Normalizing Non-Monogamy - Personal Stories of Polyamory, Swinging, and Beyond

Ali and Michael have been together since their high school days over 17 years ago. After their first year of college, Ali brought up the idea of opening their relationship and to her delight, Michael was up for it. Thirteen years, and many bumps and bruises later, they have dabbled in kink, swinging, and polyamory trying to find what works best for them. Right now, they've decided on the broadest description they could come up with: ethically non-monogamous. This conversation covers so much - from dealing with and basically overcoming shame, to how they created a beautiful throuple dynamic with a partner in Iceland. Definitely do not skip this one!   Ali is a travel and wildlife journalist. Her work can be found on Forbes, HuffPost, VICE, and Lonely Planet. She also writes about non-monogamy for Cosmopolitan. We were drawn to her work because she writes about non-monogamy from the first person perspective and for people in the non-monogamous community, not to create click bait exploiting it. Definitely check out her work here!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our November Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

Red and Jay are in their early thirties and have been together about nine years and married for five. They consider themselves social swingers and started exploring non-monogamy right at the beginning of the pandemic… Perfect timing, right?! In this conversation with us, they discuss how they have navigated opening their relationship at possibly the worst time ever, how they navigate swinging when one of them is pretty introverted and one of them is an extrovert, plus, they even came prepared with a blooper or two! This is a super fun conversation and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Enjoy!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our November Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

This is our second interview with Gabby this week… In case you missed it, Gabby is a married, 37 year old, bisexual, relationship anarchist who has been exploring non-monogamy for about 10 years. In our first conversation with her, she shared with us how being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, PTSD, ADHD, and borderline personality disorder in her late teens has impacted and informed her relationships and non-monogamy. In this episode, we lighten things up just a bit. Gabby shares a bunch of amazing stories from her decade of experience and each one weaves in incredibly valuable lessons on trust, consent, boundaries, and even a bit of sexiness! We had such an amazing time talking with Gabby again and hope you enjoy this conversation as well!    Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our November Virtual Meet and Greets! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

Gabby is a married, 37 year old, bisexual, relationship anarchist who has been exploring non-monogamy for about 10 years. In this first conversation with her, she shares with us how being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, PTSD, ADHD, and borderline personality disorder in her late teens has impacted and informed her relationships and non-monogamy. She also talks a lot about how she navigates multiple relationships and gets support from her partners while also supporting them simultaneously. This is an amazingly powerful episode and we are so grateful to Gabby for her transparency and openness in talking with us. So much so, that we are bringing her back for a second interview in just two days!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our October 26 Virtual Meet and Greet! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

Jan is a 25 year old pansexual, neurodivergent, relationship anarchist from the Netherlands. He recognized at age six that he approached things a bit differently than his peers and relationships were no exception. We have a fantastic discussion on transitioning and healing damaged relationships as well as learning to set healthy boundaries.   Jan is also working with a group of people he met on Reddit to design a new flag to represent the polyamory community. Their goal is to crowdsource ideas and have the global community vote on the new flag. To learn more about how you can get involved and help support the project, please check them out at www.polyamproud.com.   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our October 26 Virtual Meet and Greet! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

Rosie started exploring and researching the idea of non-monogamy a while ago and even tried it out briefly while she had a platonic partner. She ultimately determined it wasn’t necessarily for her, however, she ended up bringing a lot of the mindset and skills she developed and learned through non-monogamy into her monogamous relationship with her fiancé. Rosie is also an award-winning comedian, the author of “Is Monogamy Dead?” and “The Breakup Monologues” as well as the host of the podcast by the same name. This conversation is an absolute delight… Enjoy!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our October 26 Virtual Meet and Greet! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

Wendy started exploring non-monogamy about six years ago as a way to save her marriage. Anthony and his wife got into it almost 20 years ago and have been in dynamics ranging from swinging to a polyamorous quad. A few years ago their forces collided. They share with us the story of how they came to be together and the challenges of coming out of difficult relationships while trying to form new ones. We also have a great conversation about negotiating a relationship from the very beginning.   Wendy and Anthony also volunteer at the Paradise Club in Pennsylvania to help lead the charge in education, community building, and making the experience for members as amazing as possible.   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our October 26 Virtual Meet and Greet! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

Crystal and Rich came out of their previous marriages knowing they wanted something different. They found one another and have been exploring a cuckold dynamic just about from the beginning of their relationship... At least having the conversations since the beginning. This is such a fantastic conversation that shows there is more to a relationship style than the name implies. Everyone does things a little bit differently and this is a beautiful example of exactly that.   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our October 26 Virtual Meet and Greet! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

Kacie and Marcus have been married for about eight years and exploring polyamory and non-monogamy for three of them. They started their non-monogamy journey when Kacie realized she had a crush on a coworker and decided to talk to Marcus about it. The conversation went way better than she expected and three years later they are continuing to evolve and grow together as they figure out what works best for them and how to navigate everything. This is an incredibly powerful conversation from start to finish. We hope you enjoy it.   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our September 22 Virtual Meet and Greet! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/

Mason is an amazing queer transgender man who has been married for over a decade and exploring non-monogamy for the past five years. Everywhere Mason goes, he seems to drive change. He went to a private Christian university and went head-to-head with administration almost weekly regarding policies and treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. Now, as a sex educator who runs a business helping trans people find the best-suited sex toys for them, he continues to influence change by working with sex toy companies to make their toys more inclusive. Oh, and did we mention he got started by hosting sex toy parties at the private Christian school? We love this conversation and all of the work Mason is doing. Please check it out and tell everyone you know to help spread the love!   Check out the full show notes here. Click here to learn about our upcoming in-person events! Click here to join our September 22 Virtual Meet and Greet! Join Our Patreon Community! $10 Off - Online STI Testing https://www.normalizingnonmonogamy.com/