remembered.-Plot summary:...

    when Rabbit who welcomes Jill in his house finally hosts Skeeter for a period before the arson of the house.
  • In The Deptford Trilogy
    The Deptford Trilogy
    The Deptford Trilogy is a novel trilogy by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies.-Overview:The trilogy consists of Fifth Business , The Manticore , and World of Wonders...

    by Robertson Davies
    Robertson Davies
    William Robertson Davies, CC, OOnt, FRSC, FRSL was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself...

    , the scholar Dunstan Ramsay and the stage magician Paul Dempster a.k.a. Magnus Eisengrim end up as the "permanent guests" and lovers of the eccentric Swiss millionaire Lieselotte Naegeli - the three of them occasionally sharing an especially large bed, though "most often in order to have a breakfast in bed or take an important decision" rather than for sex.
  • Science fiction
    Science fiction
    Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

     writer Poul Anderson
    Poul Anderson
    Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...

    , in his novel Three Worlds to Conquer, depicts an alien species (on Jupiter
    Jupiter
    Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...

    ) for whom a kind of "ménage à trois" is a fundamental biological imperative. A female of that species can only conceive by mating with two different males within a few hours of each other; thus, every individual has a mother and two fathers, and every family is composed of a female and two males.
  • In the Anita Blake
    Anita Blake
    Anita Blake is a fictional character in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Subsequently, she has also appeared in the Dabel Brothers/Marvel Comics adaptation of her first novel, Guilty Pleasures....

     series by Laurell K. Hamilton
    Laurell K. Hamilton
    Laurell Kaye Hamilton is an American fantasy and romance writer. She is the author of two series of stories. Hamilton is known for her New York Times-bestselling Anita Blake series, featuring a professional zombie raiser/supernatural consultant for the police as the protagonist in a world where...

     between Asher
    Asher
    Asher , in the Book of Genesis, is the second son of Jacob and Zilpah, and the founder of the Tribe of Asher.-Name:The text of the Torah argues that the name of Asher means happy/blessing, implying a derivation from the Hebrew term osher ; the Torah actually presents this in two variations—beoshri...

    , Anita Blake
    Anita Blake
    Anita Blake is a fictional character in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Subsequently, she has also appeared in the Dabel Brothers/Marvel Comics adaptation of her first novel, Guilty Pleasures....

     and Jean-Claude
    Jean-Claude
    Jean-Claude is a fictional character in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Within the novels, Jean-Claude's role is as one of the primary love interests of the series heroine, Anita Blake....

    . Also mentioned as previously occurring and not described in detail in the series is the relationship between Jean-Claude, Asher, and Julianna.

Theatre

  • Noel Coward
    Noël Coward
    Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...

    , Design for Living
    Design for Living
    Design for Living is a comedy play written by Noël Coward in 1932. It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Originally written to star Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward, it was premiered on Broadway, partly because its risqué...

    (1933), also Design for Living (film)
    Design for Living (film)
    Design for Living is a 1933 American comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay by Ben Hecht is based on the 1933 play of the same name by Noël Coward. It concerns a trio of artistic Americans in Paris and their complicated three-way relationship.The film stars Fredric...

    (Ernst Lubitsch
    Ernst Lubitsch
    Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...

    , 1933): about the complicated relationship between two men and a woman.
  • Samuel Beckett
    Samuel Beckett
    Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...

    , Play (play)
    Play (play)
    Play is a one-act play by Samuel Beckett. It was written between 1962 and 1963 and first produced in German as Spiel on 14 June 1963 at the Ulmer Theatre in Ulm-Donau, Germany, directed by Deryk Mendel, with Nancy Illig , Sigfrid Pfeiffer and Gerhard Winter...

    (1963): absurdist
    Absurdist fiction
    Absurdist fiction is a genre of literature, most often employed in novels, plays or poems, that focuses on the experiences of characters in a situation where they cannot find any inherent purpose in life, most often represented by ultimately meaningless actions and events...

     theatre piece about the situation between two women and one man.

Films

  • Design for Living
    Design for Living (film)
    Design for Living is a 1933 American comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay by Ben Hecht is based on the 1933 play of the same name by Noël Coward. It concerns a trio of artistic Americans in Paris and their complicated three-way relationship.The film stars Fredric...

    (Ernst Lubitsch
    Ernst Lubitsch
    Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...

    , 1933): An early example of ménage à trois in Hollywood cinema.
  • Jules et Jim (François Truffaut
    François Truffaut
    François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...

    , 1961): is another classic ménage à trois.
  • Paint Your Wagon
    Paint Your Wagon (film)
    Paint Your Wagon is a 1969 American musical film starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. The movie was adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the 1951 stage musical by Lerner and Loewe, set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California.-Plot:...

    (Paddy Chayefsky
    Paddy Chayefsky
    Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....

    , 1969): Ben marries Elizabeth, but she falls in love with Partner. They decide that if a Mormon
    Mormon
    The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

     man can have two wives
    Plural marriage
    Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...

    , then a wife can have two husbands.
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...

    (George Roy Hill
    George Roy Hill
    George Roy Hill was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, which both starred the acting duo Paul Newman and Robert Redford...

    , 1969): the relationship between Butch
    Butch Cassidy
    Robert LeRoy Parker , better known as Butch Cassidy, was a notorious American train robber, bank robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang in the American Old West...

    , Sundance and Etta Place is a classic ménage à trois.
  • Splendor
    Splendor (1999 film)
    Splendor is a film directed by Gregg Araki starring Kathleen Robertson, Johnathon Schaech, Matt Keeslar, Kelly Macdonald and Eric Mabius. The film narrates the lives of the characters Veronica Abel and Zed , and how a relationship forms between these three characters that is equivalent to a...

    (Gregg Araki
    Gregg Araki
    Gregg Araki is an American independent filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema.-Early life:Araki was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Santa Barbara, California...

    , 1999): Comedy/romance involving three central characters, Abel (Johnathon Schaech
    Johnathon Schaech
    Johnathon Schaech is an American actor, writer, and director.-Early life:Schaech was born in Edgewood, Maryland to Joseph, a Baltimore City law enforcement officer, and Joanne Schaech, a human resources executive. He is of German and Italian descent, and was raised Roman Catholic...

    ), a shy writer, Veronica (Kathleen Robertson
    Kathleen Robertson
    Kathleen Robertson is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Clare Arnold in Beverly Hills, 90210 .-Career:Robertson started taking acting classes when she was ten, and had roles in local theater productions...

    ), a headstrong actress, and Zed (Matt Keeslar
    Matt Keeslar
    Matt Keeslar is an American actor.Keeslar was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Fred Keeslar and Ann Ferguson, who divorced in 1977....

    ), a drummer in an indie band, who form a romantic relationship following Veronica's inability/refusal to choose between the two male characters, and the male characters' eventual acceptance of each other as equal romantic partners to Veronica.
  • Threesome
    Threesome (film)
    Threesome is a 1994 film, written and directed by Andrew Fleming. The film is an autobiographical comedy mixed in with some social commentary, and is based on the college memories of Fleming. It was given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America...

    1994 film about 2 guy college roommates who mistakenly get a female roommate in their dorm.
  • French Twist
    French Twist
    French Twist , is a 1995 French comedy film. It was written and directed by co-star Josiane Balasko. The film was a hit in France gaining 3,790,381 Admissions and grossing $1,026,646 in the United States.-Synopsis:...

    (Josiane Balasko
    Josiane Balasko
    Josiane Balasko is a French actress, writer and director.She was born Josiane Balašković in Paris. One of Balasko's most recognized roles among English speakers is as a lesbian in 1995's Gazon maudit...

    , 1995) : a comedy about a man who hates lesbians, his wife and a lesbian.
  • Sunday Bloody Sunday
    Sunday Bloody Sunday (film)
    Sunday Bloody Sunday is a 1971 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Murray Head, Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch. It tells the story of a free-spirited young bisexual artist and his simultaneous relationships with a female recruitment consultant and a male Jewish doctor...

    (John Schlesinger
    John Schlesinger
    John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...

    , 1971): film about a threesome with a homosexual man, a heterosexual woman, and a bisexual man.
  • Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
    Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
    Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands is a 1976 comedy film directed by Bruno Barreto. Based on the novel of the same name by Jorge Amado, it takes place in 1940s Bahia. It stars Sônia Braga, José Wilker, and Mauro Mendonça in the leading roles...

    (Bruno Barreto
    Bruno Barreto
    Bruno Barreto is a Brazilian film director born in Rio de Janeiro. He has been making feature-length films ever since he was seventeen years old and remains one of Brazil’s most accomplished and popular directors to this day...

    , 1976): tells of a woman who lives simultaneously with her second husband and the ghost of her first.
  • Summer Lovers
    Summer Lovers
    Summer Lovers is a 1982 film written and directed by Randal Kleiser, starring Peter Gallagher, Daryl Hannah and Valerie Quennessen, and filmed on location on the island of Santorini, Greece. The original music score is composed by Basil Poledouris...

    (Randal Kleiser
    Randal Kleiser
    John Randal Kleiser is an American film director and producer, perhaps best known for directing the 1978 musical film Grease.-Life and career:...

    , 1982): a vacation in Greece leads to a female-male-female relationship that is both emotional and sexual.
  • Tenue de soirée (Bertrand Blier
    Bertrand Blier
    Bertrand Blier is a French screenwriter and film director.Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. He is the son of Bernard Blier....

    , 1986) : a couple and a homosexual friend.
  • Rita, Sue and Bob Too
    Rita, Sue and Bob Too
    Rita, Sue and Bob Too is a 1986 British film directed by Alan Clarke about two West Yorkshire teenaged schoolgirls who have a sexual fling with a married man. It was adapted by Andrea Dunbar, based on two of her stage plays; Rita Sue and Bob Too and The Arbor...

    , (1986): two Bradford teenagers have affairs with a married man.
  • Three of Hearts
    Three of Hearts (film)
    Three of Hearts is a 1993 comedy/romance film directed by Yurek Bogayevicz and starring William Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, and Sherilyn Fenn.- Plot summary :...

    (Yurek Bogayevicz
    Yurek Bogayevicz
    Yurek Bogajevicz is a Polish film director, screenwriter, actor and producer. He directed, among others, Anna , Three of Hearts and Exit in Red .-Director:* Anna...

    , 1993): a menage between straight gigolo
    Gigolo
    Gigolo may refer to:* A male prostitute, escort, or dancer, who offers services to women* Gigolo , a 2006 single by Helena Paparizou* Gigolo , a 2003 single by Nick Cannon...

    , his lesbian best friend and her former lover, an attractive bisexual woman.
  • Vicky Cristina Barcelona
    Vicky Cristina Barcelona
    Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 romance comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall...

    (Woody Allen
    Woody Allen
    Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...

    , 2008): depicts a dysfunctional, sometimes violent relationship between two Spanish artists that is finally brought in to balance with the addition of Cristina.
  • Whatever Works
    Whatever Works
    Whatever Works is a 2009 American comedy film directed and written by Woody Allen, starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley, Jr., Michael McKean, and Henry Cavill.-Plot:...

    (Woody Allen
    Woody Allen
    Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...

    , 2009): Marietta, an Evangelical Christan from the Deep South
    Deep South
    The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...

    , arrives in New York City and undergoes a life change that involves becoming an artist moving in with two men.
  • Y tu mamá también
    Y tu mamá también
    Y tu mamá también is a 2001 Mexican comedy-drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and co-written by Cuarón and his brother Carlos. The film is a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys taking a road trip with a woman in her late twenties; it stars Mexican actors Diego Luna and Gael García...

    (Alfonso
    Alfonso Cuarón
    Alfonso Cuarón Orozco is a Mexican film director, screenwriter and film producer, best known for his films Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Y tu mamá también, and A Little Princess.- Early life :...

     and Carlos Cuarón
    Carlos Cuarón
    Carlos José Cuarón Orozco is a Mexican screenwriter, film producer and film director. He is the brother of Alfonso Cuarón.- Biography :Carlos Cuarón was born in Mexico City and studied English literature at UNAM...

    , 2001): a Mexican
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

     coming-of-age movie focusing on the sexual lives of the three main characters.
  • The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci
    Bernardo Bertolucci
    Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...

    , 2003): a beautiful and functional ménage à trois with an unfortunate end.
  • Head in the Clouds
    Head in the Clouds
    Head in the Clouds is a 2004 drama film written and directed by John Duigan. The original screenplay focuses on the choices young lovers must make as they find themselves surrounded by increasing political unrest in late-1930s Europe.-Plot synopsis:...

    (John Duigan
    John Duigan
    John Duigan, is an Australian film director.Duigan emigrated to Australia in 1961, having been born to an Australian father...

    , 2004): tells the story of these three characters' sexual and romantic relationship with each other.
  • Ilona Arrives with the Rain (Sergio Cabrera
    Sergio Cabrera
    Sergio Moises Cabrera Diaz is a male swimmer from Paraguay. He was the nation's only swimming competitor at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, where he ended up in 35th place in the men's 200 metres butterfly event....

    , 1996): Colombian/Italian/Spanish co-production. After some time apart, Ilona (Margarita Rosa de Francisco
    Margarita Rosa de Francisco
    Margarita Rosa de Francisco Baquero also known as La Mencha is a Colombian telenovela, movie actress, singer and TV presenter.-Personal life:...

    ) and Maqroll (Humberto Dorado) meet in Panama and open an airplane-themed brothel in order to raise funds so that Abdul (Imanol Arias
    Imanol Arias
    Imanol Arias born Manuel María Arias Domínguez , is a Spanish actor and one off film director.Imanol Arias began his career with a travelling theatre group in Spain performing in the Basque Country of northern Spain. He debuted on TV in 1976 and his first film was in "Cecilia " of 'Humberto Solas'...

    ), who has recently been released from prison in Ceuta
    Ceuta
    Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...

    , can buy a steamship to meet up with Ilona and Maqroll, and the three can resume their long-term romantic relationship.
  • Bandits
    Bandits
    Bandits is a 2001 American crime-comedy drama film directed by Barry Levinson. It stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. Filming began in October 2000 and ended in February 2001. It helped Thornton earn a National Board of Review Best Actor Award for 2001...

    (Barry Levinson
    Barry Levinson
    Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...

    , 2001): a ménage à trois is a major part of the plot.
  • Chasing Amy
    Chasing Amy
    Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....

    (Kevin Smith
    Kevin Smith
    Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

    , 1997): Ménage à trois is proposed as a cathartic solution between the three main characters.
  • Bride of Chucky
    Bride of Chucky
    Bride of Chucky is a 1998 American comedy horror film directed by Chinese director Ronny Yu. It is the fourth entry in the Child's Play series. The film stars Jennifer Tilly and Brad Dourif...

    (Ronny Yu
    Ronny Yu
    Ronny Yu Yan-Tai is a Hong Kong director, producer, and movie writer. Yu was born in Hong Kong and graduated from Ohio University. He has worked on both Hong Kong and American films.- Career :...

    , 1998): Jennifer Tilly offers a ménage à trois to a victim she is about to kill, and involves the homicidal doll as entertainment.
  • Kiss the Sky
    Kiss the Sky (film)
    Kiss the Sky is a 1999 film drama directed by Roger Young. The plot follows two men in their forties, friends since college, who travel together on a business trip to the Philippines. There they examine their lives and consider trading their adult responsibilities for a return to the hedonism of...

    (Roger Young
    Roger Young (director)
    Roger E. Young is an American TV and film director. He won an Emmy Award in 1980 in Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for Lou Grant . He was born in Champaign, Illinois. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois...

    , 1999): aging married friends try to form a threesome while building an island retirement refuge. Though they fail, they learn to accept their situation with the help of a Buddhist monk.
  • Shortbus
    Shortbus
    Shortbus is a 2006 comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. The plot revolves around a sexually diverse ensemble of colorful characters trying desperately to connect in New York City. The characters converge in a weekly Brooklyn artistic/sexual salon loosely inspired by...

    (John Cameron Mitchell
    John Cameron Mitchell
    John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...

    , 2006): James and Jamie meet a young ex-model and aspiring singer named Ceth and the three begin a sexual relationship.
  • Les Diaboliques
    Les Diaboliques (film)
    Les Diaboliques , released as Diabolique in the United States and variously translated as The Devils or The Fiends, is a 1955 French black-and-white thriller feature film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot and Paul Meurisse...

    (Henri-Georges Clouzot
    Henri-Georges Clouzot
    Henri-Georges Clouzot was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, which are critically recognized to be among the greatest films from the 1950s...

    , 1955): the husband is led on by his wife and mistress to believe that he will have a sexual encounter with both of them.
  • Trois
    Trois
    Trois is a 2000 thriller directed by Rob Hardy. This movie stars Gary Dourdan, Kenya Moore and Gretchen Palmer. The film was one of the highest grossing African-American films of 2000...

    (2000): thriller about the aftermath of a bored married couple bringing a young woman into their relationship
  • The Duchess
    The Duchess (film)
    The Duchess is a 2008 British drama film based on Amanda Foreman's biography of the 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. It was released in September 2008 in the UK...

    (Saul Dibb
    Saul Dibb
    Saul Dibb is the British director of Bullet Boy, for which he was nominated for the Douglas Hickox Award, The Line of Beauty, and The Duchess. He is a graduate of the University of East Anglia.-Notes:...

    , 2008): with Keira Knightley
    Keira Knightley
    Keira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham...

     and Ralph Fiennes
    Ralph Fiennes
    Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

     about the Duchess and Duke of Devonshire and Lady Elizabeth Foster who all lived together and had sexual relations.

Television

  • The Brady Bunch
    The Brady Bunch
    The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...

    , A Very Brady Sequel
    A Very Brady Sequel
    A Very Brady Sequel is a 1996 comedy film and sequel to 1995’s The Brady Bunch Movie. Both films are parodies-homages of the classic 1969–1974 television sitcom The Brady Bunch. The film was directed by Arlene Sanford and stars Shelley Long and Gary Cole as Carol and Mike Brady. The film was a box...

    : Marcia and Jan are walking home from the last day of school reading each other's yearbook
    Yearbook
    A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...

     messages. Marcia reads one to Jan that says "ménage à trois". Marcia replies saying "I bet that means 'you're the most'". This joke becomes a recurring gag throughout the course of the film between Marcia, Jan, and her fictitious boyfriend, George Glass.
  • Three's Company
    Three's Company
    Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....

  • Friends
    Friends
    Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

    (1994): Phoebe meets her biological mother and learns that her biological mother, her father, and the woman who raised her were extremely "close" and all had sexual relations together (#3.25).
  • Seinfeld
    Seinfeld
    Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

    :
    • "The Switch
      The Switch
      "The Switch" is the 97th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 11th episode for the 6th season. It aired on January 5, 1995. This episode is notable for revealing Kramer's first name as Cosmo.-Plot:...

      ": Jerry Seinfeld
      Jerry Seinfeld
      Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...

       attempts to end a relationship with one roommate, and start one with another, using a suggestion by George.
    • "The Label Maker
      The Label Maker
      "The Label Maker" is the 98th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 12th episode for the 6th season. It aired on January 19, 1995.-Plot:...

      ": George Costanza
      George Costanza
      George Louis Costanza is a character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" , "Lord of the Idiots" , and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time"...

      , referring back to the ploy he hatched with Jerry in the earlier episode, attempts to terminate a relationship by suggesting a ménage à trois, only to have it blow up in his face.
  • Star Trek TNG also aired an episode entitled "Ménage à Troi". The title is a pun
    Pun
    The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...

     on the French phrase.
  • Will & Grace
    Will & Grace
    Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...

     saw Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes
    Sean Hayes (actor)
    Sean Patrick Hayes is an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Jack McFarland in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which he won an Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, one American Comedy Award, and six Golden Globes nominations.He also portrayed comedian Jerry Lewis in the...

    ) remark, on several occasions, the "number of people in a ménage à trois," in the episode Back Up, Dancer
    Back Up, Dancer
    "Back Up, Dancer" is the second episode of the seventh season of the American television series Will & Grace. It was written by Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally and directed by series producer James Burrows. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company in the United States on...

     (#7.02)

Music

Artist Song Notes/Quote
The Pierces
The Pierces
The Pierces are an American New York-based band consisting of sisters Allison Pierce and Catherine Pierce .-Childhood:...

Boring
David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...

Triad
Triad (David Crosby song)
"Triad" is a song written by David Crosby in 1967 about a ménage à trois, a subject perfectly in keeping with the "free love" hippie philosophies of the day. The song was written while Crosby was a member of the rock band The Byrds, who were at that time recording their fifth studio album, The...

A song about a ménage à trois, also recorded by Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....

Interpol
Interpol (band)
Interpol is an American indie rock and post-punk revival band from New York City. Formed in 1997, the band's original line-up consisted of Paul Banks , Daniel Kessler , Carlos Dengler and Greg Drudy . Drudy left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino...

No I in Threesome (2007)
Type O Negative
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...

My Girlfriend's Girlfriend
My Girlfriend's Girlfriend
My Girlfriend's Girlfriend is a song from American gothic metal band Type O Negative's 1996 album October Rust, describing a polyamorous relationship...

(1996)
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...

Moonlight Lovin' (Ménage Á Trois) "Stars will never tell of the rendezvous of me and you and... you." (1977)
Notorious B.I.G. Hypnotize
Hypnotize (The Notorious B.I.G. song)
"Hypnotize" is the Grammy-nominated hip-hop song recorded by rapper The Notorious B.I.G. It was released as the first single from his album Life After Death in December 13, 1996. It was the fifth song to hit #1 posthumously for a credited artist....

A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...

What "What is ménage à trois? Or, that is." (1991)
Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...

The French Song (1983)
Katy Perry
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...

Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
"Last Friday Night " is a song by American recording artist Katy Perry. The song was produced by Lukasz Gottwald and Max Martin, who also co-wrote the song with Perry and Bonnie McKee for Perry's third studio album, Teenage Dream. Perry stated that she was inspired to write the track after a night...

"We went streaking in the park, skinny dipping in the dark, then had a ménage à trois."
Motley Crue
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...

Girls, Girls, Girls (1987)
Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

Despicable "And you want a ménage à trois, you twat?"
Adam Lambert
Adam Lambert
Adam Mitchel Lambert is an American singer, songwriter, and actor from San Diego, California. In May 2009, he finished as the runner-up on the eighth season of American Idol...

 originally by Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...

Fever
Kevin Rudolf
Kevin Rudolf
Kevin Rudolf is an American singer-songwriter and record producer signed to Cash Money Records. Rudolf is mostly known for singing and producing rock/pop music...

 ft. Lil' Wayne
Let it Rock
Let It Rock (Kevin Rudolf song)
"Let It Rock" is the debut single of Kevin Rudolf from his debut album In the City. It features rapper Lil Wayne. The track was produced and written by Rudolf....

Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...

Three Days
Three Days (song)
"Three Days" is a ten minute, forty-six second song featured on Jane's Addiction's 1990 album, Ritual de lo Habitual. It is a three-part song that meditates on death and rebirth...

Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

3
3 (song)
"3" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, from her second greatest hits compilation The Singles Collection. It was released on September 29, 2009, as the only single of the album by Jive Records. The song was produced by long-time collaborator Max Martin and Shellback, and recorded...

M.I.A.
M.I.A. (artist)
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam , better known by her stage name M.I.A. , is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, painter and director of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her compositions combine elements of hip hop, electronica, dance, alternative and world music. M.I.A...

URAQT
Usher
Usher (entertainer)
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...

 Ft. Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj , better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj; ), is a Trinidadian-born American recording artist...

Little Freak "If girls wanna ménage then it wetter than it rainin" "I'm bout to have a ménage a..."
Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

 ft. Jay Z Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj , better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj; ), is a Trinidadian-born American recording artist...

 and Rick Ross
Rick Ross
Rick, Ricky or Richard Ross may also refer to:* Rick Ross , American rapper* Richard J. Ross, a Massachusetts State Senator* Richard Ross , an American photographer...

Monster "I think me, you, and AM should menage Friday"
Mac Miller
Mac Miller
Malcolm McCormick , known by his stage name Mac Miller , is an American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

Down The Rabbit Hole
Fly In Her Nikes
"Two in ones, that's a menage a trois."
Slum Village
Slum Village
Slum Village was a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan.The group was formed by three members: rappers Baatin and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla . J Dilla left in 2002 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records...

Climax
Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...

Heart of the City (Ain't No Love) "Hopefully they'll ménage before I reach my garage."
Shwayze
Shwayze
Aaron Smith , better known by his stage name Shwayze, is an American rapper.Born and raised in Malibu, California, Shwayze worked at a local Starbucks coffee shop until he met Whitestarr frontman Cisco Adler at a nightclub. One night Shwayze jumped on stage during Whitestarr's performance and...

Polaroid
Juicy J
Juicy J
Jordan Michael Houston, better known by his stage name Juicy J is an Academy Award winning American rapper and record producer from Memphis, Tennessee and is the co-founder and a member of the duo Three 6 Mafia . He is also the younger brother of Project Pat...

Smoke Dat Weed
Wolfgang Gartner
Wolfgang Gartner
Wolfgang Gartner is a Grammy-nominated American electro house producer and DJ. Much of his music prior to 2010 was released through his own record label – Kindergarten, but in 2010 he signed with Ultra Records and in 2011 signed to Ministry of Sound in the UK.In his short time producing music, a...

Ménage à Trois
Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....

Bounce
mc chris
Mc chris
mc chris is an American rapper, voice actor, writer and improvisational comedian....

DQ Blizzard "Siamese twins want ménage à trois"

Restaurants

Anthony Worral Thompson's first restaurant was called Ménage à trois and was famous for only serving starters and desserts.

See also

  • Polyamory
    Polyamory
    Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....

  • Polyandry
    Polyandry
    Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...

  • Polygamy
    Polygamy
    Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...

  • Polygyny
    Polygyny
    Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...

  • Swinging
    Swinging
    Swinging or partner swapping is a non-monogamous behavior, in which both partners in a committed relationship agree, as a couple, for both partners to engage in sexual activities with other couples as a recreational or social activity...

  • Troilism
    Troilism
    Troilism refers to the erotic interest in watching one’s romantic partner engage in sexual behavior with a third party, sometimes while hidden. A common example is a husband watching his wife have intercourse with another man. This scenario is part of the swinger lifestyle, and varies depending...


Further reading

  • Barbara Foster, Michael Foster, Letha Hadady. Three in Love: Ménages à trois from Ancient to Modern Times. ISBN 0595008070
  • Vicki Vantoch. The Threesome Handbook: A Practical Guide to sleeping with three. ISBN 1568583338
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK