Dating Someone in an Open Marriage

Open marriages and polyamorous relationships are on the rise. Nowadays, people don’t like to commit to only one partner as they feel they might miss out on exciting opportunities that way. This is why most people now go for open family relationships.

Open marriage dating is a form of dating where one or both parties in a marriage decide to be non-exclusive to each other and date other people on the side. Many people opt for open marriage dating to fulfill their needs that can’t be fulfilled by only one partner.

If you have caught yourself saying “I want an open relationship” to yourself at some point, maybe it’s time you learn more about it. This article is your guide to dating someone in an open marriage. You have to understand that open relationships have rules; examples include basic stuff such as maintaining transparency and remaining truthful about the open nature of the relationship. It is important for you to navigate through these regulations; otherwise, you will find yourself in turbulent situations.

Dating someone in an open marriage can be a fun experience. This guide will help you understand the core concepts of dating someone if he or she has a primary spouse they don’t want to leave. It will also teach you how to propose an open relationship to your partner.

Dating a Woman in an Open Marriage

Dating a married woman in an open relationship is quite an adventure. The truth is, dating anyone in an open marriage agreement with their partner is a different experience for those who have been monogamous all their life. This is mainly because marriage (no matter how polyamorous it is) works on completely different dynamics than monogamous relationships. There are a lot of factors involved which wouldn’t apply to an exclusive relationship between two people. Therefore, understanding open relationships are of paramount importance before you start dating a girl in an open relationship.

Understanding Open Relationships

Understanding open relationships is key if you want to start dating a woman in an open marriage. You can’t just go about dating married people if you are not sure how such marriages work.

For starters, an open marriage is an open relationship agreement. This means that both parties involved in the marriage decide to not remain exclusive to one another. Both parties start seeing other people outside their marriage while remaining married to their primary partner. The basic rule for an open marriage to work is to establish an agreement. Both parties mutually agree that seeing other people is fine, and they won’t hold it to one another. If both parties don’t agree on it, there’s a good chance that their marriage might go down the drain.

Another factor necessary for a successful open marriage agreement is transparency. Even though both parties initiate dating other people with each other’s consent, it is only a healthy practice to let your partner know how many people you are dating at a given time and what your physical extent with them is.

Now that you know what open marriage agreements are and how do they work, it’s time you explore the answer to a major question that frequently comes up in an open relation agreement setting.

How to Bring Up an Open Relationship in a Conversation?

Most of the time, people in monogamous relationships are too afraid to talk to their primary partners about their desire for an open marriage agreement. This is because most people look at polyamorous relationships as odd and also because they don’t want to lose that special thing with their primary partners. This creates a rather difficult question to answer “How to bring up an open relationship in a conversation?”

Before you bring up the conversation, you need to make sure why you are looking for an such an agreement. Many people have different intentions when going into an open marriage agreement. Some do it because they don’t find monogamous relationships fulfilling. Others do it for the sake of experience. Some even do it to strengthen their bond with their primary partner. There could be a lot of reasons, and you need to be sure about yours. The answers to these questions also answer the age-old question: “how to survive an open relationship?”

The answer to the question: “how to tell your boyfriend you want an open relationship,” is not straightforward. However, you should start by telling your partner how long you have been thinking about an open marriage agreement. Being truthful and honest about your approach will be appreciated by your partner in most cases. Reassuring your partner about how it isn’t about their shortcomings is a good way to make them understand your desires. You should also clearly define and set boundaries at this point agreed upon by your partner as well if you want to ensure a smooth relationship with your partner.

How to Manage an Open Relationship?

Managing an open relationship can be difficult, mainly because the dynamics at play are much different than in any other monogamous relationship. However, with a few rules and regulations in mind, you can manage an open marriage agreement with your partner easily. Here is a set of open relationship guidelines that you might want to consider before proceeding with an open marriage. These guidelines can help both you and your partner and will also keep your partner from ever googling “how to be ok with an open relationship!”

Setting boundaries

Setting boundaries is the very first step you should take when initiating an open relationship. Not only will these boundaries help you and your partner better understand the situation, but they will also give you a general idea of what to expect. Setting boundaries first up also helps if your partner is particularly insecure about initiating an open relationship.

Boundaries are of two types: emotional and physical. You need to establish both of these boundaries beforehand with your partner. For example, you and your partner might choose to exclude any physical relations with other people initially. Or perhaps you might agree on not giving your individual dates the space to be deeply intimate, therefore reserving that emotional intimacy for your primary partner alone.

Establish Your Reach

The next step in successful open relationship guidelines is to establish who you and your partner are allowed to date. This depends on your preference and will save you from many rough patches in the long run.

Some couples choose to enact the rule where each individual is only allowed to hook up with strangers. This is to protect them from any awkward meetup situation at an office party or other such events. Other couples, however, prefer having sexual intimacy with people they already know, such as mutual friends. This is because these couples trust these candidates enough to have them lurk around their partners.

Divide & Conquer

Being in a polyamorous relationship does not mean you get a free pass to be around strangers all the time. Remember, a successful marriage works when the primary relationship stays intact. Otherwise, it’s not a marriage with a *, but a regular breakup where each individual is hooking up with other people. Therefore, establishing some healthy habits first up is crucial to keeping the primary relationship alive for a long!

Establish with your partner a healthy time limit to spend together every day. This is a healthy habit where both parties get enough time to hang out with their respective dates while giving each other enough time to keep the primary relationship alive.

Healthy Evaluation Intervals

A crucial step for any smooth-running operation is evaluation and feedback.

It is important for you and your partner to sit down every now and then and reevaluate the situation. Are you happy with the current situation? Are your current boundaries satisfactory? Is there any jealousy on the part of any one of you? Would you want to keep the status of this relationship as open? Answers to all these questions are extremely important if you want your open marriage agreement to run smoothly.

Dating While in an Open Relationship | Summary

Dating while being in an open relationship can be tough. Especially if your partner is not as understanding as you’d like, or if both of you want different things. Dating while being in an open relationship is also very different from any monogamous relationship you might have ever had in your life. The dynamics at play are completely different and require a separate set of rules and open relationship guidelines to work properly. However, it is also one of the funniest ways of bringing a colorful change to your mundane romantic life.

Benefits of dating while being in an open relationship

Dating while being in an open relationship is beneficial in more than one way. One of the biggest benefits is having multiple sex partners. Humans enjoy novelties, and having multiple sexual partners is considered an elite novelty among men and women alike. This is why many couples, once established on mutual agreement and respect for each other, continue to prosper for so long – they blow off steam somewhere else.

Another benefit of dating while in an open relationship is that you don’t have to confine yourself to being that one best version of yourself. When dating multiple people, you can be open and more truthful about your own self because now you have multiple outlets to let out the inner you. Establishing it quickly gets rid of the barrier where you are afraid to bring out your odd inner desires in front of your significant other.

Potential Problems With Dating While in an Open Relationship

One of the biggest problems with dating while in a relationship is jealousy. Most partners, who start off on mutual terms and agreement, end up being jealous of their partner’s potential dates. This is especially true for people who have just started out or have less dating success than their partner. This is true because these people have only seen monogamous relationships all their life which is why their expectations are inclined towards having an exclusive partner.

An obvious risk associated with sleeping on the side and having multiple sex partners is the increased possibility of getting an STD. Having multiple sex partners is a proven risk factor for any STD, which is why couples need to be extra careful with their out-of-marriage expeditions.

Pros & Cons of Open Relationships

To summarize everything stated so far, here is a simple list of all the pros and cons of dating while in a relationship. Reading these will help you make an informed choice if you are planning to initiate such a relationship with your partner.

Pros:

• New and exciting sexual experiences
• Reduced pressure on both partners to fulfill the needs of each other
• Better sex life
• Enables much more effective communication

Cons:

• Jealousy becomes a deep-rooted issue
• Increased chances of feeling vulnerable as your partner becomes more attached to someone else slowly overtime
• Increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases for both partners
• May lead to exaggerated sexual expectations for the future if the current open relationship does not work out

These pros and cons of dating while in an open relationship are meant to provide all the necessary information for you to make an informed choice about whether or not an open relationship is best for you and your partner.