- A Hands-on Guide to Open Sexual Relationships

The idea of open relationships seduces more and more men and women who wish to foster a healthy partnership while maintaining multiple lovers. The Art and Etiquette of Polyamory helps couples who want to better understand, or to begin an exploration of, the emotional, sexual, and intellectual mores of polyamory.

Françoise Simpère, an expert in the area of romantic relationships, discusses polyamory and what it involves and describes the practices that make it ethically and emotionally sustainable. This guide provides proposed rules and suggestions on how to keep the love and trust of your partner alive while successfully entertaining other lovers and enjoying the infinite possibilities open relationships have to offer. Couples and individuals interested in entering a polyamorous relationship will be able to use this book as a resource on the art and etiquette of poly-dating, covering a range of questions, including: Should we use a calendar? Can I ask my husband to babysit while I’m with a lover? How can I prioritize my time between two lovers? How can I stave off any jealousy?

Through her years of correspondence with couples interested in open relationships and her own personal reflections and experiences, Simpère is convinced that polyamory opens up many possibilities for a gratifying and healthy sex life.

Environmentalists believe that monolithic solutions - be they in the auto, nuclear, or genetics field - are doomed to fail and lead only along the path to dependence. They feel rather that it is far more sensible to approach the future by opening up more possibilities. Likewise, polyamorists believe that monogamy sterilizes love and fosters unhealthy codependence, whereas multiple relationships feed off of each other's differences and ultimately lead to an enriching fulfillment.

(Routledge research in gender and society #23)

Most social scientific work on intimate relationships has assumed a monogamous structure, or has considered anything other than monogamy only in the context of 'infidelity'. Yet, in recent years there has been a growing interest among researchers and the public in exploring various patterns of intimacy that involve open non-monogamy.

This volume gathers contributions from academics, activists, and practitioners throughout the world to explore non-monogamous relationships. Featuring both empirical and theoretical pieces, contributors examine the history and cultural basis of various forms of non-monogamy, experiences of non-monogamous living, psychological understandings of relationship patterns, language and emotion, the discursive construction of mono-normativity as well as issues of race, class, disability, sexuality and gender. This volume will be of interest to academics and practitioners working in the social sciences and anyone who is seeking greater insight into the intricacies of non-monogamous relationships.

contributing authors:-

Meg Barker (Editor), Darren Langdridge, Lucy Russell (Contributor), Christian Klesse (Contributor), Christina Richards (Contributor), Alessandra Iantaffi (Contributor), Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (Contributor), Damien W. Riggs (Contributor) , Dossie Easton (Contributor), Andrew Samuels (Contributor), John Delamater (Contributor), Esther Saxey (Contributor), Barry D. Adam (Contributor), Dee Mcdonald (Contributor), Hadar Aviram (Contributor), Maya Lavie-Ajayi (Contributor), Colette D.R. Jones (Contributor), José Miguel Montenegro (Contributor), Robin Bauer (Contributor), Kristin S. Scherrer (Contributor), Elisabeth Sheff (Contributor), Pepper Mint (Contributor), Nathan Rambukkana (Contributor), Eleanor Wilkinson (Contributor), Jamie Vishwam Heckert (Contributor), Angela Willey (Contributor), Ani Ritchie (Contributor), Shalanda Phillips (Contributor), Katherine Frank

- Real Life in Polyamorous Families

An anthology of work from people living in polyamorous families of all configurations.

Welcome to the polycule: the network created by the interconnections of polyamorous relationships. Just like the molecules that make up all living things, polycules come in diverse forms: large, small, tightly bound, loosely connected, static, ever-changing. How do polycules form, what do they look like, how do they transform through time, and how do they, sometimes, end?

The first of its kind, this anthology brings together stories, poems, drawings and essays created by real people living in polycules. Children describe life with more than two parents; adults share what it’s like to parent with more than one partner. We hear from triads, solos, people who have felt polyamorous their entire lives, and people exploring poly for the first time. Some whimsical, some hilarious, some heartbreaking, some mundane, some life-changing—all pieces reflect the diverse reality of polyamorous families.

- A Memoir of Disruptive Love

To make an open marriage work, Franklin and Celeste knew they needed to make sure no one else ever came between them. That meant there had to be rules. No overnights, no falling in love, and either one of them could ask the other to end an outside relationship if it became too much to deal with. It worked for nearly two decades—and their relentless focus on their own relationship let them turn a blind eye to the emotional wreckage they were leaving behind them.

The rules did not prepare them for Amber.

“I have a question,” Amber would say. And whatever came next would send a wrecking ball through Franklin and Celeste's comforting illusions. Amber was the first of Franklin’s polyamorous secondary partners to insist on being treated like a person, and the first to peel back the layers of insecurity and fear that surrounded their relationship. Amber was a game changer.

A game-changing relationship is one that uproots and redirects your life. It overthrows your assumptions about who you are and why. It awakens you to possibilities you’d never conceived of. It disrupts. And it is the unspoken elephant in the attractive showroom of polyamorous relationships.

This book is the true story of a game-changing relationship that changed not only Franklin and Celeste’s lives, but the face of the modern polyamory movement.

A game-changing relationship can happen to anyone. How will you handle it when it happens to you?

- The Joys and Challenges of Open Relationships

Based on the case studies of 12 actual couples and individuals who are grappling with the complexities and challenges of “responsible nonmonogamy,” this helpful resource delves into various types of open relationships.

The stories included have a varied cast of characters—monogamous, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and polyamorous—but they all share a desire to find practical and realistic solutions to their life situations. Each chapter concludes with tools and tips that provide valuable assistance for grasping the subject covered. Accompanied by short texts that give fascinating insights into how other cultures and traditions, from the Taoist to the Celtic and beyond, have accommodated nonmonogamous relationships, this remarkable exploration offers a down-to-earth approach to a growing population.