Polyamory
Multiple simultaneous romantic relationships, openly and with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved.
Polyamory is built on the premise that romantic and sexual love isn't a finite resource to be rationed. People practicing it form multiple romantic relationships at once, with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved. There are many ways to do polyamory — hierarchical or non-hierarchical, kitchen-table or parallel — and the word names the orientation, not a specific structure.
Solo polyamory
Polyamory centered on individual autonomy — typically without cohabitation, merged finances, or the relationship escalator with any partner.
Solo polyamory is a polyamorous practice that places autonomy at the center. Solo poly people typically don't pursue cohabitation, merged finances, or the relationship escalator — not because they don't love their partners, but because the structural shape of their life is theirs alone. Solo poly is not a holding pattern before partnership; it's a configuration with its own values, often centered on freedom of movement, self-as-anchor, and refusal of default ranking.
Relationship anarchy
An approach that refuses pre-ranked hierarchies between relationships. Each connection is defined on its own terms.
Relationship anarchy (RA) treats every relationship as unique. Instead of fitting people into ranked categories — partner above friend, romance above platonic — commitments are negotiated based on the needs and desires of the people involved. Romantic and sexual relationships do not automatically take priority over deep friendships. The 'anarchy' is the refusal of inherited rules about what relationships should look like, not the absence of agreements.
Open relationship
Sexual non-exclusivity with romantic exclusivity. Often used as a modifier on other configurations.
An open relationship is a romantic partnership where the partners agree they may have sexual relationships with others while keeping the romantic relationship between them. The term is sometimes used as a modifier on other configurations — for example, an 'open V polyamorous relationship' — and the practice it points to varies widely.
Swinging
Couples who explore sexual encounters with others — often other couples — while maintaining romantic exclusivity.
Swinging typically refers to couples who engage in recreational sexual activities with other people — frequently other couples — while maintaining romantic exclusivity within their primary partnership. Swinger communities have their own etiquette, events, and norms that often differ from polyamorous community practices, especially around emotional involvement with playmates.
Monogamy by choice
Monogamy practiced as a deliberate, examined choice rather than the cultural default.
Doing the workbook can lead someone to realize that monogamy actually fits them — practiced as an examined, conscious choice rather than the unexamined default. Monogamy by choice differs from monogamy-by-omission in the same way that solo polyamory differs from being unattached: the structure is the same, but the relationship to the structure is intentional.