Loving Wives (or girlfriends) in real life

[Bramblethorn]

Probably, but we don't know how many perfectly happy open relationships are out there, because we generally only hear about the ones that go bad.

Yup. A while back I was hanging out with a friend who I've known for several years. I forget where it came from, but she said, "I don't know anybody who's in a poly relationship."

I replied, "You know at least two, just at this table."

I've had variants of that conversation at least three times with different acquaintances, and there are plenty more of friends who have no idea we're polyam. People just assume we're monogamous, and there's rarely a reason to correct them.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yup. A while back I was hanging out with a friend who I've known for several years. I forget where it came from, but she said, "I don't know anybody who's in a poly relationship."

I replied, "You know at least two, just at this table."

I've had variants of that conversation at least three times with different acquaintances, and there are plenty more of friends who have no idea we're polyam. People just assume we're monogamous, and there's rarely a reason to correct them.

Polyamory is so completely outside my experience that it's hard for me to wrap my brain around it.

I would imagine that polyamory -- maybe this is the wrong word for this -- would be easier if, in a relationship among three people, the relationship with one of the people was chiefly physical, not emotional. It's difficult for me to imagine how the emotional bonds could be equal among all three partners. But I may just lack imagination on that subject; I certainly lack experience and first-hand knowledge. Do you think it gets more difficult to sustain as the emotional bonds grow tighter?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Anytime a person has sexual relations with more than one person they are polyamory. In that sense a prostitute is polyamorous. A man cheating on his wife, or vise versa, is polyamorous, so is his wife and lover even he is the only person they fuck.

 

[SimonDoom]

Anytime a person has sexual relations with more than one person they are polyamory. In that sense a prostitute is polyamorous. A man cheating on his wife, or vise versa, is polyamorous, so is his wife and lover even he is the only person they fuck.

I don't think this is how the term is commonly used. A man cheating on his wife is not typically understood to be polyamory. Polyamory is a relationship in which multiple participants are aware of and consent to the relationship.

https://www.webmd.com/sex/what-is-p...a type of,include more casual sexual partners.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I don't think this is how the term is commonly used. A man cheating on his wife is not typically understood to be polyamory. Polyamory is a relationship in which multiple participants are aware of and consent to the relationship.

https://www.webmd.com/sex/what-is-p...a type of,include more casual sexual partners.

By definition your correct. More specific, you can call it consensual non-monogamy. But in the cheating scene, at least two of them are aware of the multi relationship. Often the wife or husband is aware of the affair and says nothing, does that then become consensual non-monogamy?

Polyamory doesn't specifically mean all parties are fucking together.

My original was more of a joke than a statement of fact but I worded it rather poorly. Plus it just wasn't funny.