>Given that about 50% of marriages in the US end in divorce, I have to
>suggest that this culture has difficulty with a one-to-one tight
>binding relationship. I can only guess that adding more people into
>such a thing would further destablize the relationship. Risky.

It all depends on the people involved. Some would argue that 'open' relationships remove some of the stressors that break up many monogomous relationships.

Personally I think it is just too complex to sum up. I know people who have been in long term poly relationships, 'open marriages', etc, as well as people in the 'classic' monogomous situation. And I don't think any one choice is better than any other overall, it comes down to the people involved and what works for them. I know some of the people in poly relationships would never cope with monogomy, while others would probably do just fine - and some of the monogomous couples would never cope with the new twists being poly brings in.

There is also no such thing as a 'standard' poly relationship, there is quite a lot of variation.

But this is WAY off topic, so if anyone wants to continue this take it to the General forum.
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