In 1997, when Dossie and I published the first edition of our book The Ethical Slut, our fellow sluts were mostly weirdos like us: aging hippie Free Love devotees, science fiction and Renaissance Faire denizens, Neopagans and other practitioners of non-christian religions, exponents of BDSM and other fringe sexualities. (And, of course, throngs of gay men, who had been practicing consensual nonmonogamy quite matter-of-factly for decades.)
Twenty-five years later, our audiences have grown immensely, and they’re not just queers and outsiders and misfits: at our speaking engagements, we see people of all backgrounds and identities, many of whom wouldn’t have dreamed of engaging in such scandalous behavior a decade or two before.
What changed? “For that story, look to Fifty Years of Polyamory in America. Here is the inside scoop on the visionaries and pioneers who brought the freedom to love openly into the mainstream, penned by two people whose lives have been spent supporting and driving these enormous cultural changes. If you’ve ever wondered how it is that your neighbors or your adult children or your parents are suddenly feeling free to talk about their outside partners and the manifold pleasures of sluthood, here’s your answer.

Janet W. Hardy, coauthor, The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships, and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love

An insider's story of the social and emotional journey of being committed to the joys and travails of creating polyamorous community. Filled with well-researched details about many of the movement's seminal players

Dr. Leanna Wolfe, sex anthropologist. author of Women Who May Never Marry: The Reasons, Realities and Opportunities

[A] beautiful homage to many of the early explorers of committed multiple relationships, also known as polyamory, and the many different expressions of this lifestyle choice. This book encourages the reader to reflect on the notions of giving and receiving love, joy, happiness, and connection as we venture through a historical summary of how polyamory has been explored by some of the early adventurers in this relationship style.

Center for Positive Sexuality