This is the first of two episodes with Amy Gahran, the author of Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator: Uncommon Love and Life. Amy joins Peter McGraw to talk about what it means to ride the relationship escalator – the difficult obligations it entails yet privileges it also creates. Peter and Amy discuss what it means to step off the escalator into an unconventional relationship, which can be stigmatized yet opens opportunities for a remarkable life. They also discuss how relationships success should be defined, the difference between consensual non-monogamy and polyamory, and why “sexual friendships” is a better term than “friends with benefits.” Amy will return in a subsequent episode to talk more deeply about solo living as an alternative to the relationship escalator.

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