Normalizing Non-Monogamy - Personal Stories of Polyamory, Swinging, and Beyond

Pinky lives life with a whole lot of zest and enthusiasm! And, as she describes it, sometimes a bit impatiently. Although, we might argue that her impatience could be attributed to some built up excitement! I tried writing more about Pinky but her bio over on her website at 3shadesofgrey.com captured it much better than I was able to: I was born and raised into a religious, and conservative family...

Today, Ava identifies as a polyamorous, kinky, swinger... Yet, for most of her life she worked really hard to play by the rules doing what she was "supposed to be doing." And then, in 2018, a friend invited her to an adult Christmas party. It turned out to be a life-changing party! We loved Ava's description of herself in her bio over at 3shadesofgrey.com and so we borrowed it to help give you a b...

Anthony has always felt like he was a bit different and questioned everything. Even questioning things so much that he was once asked to not return to Bible school as a child. Years later, while working as a club promoter he met a dominatrix who invited him to his first dungeon party and life hasn't quite been the same since... Even though his first experience was a bit traumatic for him, a new wo...

Andrea grew up in a fairly conservative suburb and first came out in the queer and leather communities around 2000-2001 after joining the circus. For them, non-monogamy came as part of the queer and kinky package. Over the next decade-ish Andrea explored many different phases and configurations of kink and non-monogamy before a series of serious health issues turned their life upside down. These s...

We always love when we get to bring guests back on the show for an update and today is definitely no exception! The last time we talked to these four was back in 2019 on Episode 71 and while so much has changed, the love between these four has only grown deeper. And it sure is a good thing because they all got matching tattoos pretty early on! Over the last five years they've transitioned to a lon...

Meshai and Fin team up together to answer amazing listener questions every fourth Friday of each month! However... This month we have a special guest! Today's questions are all about finances and money and we have an incredible author, coach, and fellow podcaster Laura Boyle joining us! Laura just published her second book, " Monogamy? In This Economy?: Finances, Childrearing, and Other Practical...

Today we get to hear an incredible New York Love Story like no other! Bear is a Black queer man of trans experience, born, raised and currently residing in Brooklyn, NY. Fifi is a first-generation queer, non-binary Puerto Rican born, raised, and also living in New York. And together they have forged a partnership that is uniquely theirs and is mutually uplifting while defying the status quo of wha...

In her early twenties Mae repeatedly found herself in a cycle of getting into a relationship, developing feelings for someone else, fighting them off for a while and then ultimately cheating and blowing it up only to do it all over again. Then a friend invited her to a kink event which lead to her first dungeon party which changed her life forever... For about the next seven years Mae was consumed...

Jen identifies as a queer, pansexual, non-binary, relationship anarchist and has been living with their partner for over 12 years. However, that's not how things looked 12 years ago when they got together! Jen grew up in Ireland where cultural and religious norms didn't leave much room for being different in any way. Their first exposure to something new and different came during university... How...

"It's been a beautiful journey so far... But oh so messy!" Christa Lei and their partner originally opened their relationship into a "don't ask, don't tell" dynamic, even though neither of them ever acted on it. Eventually, they gave it a little more thought and made a shift to a more integrated kitchen-table poly dynamic, which is how they've now been exploring for the last few years. Christa's n...

Meshai and Fin team up together to answer amazing listener questions every fourth Friday of each month! However... This month we have a special guest! Today's questions are all about compersion and we have one of the world's leading experts on the subject joining us! Dr. Marie Thouin is a dating and relationship coach as well as the author of the new book "What is compersion?" You can learn more a...

Today's interview with Flora and Andy is so full of love and zest for life! The last seven years have been full of adventure for these two... They met on Grinder in 2017, got married a few years later, and then a few years ago decided to open their relationship up after a series of infidelities. Today they practice their own form of non-hierarchical polyamory after trying out different flavors of...

From a very young age Sandy had lots of crushes, loved kissing boys, and felt very free. Unfortunately, she learned very quickly how judgmental people are when she started getting called names at school and the shame started to creep in. She learned to hide parts of herself in order to fit in during high school but then in college she learned that "being queer" was actually a thing. Sandy is an in...

Billy is a bit of a self-described hopeless romantic with a romanticized view of love and relationships. He tried out monogamy for about 14 months as a freshman in college, however, having lots of sex and sexual adventures was never really his goal (not that he's complaining). He would often find himself falling for women and when he'd share his feelings they'd express their interest in continuing...

Our conversation today with Kathy is so beautiful, full of energy, and powerful. She is a vibrant 49 year old bisexual proud mother of a newly minted teen and she has been "officially" exploring non-monogamy for the last few years. Yet, as you'll hear, Kathy has always been a bit rebellious and unconventional. She loves to play and experiment, and she lives life very intentionally. Kathy is curren...

Meshai and Fin team up together to answer amazing listener questions every fourth Friday of each month! Today's questions are about exploring swinging while also in a quad and whether or not size matters and impacts men's ability to find success in the lifestyle. If YOU have a question, we'd love to hear it! Please, ask us anything by clicking here ! We are super excited to be partnering with Mesh...

Michael and his wife have been exploring non-monogamy since just before they got married about seven years ago. The conversation initially came up after an infidelity which set them on a path of healing, rebuilding, and ultimately exploration. This week’s interview is a little different than our normal interviews as it focuses a bit less on Michael’s personal journey while we dig into how Michael...

Taylor and Kuran have been together since 2017 and have an incredibly unique and beautiful relationship dynamic. We talk with lots of people in mono/poly dynamics, where one person is monogamous and the other is polyamorous... However, it's rare to find a monogamous person in this type of relationship that's as enthusiastically supportive, excited, and full of compersion as Kuran is for Taylor! He...

Aria is a bisexual, demisexual, sapiosexual, polyamorous, queer woman who's been exploring non-monogamy for over a decade. During our conversation she takes us through her beautiful story and how she's come to discover all of these amazing parts of herself along her journey. Her flavor of non-monogamy has gone through many iterations over the years and she shares many of the lessons and tools she'...

Ally has been exploring non-monogamy for about the past eight years but her fascination with relationships and human connection started quite early in life. As she explains it, she never really had the "cooties phase" growing up. Yet, like many of us, she learned to hide her sexuality early on, as well. Up until 2016 Ally's primary relationship style was serial monogamy. This ultimately led her to...

Mrs. N and Mr. N have been together nearly twenty years and started fantasizing together early on in their partnership. Their rich fantasy life together eventually turned into a reality a few years into their relationship. Things moved very slowly for years and eventually they found their sweet spot exploring swinging and hotwifing, or as they like to call it... "The Naughty Hobby" Their journeys...

Meshai and Fin team up together to answer amazing listener questions every fourth Friday of each month! Today's questions are about tips and strategies for navigating drop AND embracing mismatched libidos in a triad. If YOU have a question, we'd love to hear it! Please, ask us anything by clicking here ! We are super excited to be partnering with Meshai for the Ask Us Anything episodes! She first...

Like many of us, Brett started initially exploring non-monogamy before he had the language to describe it or a framework to understand it. Initially, he was in a long-distance relationship that had an agreement around being open. He eventually moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where his relational world opened up even further. Upon arriving in The Bay, Brett found himself living with a polyamoro...

Jessica is in her mid-thirties and has been practicing non-monogamy for over 11 years. From a very young age she decided she didn't want to follow the traditional relationship scripts and norms that most people do. When she started dating in college, she was very intentional about moving into non-monogamy with her partner from the very beginning of their relationship. Even though they were very in...

Abbey and Liam have been together for over 12 years and in an open relationship for about 10 of them. They initially started by exploring the idea as a fantasy through talking and sharing sexy stories back and forth on a private Tumblr page. Eventually, the fantasy turned into "Hey... Ya know, we could actually do this." which inspired them to begin exploring the New York City swinging world as th...