Open Relationship

The umbrella concept of an open relationship covers any committed partnership in which both people have agreed that one or both may pursue sex or romance outside the dyad. The Wikipedia article notes that the term is sometimes used interchangeably with polyamory, but the two are not identical: open relationships emphasize sexual non-exclusivity, while polyamory allows multiple emotionally intimate or romantic bonds to develop in parallel. Swinging is generally classed as a third, recreational variant of consensual non-monogamy that centers on shared experiences between couples.

Researchers more often use the broader umbrella term consensual non-monogamy (CNM), also called ethical non-monogamy. The defining feature across every CNM arrangement is that all parties have full knowledge of and consent to the structure, which is what distinguishes it from infidelity. A 2018 review published via the U.S. National Library of Medicine reports that one in five U.S. adults has engaged in some form of CNM at least once in their lifetime.

In practice, the agreements that define a particular open relationship vary widely: some couples permit only co-ed play together, others allow solo dates, and others negotiate full romantic latitude. The shared mechanism is explicit, recurring communication about what is on and off the table, rather than a fixed template inherited from any one branch of the community.