What is Non-Monogamy, Open Relationships, Polyamory Chart

Polyamory, and many other forms of non-monogamy chart

If monogamy works for you, that’s great, stick with it! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

But if you are considering some sort of open relationship, you should know there are a lot of options.

Non-Monogamy is not the same thing as cheating, in fact, the whole point is to be honest, honorable, and respectful of everyone’s feelings. So what is the solution if you have feelings for more than one person, or if the person you love does? There is no simple answer.

The solution depends on what each person in a relationship needs, their specific insecurities, and what they’re willing to put up with. In other words, it’s a contract that needs to be defined. If you think about it, monogamy is a contract too. It’s basically a contract that says that you can only have sex with one person, and they can only have sex with you. The details do vary though, and need to be stated aloud: Can you spend time with someone other than your partner, someone you also love, if you don’t have sex with them? Is that allowed, or do you need to break off all contact with any new love interest you find? Can you flirt with people? Does it counts as breaking your word if you rub someone’s genitals through their clothes? Is looking at porn allowed, or forbidden? And if porn is dissalowed for the man, are romance novels (which do the SAME thing for women) allowed?

Even plain old monogamy varies a lot in the details of its contract.

As for non-monogamy, there are as many versions of it as there are non-monogamists. However, people have come up with words to describe certain types of it. That’s useful, because you can look at the common options, and find what works for you and your partners.

I’ve found a nice chart for this, and reposted it below with permission.

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© 2010 Franklin Veaux; all rights reserved.

The only name in this chart I didn’t recognize was Unicorn. What is a Unicorn in polyamory? I looked up the definition:

Polyamory Unicorn Definition:

1. A bisexual woman willing to date a couple.

2. A mythical beast.

You can find more funny and useful articles on polyamory on Franklin Veaux’s website.