by Sharron Moore

Created on: June 24, 2008   Last Updated: July 02, 2008

Sexuality is the basis for almost all relationships. Most people won't admit it, but after growing up in the seventies, and reading avidly I have studied sexuality in every era from centuries ago to present day and the fact is that sex is a necessity of life. Free love was not ever as free as I have read it was in the sixties. There is always a price. The highest price of all that most people refuse to even acknowledge is their conscience. I know a few couples that were married into arranged marriages, and I have read in depth about the subject. The people I know have accepted their spouse as custom dictates, but two of them speak with disdain of their partner and have maintained outside relationships from the beginning. Those are not only sexual but they are also a safe zone where they can vent their feelings. Sex seems to rule their life in a way that doesn't appear in relationships where love and courtship precede marriage.

I am strongly drawn to shows depicting the era when I grew up. The new series Swingtown on CBS portrays couples living in open marriages and the shows beginning is on Independence day in 1976. At that point in my life I had just graduated from high school and I was still dating my high school sweetheart. I remember my feelings regarding open marriages very clearly. I felt it was okay for me but would never be acceptable for my mate to be with another person. I felt that I could keep my true love relationship separate from a sexual adventure with another person. I didn't feel as if my mate would be able to maintain a relationship with another person for sex only. I also felt that I was able to keep him satiated as well as another man without my relationship becoming affected. When he caught a STD and therefore confessed he had been with another woman I was crushed and our seven year partnership was dissolved immediately by me with no hesitation, it was over. I never looked back but I did learn an important lesson about myself, regarding "What is good for the goose is never good for the gander".

Most men understand that their wives have been with other men and I believe smart men appreciate when his wife has learned from other relationships and uses that knowledge to keep their marriage alive. On the other hand they do not want to hear about who taught you those lessons and especially don't want to know about the other men in their wives life no matter how much they say they do. I feel that most women, myself included, want to know about

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