RELATIONSHIPS / CHEATING

If you follow the UK news, you’ll be aware that our Healthy Secretary was recently forced to resign over an extramarital affair. Which means that the UK press has had a burst of human interest articles on the mechanics of infidelity.

I mean, personally, I’d focus on his demonstrated inability to do his job. Or maybe his blatant corruption in giving his mistress a paid government role.

But hey, sex sells.

So one morning, I signed into Twitter to find the following article was trending:

Oh ho! I thought. This should be good. And so I signed up for a…

RELATIONSHIPS / POLYAMORY

When people talk about polyamory, one of the bigger misconceptions is that it’s about competing for attention.

“I shouldn’t have to fight for my partner’s attention,” they’ll say. Or, “What if you like one partner more than another?” Sometimes it’s “If my partner doesn’t want to always be at my side, then they don’t clearly love me enough”.

But the thing is, they’re getting polyamory — and love in general — all wrong. If you’re competing with anyone for my time and attention, it isn’t any other partners I might have.

It’s me.

If you believe polyamory is about competing…

RELATIONSHIPS / INSECURITY

In the last few weeks, my insecurity around my relationship has been growing.

Luckily, I’ve known why this is. Our dynamic is shifting a lot this year. As lockdown eases, we have social lives again. We’re planning on moving in together later this year. We both have new jobs. And, probably most impactful of all, she’s building a new relationship — with a wonderful guy, I might add — and so is brimming with New Relationship Energy that I’m not a part of.

The status quo is being shaken, and so my sense of security has taken a hit.

None…

RELATIONSHIPS / POLYAMORY

A while ago, I published an article discussing a few of the common misconceptions people have about polyamory and ethical non-monogamy. Because the lack of education and representation around our lifestyle leads to be people having some wildly inaccurate or biased views about what we are doing.

But do you think it’s possible to discuss all the things people get wrong about polyamory in a single article?

Of course, it isn’t.

And so I felt it was time to come back to this topic and discuss 8 more things that polyamory isn’t.

It is important to know that polyamory is not…

…more “enlightened”

We’re not better than monogamous people. We haven’t…

Part of creating any modern relationship involves stating your boundaries. Where are the lines you will not cross and will not accept your partner crossing if they are dating you?

A common example of a boundary is monogamy. You make it clear to potential partners you will not accept them seeing anyone else while they are in a relationship with you. Having stated that clearly, your partner is free to agree to this or not. There is no ambiguity.

And these need to be communicated upfront. Because I think everyone will agree it’s not ethical to wait for someone to…

RELATIONSHIP / POLYAMORY

When I first explored polyamory, everyone involved knew their place.

I had quite a few girls in my social circle at this point in my life, and I decided which ones were to be my “girlfriends”. They didn’t really have much choice in the matter. I would simply inform them they were now my girlfriend. There was romance involved. And I wasn’t really concerned at all about their thoughts on the matter.

And the toxic behaviours didn’t end there. Oh, no. I ranked them! Each of my “girlfriends” was given a number in a constantly shifting order. Their level of…

Starting your journey into ethical non-monogamy is stepping into the unknown. Whether you feel certain this is who you are, or if you are dipping your toe to see if ENM might be right for you, the one thing I can guarantee is you don’t truly know what’s ahead of you.

You might think you do, but believe me, you don’t. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of friends who are, in some way, part of the ethically non-monogamous world, and not one of them found it to be what they were expecting.

So, in the interest of helping…

RELATIONSHIPS / SEX

I was 19.

It had taken me a long time to get a girlfriend. 19 years, in fact. But, at long last, I had managed to achieve the impossible. An actual human girl was now dating me. More than that, actually having sex with me.

And boy, was I determined to do it right. And I thought I wasn’t doing too bad a job. For someone in their first sexual relationship, at least.

But then, one day, I happened to be going through her bedroom trying to find something, and I discovered her vibrator.

And, all at once, it became…