Media • OpeningUp.net

More press for Jaiya and family

Dec 192011

Following their recent appearance in Details magazine and on Anderson Cooper’s talk show, sex guru Jaiya Ma and her two partners continue to receive some very prominent press. First, they were interviewed for Great Britain’s Daily Mail, in an article that lets the family speak for themselves, telling the story of how they came together, along with personal photos.

Jaiya’s family was also the focus of a recent article on ABC News, awkwardly titled, “Polyamory on Rise Among Divorce-Disgusted Americans.” Again, the family’s arrangement is detailed, including Jaiya’s rules for safe sex and check-ins. The article also includes the voice of Robin Trask, Executive Director of polyamory advocacy group Loving More.

Handling the holidays while poly

Dec 132011

This time of year can be difficult for anyone in a non-traditional relationship, which is why this recent Polyamory Weekly podcast is so important and helpful. The description reads:

Sometimes it’s tough to be poly over the holidays. Which relatives are you out to? Can you introduce your lover to your auntie May? How do you schedule family time? Listeners wrote in via Facebook and Twitter to ask the toughest holiday-related poly issues, and cohosts Joreth and Puck help Minx to sort them out . . .

The discussion topics include:

How to introduce non-spouses
How to prevent your poly-aware daughter from letting closeted poly relationships slip in front of the “in-laws”
Is being closeted OK to certain relatives?
How do you handle feeling secondary and isolated?
How do you manage economic disparities?
How do you deal with missing some and disappointing others?

Listen to the podcast for some great tips and advice!

Media blitz for Jaiya Ma and family includes interview with Anderson Cooper

Nov 122011

Sex expert and author Jaiya Ma, along with her partners Ian and Jon, have been taking the media by storm recently. First, they were profiled in a lengthy piece in Details magazine about MFM poly families. The article has a strange tone and makes some assumptions, but is ultimately accepting of polyamory:

it’s hard to see the harm in egalitarian, secular arrangements like Jon, Jaiya, and Ian’s . . . if plural marriage is ever to gain broad acceptance, it won’t be because of Mormon fundamentalists. It will be because of people like Ian, Jon, and Jaiya — affluent, educated city dwellers in mutually respectful relationships.

Jaiya wrote about the coverage on her blog, and Alan at Poly in the Media contacted some of the other people who were featured to see if they felt the piece was fair.

Then, Jaiya, Jon, and Ian were interviewed on Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show. The show included a little video montage of their home life, followed by questions from Cooper and the audience. Several clips of the show were posted on Anderson Cooper’s blog. Check them out:

Pedestrian Polyamory podcast debuts

Oct 152011

A new polyamory podcast has hit the internet! Pedestrian Polyamory, hosted by Shira B. Katz and her husband, Gavin Katz, is a Life on the Swingset spin-off that focuses on discussing polyamory in a down-to-earth manner. As they describe it:

We are normal, skeptical, logical and slightly geeky poly folk who have nearly 20 combined years of polyamory under our belt. We’re certainly not sages or experts but we aren’t novices and we aren’t trying to sell you anything. We just want a realistic and normalized viewpoint on polyamory out there because, truly, after all these years polyamory is kind of pedestrian.

In the first episode of Pedestrian Polyamory, Shira interviews Gavin about his views on polyamory, and they discuss topics such as “turning vanillas to polyamory, dealing with a partner who dates more than you, gender inadequacies in online dating, and being an introvert in an extroverted lifestyle.”

Pedestrian Polyamory can be found on iTunes and FeedBurner.

Non-monogamous leanings in Kanye West lyrics

Sep 102011

As polyamory becomes an increasingly more mainstream topic, I thought this article in The Atlantic was interesting: Two Views of Monogamy From Kanye West and Jay-Z on ‘Watch the Throne’. The article is mostly a close examination of lyrical content; the writer eventually concludes that Jay-Z is more concerned with monogamy, while Kanye West is in favor of non-monogamy.

Some of the most interesting tidbits about Kanye West are excerpted below.

The only vision of domestic bliss we get is decidedly non-traditional: “I’m a freak, huh, rock star life / The second girl with us, that’s our wife.”

. . . To an ever-increasing extent, [Kanye West’s] rap fixates on the idea of sanctioned polyamory, in which sleeping around jibes with having a committed relationship . . . He’s trying to establish a new order, to evangelize for Dan Savage-ordained good-giving-gameness between lovers — an acceptance of kink that the outside world condemns. For Kanye, as for a lot of guys, that kink is having multiple partners. “Hell of a Life,” off 2010′s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was about this; on it, he fantasized about being married to a permissive porn star who’d let him get with whomever he’d like.

. . . In Watch the Throne’s opening number “No Church in the Wild” — a song about having the ability to write one’s own rules — he rhapsodizes about a new religion: “No sins as long as there’s permission’ / And deception is the only felony / So never fuck nobody without tellin’ me.” A few lines later, his mind drifts to a dream girl marked by two tattoos: “One read ‘No Apologies’ / The other said ‘Love is Cursed by Monogamy.’”

Read the rest on The Atlantic.

Mockumentary web series questions monogamy

Aug 302011

A newly-launched mockumentary web series called The Monogamy Experiment is offering a fun, off-the-cuff look at open relationships. The series is about a young couple who decide to dabble in non-monogamy for 30 days.

The series is written, co-produced, and directed by actress Amy Rider (known for her role in The Secret Life of the American Teenager). Various members of the cast are known for their roles on Charmed, The Big Bang Theory, and Heroes.

More info about the series:

The Monogamy Experiment combines the genres of documentary and romantic comedy into a naturalistic mockumentary. A “too-young-to-get-married-yet” 20-something experiments on herself and her boyfriend to find the truth about whether we are truly monogamous or not before they head to the altar. The world of The Monogamy Experiment has a light but grounded tone, while everything about the acting indicates this is nothing less then a true documentary, comedic situations abound.

The Monogamy Experiment is about the human condition — whether or not we can be pegged into the hole of being the type of animals who are biologically monogamous or not… or whether human emotions blur any ability to peg us into any category at all.

Here’s the first episode:

Episodes two and three can be found on YouTube, with more to come. The Monogamy Experiment can also be followed on Twitter and Facebook.

Margaret Cho on her open marriage

Jun 152011

Comedian/actress Margaret Cho was a guest on CBS afternoon show “The Talk” this week. At one point, she was asked about her open marriage.

Cho says,

I think honesty is really important. And I plan to be married forever. I love my husband, and I feel that we have to be honest, and I think that, to me, monogamy is not an honest choice for myself. It is for some people, but not for me.

Poly Weekly podcast examines Charlie Sheen and reality TV

Apr 072011

A recent episode of the Poly Weekly podcast tackled the theme of poly in the media. With all the hullabuloo about Charlie Sheen lately, along with the premiere of season two of Sister Wives, I found this topic very timely.

The podcast host, Cunning Minx, discusses whether the poly community should accept Charlie Sheen as one of their own, despite the fact that he is not “doing it terribly responsibly.” She notes that in news reports surrounding Sheen’s antics, the poly aspect of his life is sometimes “the smallest of his deviations from the standard,” which could mean that polyamory is becoming more mainstream.

Cunning Minx also references this blog post about polyamory and Sheen, which has some advice for poly folks:

. . . we can set ourselves apart from this kind of thing [Charlie Sheen] by stressing at every opportunity the thoughtfulness, consideration, respect, communication, self-knowledge, and goodwill that are required to make polyamory work well. And by setting good examples.

The podcast also touches on the TLC reality show Sister Wives, which depicts one man and his four female partners.

Watch Law and Order: SVU tonight!

Mar 232011

Tonight’s episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, entitled “Bombshell,” has an interesting premise: two detectives are assigned to investigate criminal activity at a “swingers’ club.”

The Woodhull Foundation is hoping that viewers will tune in to the show and submit their responses to it on the foundation’s website.

While we have not seen the episode, we have apprehension that it may feature gratuitous demonizing and sensational characterizations of swingers and others involved in the swinging lifestyle . . . help us review the show as we consider any possible response we may wish to make to the network.

The episode airs tonight, Wednesday, at 10 pm ET on NBC. Submit your thoughts on the Woodhull Foundation’s website.