I’m Jenny Block the author of Open, Love, Sex and Life in an Open marriage.
An open marriage is where two people are married and have the freedom to have relationships outside of that marriage. That is completely up to the married couple as to what those outside relationships mean. People can have an open marriage where they are allowed to have sex with other people once and never see them again. People can have relationships out of town but not keep in touch with them because their partners don’t want them to form any emotional attachments. They can be formulated in many ways. There’s a romantic sense of love that I have both for my husband and my girlfriend that I don’t have for my other friends. Well of course I have a sexual relationship with her.
The very first time my husband Christopher and I talked about opening our relationship, the first thing he said to me was you’re crazy which you know it didn’t surprise me that much. I’ve heard him say that before, you know, here goes Jenny with another one of her crazy ideas for how to make the world a better place. It actually turned out to be sort of life altering conversation not just in terms of opening our marriage but just in terms in the way we communicate at one another.
We’re very out—I mean I was on the cover of all sorts of newspapers in my area and when we go out I mean I introduce my husband as my husband and my girlfriend as my girlfriend and I don’t know that people aren’t connecting the dots still or the people are too polite to ask or the people are saying terrible things behind my back but not to my face.
I don’t think our daughter is really aware. She knows that Gem is my best friend. I spend a lot of time with her. Gem spends a lot of time in our house but I don’t know that she’s connected all the dots between love and sex and alone time in night and marriage and all that stuff. That is always the big question handling jealousy. I guess we handle it the way people, handle it in a close relationship I mean when you’re spouse goes off to work in the morning, you really don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know if they are text messaging with their secretary or madly in love with their boss and in some ways I think we are less jealous of one another because we have the freedom to explore the grass on the other side of the fence as it work.
Definitely, do no t think that open marriage is for everybody. I think there are lots of people for monogamy actual true conscious, honest chosen monogamy works great. I think you have to talk about it just as you talk about open relationships. I think there are people who are really meant for open relationships and people who really aren’t.
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