Fascinating! Poly Living Con in Seattle October 22-24

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From Theoretical Ideas to Practical Living:

Poly Living and Relationship Choice in the 21st Century

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In its Seattle debut, Loving More's Poly Living West Coast Conference offers:

TWO DAYS OF AMAZING RELATIONSHIP WORKSHOPS

Special Guest Speaker CHRISTOPHER RYAN, PH.D., Co-author of the sensational new book Sex at Dawn: the Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality

A Keynote Speech by DOSSIE EASTON, M.A. of The Ethical Slut

A Concert by

About Special Guest Speaker Christopher Ryan, Ph.D.

Dan Savage calls Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality "the most important book on human sexuality since since Alfred Kinsey unleashed Sexual Behavior in the Human Male on the American public in 1948." This new bestseller is overturning common wisdom on the anthropology of monogamy and human nature and remaking the future of the polyamory movement.

Join Christopher as he speaks about his book, the waves it is making, and how it applies to poly living today.

About Dossie Easton, M.A.

The Ethical Slut has been a cornerstone of the polyamory movement since its first edition in 1997. Join us for our opening address Friday night by Dossie Easton, longtime poly and sexual-freedom activist and a treasure of community wisdom.

There will be a presentation and book signing with Mim Chapman, Ph.D., author the book of What Does Polyamory Look Like? This lively and informative new book, by Loving More's own board member, Mim Chapman, categorizes the vast diversity of polyamorous relationships. It's a lighthearted tour through the poly world, good for educating friends, family, therapists, and professionals (and yourself) about our community.

There will also be a presentation and book signing by Curt Bergstrand, Ph.D., author of Swinging in America; Love, Sex and Marriage in the 21st Century, which is based on years of research into the swing world and other forms of nonmonogamy in American culture. This seminal book examines monogamy's functionality,failures, and whether it is healthy for our culture at large.

Opening Concert Friday Night

Bone Poets Orchestra (formerly Gaia Consort) plays psychedelic steampunk in the tradition of Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd and other hallucinogenic masters. The band is well known in the West Coast poly world for its soulful, funny, original music with many appropriately themed songs.

Opening for Bone Poets is the renowned Ben Silver. A singer and instrumentalist from New York, Ben has led poly workshops and performed at Loving More conferences since the mid-1990s. Whether in singer/songwriter mode or doing McFerrinesque vocal improvisations, Ben slides through folk, R&B, funk, jazz and back again.

Loving More wishes to thank for their support:

• Allena Gabosh, Executive Director, Seattle's Center for Sex Positive Culture
• The good people at the Sharma Center
• Cunning Minx of the Polyamory Weekly Podcast; and

HOTEL INFORMATION

REGISTER HERE

For more information, see the Poly Living Website or call

970-667-5683.

Deborah Anapol and Polyamory Get Their Own Blog on PsychologyToday.com

Dr. Deborah Anapol, co-founder with Ryam Nearing in the early 1990s of  Loving More and author of Polyamory: The New Love Without Limits (now out of print) has just announced the following:

"...in case you’re still wondering whether polyamory has gone mainstream, I’ve just been asked to blog about polyamory for Psychology Today. My new blog, Love Without Limits: Reports from the Relationship Frontier will be up soon. Please visit me there, offer your own views in the 'comments' section, and share this link with your friends."

No wondering on my part, other poly leaders and I have been discussing and writing about the mainstreaming of polyamory for more than three years now.  It's gratifying to see that the polyamory movement has now reached a place where mainstream psychology is taking note and recognizes that this trend is important and substantial enough to warrant regular, high visibility commentary. 

Anapol must have a good publicist to land such a plum writing opportunity.  Her re-entry into the world of polyamory is also being fueled by publication next month of her new book, Polyamory in the 21st Century: Love and Intimacy with Multiple Partners, about which I've heard good things and will post a review here once I've purchased and read it.  She asked me to write a piece for it on recent polyamory leadership initiatives, which I did.  It will be interesting to hear what she has to say about the current state of the practice of polyamory, especially since she dropped out of polyamory circles and remained pretty much silent on the subject for the last several years, seemingly focusing on other things. Younger poly leaders, used to the fast pace of the flow of information via the internet and social networking sites, seem to barely know who she is, if at all.  Still, for ten years or so Polyamory: The New Love Without Limits and The Ethical Slut (1st ed) by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt/Janet Hardy, were the only books available by which to navigate the waters of polyamory.  For their existence I will always be grateful, especially Anapol's section on jealousy.  We'll see whether this new book has the chops to rate up there with Tristan Taormino's Opening Up and the vastly expanded and improved 2nd edition of The Ethical Slut as a staple reference resource on polyamorists' book shelves.  If you are one of those polyamorists who knows little or nothing about Anapol and would like to know more, visit her website.

The Ethical Slut Redux

Great news! When I saw therapist and author Dossie Easton last year at an event, she announced that she and Janet Hardy (who previously wrote as Catherine Liszt) were in the process of writing a second edition of The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities. The original was published in 1997, and a lot has changed culturally since then.

I had a chance to talk with Dossie at Dark Odyssey this past weekend, and she told me that The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships & Other Adventures will be out on March 3. Amazon is offering it for pre-order for $11.53. Mine is now on order.

Slut (as Dossie refers to it) was the best available handbook on polyamory for a very long time, and I have no doubt that with this update it will continue to be a valuable and trusted resource for everyone who wants to know more about options for responsible and ethical alternative non-monogamous relationships. No polyamory library will be complete without it.

Multiple O - But Will It Play in Peoria, uh, Madison?

I was pleased to see that a play entitled Multiple O, written and directed by playwrite John Sable, is currently being staged in of all places, Madison, Wisconsin. It is based on the seminal polyamory book written by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt (pen name of Dossie's partner, Janet Hardy) called The Ethical Slut.

Yesterday critic Bruce G. Bradley panned it - he clearly couldn't find much in the way of redeeming qualities. Of course, he's just one critic, and as you may see if you read the comments already made to this post, apparently what wasn't mentioned is that Bradley has a track record for panning Broom Street productions and many others in the Madison area. Also the play has been standing room only for much of its run to date, and that's great news. I hope it makes its way to the east coast so I get a chance to check it out.

I stand corrected and am glad that I do! Thanks, anonymous.

Dossie and Janet tell us they are in the process of authoring a second edition of the Ethical Slut that should be out in another year of so, in which they include poly communication exercises and an online polyamory resource list. Definitely something to look forward to.