"Non-monogamy: The 5 sexual relationships rewriting the rule book"

Metro (U.K.)

Some 1.3 million riders of mass transit in the U.K. today picked up the free paper that's distributed at subway and bus stops — and found this. (Assuming that the story online also appeared in print.)

Non-monogamy: The 5 sexual relationships rewriting the rule book

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...Helen Croydon, author of Screw The Fairytale: A Modern Guide to Sex and Love (John Blake), shares her guide to five relationship trends everyone’s talking about...

Flexi-sexuals

This is the new buzz word for straight men and women who experiment with bisexuality....

Hybrid relationships

It’s increasingly common for one partner to grant the more sexually charged of the two permission to let off steam, while they stay at home with a hot chocolate and get some peace and quiet....

A hybrid relationship or ‘mono-non-mono’ may seem like one half is getting a better deal but, among the couples I interviewed, many are happy for their relationship to remain as good as asexual, instead defining their connection through security and friendship....

Multiple dating

This is the dating equivalent of try-before-you-buy....

Posh swingers

...exquisite private parties with hot waiters in thongs serving canapés and champagne....

Polyamory

Think multiple love, not multiple sex. Polyamorous (or ‘poly’) people believe love isn’t a finite resource. You can spread it, lavish it and reproduce it for as many partners who capture your heart.

Matt, a 26-year-old philosophy student in a four-way relationship with two women and one man, says: ‘I can say I have a favourite book but I can still love other books. Why can’t I do the same for people?’

Some poly people have a ‘primary’ partner they consider their number one and everyone else is ‘secondary’.

Others love multiple partners equally. If it’s a three-way bond, it’s a triad; if there are four, it’s a quad.

Some followers of the poly lifestyle choose to be ‘open’, which means they are free to date anyone. Others are ‘closed’, so only date others within a defined group.

If this sounds complicated, London Polyamory Meetup (www.meetup.com/polylondon) runs discussion evenings about the practicalities.

See the whole article (Feb. 10, 2014).

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