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Chivalry

Is Chivalry Dead? 5 Men Discuss [VIDEO]

When is Chivalry appropriate?

  Our 5-man panel tackles the age-old question. YourTango is your source for smart talk about love, sex, dating and relationships. Whether you're married, single, taken, engaged or "it's complicated," check out our videos for the best love and relationship news, entertainment and advice. 

open marriage love

Polyamory: What If You Keep Falling In Love?

In an open marriage, what happens if your husband or girlfriend falls in love with someone else?

You're in an open relationship, and you have both a husband and a girlfriend. What if your girlfriend or you or your husband all fall in love with someone else? According to polyamorist Jenny Block, "although they are very good friends, my husband and my girlfriend are not in love or involved with one another. And my girlfriend and I are very much in love. The thing is, we don't think of love as a limited commodity. So, falling in love with someone else is not so much of an issue."

polyamory

A Husband, Three Kids And Two Boyfriends

Meet Robyn: a polyamorist, suburbanite and mother. Could she be your next-door neighbor?

What would you do if you found out that the mom you shared carpool duties with was a dominatrix at night? Or what if that cute couple next door wasn't really a couple—but a threesome or a foursome? How would you react? Well, you better get used to it, because all across America, in sleepy suburbs just like yours, moms are hiding secrets. Meet Robyn. She's a 44-year-old mom of three and a polyamorist who's currently involved in loving, intimate relationships with three men. And she's open to more, time permitting.

compersion

Compersion For Beginners

Can you imagine taking pleasure in your boyfriend's feelings for someone else? That's compersion.

People in open relationships often feel joy or pleasure when their partner has romantic adventures with other people. This feeling is sometimes called compersion. The Keristan Commune, a now defunct San Francisco-based polyamourous community, gets credit for coining the term, which is often defined as the opposite of jealousy. The word compersion is widely used in poly circles, but anyone in a non-monogamous relationship can experience joy from a partner's other love interests. When Shara Smith started dating Brian Downes, he was already in a relationship with someone else and he wanted to be careful about respecting Stephanie, his first partner. "He wanted to take all the right steps, and that made me more attracted to him," said Shara, who describes compersion as a "positive emotional reaction to a lover's other relationship."

The Open Marriage Memoir

The Open Marriage Memoir

Jenny Block does it differently.

If Bill was suggesting a sexual relationship with me, he was coy about it. The man I had interned for in college met me for coffee, ostensibly to talk advise a young sprout on her career. He's brilliant, attractive and a leader in his field. But when Bill began talking about how he sleeps with women other than his wife, I panicked at any hint of a subtext. What threw me off was when he told me that the wife knew about it. That was the first time someone I knew confessed to an "open marriage," and it challenged my notions -- illusions, perhaps -- about intimacy and fidelity. I'm as jealous as they come and I asked Bill if it bothered him that his wife slept with other men. But he said certainly not -- sleeping with numerous people actually made him a more confident person. And did their children know?

I'm Open: Why Jenny Wants to Talk

I'm Open: Why Jenny Wants to Talk

Jenny Block answers your questions about open marriage.

Jenny Block answers your questions about open marriage. I'm in an open marriage and my new book, Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage is hitting the shelves as we "speak." That's the short of it. You can read the full story right here on the Tango website. First, there's the piece called "Portrait of an Open Marriage" that was actually the inspiration for the book. And then there's the follow-up piece that I wrote two years later called "Portrait of an Open Marriage.

rice university open

Sex Mag Launched At Rice U.

College students love sex and magazines, so this is really a no-brainer.

What's it with all of these sex magazines popping up at colleges? Are they rubbing it in our faces how awesome college was? Or is it something else? Rice University (a real college) just launched one called Open. Good things.