Types of Open Relationships
There are several different styles of open relationships. These include:
- Multi-partner relationships, between three or more partners where a sexual relationship does not occur between all of the parties involved.
- Hybrid relationships, when one partner is non-monogamous and the other is monogamous.
- Swinging, in which singles or partners in a committed relationship engage in sexual activities with others as a recreational or social activity.
To a large degree, open relationships are a generalization of the concept of a relationship beyond monogamous relationships. A form of open relationship is the open marriage, in which the participants in a marriage have an open relationship.
Open relationships may be further classified into open groups and closed groups. In open groups, multiple partners may change at any time and tend to contain three types of participants: core members, associated members, and affiliated members. Core members are those participants who have been sexually intimate with several others; associated members are those who are involved sexually with at least two members of the group, and affiliated members, are those people who believe in a similar philosophy accepted by others and are seen as members of the group even though they are only involved with their mate, the core member. In a closed group, all participants are core members.
While the concept of an open relationship has been recognized since the 1970s, formal examinations of the concept have been scarce.
The term open relationship is sometimes used interchangeably with the closely related term polyamory, but the two concepts are not identical.
Read more about this topic: Open Relationship
Famous quotes containing the words types of, types and/or open:
“Our children evaluate themselves based on the opinions we have of them. When we use harsh words, biting comments, and a sarcastic tone of voice, we plant the seeds of self-doubt in their developing minds.... Children who receive a steady diet of these types of messages end up feeling powerless, inadequate, and unimportant. They start to believe that they are bad, and that they can never do enough.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)
“As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn’t make a turning point of it, we were assigned to the humanities, to poetry, philosophy, painting—the nursery games of humankind, which had to be left behind when the age of science began. The humanities would be called upon to choose a wallpaper for the crypt, as the end drew near.”
—Saul Bellow (b. 1915)
“Don: Why are they closed? They’re all closed, every one of them.
Pawnbroker: Sure they are. It’s Yom Kippur.
Don: It’s what?
Pawnbroker: It’s Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday.
Don: It is? So what about Kelly’s and Gallagher’s?
Pawnbroker: They’re closed, too. We’ve got an agreement. They keep closed on Yom Kippur and we don’t open on St. Patrick’s.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)