Opening Up: A Guide To Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships

Tristan Taormino

Cleis Press, May 1, 2008 - Self-Help - 346 pages

Relationship expert and bestselling author Tristan Taormino offers a bold new strategy for creating loving, lasting relationships. Drawing on in-depth interviews with over a hundred women and men, Opening Up explores the real-life benefits and challenges of all styles of open relationships — from partnered non-monogamy to solo polyamory. With her refreshingly down-to-earth style and sharp wit, Taormino offers solutions for making an open relationship work, including tips on dealing with jealousy, negotiating boundaries, finding community, parenting and time management. Opening Up will change the way you think about intimacy.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - willszal - LibraryThing

I found out about this book in a post by my friend Ian MacKenzie, "Love Will Be the Death of Us." I've read a few other books on polyamory, but this one definitely feels the most useful. Taormino ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - atreic - LibraryThing

Practical and sympathetic book on a range of ways of doing non-monogamy. Easy to read, lots of anecdotes from real people. Possibly slightly too much focus on America and BDSM for some people's tastes.

Contents

• SECTION: 1
• CHAPTER 2 Myths about Nonmonogamy: 13
• CHAPTER 3 Is an Open Relationship for You?: 19
• CHAPTER 4 What Makes an Open Relationship Work?: 33
• SECTION: 51
• CHAPTER 6 Swinging: 61
• CHAPTER 7 Polyamory: 71
• CHAPTER 8 Solo Polyamory: 87
• CHAPTER 9 Polyfidelity: 95
• CHAPTER 10 MonogamousNonmonogamous and MonoPoly: 111
• CHAPTER 11 Designing Your Open Relationship: 121
• CHAPTER 12 Jealousy and Other Intense Feelings: 153
• CHAPTER 13 Compersion: 173
• CHAPTER 14 Common Challenges and Problems: 183
• When Something Changes: 203
• CHAPTER 16 Coming Out or Not Finding Community Creating: 227
• CHAPTER 17 Raising Children: 249
• CHAPTER 18 Safer Sex and Sexual Health: 263
• CHAPTER 19 Legal and Practical Issues: 285
• CHAPTER 20 The Future of Relationships: 295
• Notes: 301
• Resource Guide: 311
• About the Interviewees: 337
• About the Author: 345

About the author

Tristan Taormino is an award-winning author, columnist, editor, and sex educator. She is the editor of the Best Lesbian Erotica series and Hot Lesbian Erotica, and she is the author of Tristan Taormino’s True Lust, Down and Dirty Sex Secrets, and The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women. Tristan is a columnist for the Village Voice, Taboo, and Velvet Park, and her writing has also appeared in Vibe, Spectator, The Advocate, and more than 15 anthologies. Tristan has been featured in more than 200 publications, including the New York Times, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, Details, New York magazine, Men’s Health, and Playboy. She has also appeared on CNN, MTV, Oxygen, the Discovery Channel, The Howard Stern Show, Ricki Lake, Real Sex, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, Scarborough Country, and over 50 radio shows. Tristan directed the adult videos The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women, Tristan Taormino's House of Ass, and Chemistry. She has been a popular speaker and teacher at polyamory conferences, workshops, and community groups for more than 15 years. Tristan lives in New York City. Visit Tristan at www.puckerup.com.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Opening Up: A Guide To Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships
• Author: Tristan Taormino
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Cleis Press, 2008
• ISBN: 157344295X, 9781573442954
• Length: 346 pages
• Subjects: Family & Relationships / Love & Romance; Health & Fitness / Sexuality; Self-Help / Sexual Instruction