Non-monogamous sex educator Charlie Glickman is in the process of prepping a workshop for OpenSF (a poly, open, and non-monogamous conference which takes place June 8-10 in San Francisco) called "Sex, Shame, & Love." In the interest of including an array of experiences in his presentation, he is looking for your input. Here's what he's looking for:
In my view, love is the emotion that both fosters and results from closer connection, while shame both creates and comes from disconnection. If we're going to build our skills at seeking the ever-shifting balances in our relationships, we need to be able to encompass both sides. So in this workshop, we're going to explore how people juggle that. How do we make room for connection and room for creating distance? How do we maintain a relationship with the resilience needed to allow for other romantic/sexual/loving partners? What do we do to manage different relationships with different levels of closeness and connection? What can we do to make room for the feelings that arise (and often challenge us) around both connection and disconnection? What tools do people use for these processes?
. . . I'm curious to know how you make it work. What do you do to make room for those different dynamics? What do you do to manage them? For example, some people don't do sleepovers with secondary partners, or reserve certain sexual activities for a primary, because they find that that helps them maintain a different bond with their primary partner.
To contribute your voice, comment on Glickman's post or send him a confidential message through his contact form.