Do you accept open marriages?

The concept of an open marriage is a complex and sensitive topic for many, as it challenges some cultural norms with its new ideals.

An open marriage is a relationship that can not fit into the usual monogamous or polyamorous relationship that believes in fidelity. In a typical open marriage, partners agree and are free to have intimate relationships with other people outside their primary relationship.

Key characteristics of an open marriage

An open marriage runs a one to many in a many-to-many relationship in which one man is married to one woman, but the man is allowed to have relationships with other women just as the woman is allowed to have relationships with other men resulting in a web of mingled connection.

Unlike in the other traditional types of marriage, intimacy is non-exclusive, making partners free to engage in intimate relationships with others.

Based on a lack of exclusivity and the open nature of the relationship, the concept of fidelity or faithfulness is blurry, taking away that special feeling you get in a monogamous relationship.

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Open marriage and polygamy
An open marriage is a deffrent concept from polygamy as I show in the table.

Open marriage	Polygamy
It has a man and his wife at the center	It has a man and a fix number of wifes
intimacy is non-exclusive to the union	intimacy is exclusive to those in the marriage
intimacy with other persons is allowed	intimacy with others is viewed as infidelity
the relationship is a many-to-many relationship	the relationship is a one to many but limited to the wifes

The Risk Factor

A lot of people appreciate intimacy within the security of marriage because partners are expected to limit intimacy within the marriage. When this is upheld, the fear of contracting a sexually transmitted infection is removed. The same can not be said of an open marriage because any of the multiple sex mates can infect the whole open network.

A person in an open relationship has a higher probability of getting infected with STIs, HIV, and more. This is because it is more difficult to practice safe sex among members of the network.

I will love to hear from other steemians like @dequeen @bossj23 and @oasiskp. What do you have to say about this topic.