There are a lot of challenges in maintaining multiple relationships. One of the trickier bits, it seems to me, is when partners’ needs for intimacy and presence don’t match. 

I am not someone who needs regular in-person time to maintain a feeling of intimacy. (If I were, my long-distance relationships would be impossible.) By contrast, one of my local partners needs time every few days to maintain that familiarity.

That could work out fine if your constellation of relationships includes people with different time requirements. But if they all need frequent in-person time to maintain the relationship, you’re going to wind up polysaturated much sooner. And if you are someone who needs frequent time, choosing partners with fewer existing commitments becomes a must.

If someone else needs more time than you do, they can seem greedy. If someone wants to give less time than you think you need, they can feel distant.

Everyone has different abilities to give time and different requirements for having it. And those abilities and requirements can change as other parts of their life change. Managing those different needs within the amount of time available is one of the most challenging parts of polyamory.

To keep track of my travel, I use TripIt, an app that helpfully brings all my plans together in one place.

Recently, they introduced a new feature – safety ratings for one’s destinations. Today, however, they upgraded that to include specific ratings for LGBTQ safety in neighborhoods around the world.

It’s a shame that such a thing is needs to exist, but kudos to them for thinking of it. Now, let’s all keep working to help make it obsolete.

(Their pitch here: http://bit.ly/2QrB33I)

It’s an increasingly challenging time to be an adult on social media. Facebook’s new community guidelines and Tumblr’s elimination of all adult content promise to limit open discussion of common topics, sharing safety information, and building community. And these are but the most recent restrictions.

These moves aren’t a surprise. Rather, they are the logical consequence of two recently-passed laws in the U.S. Known as SESTA and FOSTA, these acts ostensibly intended to curb sex trafficking, but were accidentally or deliberately written so broadly that they appear to make normal adult conversations actionable.

Moreover, these laws make social media sites responsible for the content their users post. Because of that responsibility, the Facebooks and Verizon/Oath/Tumblrs of the world are suddenly more vulnerable to legal action — and their response is to protect themselves through the recent changes of policy. But that new legal responsibility means that petitions and other traditional pressures are unlikely to have even their usual effect.

Fortunately, someone is doing something to make a difference — to change the underlying laws that have led us to this chilling situation. The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, long an advocate for adults’ rights, is leading a group of plaintiffs suing the government to get those laws rolled back.

Of course, fighting the government isn’t easy. They’ve got some backing, but this effort promises to be long and difficult. I’m helping the good guys trying to defend and restore your rights; if you can help too, please do. The cavalry is coming, but they need our support.

Back them here: https://www.woodhullfoundation.org. And thank you.

The difference between “I want you to be mine“ and “I want to be with you” is profound, even if the latter is harder to fit on a candy heart.

This guest post comes from the soon-to-be sexual wasteland known as Tumblr. HypnoBunny is a presenter on and practitioner of erotic (and other kinds of) hypnosis. But she has written a fine disquisition on the male member that I am leery of reprinting in its entirety, but which you can read >>>here<<<.  It’s an appreciation that people of any gender can enjoy.  I know I do!

Should your dating partners be within a certain age range?

We’ve all heard the “rule” that suggests partners be at least half your age plus seven years, and no more than your age minus seven, then doubled. (I was told there would be no math.) But this is like the rules about wearing certain color clothes after Labor Day, or acceptable dress styles for older women; somewhat dubious of provenance and based on more on managing societal perceptions than value for a particular person.

The actual optimal age range for a partner can depend on the nature of the relationship one wants; it’s probably easier to interact over a long term with someone relatively close in life stage. But not every relationship is about that.

People of very different ages may have common interests and attitudes, but in other ways — values, cultural references, outside obligations, libido — may be quite different. That’s true of any two people, of course, but a significant age difference can add to the disconnections.

But this is another of those places where the answer may be different for monogamous and polyamorous people. If you’re trying to have all your needs met by one relationship, the differences introduced by age can get in the way. But if you are able to enjoy just those parts of a relationship that you have in common, and find others to meet the remaining needs, an age difference in any one relationship becomes rather less important.

My partners span 10 years to either side of me, but age isn’t terribly relevant — well, chronological age, anyway.  For basic compatibility, synchronicity of maturity and spirit matter far more than what the calendar says.

I don’t understand. Do locker rooms have some Magic Cloak of Disrespect that makes them places where it’s all right to say unacceptable things? Do the people in the locker rooms not interact with the rest of the world? There are no islands for intolerance or incivility – or, at least, there shouldn’t be. The fact that you’re near other people’s sweaty gym socks is no excuse for stuffing your humanity — or anyone else’s — in a locker.

And here’s a clue: if you’re having to defend it in public, or in a political debate, it’s obviously not “just locker room talk” anymore. And it never really was.

An upcoming visit with a long-distance partner left me wondering: How much do you care what your partners do when they are not with you? I mean, assuming there is basic agreement on safety practices, do you want to know details of their other encounters?

A couple of my partners are very interested in that — or, more to the point, don’t like surprises. They don’t need the blow-by-blow description, but do want to know when encounters occur, and with whom. Others want to know what other relationships are out there, but aren’t interested in details about when specific dates occur, much less details of what went on.

I am solidly in the latter camp. I hope very much that my partners have full and satisfying lives. But when they are not with me, I don’t need to know who they saw or where they went. Obviously, if they are excited about something and want to tell, I will be happy to join in their joy. But I have no need to know (nor a right to insist.)

Agreements differ; your mileage may vary. Does it, and why?

I honor and respect those who dedicate their lives to helping other people overcome their medical challenges. Healers — of whatever sort — rock.

So please don’t take it personally when I say that with several partners’ recent issues and a couple of my own, I could stand to not see a medical professional for a little while.

(Polyamory: All those things that happen in life, multiplied.)

Q: My relationship just isn’t meeting my needs. But I’ve put so much time/energy/emotion into this, I hate the idea of giving up on that investment. Wouldn’t it be a waste to walk away?

Well, first, take heart that what you have already put into the relationship probably wasn’t a waste. You learned things, you likely had some good times. After all, there was something there that made you want to invest; at some point, it was worthwhile. The more apt question is whether the next piece of resource you put into this relationship will, in fact, be wasted because there’s nothing more to be gained there.

You can’t get the time back, and you can’t get the resources back no matter what you think of the relationship. What you can do is to not put anything more into it if it won’t improve anything — and especially if doing so takes away from your ability to put resources into a more rewarding relationship.

It’s like the joke about the guy who was walking back and forth, looking at the ground. A cop asks what he’s doing. “I lost my keys on 20th Street,” he says. “Why are you looking on 18th?” asks the cop. “Oh, the light’s better here.”

You don’t need to put your energy into where you are; you need to be where the love is. That’s how you keep from wasting your time. Invest in what can grow.

That next-door neighbor or person you work with.

Do you know if they still have the tonsils they were born with? Do you care?

Do you know if they still have all the teeth they were born with? Do you care?

Knee? Hip?

…then why do you care if they still have the genitals they were born with?

…Pride Rest of the Year begins.