I think normalizing having more partners even in a stable relationship with one partner would make it much easier to actually talk to your partner and discuss it openly, because the percentage of partners that see it as something terribly wrong would be much lower and people wouldn’t feel like speaking about such things is risky. That would reduce the need for cheating, although it wouldn’t make it disappear (as it’s not the only cause, as someone’s correctly pointed out).
I see where you’re going, I just don’t agree. I’d rather normalize having open conversations with your partner(s) about sensitive and taboo topics, which I think is a prerequisite for multiple partners anyway. (Two people in a relationship can be tricky enough. Attempting to deal with the insecurities, feelings, and values of multiple partners seems like it would require open dialogue to have any real chance of success.)
I have a knee jerk negative reaction to your argument because it sounds like “I’d like to sleep with multiple people but my partner is brainwashed by society/their friends to believe we shouldn’t have multiple partners. If society decided this was normal, I wouldn’t have to work through this difficulty.”
(I fully support people having multiple partners if that’s what they want to do.)
I think normalizing having more partners even in a stable relationship with one partner would make it much easier to actually talk to your partner and discuss it openly, because the percentage of partners that see it as something terribly wrong would be much lower and people wouldn’t feel like speaking about such things is risky. That would reduce the need for cheating, although it wouldn’t make it disappear (as it’s not the only cause, as someone’s correctly pointed out).
I see where you’re going, I just don’t agree. I’d rather normalize having open conversations with your partner(s) about sensitive and taboo topics, which I think is a prerequisite for multiple partners anyway. (Two people in a relationship can be tricky enough. Attempting to deal with the insecurities, feelings, and values of multiple partners seems like it would require open dialogue to have any real chance of success.)
I have a knee jerk negative reaction to your argument because it sounds like “I’d like to sleep with multiple people but my partner is brainwashed by society/their friends to believe we shouldn’t have multiple partners. If society decided this was normal, I wouldn’t have to work through this difficulty.”
(I fully support people having multiple partners if that’s what they want to do.)