Dr. Elisabeth Sheff of Fidelity in Polyamorous Relationships

Sheff continues to write on polyamory, and anyone who wants to know more about polyamory (or ethical nonmonogamy or consensually nonmonogamous relationships in general) should check out what she's written. It is to the credit of psychologytoday.com that they carry these writings. This latest article is on various kinds of fidelity.

Polyfidelity is a form of polyamory in which a group of people agree to be sexually exclusive with each other and not have lovers outside of the group. Usually these groups are quite small—triads with three people or quads with four are most common—though they can be as large as 20-plus people who form an exclusive intimate network. Twin reasons usually motivate people to consider polyfidelity: sexual exclusivity among a smaller group makes fluid bonding much easier, and a desire for emotional exclusivity.  Some groups choose to be polyfidelitous for a while and then later open their sexual choices to include others beyond the group and become polyamorous. For others, especially those who accidentally fell in love with each other and were not necessarily seeking a poly relationship per se but one happened to them anyway, the relationship expanded beyond two is quite enough and the idea of adding even more people to their lives is not appealing.

There's a whole world of different ways to do relationships. We're all better off when our laws and how we respect others take this into account.