Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Is Open Marriage the Modern Couple's Answer to Infidelity?

AlterNet: Sex & Relationships: Is Open Marriage the Modern Couple's Answer to Infidelity?: "When I think about open marriages, I can only conjure a stereotype: deeply unsatisfied adults, most likely going through a mid-life crisis, pathetically searching for hot sex as a solution. You know, key parties, 'The Ice Storm.' It is difficult for me to think of it as something new or current, or as something my friends would do.

But apparently, I am stuck in the past. Plenty of intelligent, successful, hip people are considering the not-quite-forsaking-all-others option on 'til-death-do-us-part. And by now, most women are familiar with the statistic heard 'round the world, publicized in an article in 'The New York Times' in January. At this time in our history, for the first time ever, there are more women living that are single than are married. Women are staying single. Couples are divorcing. Marriage isn't entirely working, at least for a subset of the population. So could non-monogamous coupling be the answer?"

BYU Professor Says Religion Plays Role in Fidelity

ksl.com - BYU Professor Says Religion Plays Role in Fidelity: "A BYU professor says being actively religious could help married couples remain faithful.

David Dollahite is a professor of family life at Brigham Young University. He was doing research on how religion influences marriage and family when he started to see a link between religion and fidelity.

He says there are several studies that show religious involvement helps protect marriages from infidelity. But he wanted to know more about why that might be the case.

Dollahite interviewed 57 married couples in New England and California. Each couple claimed to be highly religious and represented several different faiths, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

He says highly religious couples said they viewed their marriages as sacred and more important than a simple human connection."