144 - Multi-Cultural Dating and Culturally Intelligent Relationships (Live Show in Tokyo) / 東京マルチアモリーライブショー

The Multiamory crew is in Tokyo! In this very special live episode recorded at Good Heavens British Pub in Setagaya, we discuss how increasing your cultural intelligence can boost your understanding and communication, particularly when dating someone from a very different culture.

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141 - Solving Sexual Incompatibility

This week we are talking about sexual incompatibility and infidelity. Opening up about sex is often a challenging and vulnerable part of any relationship, and it can cause some relationships to implode. Today we are going to offer some stits and stats regarding sexual incompatibility, sexual changes over time, and how non-monogamy can shape and help sexual differences in a relationship. We also will talk about infidelity and why it can happen even in seemingly happy relationships.

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140 - The Jealousy Survival Guide (with author Kitty Chambliss)

This week we're speaking with Kitty Chambliss, coach, speaker, and author of the soon to be released Jealousy Survival Guide. Kitty shares with us the lessons she's learned as a polyamorous person who still struggles with jealousy and offers her insight and techniques for managing jealousy as it occurs in the moment with grace, ease, and compassion. 

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139 - Love is (Not) All You Need

Multiamory loves The Beatles, but we take issue with the assertion that love is all you need. In this episode, we discuss the dangers of what is traditionally "magical" thinking surrounding love and relationships. If you're in a relationship that is dysfunctional, codependent, or making you miserable all in the name of love, here's where you can learn valuable tools to evaluate whether your relationship has a leg to stand on, or if it may be time to leave. 

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138 - Conscious Monogamy

What is conscious monogamy? The term gets thrown around on many polyamory and non-monogamy blogs, but there isn't really a set definition for it. This week, we examine the nature of being conscious in one's relationships, whether you're monogamous or not. In contrast, we also highlight a few of the unhealthy forms of traditional monogamy, and ways to bring these qualities of consciousness into a monogamous relationship. 

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137 - Intersectionality and Polyamorous Communities (with therapist Ruby Bouie Johnson)

We're very pleased to speak with Ruby Bouie Johnson, sex therapist and founder of PolyDallas Millennium, an annual symposium of presentations and workshops on polyamory with a focus on centering people of color, queer, and gender fluid voices. Ruby shares with us her thoughts on the need for an intersectional focus in poly communities, handling tokenism, and the value that a polyamory- and kink-friendly therapist can bring to a client who may be monogamous or vanilla.

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136 - Healing Old Wounds and Resentment in Relationships

Long-term relationships can be fertile ground for wonderful things like deep bonding and silly in-jokes. But they can also come with their fair share of old hurts, repetetive arguments, and growing resentment. If you find your partner holding the past against you, feeling hurt and upset even after you've apologized for something in the past, or if you find yourself resenting your partner in the present for old hurts in the past, then there may be some unhealed wounds in your relationship. In this episode, we cover strategies for both partners to support each other in a journey of healing and acceptance in order to release and heal old wounds. 

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135 - What's Your Apology Language?

Our favorite God-doctor Gary Chapman, creator of the 5 Love Languages, has come up with another useful tool for communication: the 5 Apology Languages. Have you ever apologized to your partner for a mistake in the past, only to find that your partner brings it up again a week later, expressing frustration that you never really said you were sorry? What the hell? Was your partner not listening?

It's possible that you and your partner have different apology languages. What felt like a genuine apology to you may have not landed at all with your partner. Tune in to find out more about apology languages and gain some insight for the next time one of you needs to say, "I'm sorry."

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134 - Legal Protections for Polyamorous Families (with lawyer Diana Adams)

The Multiamory crew is thrilled to speak with lawyer Diana Adams, who runs a law firm based in New York and Frankfurt that primarily provides family law and mediation services to the LGBTQ community, polyamorous families, same-sex couples, platonic co-parents, and non-nuclear families. In this episode, we got so much helpful information from Diana, including the many kinds of legal agreements available to polyamorous families, actionable steps poly families and parents can take right now to start protecting themselves, and her predictions for how poly marriage rights and poly parenting rights may be changing on the horizon. 

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133 - 6 Questions You Must Ask Your New Partner

A long list of "glass ceiling questions" has been floating around the polyamorous internet lately. These are questions that are essential to ask a new partner in order to get down to brass tacks on what kind of agreements or rules they have in their other relationships, what they are expecting for their relationship with you, and other nuts-and-bolts questions. In the spirit of efficiency, Multiamory has condensed these questions down to 6 topics to ask about when starting a new relationship. Even better, we made it easy to remember. Just take your date to the M.O.V.I.E.S.! Tune in to find out more.

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132 - The Ethical Slut 20th Anniversary with Janet Hardy

The Ethical Slut, long considered to be the "Bible" of polyamory and alternative relationships, is celebrating its 20th anniversay with a new, updated edition! The book had an incredible impact on each of our lives, and we are so excited to be speaking to co-author and educator Janet Hardy. Janet shares with us what's new in the updated edition, what she sees for the future of non-monogamous relationships, and her one piece of advice for anyone considering polyamory

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131 - Dumpster Fire Relationships

The dumpster fire relationship: you know it when you see it. Constant fights, endless drama, and an umatched level of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. In this episode, we'll discuss signs that your relationship might be a total dumpster fire, how to evaluate whether or not it's time to leave, plus practical advice on escaping a draining relationship with minimal collateral damage

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130 - Emotional Labor

This week we're digging in to emotional labor -- the mental and emotional energy required to maintain a relationship. All interpersonal relationships require some sort of emotional labor, so it's not a bad thing. However, problems arise when one person is giving more emotional labor than they are receiving from the other side. This disproportionately tends to happen to women, but it can occur regardless of sex or gender. Tune in to find out the subtle ways that emotional labor can stack, and how to evaluate your relationships for emotional labor balance or imbalance.

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128 - How to Support Your Partner Through a Break-Up

Break ups suck. They suck a little less if you're not the one going through it, but if it's your partner who's just been dumped, then you may find yourself shouldering the burden of some of their suck as well. In this episode we talk about the ways to care for your partner, your self, and your relationship when your partner is going through a break-up or other turbulent period of life. 

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127 - Relationship Agreement Pitfalls

This week we're discussing agreement pitfalls -- common relationship agreements that seem reasonable, but which may cause trouble in the long run. The Multiamory crew has a pretty firm stance against strict rules in relationships, but there are many agreements that fall into a debatable grey area. Is it fair to make sure you and your partner conduct relationships in the exact same way? Is it ethical to ask a partner to check in with you before they get sexual on a date with someone else? Tune in to hear our thoughts on these questions and more.

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