Is having an open relationship more acceptable in American society when compared to other cultures?

I’m not sure if America is more
willing to accept open relationships than other countries. I live a sheltered life and I know that when I’ve mentioned it to my fiancé he gets upset that I would even ask about something like that. He’s close-minded. I hope not everyone in America is like him.

It’s not the case in all cultures, but as a rule, I would say yes. I’m an American citizen, but my Bulgarian husband had never heard of such a concept prior to coming here.

I’ll also add that Bulgarian and Russian cultures are similar (but not identical), and they have a strong basis of men’s and women’s duties. The man should be able to please their wife, and if not the man is not doing his job. This is, of course, only applying to married couples.

I think French culture is relatively open to such concepts. In their history it was considered acceptable for a man (but I only know of cases of nobility and royalty) to have a mistress with whom he would be with in public. Perhaps it is similar in modern culture with the rich.

@lamedb I don’t think having a mistress is the same concept as an open relationship.

Just from my life experiences, and observing others around me, then I would say, NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

I’m Turkish, and it would obviously not be accepted there to have an open relationship. I’ve never understood why cheating is so widespread everywhere, especially in the US, but an open relationship is still a hard sell. I read Savage Love sometimes, and one of his letters was a married guy who was openly poly. He was flirting with someone in his office, and she was interested in cheating but wasn’t cool with sleeping with someone who was open about it. I just don’t understand stuff like that.

@Haleth ha, that is very common – you wouldn’t believe how many women wanted my husband when he was working full time but wouldn’t go for it once he told them that I know about them and their advances – people want to feel special, they love to break couples up no matter what they tell others…they love to feel as if they’re just so sexy that they made a husband leave his wife…as if…

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Thank you. You ruined another bit of the faith I have in the human race. (Wasn’t much to begin with!)

@taciturnu oh c’mon – it’s not such a surprise, is it?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Wow, that’s awful. WTF is wrong with people?

@Haleth I don’t know why y’all are taking it so hard – seems pretty obvious to me why an affair is more attractive to a person than an open genuine involvement in polyamory..that would require introspection, not a cliche by the book seduction

@Simone_De_Beauvoir It’s just disgusting! Open is one thing, but to want to be deceptive?

@taciturnu many people, when they’re driving a spouse away don’t consider themselves to be the person doing the deception

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Come again? You mean as in the example of a spouse being “driven to cheat?” (I do see that happen, and it makes sense to me.)

@taciturnu I meant the person making the spouse cheat doesn’t feel guilty as they may be single – they think it’s the husband’s problem if he’s cheating (I’ve been there, done that…not that I was single, I was married too…but at least before I slept with my current husband, I broke it off with my ex)

@Simone_De_Beauvoir It all is in the eye of the beholder, and no one wants to think they’re doing wrong. But I just really don’t understand the concept of wanting an affair to be in secret. I may sound a little naive, but wouldn’t it be much more pleasurable to have the green light to do the nasty with someone you want to do the nasty with? If you’re attracted to someone, you are. Why would the okay to step it up actually be a barrier? A secretive affair brings all levels of drama with it. There are so many people that feed off of that. I don’t know why people can’t just be happy!!

Sorry for ranting. I just can’t make sense of it. I would be thrilled to get the green light to sleep with whoever I wanted to sleep with. Hubby limits it to women, though. (And, I’ve yet to take him up in it.)

People in closed societys are shocked by any abnormalities. Mixed raced, queer relationships, open relationships. Many in the deaf community object to my wife, who is deaf, being married to me, a hearing man.

@filmfann how dumb

maybe its more accepting in Canada..than in america..obviously any alternative soical lifestyles are usually more accepted or tolerated when compared to muslim cultures…unless you are talking about one guy with 10 wives..any country that looks down on gays and lesbians would almost always look down on non monogamous relationships..

I am from a smallish town in australia and now i live in a very gender and socially diverse town ( far west coast in the usa) its totally different and I think it would not be accepted at all back home but here its just fine-

@Haleth I know alot of Turkish guys, and they seem to cheat on their significant others way more than American guys I know. It appears to be more accepted.

I don’t think any culture, on a mainstream level, is accepting of any relationship other than Monogamy. Open, Polygamous, Polyamorous, etc…it’s just not the norm and therefore not valid in most people’s eyes I’d say. Americans are no different.

Of course, you can only do what makes you happy. You only live once right?

@MarcoNJ Absolutely! Welcome to Fluther – we need more representatives of non-normative ideas about relationships on here

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Thank you. I’ve never heard of this site and don’t even remember what I clicked on to get find it. But, here I am. I think I’ll be back quite often.