Close relationships

Affinity • Attachment • Bonding • Casual • Cohabitation • Compersion • Concubinage • Courtship • Divorce • Dower/-ry • Friendship • Family • Husband • Infatuation • Intimacy • Jealousy • Limerence • Love • Marriage • Monogamy • Nonmonogamy • Office romance • Passion • Partner • Pederasty • Polygamy• Platonic love • Psychology of monogamy • Relationship abuse • Romance • Sexuality • Separation • Wedding • Widowhood • Wife Image File history File links KarenWhimseyValentineMain. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Attachment in adults deals with the theory of attachment in adult romantic relationships. ... The term human bond -- or, more generally, human bonding -- refers to the process or formation of a close personal relationship, as between a parent and child, especially through frequent or constant association. ... A casual relationship is a term used to describe the physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have a sexual relationship or a near-sexual relationship without necessarily demanding or expecting a more formal relationship as a goal. ... This article is about a living arrangement. ... Compersion is a term used by practitioners of polyamory to describe the experience of taking pleasure when ones partner is with another person. ... Concubinage refers to the state of a woman or youth in an ongoing, quasi-matrimonial relationship with a man of higher social status. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the record label, see Divorce Records. ... Dower (Lat. ... A dowry (also known as trousseau) is a gift of money or valuables given to the family of the bridegroom by the family of the bride or vice versa at the time of their marriage. ... Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more humans. ... a family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 Family is a Western term used to denote a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups linked through descent (demonstrated or stipulated) from a common ancestor, marriage or adoption. ... For other uses, see Husband (disambiguation). ... Infatuation is the state of being completely carried away by unreasoning passion or love; addictive love. ... Definition Intimacy is complex in that its meaning varies from relationship to relationship, and within a given relationship over time. ... Jealousy typically refers to the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that occur when a person believes a valued relationship is being threatened by a rival. ... Limerence, as posited by psychologist Dorothy Tennov, is an involuntary cognitive and emotional state in which a person feels an intense romantic desire for another person (the limerent object). ... Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness. ... Marriage is an interpersonal relationship with governmental, social, or religious recognition, usually intimate and sexual, and often created as a contract, or through civil process. ... Faithfulness redirects here. ... Nonmonogamy is a blanket term covering several different types of interpersonal relationship in which some or all participants have multiple marital, sexual, and/or romantic partners. ... An office romance, work romance, or corporate affair is a romance that occurs between two people who work together in the same office, work location, or business. ... In psychology and common terminology, emotion is the language of a persons internal state of being, normally based in or tied to their internal (physical) and external (social) sensory feeling. ... Domestic partner or domestic partnership identifies the personal relationship between individuals who are living together and sharing a common domestic life together but are not joined in any type of legal partnership, marriage or civil union. ... In the past century, the term pederasty has seen a number of different uses. ... The term polygamy (many marriages in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, and sociology. ... Platonic love in its modern popular sense is an affectionate relationship into which the sexual element does not enter, especially in cases where one might easily assume otherwise. ... The psychology of monogamy deals with the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that commonly occur in monogamous relationships. ... Abuser redirects here. ... For other uses, see Romance. ... This article is about sexual practices (i. ... Legal separation is a possible step towards divorce under United States law. ... Nuptial is the adjective of wedding. It is used for example in zoology to denote plumage, coloration, behavior, etc related to or occurring in the mating season. ... A widow is a woman whose spouse has died. ... For other uses, see Wife (disambiguation). ... v • d • e

Open marriage typically refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. There are many different styles of open marriage, with the partners having varying levels of input on their spouse's activities. Marriage is an interpersonal relationship with governmental, social, or religious recognition, usually intimate and sexual, and often created as a contract, or through civil process. ... This article is about the act of adultery. ... Look up infidelity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Styles of open marriage refer to distinctions between open marriages based on the motives for participating in open marriage and on the nature of extramarital relationships. ...

The origins of the term open marriage remain obscure. Researchers in the 1960s used the term open marriage to describe individual freedom in choosing marriage partners.^[1][2] Closed marriage meant individuals had to marry someone based on social prohibitions and social prescriptions. Open marriage meant individuals could choose to marry someone based on personal preferences.

Nena O'Neill and George O'Neill changed the meaning of the term with the 1972 publication of their book Open Marriage, which sold over 1.5 million copies. The O'Neills conceived open marriage as one in which each partner has room for personal growth and can develop outside friendships. Most chapters in the book dealt with non-controversial approaches to revitalizing marriage in areas of trust, role flexibility, communication, identity, and equality. Chapter 16, entitled "Love Without Jealousy", devoted 20 pages to the proposition that an open marriage could include some forms of sexuality with other partners. These concepts entered the cultural consciousness and the term "open marriage" became a synonym for sexually non-monogamous marriage, much to the regret of the O'Neills. In the 1977 publication of The Marriage Premise, Nena O'Neill advocated sexual fidelity in the chapter of that name. By then however, the concept of open marriage as sexually non-monogamous marriage had gained a life of its own.

Today, with many committed couples not seeking formal marriage, the term is frequently generalized to 'open relationship' or 'responsible non-monogamy'. The concept of being sexually open versus closed is also sometimes applied to triads or other groups larger than two. See also open marriage. ... Polyamory (from poly=multiple + amor=love) is the desire, practice, or acceptance of having more than one loving, intimate relationship at a time with the full knowledge and consent of everyone involved. ...

Incidence of open marriage

Main article: Open marriage incidence

The incidence of open marriage is the frequency with which open marriage occurs. Several definitional issues complicate attempts to determine the incidence of open marriage. People sometimes claim to have open marriages when their spouses would not agree. Couples may agree to allow extramarital sex but never actually engage in extramarital sex. Some researchers define open marriages in overly narrow terms. Despite these difficulties, researchers have estimated that between 1.7 percent and 6 percent of married people are involved in open marriages. The incidence of open marriage has remained relatively stable over the last two generations. The incidence of open marriage refers to the frequency with which open marriage occurs. ...

Open marriage styles

Main article: Open marriage styles

Couples in open marriages may prefer different kinds of extramarital relationships. Couples who prefer extramarital relationships emphasizing love and emotional involvement have a polyamorous style of open marriage. Couples who prefer extramarital relationships emphasizing sexual gratification and recreational friendships have a swinging style of open marriage. These distinctions may depend on psychological factors such as sociosexuality and may contribute to the formation of separate Polyamory and Swinging communities. Despite their distinctions, however, all open marriages share common issues: the lack of social acceptance, the need to maintain the relationship as a couple, and the need to manage jealous rivalry. Styles of open marriage refer to distinctions between open marriages based on the motives for participating in open marriage and on the nature of extramarital relationships. ... Polyamory (from poly=multiple + amor=love) is the desire, practice, or acceptance of having more than one loving, intimate relationship at a time with the full knowledge and consent of everyone involved. ... Swinging, sometimes referred to as the swinging lifestyle, is non-monogamous sexual activity, treated much like any other social activity, that can be experienced as a couple. ...

Open marriage acceptance

Main article: Open marriage acceptance

Surveys show large majorities of people disapprove of extramarital sexual activity. A few studies show people specifically disapprove of open marriages. Critics have put forward moral, medical, and psychological objections to open marriages. The lack of social acceptance places pressure on couples to hide their open marriages from family, friends, and colleagues. This may limit their social support network, resulting in a loss of psychological and physical health benefits. The lack of social acceptance for open marriage deals with the generally negative attitudes toward open marriage in Western societies, the reasons for those negative attitudes, and the consequences of those negative attitudes for couples in open marriages. ...

Relationship maintenance

Main article: Open marriage relationship

The impact of open marriage on relationships varies across couples. Some couples report high levels of marital satisfaction and have long-lasting open marriages. Other couples drop out of the open marriage lifestyle and return to sexual monogamy. These couples may continue to believe open marriage is a valid lifestyle, just not for them. Still other couples experience serious problems and claim open marriage contributed to their divorces. All couples in open marriages may therefore want to pay attention to their relationship maintenance behaviors. Relationship maintenance refers to behaviors partners perform in order to maintain satisfaction and extend the duration of a relationship. ...

Jealousy management

Main article: Open marriage jealousy

Couples in open marriage expose themselves to situations that can potentially provoke jealousy. Most couples in open marriages report experiencing jealousy at some point during their marriage. Couples in open marriages also experience jealousy more frequently than couples in sexually monogamous marriages. Ground rules are one way to help manage jealousy in open relationships. However, ground rules may not be sufficient. Couples in open marriages may benefit from a general understanding of jealousy and how to cope with it. Jealousy management refers to the ways people cope with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors associated with romantic rivalry. ...

Ground rules

Couples involved in open marriages or relationships typically adopt a set of ground rules to guide their activities. Ground rules in relationships allow partners to coordinate their behaviors so they achieve shared goals with fewer conflicts. Some ground rules are universal in the sense they apply to virtually all relationships in a particular culture. Other ground rules apply to specific kinds of relationships, such as friendships or marriages. Still other ground rules are designed to manage romantic rivalry and jealousy. The ground rules adopted by sexually monogamous couples tend to prohibit behaviors that are viewed as acts of infidelity. The ground rules adopted by sexually open couples tend to prohibit behaviors that provoke jealousy. Partners may change the ground rules of their relationships over time.

Legal issues

The practice of extra-marital sex is often illegal in jurisdictions where adultery is illegal, regardless of whether the partner(s) has given their consent. Open marriage is not the same thing as polygamy, where sexual relationships are kept entirely within the parties to a formally recognized marital arrangement. This article is about the act of adultery. ... The term polygamy (many marriages in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, and sociology. ...

Notable people in open marriages

• Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet^[3]
• Havelock Ellis, sexologist[1][2]
• Robert Crumb and Aline Crumb, cartoonists[3]
• Dick and Naomi Mitchison[4][5]
• Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester [6]
• Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
• Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, politicians
• Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma
• Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer
• Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West

Edna St. ... Henry Havelock Ellis (February 2, 1859 - July 8, 1939), known as Havelock Ellis, was a British doctor, sexual psychologist and social reformer. ... Robert Dennis Crumb, often credited simply as R. Crumb (born August 30, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a U.S. artist and illustrator recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream. ... Aline Kominsky-Crumb (born Aline Goldsmith, August 1948, Long Beach, New York)[1][2] is an underground comics artist, who married into the Crumb family, best known for her autobiographical stories. ... Gilbert Richard Mitchison, Baron Mitchison of Carradale QC, otherwise known as Dick Mitchison ( 23 March 1894–14 February 1970), was a British Labour politician. ... Naomi Margaret Mitchison, CBE (nee Haldane; 1 November 1897 Edinburgh – 11 January 1999 at Carradale) was a Scottish novelist and poet. ... Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was an English stage and film actor. ... Lanchester in Naughty Marietta Elsa Lanchester (October 28, 1902 - December 26, 1986 in Woodland Hills, California) was an Oscar-nominated English character actress who became a naturalized American citizen in 1950 along with her husband, actor Charles Laughton. ... Diego Rivera (December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957; full name Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez) was a world-famous Mexican painter, born in Guanajuato City, Guanajuato, whose large wall works in fresco co-established Mexican Mural... Frida Kahlo[1][2] (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was a world-famous Mexican painter[3][4][5][6], who incorporated the indigenous culture of her country with vibrant colors (a la Henri Rousseau) in a style oscillating between Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947), was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton. ... Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC (25 June 1900–27 August 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... Edwina and Louis Mountbatten, Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, CI, GBE, DCVO (28 November 1901–21 February 1960) was an English heiress, socialite, relief-worker and the wife of the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. ... Dmitri Shostakovich   (Russian: , Dmitrij Dmitrievič Å ostakovič) (September 25 [O.S. September 12] 1906–August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. ... Sir Harold Nicolson (November 21, 1886 – May 1, 1968) was a British diplomat, author and politician. ... Vita Sackville-West Vita Sackville-West (March 9, 1892 – June 2, 1962) was an English poet, novelist and gardener. ...

See also

• Infidelity
• Polyamory
• Swinging

Look up infidelity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Polyamory (from poly=multiple + amor=love) is the desire, practice, or acceptance of having more than one loving, intimate relationship at a time with the full knowledge and consent of everyone involved. ... Swinging, sometimes referred to as the swinging lifestyle, is non-monogamous sexual activity, treated much like any other social activity, that can be experienced as a couple. ...

References

1. ^ Johnson, H.M. (1960). Sociology: A Systematic Introduction. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.
2. ^ Jacobsohn, P., & Matheny, A.P. (1963). Mate selection in open marriage systems. In K. Ishwaran and J.M. Mogey (Eds.), Family and Marriage (pp. 98-123). Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, Publisher.
3. ^ Epstein, Daniel Mark (2001). What Lips my Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-6727-2.