Polyamory

This NY Times Article explores a new dating phenomena, polyamory. This is an arrangement where men and woman date multiple people exclusively at any given time, and everyone is informed of every relationship. For example, a man can be dating 3 women, and these women know he is dating these other women, but they can have other relationships as well. In a world where monogamy is becoming less and less desirable, this seems like a miraculous arrangement. But this does not make dating easy, nor does it leave a person without questions. How do you explain this situation to mom and dad? "I'm seeing 3 people right now, 2 of those people are men, and one of them is a woman." And what about jealousy? "My boyfriend has spent more time with his other girlfriend than me this week." And lets not forgot about the health risks involved. How can you be sure everyone you're having sex with is healthy, and then you have to hope that the people you're having sex with is being safe and sleeping with healthy people as well. While I think that this new dating concept is fantastic, and impressive and innovative, are we making cheating too simple? And if this is an acceptable lifestyle, what about polygamy? Apparently in America we are free to date whoever we like, whether it be men or women, or multiple men and multiple women, but we just aren't allowed to give them equal rights as heterosexual married (and monogamous) couples because they are doing something "wrong?" When are we going to be able to really accept every type of lifestyle? But I guess we should just think like my married (to a woman) gay sociology teacher, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.