Glossary

Terms

• Ethical non-monogamy

  An umbrella term for relationships where everyone involved knows about, and agrees to, romantic or sexual connections with more than one person. It includes polyamory, open relationships, swinging, and relationship anarchy.

• Polyamory

  The practice of having multiple loving, committed relationships with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved. A form of ethical non-monogamy distinguished from open relationships by its focus on emotional intimacy alongside, or instead of, sex.

• Open relationship

  A form of ethical non-monogamy where a committed couple agrees to outside sexual, and sometimes romantic, connections while keeping the central partnership intact. Unlike polyamory, the emotional commitment usually stays with the primary pair.

• Relationship anarchy

  A framework where no relationship is ranked above another by default. Romantic, sexual, platonic, and caregiving relationships are all valid on their own terms, with commitments designed by the people in them rather than inherited from cultural scripts.

• Monogamy

  A relationship of two people committed to romantic and/or sexual exclusivity with each other. Monogamy is the dominant relationship structure across most Western cultures, though research increasingly shows it offers no automatic advantage in relationship quality over consensually non-monogamous alternatives.